Who has bought a new Garmin 396?

Gig 601XL Builder wrote:



That leaves the one that goes between the bedroom and the plane. Is AC power
going to it when it is in the bedroom and can the antenna see the satellite?
If so, even if it is turned off it is getting the authorization packets.


It is always connected to AC in the bedroom and the antenna looks thru
about 3 walls, the ceiling and the roof. Always gets three bars.

"Jay Honeck" wrote:

I was appalled at how pixilated the weather appeared on the 396. Small
thunderstorm cells appeared to cover entire counties (or bigger), simply
because they were depicted with big squares instead of being able to take
advantage of a higher resolution screen.

You're exaggerating. The resolution is 2km, and it's due to the NEXRAD's
limits, not Garmins.

http://www.cami.jccbi.gov/aam-400A/A...0TEXT/0405.pdf

Anyway, in actual operational use it's plenty fine enough.

Now perhaps that's an XM thing, and not a Garmin thing -- but either way
I'm not spending thousands on such a crude depiction of the weather.

I'd hardly call something "crude" that accurately depicts a shower so small
you can see all the way through it when you look out the window. Until
you've flown with WxWorx, you just don't know what a superb tool it is.

Within a year or two, someone will offer a much more usable tool, hopefully
on a bigger screen, probably for much less $$ -- and then I'll be glad to
add portable weather to the cockpit.

Much more usable? In what way?

Bigger screen? That would be nice if I don't have to strap the damned thing
to my leg. It's got to fit on the yoke without blocking the HI or I don't
want it.

Go ahead and wait if you want to, but here in Thunderstorm Alley I ain't
flying without it a day longer than necessary. I can't wait for mine to get
here so I can get rid of my notebook pc setup.

--
Dan
C-172RG at BFM

Dan Luke wrote:

Go ahead and wait if you want to, but here in Thunderstorm Alley I ain't
flying without it a day longer than necessary. I can't wait for mine to get
here so I can get rid of my notebook pc setup.

I'm with you, Dan. JA Air says I'm number 91 on their order list, I ordered July
11, and they say they will ship this week. So far no charges on my credit card,
so they haven't shipped yet.

"Morgans" wrote:

I'm with you, on this one. The competition will respond.

When? They seem to be falling farther and farther behind. Garmin is getting
too dominant in this market. They're doing it with products that kick butt,
but they're starting to get a Microsoft attitude, at least WRT pricing.

My guess is that Sirius satellite radio will come out with a data link, and
offer it a bit more freely to *many* users and platforms, for a fee, of
course.

I hope so. WxWorx is getting far too dominant in their market, too.

--
Dan
C-172RG at BFM

"Newps" wrote in message
...


Gig 601XL Builder wrote:



That leaves the one that goes between the bedroom and the plane. Is AC
power going to it when it is in the bedroom and can the antenna see the
satellite? If so, even if it is turned off it is getting the
authorization packets.

It is always connected to AC in the bedroom and the antenna looks thru
about 3 walls, the ceiling and the roof. Always gets three bars.


That's why you have never lost the authorization. They are all getting the
authorization packets.

"Dave Butler" wrote:

Go ahead and wait if you want to, but here in Thunderstorm Alley I ain't
flying without it a day longer than necessary. I can't wait for mine to
get here so I can get rid of my notebook pc setup.

I'm with you, Dan. JA Air says I'm number 91 on their order list, I ordered
July 11, and they say they will ship this week. So far no charges on my
credit card, so they haven't shipped yet.

I don't know where I am on Gulf Coast Avionics' list; I'm scared to ask.
When I ordered mine the week before OSH, the guy said "early September."

"Gig 601XL Builder" wr.giacona@coxDOTnet wrote in message
news:uC4Ke.3876$_t.1642@okepread01...

"Newps" wrote in message
...


Gig 601XL Builder wrote:



That leaves the one that goes between the bedroom and the plane. Is AC
power going to it when it is in the bedroom and can the antenna see the
satellite? If so, even if it is turned off it is getting the
authorization packets.

It is always connected to AC in the bedroom and the antenna looks thru
about 3 walls, the ceiling and the roof. Always gets three bars.


That's why you have never lost the authorization. They are all getting the
authorization packets.


P.S.

I've had a ton of trouble getting reception that good with my boom box. I've
had it not work through one exterior wall. For the house I ended up just
getting the home base mount and running an antenna outside. I moved the
boombox to the hanger and mounted the antenna outside there as well.

You're exaggerating. The resolution is 2km, and it's due to the NEXRAD's
limits, not Garmins.

Well, that's even more disappointing, since it's a flaw that can't be
fixed by moving the service to a better platform than the 396.

Now perhaps that's an XM thing, and not a Garmin thing -- but either way
I'm not spending thousands on such a crude depiction of the weather.

I'd hardly call something "crude" that accurately depicts a shower so small
you can see all the way through it when you look out the window. Until
you've flown with WxWorx, you just don't know what a superb tool it is.

That would be very cool, indeed!

Bigger screen? That would be nice if I don't have to strap the damned thing
to my leg. It's got to fit on the yoke without blocking the HI or I don't
want it.

Both the AvMap and the Airmap 2000c are yoke-mounted. Either platform
would allow a better depiction than the little 396.

Go ahead and wait if you want to, but here in Thunderstorm Alley I ain't
flying without it a day longer than necessary. I can't wait for mine to get
here so I can get rid of my notebook pc setup.

I truly felt that way before OSH. Playing with the unit convinced me
to wait.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jonathan Goodish wrote:
The weather pixelation is due to the weather data being pixelated, not
due to the display. Close-in zooms on any product that I've seen have
had pixelated weather. I believe software like WxWorx smooths the
edges, but the displayed data is still the same. This is a limitation
of the NEXRAD data, so you get the same information from any NEXRAD
radar site for base reflectivity--and composite reflectivity is worse.

I think the Wx data is transmitted at low resolution to save bandwidth
and reception time, hence the gross pixilation and poor resolution in
close in zoom mode.
Does the wx data have a timestamp so you can determine how old it is?

In article ,
john smith wrote:
Jonathan Goodish wrote:
The weather pixelation is due to the weather data being pixelated, not
due to the display. Close-in zooms on any product that I've seen have
had pixelated weather. I believe software like WxWorx smooths the
edges, but the displayed data is still the same. This is a limitation
of the NEXRAD data, so you get the same information from any NEXRAD
radar site for base reflectivity--and composite reflectivity is worse.

I think the Wx data is transmitted at low resolution to save bandwidth
and reception time, hence the gross pixilation and poor resolution in
close in zoom mode.
Does the wx data have a timestamp so you can determine how old it is?

I do not believe that the data is transmitted at a lower resolution. It
is what it is. Base reflectivity is 1km, composite reflectivity is 2km,
whether you view it over the Internet at home or through a display with
XM downlink.

I am not sure whether the data is time stamped or not. I believe that
WxWorx (the XM weather provider) uses base reflectivity for NEXRAD
precip image, so that is 5 mins old. Most devices will start an
internal clock when they receive the update. I have found it to be
pretty accurate.


JKG