Zeus, Eos, Helios, Colibri II and the LX 7007: support status and upgrade paths

"No longer in production" is a manufacturing statement, not a support statement. We repair and service instruments we built years ago, including models that have been out of production for a long time, for as long as spare parts remain available for them. What we cannot do is answer that in the abstract, because parts availability is decided per model and sometimes per batch. The way to find out about a specific instrument is to send us its serial number.

A note on names, because they confuse the question. The LX-numbered era — EV 80, LX 100, LX 1000, LX 2000, LX 4000, LX 20, LX 5000, LX 160, DX 50, Colibri, LX 7000, LX 7007, LX 8000 — ran from 1978 to 2008 and was developed and produced at LX navigation. From 2012 the instruments took Greek-mythology names: Zeus, Eos, Helios, Era. From 2024 the current lines are iris, the digital panel instruments in 57 mm and 80 mm, and NAVIA, the networked platform. Colibri X and LX 10K keep their historic names and are current products, so an old-looking name does not reliably mean an old instrument.

What "out of production" means, and what it does not

• It means we no longer build the instrument and no longer sell it new.
• It usually does not mean the download centre page has gone. Firmware, manuals and PC tools stay published, and that page is the live record — which is why nothing on this page quotes a firmware version or a support date.
• It does not mean we will not open it. Repair and service continue while parts last.
• It does not mean recalibration stops for the recorders listed further down.
• It does not mean there is a date in a diary. We do not publish an end-of-support date, because parts availability is the real limit and it is checked against a serial number, not a calendar.
• It does not settle the paperwork. An instrument's IGC approval status is a matter for the IGC, not for us; check the current approval rather than assuming it is unchanged.

Before you buy a second-hand instrument advertised as "spares or repair", or a glider whose panel you intend to keep, ask us about the serial number first. Parts availability is the whole answer, and it is cheaper to hear it before money changes hands than after the unit is in your workshop.

Instrument by instrument

Absence from this table is not a refusal. If you have something older or rarer than anything listed, send the serial number and we will look it up.

Several of these are worth keeping for what they were. The LX 7007 pro IGC (2005) was the first flight computer with FLARM built in. The Eos (2015) was the world's first standalone IGC flight recorder with a variometer, combining an approved logger, GPS, backup battery, task navigation, G sensor, AHRS and Bluetooth in one instrument. Colibri X was the first to put a transflective capacitive touchscreen on an IGC-approved recorder, and it is still in the catalogue.

Getting a repair quote

1. Find the serial number. It is on the case label, and on most instruments it is also on the device information page in the menus.
2. Photograph the label, the panel around the instrument, and any visible damage.
3. Describe the symptom, not the diagnosis: what it does, when it started, whether it is intermittent, whether it depends on temperature.
4. Say whether the unit is still installed, and in which aircraft.
5. Send all of that through the repair page.
6. We check parts against that serial number and come back with what is actually possible — repair, exchange, or neither.

We would rather tell you an instrument is not economic to repair before you pay to ship it than after. Ask, and you get a straight answer with the shipping still in your control.

IGC recalibration and resealing

We recalibrate and reseal any LX flight recorder — the current Colibri X, Era 57 and 80 and LX 10k, the Colibri II and Eos 57 and 80, and the older LX 7007 pro IGC, LX 20 and original Colibri — and all the FLARM recorders: RedBox, MiniBox and Mobile. Send the serial number and we will tell you the lead time.

The interval is the one stated in the recorder's current IGC approval for that model, not a number printed here — approvals are revised, and the approval document is the authority. Check it, or ask us and we will check it with you.

Any work that opens the case breaks the IGC seal. That is not a policy, it is what the seal is for. Plan a repair on a recorder as a repair and a reseal with a fresh calibration, and expect the flight logs on the unit to be at risk while the board is out.

Practical points:

• Book recalibration out of season. Two weeks before a competition is when everyone books, and it is the one time we cannot promise a turnaround.
• Ask for the calibration certificate back with the instrument, and keep it with the aircraft papers rather than in the glider.
• If the unit is going to an Official Observer's scrutiny, the certificate is the document that answers the question, so photograph it as well.

What a Zeus-era panel can still talk to

The general shape has not changed since the Zeus generation: LX boxes talk to one another over a CAN bus, and everything else — a FLARM device, a radio, a PDA — arrives on a serial port as NMEA. That is still the arrangement in a current panel, which is why mixed panels are often workable.

What varies is per unit: which ports were fitted, which options were paid for at the time, and what the instrument is carrying now. That is not something to assume from a model name. Send the serial numbers and a photograph of the panel, and we will tell you what talks to what before you plan the installation.

• Which combinations are supported today: which LX devices work together
• The wiring rules that apply to any CAN panel, old or new: LX CAN bus wiring rules

Get the data off before the instrument retires

Do this before you ship a unit for repair, before you sell the glider, and before you replace the instrument — not after. A repair can mean replacing the board your data lives on.

• The whole logbook, not only the flights you remember. IGC files are small and the originals are the only ones an Official Observer will accept.
• Task, waypoint and airspace files, including anything you edited by hand.
• Pilot profiles, polar and settings. Photographing the settings pages takes ten minutes and saves an evening of reconstruction.
• The serial number, and a photograph of the current calibration certificate and approval paperwork.

Upgrade paths

If the choice is not obvious from that table, it usually comes down to how much panel you are willing to open: choosing between Era, LX 10K and NAVIA walks through it the way a dealer would.

Where to go next

• Firmware, manuals and PC tools for your instrument: the download centre pages linked in the table above
• A quote on a specific unit: the repair page, with the serial number
• Anything this article does not answer: contact us