Radiant Technologies (www.radiantinstruments.com) has a penchant for using new and innovative technology to build inexpensive instrumentation for experimental and ultralight aviation. We’ve flown with their solid-state altimeters, airspeed indicators, angle of attack indicators, and turn-and-bank instruments—just to name a few.
Their latest product is a compact, USB-powered carbon monoxide (CO) monitor that plugs into any powered USB-A port in your airplane. If CO levels reach a dangerous threshold, a red warning light illuminates.
That’s it—that’s what it does! We’re going to try this one—provided by Radiant—for a while in our different airplanes and will report back. Hopefully, we’ll never see that red light. But frankly, this device is probably more reliable than the old stick-on CO detector cards that supposedly change color when exposed to high CO levels. You know the ones—stuck on the panel of the old rental planes you flew, probably dating back to the Truman administration. Sure, they only cost a few bucks, but who knows when they stop being trustworthy?
Radiant sells their CO monitor for $29.95 and claims it lasts five years. Even if it does go off once, they say it will still function and give another alarm until it reaches the end of its life.
