WxWorx or Anywhere Wx

A slight correction: XM Radio does not offer "better than CD quality
sound." It offers less than CD quality sound due to the audio
compression.


With the O-470 purring away less than 8 feet from my ears, full CD quality
would be a waste.

I stand corrected- however, the quality is much better than FM broadcast,
and with no commercials.

The decision regarding the GDL 69 comes down to convenience and the need to
have a lot of loose wires, notebook computers, etc in the cockpit, even with
bluetooth.

The GDL 69, although not perfect, integrates well with my 530, particularly
in combination with the stormscope. It is excellent for a long range view
if you are going around an extended line of storms, but would not be
especially good for navigating through a line of scattered storms. In this
scenario, on board radar is a better choice, along with the stormscope.

The XM radio is an added bonus, particularly on those long cross country
trips.

In article ,
Jon Kraus wrote:
We are contemplating adding a weather uplink system and was wondering
what experience you have had on the WxWorx or Anywhere Wx. We are
leading towards the Anywhere Wx but wanted to get some comments on both.
Thanks!!


Jon,

You may want to consider the AnywhereWx package. In addition to
weather, you also get A/FD information, FBO information,
hotel/restaurant information, and fuel prices (though the fuel database
is new and sparse right now.) Bottom line is that with the AnywhereWx
package, you get some extras that competitors do not provide, but are a
great reference even if you carry A/FDs and the AOPA directory. Plus,
you'll have a decent backup GPS display if you choose to use it.



JKG

I just bought the Anywhere WX system for my Skylane. It uses the iPAQ 4705
for display, Garmin 10 GPS and the WxWrox XM receiver all connected via
bluetooth. Cost was around $2700. Although I haven't flown next to any
weather with it, having NexRad in the cockpit is awesome! Some of the other
features of the system are nice, yet other features are worthless to me, but
the weather is great. I also like clicking on the map and seeing the METARS
and TAF's. I have pulled the plane out of the hangar and tested it numerous
times... works like a charm.

The system included a package called Pocket Plates, which has all the
approach plates for the US stored in a SD card on the ipaq. This package is
interesting, but not very useful. The ipaq display is too small to show the
whole plate. It lets you zoom in on the plate, but then you can see only
small portions of the plate at a time. Not much use to me.

I was skeptical of a system that uses an iPAQ... I HATE tapping through
menus while flying... but I got the hot keys setup in the program with most
everything I want to do, so it isn't too much of a chore. I am a
professional software developer, so I am comfortable with the mechanics of
the pocket pc.

:Like you, I have a Garmin GNS 430, so the GPS is covered, but having a
battery powered ipaq and gps is a very nice backup. Although the Anywhere
WX has flight planning, I won't use it, I will use the 430 for that. Again,
the anywhere map is for primarily for weather and GPS backup.

The Garmin 396 looks like a great system. My father just bought an Anywhere
WX system, but I am going to recommend he return it and get a 396. Why? He
is barely computer literate so working an ipaq might be a headache for him.
Also, he wants to move the system between his many airplanes, and the
Anywhere WX system has lots of wires and plugs. I only have one plane and
don't plan to move the system around, so all my wires are neatly routed and
tucked away.

I also got a quote from the local avionics shop for a panel mounted MX-20
with the GL-69 Wx receiver. Price was around $17,000. The Anywhere System
gave me more features for a fraction of the cost.

I could have bought the GL-69 receiver and had the weather displayed on my
430. I decided against hat because the 430 display is small and terrible
for weather display and it still would have cost nearly $5,000. The ipaq
has a beautiful display.

Guy Byars


"Jon Kraus" wrote in message
...
We are contemplating adding a weather uplink system and was wondering
what experience you have had on the WxWorx or Anywhere Wx. We are
leading towards the Anywhere Wx but wanted to get some comments on both.
Thanks!!

Jon Kraus
'79 Mooney 201

I'd wait and get the Garmin 396. I have the Anywhere system and it does
have lots of problems. Nothing that can't be overcome if you like working
with computers, etc. Just look at the forums at controlvision.com for
details. It's a cobbled together system. The 396 is an all in one box,
that works.

In article ,
"Greg Davis" wrote:

I'd wait and get the Garmin 396. I have the Anywhere system and it does
have lots of problems. Nothing that can't be overcome if you like working
with computers, etc. Just look at the forums at controlvision.com for
details. It's a cobbled together system. The 396 is an all in one box,
that works.


I've heard about these reports, and I read the Control Vision forums
almost daily, but don't notice the "lots of problems" that some complain
about. There are some problems using the latest software with older
iPaqs, but I'm not sure how reasonable it is to expect the latest
features to run on a 3 year old iPaq. As far as I know, there's nothing
preventing folks who have been running a stable system with older
software from continuing to do so.

There have been scattered reports of XM activation issues, but those
problems seem related to XM and certainly don't represent the majority
of users. There is no guarantee that the 396 won't have similar XM
issues.

When I received the AnywhereWx system, it was pre-loaded and worked out
of the box with minimal fuss. Software upgrades to require some minor
skill with computers, but so do software upgrades for Garmin's products,
at least their handheld products, in my experience. As far as I know,
no one is forcing anyone else to be on the bleeding edge.



JKG

In article ,
"Guy Byars" wrote:
Also, he wants to move the system between his many airplanes, and the
Anywhere WX system has lots of wires and plugs. I only have one plane and
don't plan to move the system around, so all my wires are neatly routed and
tucked away.


To me, mobility is the single largest advantage to the Garmin 396. I
have the wires for AnywhereWx pretty much out of sight behind side
panels, so it's not a problem, but it's also not portable other than the
iPaq and GPS (which can easily be removed to use elsewhere, such as in
the car...but weather is stuck in the airplane). If I were a renter,
the ability to throw the 396 into a new plane every day with minimal
fuss would be very appealing.

However, I'm not aware that the 396 has the airport directory, fuel
price, or A/FD information contained in the latest version of
AnywhereWx. Whether you choose to "rely" on this information in lieu of
the official FAA documentation is up to you, but it's there at your
fingertips nonetheless. And I'm not aware that the FAA provides
official documentation on hotels, rental cars, and restaurants, or fuel
prices.

I agree, I would skip the purchase of PocketPlates, especially with the
approach database included with the latest version of AnywhereWx.



JKG

Jonathan Goodish wrote:

However, I'm not aware that the 396 has the airport directory, fuel
price, or A/FD information contained in the latest version of
AnywhereWx.

The "killer app" for AnywhereWX in my opinion is still the backup AI. If
only I'd finally break down and buy the damned thing laugh.

- Andrew

I also have the AWMap system and like it. I do use it for flight
planning when I'm away from home. You can input wind assumptions and
it gives you heading and groundspeed to use for filing your flight
plan. If you own the aircraft, you can "park" the 12v wiring for the 3
units out of the way so all you have to do when you arrive is plug in
the gps and ipaq. You can remove the ipaq from its support to make it
easier to tap for items not included in the hot keys, i.e. picking up
specific metars. The new airport info screens are very fine also.

On Thu, 07 Jul 2005 23:24:50 GMT, Jon Kraus
wrote:

We are contemplating adding a weather uplink system and was wondering
what experience you have had on the WxWorx or Anywhere Wx. We are
leading towards the Anywhere Wx but wanted to get some comments on both.
Thanks!!

I have a used Fujitsu ST4121 tablet PC with transflective (daylight
viewable) display. I run a combo of WxWorx SW with my own moving map
SW. The tablet PC has a ~4 hr battery life. If I am on a long x-c, I
use a power inverter on the cigarette ligther to power/charge the
tablet PC.

I use Bluetooth to connect the peripherals to the tablet, and am
thrilled with the cable free performance of the devices.

-Belkin Bluetooth card providing Bluetooth to the ST4121

-Garmin GPS10, Bluetooth GPS with integrated antenna (about the size
of a pack of cigarettes)

-Bluetooth version of WxWorx's receiver.

From a weather services standpoint, I currently am using the XM
Aviator's lite package, which is $29/month. It provides Nexrad and
Metar, which is all I really need. There is a more advanced package
$59/month which I used to have, but found I did not use often enough.

It is hard to imagine going back to a WxWorx-less plane. It allows me
to make both VFR and IFR flights without constantly worrying about the
weather ahead. It is easily the best money I have spent on the plane
(besides av-fuel!).

My only complaint about my setup is the number of cigarette lighter
attachments: Power inverter, GPS10 charger, WxWorx charger. I also
still have a G295 in the plane, so it runs on cigarette lighter too.

I can see why the Garmin 396 will be a hit. It is hard to beat the
level of integration.

-Nathan