VoxAlti is a speaking audible, so it provides more constant altitude awareness than other types of audibles. VoxAlti also has the ability to beep or produce sirens if one requires a more dramatic altitude indicator at a specific altitude.

Both are speaking audibles, and they share the same case, speaker, and amplifier—so size, loudness, and IP67 waterproofing are identical, and both log jumps for syncing to FDS Logbook. The difference is a third altitude-awareness modality: MetaAlti can also drive a peripheral-vision light (StickyLight M or FlexiLight M) in your helmet, adding a visual indication to speech and sound.

This is unfortunately not possible with VoxAlti.

VoxAlti is a sensitive barometric pressure device. Driving in a car can be similar to the takeoff in an aircraft. If you do not want to hear the altimeter on the ground at all, it is recommended to turn off the pre-jump briefs in the FDS Altis app. You can also change the Ascent settings for the preset the altimeter is on: Do you have it from 0 to 30,000 ft? That is why it is reading at 0 feet; change the 0 to 100 feet or higher.

No, it only has a built-in speaker with no external ports.

The best way to understand how VoxAlti works is to watch the demonstration video:

These devices are excellent for building general altitude awareness skills. Hearing a spoken altitude while simultaneously associating it with an altitude picture trains your eyes as well as your timing. Sometimes we are very unaware of how fast we are actually losing altitude on a skydive.

Yes, one can select presets by holding down the top settings button in the aircraft. However, Freefall Data Systems always recommends doing any setting of altimeters on the ground before a skydive as to minimize distractions. Jumpers should be focused on safety and their jump in the aircraft.

Yes! It works with our online logging system FDS Logbook.

VoxAlti does not have GPS as that would reduce the battery life greatly and compromise dependability. Altitude measurements are based on barometric pressure changes.

VoxAlti fits and can be heard well in most skydiving helmets that have an audible port or pocket. It is recommended to contact FDS with questions about specific helmets.

VoxAlti can be very useful in enhancing a student's altitude awareness and provide cues, but should only be used with the permission and under the supervision of a current instructor officially rated by a national parachuting organization such as the United States Parachute Association.

Yes, VoxAlti is waterproof to IP67.

Yes—with firmware 2.5 or higher, VoxAlti offers an optional, per-preset Tactical Mode intended for specialized low-altitude operations such as smokejumping and military static-line jumping. Tactical Mode should in no case be used for normal skydiving operations, as the altimeter functions entirely differently. Update on the firmware page.

Yes. VoxAlti differentiates between the three types of announcements and notifications: ascent, freefall, and canopy.

Yes. Because barometric altimeters are subject to wakes and burbles, their placement can affect their readings. Which is closer in accuracy will depend on the type of jump you are doing and how you have the altimeters mounted. In most cases, the deviation is not larger than a couple hundred feet at the very most. If the deviation is more, see whether the altimeters are at least synchronized during ascent in the plane and go from there. If they are synchronized in the plane or under canopy but not in freefall, then the placement of the altimeters is certainly affecting their synchronization in freefall. Altimeters placed in a wake will read higher than those in clean air. So if you are, for example, sit-flying or doing a tandem, it isn't an unlikely possibility that your altimeter is being subjected to a significant burble. Chest mounts deserve special mention: in freefall—and especially in a wingsuit—the largest burble forms around your center of mass, exactly where a chest mount sits. This makes chest-mounted altimeters the least accurate of all mounting locations in freefall—often off by many hundreds of feet. The deviation can even change direction as your body position changes (a wingsuit flare, for example), and every altimeter converges again under canopy once the air around you calms—which can make the audible seem to have “corrected itself” at pull time. It did not; the burble simply disappeared. See page 4 of the BPA Wingsuit Training Manual for more on altimeter placement in wingsuit flight.

The previous reading is cut off—what you hear always reflects your current altitude, not a stale one. Audio follows a level of precedence: notifications first, then announcements, then alarms (beeps and sirens).