PDA for flight planning, XM weather

[Paul kgyy]

I bought the XM weather system from Control Vision last year. On a
recent 8-day meandering trip through the midwest, I did flight planning
the evening before, entering the new flight plan into the PDA. You can
add default winds from the winds aloft forecast to get a good estimate
of time enroute plus heading and course info. I felt that this was
very convenient.

I found the nexrad unreliable - I visually spotted rain showers and
flew through some that never showed up on nexrad. Admittedly, they
were light and highly localized.

Inflight METARS have been very useful.

[Nathan Young]

On 7 Jun 2005 07:54:39 -0700, "Paul kgyy" > wrote:

>I bought the XM weather system from Control Vision last year. On a
>recent 8-day meandering trip through the midwest, I did flight planning
>the evening before, entering the new flight plan into the PDA. You can
>add default winds from the winds aloft forecast to get a good estimate
>of time enroute plus heading and course info. I felt that this was
>very convenient.
>
>I found the nexrad unreliable - I visually spotted rain showers and
>flew through some that never showed up on nexrad. Admittedly, they
>were light and highly localized.

Interesting feedback... I have XM running WxWorx's SW and find 99% of
rain to be dead on. Hit the light green area on the display, and
within a few seconds see rain drops on the windscreen.

[Dan Luke]

"Nathan Young" wrote:
> >I found the nexrad unreliable - I visually spotted rain showers and
> >flew through some that never showed up on nexrad. Admittedly, they
> >were light and highly localized.
>
> Interesting feedback... I have XM running WxWorx's SW and find 99% of
> rain to be dead on. Hit the light green area on the display, and
> within a few seconds see rain drops on the windscreen.

Same here. I've found the accuracy to be far better than WxWorx claims.
Sometimes it will paint virga that I wouldn't have seen if the NEXRAD hadn't
told me where to look. Truly an amazing weather avoidance tool.
--
Dan
C-172RG at BFM

[Paul kgyy]

Lest I malign CV unfairly, I just checked my WX settings and found that
I had it set to ignore light precip, which is exactly what it did.

[Maule Driver]

I'd give my eye teeth for this setup - so what does it cost again?

I got to get it before I really need it!

Dan Luke wrote:
> "Nathan Young" wrote:
> > >I found the nexrad unreliable - I visually spotted rain showers and
>
>>>flew through some that never showed up on nexrad. Admittedly, they
>>>were light and highly localized.
>>
>>Interesting feedback... I have XM running WxWorx's SW and find 99% of
>>rain to be dead on. Hit the light green area on the display, and
>>within a few seconds see rain drops on the windscreen.
>
>
> Same here. I've found the accuracy to be far better than WxWorx claims.
> Sometimes it will paint virga that I wouldn't have seen if the NEXRAD hadn't
> told me where to look. Truly an amazing weather avoidance tool.

[Dan Luke]

"Maule Driver" wrote:

> I'd give my eye teeth for this setup - so what does it cost again?

http://store.wxworx.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc plus cost of display device
(I use a Sony notebook) and monthly subscription charge ($49.95 for the
deluxe version).

> I got to get it before I really need it!

I don't know how I lived without it.

--
Dan
C-172RG at BFM

[Jonathan Goodish]

In article >,
Maule Driver > wrote:

> I'd give my eye teeth for this setup - so what does it cost again?
>
> I got to get it before I really need it!


A number of folks sell the WxWorx systems. If you're going to use a
Windows XP system for display (either laptop or tablet) then you might
want to go with the WxWorx on Wings system sold at
http://www.wxworx.com. If you're interested in a PDA solution, I
believe that Control Vision (http://www.anywheremap.com/) and AirGator
(http://www.airgator.com) are two of the more popular systems. The
Control Vision product is a more robust product and, in my experience,
more stable than AirGator's product.

The PDA solutions are less expensive due to the cost of the display
hardware. I believe that all of the companies sell various packages,
from the XM receiver all the way up to a turn-key system. If I had it
to do over, I probably would have purchased the PDA as a refurb from HP
and installed the software myself. The Windows XP systems provide a
much nicer (and larger) display, but they are also much larger and more
expensive if you don't have a laptop or tablet. I have had no problems
with Bluetooth connectivity with my XM box or GPS.

WxWorx offers two subscription services for the weather data -- Lite
($30/month) and a "full" service ($50/month). The Lite has a subset of
the full service, but covers NEXRAD, METARs, TAFs, and TFRs, which is
probably sufficient if all you want to do is keep yourself out of
trouble.

Current uplink weather is a great tool for peace of mind.



JKG

[Nathan Young]

On Wed, 08 Jun 2005 23:14:11 -0400, Jonathan Goodish
> wrote:

>In article >,
> Maule Driver > wrote:
>
>> I'd give my eye teeth for this setup - so what does it cost again?
>>
>> I got to get it before I really need it!
>
>
>A number of folks sell the WxWorx systems. If you're going to use a
>Windows XP system for display (either laptop or tablet) then you might
>want to go with the WxWorx on Wings system sold at
>http://www.wxworx.com. If you're interested in a PDA solution, I
>believe that Control Vision (http://www.anywheremap.com/) and AirGator
>(http://www.airgator.com) are two of the more popular systems. The
>Control Vision product is a more robust product and, in my experience,
>more stable than AirGator's product.
>
>The PDA solutions are less expensive due to the cost of the display
>hardware. I believe that all of the companies sell various packages,
>from the XM receiver all the way up to a turn-key system. If I had it
>to do over, I probably would have purchased the PDA as a refurb from HP
>and installed the software myself. The Windows XP systems provide a
>much nicer (and larger) display, but they are also much larger and more
>expensive if you don't have a laptop or tablet. I have had no problems
>with Bluetooth connectivity with my XM box or GPS.

Whatever display option you choose: Make sure it is sunlight readable
(which typically means it is transflective), and dimmable at night.


-Nathan

[Maule Driver]

All good info folks. Think I'm going to drop the dime on this thing.
Cheap******* long ago sold me on the value and I'd pay the toll for not
much more than it. This sounds and looks like a lot more.

Only real decision is the display device. Not sure I need another XP
device. The form factor is just too big despite some of the very cool
smaller form factors coming out right now. PDA sounds like the ticket,
just need to pick the right one.

Thanks all - pls post more!

Nathan Young wrote:
> On Wed, 08 Jun 2005 23:14:11 -0400, Jonathan Goodish
> > wrote:
>
>
>>In article >,
>>Maule Driver > wrote:
>>
>>
>>>I'd give my eye teeth for this setup - so what does it cost again?
>>>
>>>I got to get it before I really need it!
>>
>>
>>A number of folks sell the WxWorx systems. If you're going to use a
>>Windows XP system for display (either laptop or tablet) then you might
>>want to go with the WxWorx on Wings system sold at
>>http://www.wxworx.com. If you're interested in a PDA solution, I
>>believe that Control Vision (http://www.anywheremap.com/) and AirGator
>>(http://www.airgator.com) are two of the more popular systems. The
>>Control Vision product is a more robust product and, in my experience,
>>more stable than AirGator's product.
>>
>>The PDA solutions are less expensive due to the cost of the display
>>hardware. I believe that all of the companies sell various packages,
>
>>from the XM receiver all the way up to a turn-key system. If I had it
>
>>to do over, I probably would have purchased the PDA as a refurb from HP
>>and installed the software myself. The Windows XP systems provide a
>>much nicer (and larger) display, but they are also much larger and more
>>expensive if you don't have a laptop or tablet. I have had no problems
>>with Bluetooth connectivity with my XM box or GPS.
>
>
> Whatever display option you choose: Make sure it is sunlight readable
> (which typically means it is transflective), and dimmable at night.
>
>
> -Nathan
>

[[email protected]]

Jonathan Goodish wrote:

> (http://www.airgator.com) are two of the more popular systems. The
> Control Vision product is a more robust product and, in my experience,
> more stable than AirGator's product.

Jonathan,
Do you have a writeup of your experience with both PDA versions?
Do you have any experience with the Windows XP version?
Thanks.

Hai Longworth

[Maule Driver]

MMI? ...and I'm supposedly in the business

Dan Luke wrote:
>
> I'm going to switch to a tablet MMI device of some kind with Bluetooth
> interfaces for the WxWorx receiver (I'll have to get mine upgraded) and GPS.

[Dan Luke]

"> MMI? ...and I'm supposedly in the business

Sorry...

"Man-Machine Interface"

[Jonathan Goodish]

In article . com>,
" > wrote:
> > (http://www.airgator.com) are two of the more popular systems. The
> > Control Vision product is a more robust product and, in my experience,
> > more stable than AirGator's product.
>
> Jonathan,
> Do you have a writeup of your experience with both PDA versions?
> Do you have any experience with the Windows XP version?
> Thanks.


I don't necessarily have a prepared document of my experience, but I
will answer any questions that you may have. All of my experience is
with the PDA versions of AnywhereMap and NavAir (AirGator). I
understand that the XP version of AnywhereMap is a little behind the
times, but Control Vision is in the process of updating it.

Between AnywhereMap and NavAir, AnywhereMap is the feature leader by
far. Control Vision has done a nice job of making a comprehensive set
of features available, and the product will be even better with the
upcoming release of their next version. Presently, AirGator has a few
more weather features, but very minimal navigation/flight planning
features.

I also researched the tablets (I was looking at the Motion Computing
M1400) with WxWorx on Wings for the weather, and the Flightsoft/Vista
products from RMSTek for the charts. The WxWorx on Wings software is
very nice for weather and, as you would expect, supports all of the
WxWorx weather products. The RMSTek products seemed to be well
appointed for navigation, with reasonable update fees. Although there
is some integration between WxWorx and the RMSTek products, the system
doesn't appear to be as well integrated as a single application, such as
AnywhereMap.

Whatever product you choose, I consider database updates to be mandatory
if you plan to use it for any type of reference in flight.

I do not find the HP hx4700 PDA to be too small to use in flight, and
have about 30 hours of flight time with it so far. Both AnywhereMap and
NavAir have large buttons which makes using the stylus optional; many
times, I just tap the screen with my fingernail. That being said, the
graphics are more impressive on the tablets, but obviously the tablets
are more cumbersome in the typical GA cabin. Folks have reported
various experiences with hard drives failing about 10k feet; apparently
some are more prone to failure than others.




JKG