The XM -- as GPS -- should simply confirm what you already know.

I have re-read this absurd line a dozen times, and can find absolutely no
merit in any part of it. In fact, it illustrates such an ignorance of VFR
cross-country flying that I find it hard that a real pilot would post such a
thing.

Weather is a dynamic, ever-changing thing. If you're flying anywhere near a
front, as we were on this flight, over a five-hour duration (at spam-can
speeds of 170 mph), you cannot "already know" the weather without XM.

Without XM you can look out the window, you can call Flight Service, and you
can try to extrapolate the weather predictions you received from a briefer
five hours ago -- but you cannot "know" it in any way -- EXCEPT with XM
weather on board.

Which is what makes VFR cross-country flying much more possible (and
comfortable) nowadays than it was just a few years ago. Anyone who says
otherwise has either never flown cross-country VFR, or is so used to
flipping on the autopilot and droning along airways that they've completely
forgotten what this kind of flying is all about.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"