In article ,
Newps wrote:
I'm not sure what ADS-B provides as far as weather, but the XM service
is pretty comprehensive--I doubt that ADS-B will provide all of the same
information.

You're right, XM provides more, but not $30 more per month, much less $50.

Not sure that I agree with your assessment. I subscribe to the $50 XM
option and have found almost every element provided to be very useful.
Not to mention that Baron seems to do a decent job with data quality--I
wonder where the data from ADS-B comes from.

I just don't understand the whining that I hear everywhere about the
cost of XM weather. In an era where folks pay close to $100/month for
cable television, give a cell phone to every pre-teen in their
household, and drive huge SUVs, I can't understand where the pain of
paying $30-$50/month for weather uplink is coming from. It's not for
everyone, but frequent flyers can certainly benefit from it.



In addition, ADS-B doesn't provide an entertainment services like XM
radio, for those who might use it.

I have an XM radio in my plane now. Although XM in the 396 works it is
a secondary function and as such is not all that convenient to use.

Actually, I think it's pretty intuitive. Garmin did a good job with the
integration, though it's not quite as convenient for things like channel
selection. But it is a nice, integrated package that works well.



I'm not sure how ADS-B is delivered, but my guess is that it won't be as
portable or versatile as the XM service.

It will be delivered by many hundreds of ground transmitters and will be
available in handhelds like the 396 as well as PDA's. Versatility is up
to the software designers. I would expect it to be the same as the 396.

Until those "hundreds of transmitters" are live and active, ADS-B is
pretty much moot. I doubt in 2-3 years we will see widespread ADS-B
available as we have XM available today. And, I wonder what happens to
your data if you're out of range of a transmitter?

The bottom line is that I firmly believe that there will be a strong
market for XM weather for a long time to come. I suspect that Baron/XM
will provide more, better quality information, that some folks will
always be willing to pay for. Once the ADS-B system is live and the
receivers have had time to mature, I'm sure that it will be a great
system, but that all isn't going to happen overnight.



JKG