I've searched the threads on Google, but given the emerging technologies
involved, I'd be interested in any thoughts or recent experience that
anyone can provide regarding the in-flight satellite weather in
particular.

We have a Cherokee with StrikeFinder (which works to avoid the big
stuff) and a handheld Garmin GPSMAP 195 (which is a fine GPS), but we've
been considering the added benefit of in-flight weather uplink.

I see that the AnywhereMap folks have an iPaq 4700-based system that
uses Bluetooth for connectivity between the receivers (both XM and GPS)
and the iPaq, but I am unsure about whether the iPaq will be adequately
sized (though it is yoke-mountable). I am also concerned about the
practicality of this system due to the small size of the PDA and the
battery life of the units involved.

The other option that we were considering is WxWorx on a Tablet PC.
This route would be more expensive because of the Tablet PC, but the
advantage would be that we could use the Tablet PC for other things, and
it would provide a much larger screen and easier targets to hit with the
pen in flight. I am not sure if the AnywhereMap folks have software
that will work on a Tablet PC, but they only appear to sell the PocketPC
bundles. I'm unclear on what WxWorx can provide other than the weather,
and how the GPS mapping functionality compares to AnywhereMap.

Or, we could just bag the whole thing right now and land when we
encounter questionable conditions, and continue to rely on the GPSMAP
195 for situational awareness. I'm not sure how much improved the GPS
functions of a PDA-based system would be, or whether in-flight weather
is worth the investment at this point.



Thanks,
JKG