A New XM Weather & GPS Toy

I thought this was an interesting addition to available GPS products -
around $500.

http://www.bushnell.com/gps/gps_onix...=General%20Use

For someone interested in just the weather, it seems like it will be a
sleeper-hit amongst pilots but there are some missing details. It doesn't
say how often the NEXRAD updates. Logically it should be a constant stream
ala the aviation version but it does not say so specifically. The reason why
I wonder is because the XM weather subscription they mention is only
$9.95/month. The XM website does not have this plan anywhere on its website
so there's no details on this.

At $500 and $10/month, it will be interesting to see how fast pilots take to
this as a cheap alternative.

Marco

"Ben Jeffrey" wrote in message
...
I thought this was an interesting addition to available GPS products -
around $500.

http://www.bushnell.com/gps/gps_onix...=General%20Use

After digging down in the details here are the weather options for this
device:

Note: Your XM Weather subscription must be activated, and XM reception
turned on, before it is possible to display any weather information.
These are the Weather Info options (Fig. 4):
a) Sweep (view animation of past weather events)
b) Precipitation
c) Clouds
d) Detailed Radar (current NEXRAD weather radar data)
e) Rain/Snow Advisory
f) Wind Advisory
g) Road Conditions
h) Visibility
i) County Warnings (within borders of your current county)
j) All Warnings (and advisories. Not limited to current area)
k) Lightning
Note: not all weather data can be displayed simultaneously


No TAFS or METARS in this plan. The nexrad refreshes every 5 minutes which I
believe is the same as in the aviation applications as listed at
http://www.xmradio.com/weather/av_service_pricing.xmc .
Ben




"Marco Leon" wrote in message
...
For someone interested in just the weather, it seems like it will be a
sleeper-hit amongst pilots but there are some missing details. It doesn't
say how often the NEXRAD updates. Logically it should be a constant stream
ala the aviation version but it does not say so specifically. The reason
why I wonder is because the XM weather subscription they mention is only
$9.95/month. The XM website does not have this plan anywhere on its
website so there's no details on this.

At $500 and $10/month, it will be interesting to see how fast pilots take
to this as a cheap alternative.

Marco

"Ben Jeffrey" wrote in message
...
I thought this was an interesting addition to available GPS products -
around $500.

http://www.bushnell.com/gps/gps_onix...=General%20Use

I'm troubled by the following (cut from the Bushnell site):

" XM WX is "professional grade" weather that a pilot or mariner must
interpret to understand the weather threat potential. What makes XM
NavWeather unique is that the interpretation of the weather data is done for
the user, providing clear information on current, future, and threatening
weather conditions."

http://www.bushnell.com/gps/gps_feat...=General%20Use

I'd be interested in what "dumbed down" weather looks like. ;-)

"Mike Isaksen" wrote in
news:6mfmi.1855$Wh4.1512@trndny06:

" XM WX is "professional grade" weather that a pilot or mariner must
interpret to understand the weather threat potential. What makes XM
NavWeather unique is that the interpretation of the weather data is
done for the user, providing clear information on current, future, and
threatening weather conditions."

I'm assuming they are talking about the graphical presentation, with the
aircraft location denoted by the icon.

I have to admit to being in some fairly heavy turbulence, having seen
nothing but grey outside the windows for the last several hours, and
listening to Fligh****ch describe embedded cells as:

A line of cells from xx miles on the yy radial of
the Whoknowswhere VOR to ...

when all I really wanted to know was **is there something in front of me or
not!**



-----------------------------------------------
James M. Knox
TriSoft ph 512-385-0316
1300 Koenig Lane West fax 512-371-5716
Suite 200
Austin, Tx 78756
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