A aviation & planes forum. AviationBanter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » AviationBanter forum » rec.aviation newsgroups » Soaring
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

TopMeteo Soaring Weather Now Available for United States Region



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old April 30th 16, 10:16 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
WaltWX[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 310
Default TopMeteo Soaring Weather Now Available for United States Region

Today is the last day of the Topmeteo free demo trial.

I've been using it from graphics on the web page rather than through SeeYou focusing on my flight area which is the Southern Sierras, Mojave Desert and Central California. My comments up to this point:

* Thermal Height Cloud Base seem pretty comparable to the gfs and nam. There are occasional discrepancies like for tomorrow... Sun 05/01 over the San Joaquin Valley. XCSkies and DrJack cloud bases 10.5k msl... versus TopMeteo 7.5k msl

* Geo referencing is poor. It's using river/aqueducts instead of GoogleMaps or OpenMaps. Would much prefer use of highway, major roads, airspace Class B,C and restricted. It's a definite plus for XCSkies and DrJack with their ability to fade background maps in/out with a javascript slider

* Six day forecasts are a definite plus although XCSkies reaches out to day five with the gfs.

* I like the ability to configure site forecast tables by lat/lon. This give one considerable information on thermal height, strength, cloud bases, top, winds, etc

* The cost of Topmeteo is a bit high at $99 ($109 if you want days 5 and 6) compared to free for DrJack and $40 for XCSkies. Although, SeeYou integration is a big win for TopMeteo.

Overall, it's a toss up in my opinion regarding the value of Topmeteo. If you use the subscription SeeYou, Topmeteo integration is a wise investment for planning flights out to six days. Given the lower cost DrJack and XCSkies, Topmeteo should lower it's cost for U.S. pilots.

One definite plus for Topmeteo is the long term support that extra dollars provide. Jack Glendening is no longer developing DrJack.net... and when he is no longer able to make small updates, that site will likely disappear. Support from XCSkies leaves something to be desired. The service hasn't been updated significantly since around 2010.

Walt Rogers
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
United States Navy markings? Jack G[_2_] Naval Aviation 10 July 7th 08 03:32 PM
Airlines requirment in United States Monica2007 Piloting 13 August 13th 07 04:50 AM
United States information Joseph L. Hyde Soaring 13 March 23rd 05 09:22 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 04:22 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2025 AviationBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.