COMPANY HISTORY: Based in Southern Germany, Renschler formed in the mid 80's, and was originally involved in designing cutting edge sail plane cockpit instrumentation. With Paragliding boom in the early 90's, Renschler marketed an idea they had been toying with for a while: the SOLARIO. Being the worlds first totally solar powered vario, pilots were skeptical at first. The SOLARIO gained an almost cult following, until more and more pilots began to witness this little wonder. Then the SOLARIO and Renschler took off. Success prompted the introduction of the SOL series.

Renschler claims to be of the "Swabian" tribe.....a people known for their thrifty nature. The Renschler varios not only demonstrate this in current consumption, but also in cost. All Renschler SOL series instruments can be upgraded to the next level with a simple software change....you get to keep your hardware!!! Now that's smart. The SOLARIO uses so little current, that it's photovoltaic cells provide over 40 times the power required to run the little unit.

Although relatively a new name in the United States, top European pilots have know about Renschler for many years. Kari Eisenhut recently won the Paragliding World Cup using a Renschler SOL 7g vario. Not only a top notch instrument, but Renschler customers have the unique boast of flying with vario powered by the sun!

This incredible little 38 gram device has received praise the world over. Now, with the new "light weight" movement, the demand for the SOLARIO is greater than ever.

Bruce Goldsmith wrote about the SOLARIO in his Icaristics column in "Cross County", Aug/Sept '99 entitled 'Go Simple'. Bruce had been frustrated with the bulkiness and complexity of the newer airborne computers. He then switched to carrying only the SOLARIO mounted in the ventilation hole of his helmet. Bruce writes:

"I've been flying with this set up for two years now. It really is as minimalist as you can get. No altimeter, no visual vario, no dials or screens to look at or get in the way of real flying. This is important because it allows you to concentrate on other things rather than your instruments. You should always focus your attention on what's going on around you, and observation skills often make the key difference between a good pilot and a bad pilot.

"Last week I was teaching an XC course at Moustiers St Marie....and on the last day...I flew 120 km. At the end of the day...over a pine forest I looked up and suddenly felt the wind in my hair....my helmet had fallen off! But my problem was worse, my vario (the SOLARIO) was in the helmet and falling 500 meters down. I noted very carefully where the helmet fell. That night there was a big storm and it rained heavily.

"One week later I was back in the same area, so I went to look for the helmet. I found the helmet had rolled down the hill. The helmet was upside down and the top was full of water, and then I noticed on closer inspection that the vario was gone. I followed the path the helmet would have taken back up the hill....where I found the circuit board for the vario. Its case was lying in two halves on the ground nearby. I shook out the water, dried it in the sun, put all the pieces together, turned it on and, amazingly, it worked! Now it's back in my helmet and I am reunited with my favorite little bird that sings to me in the thermals."

Say no more...well maybe a little more. The Solario is simply the best mini vario money can buy. With three different tone settings, and four different sink alarm settings, the SOLARIO gives you big features the other mini varios don't. Like 4 sink alarm sensitivity adjustments, 3 volume adjustments, and a temperature compensated 20,000 ft operating altitude. Wow! Oh yes, and did we mention that you will NEVER have to buy batteries. A 60 MINUTE reserve capacitor means you'll never be without a functioning instrument. It's TOTALLY solar powered!! An excellent addition as a backup vario....or even on its own...the SOLARIO can't be matched.

All of the Renschler SOL Series are full featured, precision variometers. No sacrifice in accuracy, function, or sensitivity is created by the unit being solar powered. Renschler designed their units to have a flat, cockpit style layout. The buttons are large and easy to operate, and involve minimum key strokes to invoke functions. Despite this ease of access, the units are relatively thin and lightweight. The SOL series weigh in at only 212g, and measure 134 x 128 x 26 mm. The solar cells are protected by a clear/ very durable lexan shield. The rest of the unit is high impact ABS. Typical German attention to detail and super quality.

The unit has an indicator of how much saved solar energy is available (just below the top numerical display...difficult to see in this photo) in the buffer condenser. Up to 15 minutes reserve is available for very low light operation. The display also indicates when the unit is using the backup lithium battery. Low temperature battery failure at altitude is impossible with solar powered instruments. In addition, all SOL series feature "Watchdog" RFI shielding.

All SOL series instruments are upgradable and updatable. For example if a new software version comes out for the SOL 3, you can update the unit without having to buy a whole new vario. OR, if you want to make your SOL 3 into a SOL 7, for example, you simple need to update the software!! It's the vario that grows with you. Even the basic SOL 3 will offer more than most pilots will ever use.

SOL 3: The basic SOL series that packs a lot of features:

Altimeters: 2 altimeters settable to 9000m or 29,999ft in 1m or 1ft increments. Also contains zero function and QNH coupling.

Variometers: Easy to read 2 pass circular analog dial in 0.2m/s increments. Digital window displays to 0.1 m/s. Variometer integration is programmable from 1-99 sec in 1 sec steps.

Acoustics: 2 volume levels and silent are available. Sink rate tone cut in is settable in 0.2 m/s steps (ft/min also available).

Memory: Values of last 10 flights are stored (min and max of alt, temp, speed if available, etc.)

Stop watch: Activated manually or automatically after a 50ft alt change.

Speed display with optional sensor (0-140 kph or 0-99 mph)

Thermometer

SOL 5: Has all of the SOL 3 features plus:

Real time date and time clock.

PC interface (flight book program option available for PC log book)

Flight memory increases to 100 flights, and can be printed out directly.

SOL 5g: The SOL 5 plus GPS interface.

SOL 7g: The SOL 5g plus:

Final Glide/McCreedy calculator

Glide to next waypoint

Wind evaluation

Speed to Fly

Polar Curve Calculation

Barograph: up to 100 hours of storage capacity with variable sampling time and data selection.

(some features may require the purchase of an optional speed sensor)