Compare ADS-B and XM weather

On 4/10/2013 6:28 AM, Sean F (F2) wrote:
XM Satellite mosaic comes with the high end XM sat weather plan ($99
/m).

http://www.xmwxweather.com/aviation/...ce-pricing.php

http://www.xmwxweather.com/xmwx-data/data-products.php ((click
satellite mosaic photo example and detailed description)

I know from my experience in power flying that this mosaic can be
zoomed in to a useful level of detail down to say a task area (100
miles, but not to say a 10 mile zoom level).

Also as you can see from the description, clouds below 5000 are not
displayed.

Description: Satellite Mosaic

Displays cloud cover over the continental United States and hundreds
of miles off its coastline. An advanced formula estimates cloud
temperatures at various altitudes across the country and converts
them into estimated cloud height. Clouds below 5,000 feet are so
close to ground temperatures, they are not shown.

My best estimate is the picture is equivalent to 4 km resolution
satellite pictures, which seems too coarse to show wave bars and medium
to smaller cumulus. Have you had the chance to observe either on the mosaic?

I'm assuming building cu-nims would show up well, however, which would
be useful, but maybe those show up on radar, also, reducing the value of
the visible image.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm
http://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl

Probably right Eric. I never tried zooming in that much and it was almost a year ago since I flew the airplane that had it. Really cool stuff but I would not be able to advantage a lot with it although it would be nice in thunderstorm and rain. The radar is highly accurate and definitely shows tops, enough to confidently fly around multiple cells, etc. Also all the Garmin units that display weather are quite large so fitting it into a glider might be a challenge. Perhaps the major soaring instrument manufactures will begin building Garmin & other weather services weather into their units in the future. Would be great to simply change screens and go from soaring map to weather. Or to select weather overlay!

On Wednesday, April 10, 2013 1:34:00 PM UTC-7, Sean F (F2) wrote:

" . . . Also all the Garmin units that display weather are quite large so fitting it into a glider might be a challenge. . . ."


I guess that all depends. Some Garmin GPS, Aera 560 and the previous 396, 496 (all WX capable) fit with no problem in my ASH26E. I have a 796 w/wx, and that's too big!

bumper

True. The 396/496 are awesome units but not exactly small. I used to have one in my little liberty XL2. Can easily be mounted flush in the panel with an OEM panel mounting plate. Used on Enay from $450-700, respectively.