An update the PDA version of Weatherworx (see www.navair.com) :

While I am extremely impressed with the laptop version (www.wxworx.com), I
saw the PDA version and I am not impressed. I find it difficult to get
enough data in range on the PDA to be useful for strategic purposes. In the
best case it would require a lot of button pressing or stylus work on the
PDA in-fligh to keep track of weather.

With the laptop version (which is cheaper than the PDA version by the way),
it is possible to get enough data on the screen so that you never need to
press any buttons or do any other adjustments.. set up the wires and
software before flight and then just look over to the laptop in-flight to
get updates each 5 minutes with no extra pilot workload whatsoever.. this is
really nice.

There are also two features on the laptop version which in many ways exceed
the abilities of expensive MFD-type weather datalink systems. First, it is
possible to click on any portion of the radar image and get an exact readout
of intensity from 0dB to 75dB; this is much better than the typical 6 VIP
levels we currently use in interpreting radar data.. .this could really help
to decide weather to fly in level 3 precip; there is a big difference
between 25dB weather and 50dB weather and anywhere in between. Second, it
is possible to click on the precip tops image at any point and get a readout
of the cloud tops at that particular point... these are very powerful
features to help interpret a radar image, and these features are not even in
$10K to $15K panel-mount weather datalink systems.

The only real downside to the WeatherWorx system is the wiring; I am going
to try to work out a briefcase with a large DC power supply which is totally
self-contained; I could then use this also in the car driving through
thunderstorms or precip to get a sense of what the radar images are telling
me.

Finally, WeatherWorx has said verbally at Oshkosh that later in the year
they are planning a reduced price subscription which will be "substantially
less than $49 per month" and which will include METARs, TAFs, and Nexrad but
not echo tops or lightnight or other advanced features.

--
Richard Kaplan, CFII

www.flyimc.com