Anywhere WX

Just bought the complete system.....installed all of the software....got the
system to report xm weather 4 hours of a 27 hour flight from PYM to FTG and
back to PYM.
How is everyone else's experience with this system??
Bill Snow

Never used AnywhereWX, but did you consider the GPSMAP 396? Seems like
a more integrated package.

--Dan

"William L.Snow, PE" wrote in message
...
Just bought the complete system.....installed all of the software....got
the system to report xm weather 4 hours of a 27 hour flight from PYM to
FTG and back to PYM.
How is everyone else's experience with this system??
Bill Snow

15% working? Wow, that doesn't sound good.

What was the system saying all that time it wasn't reporting weather?

In article ,
"William L.Snow, PE" wrote:
Just bought the complete system.....installed all of the software....got the
system to report xm weather 4 hours of a 27 hour flight from PYM to FTG and
back to PYM.
How is everyone else's experience with this system??
Bill Snow


I've owned both Garmin hand-held GPS systems and the AnywhereWx system.
I believe that I've posted my opinions previously, so you may want to
Google, but feel free to email me privately with any questions.

The bottom line is that AnywhereWx is a promising product that will
probably never get beyond the "promising" stage of development. It is a
perpetual beta. The company has almost no visible quality control
process for either the software or the databases. The navigation,
terrain, and obstacle databases that Control Vision uses are not as
comprehensive nor as accurate as the Jepp and home-grown databases that
Garmin uses.

That all being said, the XM antenna that ships with the WxWorx receiver
is very sensitive to placement. I found the best location in my
airplane (Cherokee) was either at the very front of the glare shield or
on the top of the sun visor.

I sold my 6 month old AnywhereWx system (at a substantial loss) and
bought a Garmin 396. I have been very pleased with the Garmin unit.



JKG

I have had it for a little more than a year. The XM satellites are
located to the south of my Chicago location, so if I fly north for a
while, I lose the weather unless I relocate the antenna (I have it
velcroed to the top of my visor).

Because of their need to make this run on multiple pdas, quality
control is marginal, so never be the first to download a new release:
if what you have is working, stick with it.

I also like having it on a pda because I can use it for other things,
and the screen is clear and reasonably sized.

I have occasionally been frustrated with XM timeouts. Garmin 396 has
had some teething problems also - magnets in the antenna, bogus terrain
warnings, etc. Actually, I don't see any sense in terrain warnings in
a non-ifr GPS. If it's not IFR rated, you should not risk your life on
it.

In article .com,
"paul kgyy" wrote:
I have occasionally been frustrated with XM timeouts. Garmin 396 has
had some teething problems also - magnets in the antenna, bogus terrain
warnings, etc. Actually, I don't see any sense in terrain warnings in
a non-ifr GPS. If it's not IFR rated, you should not risk your life on
it.


Actually, the 396 has been pretty solid, and when there have been minor
issues, Garmin has been quick to resolve them. The terrain warnings
mentioned in other threads are not "bogus"--they are accurate, but just
not necessary when you're on short final to land at an airport.
Contrast that with the missing obstacles, misplaced terrain, and
incorrect airport locations that often occur in the AnywhereMap software
and databases.

Contrary to what Control Vision claims, AnywhereWx and the Garmin 396 DO
NOT provide the same weather information--the information available on
the Garmin is far more extensive for the same subscription cost, and
Garmin implements the features in a more intuitive manner.

Control Vision's quality control problems have nothing to do with having
to run on multiple PDAs, and everything to do with the fact that CV just
doesn't care about quality control; this is evidenced by the fact that
quality control issues are often most prevalent in the databases. I
suspect that the investment required to operate a quality control
program just isn't worth the expense to CV's president. AnywhereMap was
basically a hobbyist project that CV's president decided to sell, and I
don't think that it's ever become anything more than a hobbyist project
in his mind. The software has some nice capabilities if you don't mind
constant tinkering, but the software and databases are certainly not
"production quality." While the system as it was worked fine for me, I
couldn't stand the incessant tinkering required to make it work well.

I'm not sure what kind of logic is employed that will decline to possess
and utilize any information which enhances safety, such as terrain
alerts. Using that logic, why even bother with XM weather, since it
isn't "certified?" I guess that's the same logic that some folks employ
to justify following a "certified" ADF for course guidance rather than a
hand-held GPS, but I think that's just nuts.


JKG

Jonathan Goodish wrote

Control Vision's quality control problems have nothing to do
with having to run on multiple PDAs, and everything to do with
the fact that CV just doesn't care about quality control; this
is evidenced by the fact that quality control issues are often
most prevalent in the databases. I suspect that the investment
required to operate a quality control program just isn't worth
the expense to CV's president. AnywhereMap was basically a
hobbyist project that CV's president decided to sell, and I
don't think that it's ever become anything more than a hobbyist
project in his mind. The software has some nice capabilities if
you don't mind constant tinkering, but the software and
databases are certainly not "production quality." While the
system as it was worked fine for me, I couldn't stand the
incessant tinkering required to make it work well.

I was an early purchaser of Anywhere Map way back in 2000 and
abandoned it after a year of complete frustration due to the
same issues as above, an amateur product produced and managed
by amateurs.

Bob Moore

Well, I am now convinced that I made a wrong choice.
The system is h.i.s.t.o.r.y.
Thanks for the input.
Bill Snow


"William L.Snow, PE" wrote in message
...
Just bought the complete system.....installed all of the software....got
the system to report xm weather 4 hours of a 27 hour flight from PYM to
FTG and back to PYM.
How is everyone else's experience with this system??
Bill Snow

Well, before you give up on it completely,
1. Install it somewhere that you have phone or internet access to CV.
I had an initial problem and bought a $20 Radio Shack AC to 12 VDC
converter and installed the entire system in my office.
2. Either call CV support or use the live chat. Be prepared for a
lengthy session, both to get contact and resolve the issue.

I was able to get my problem resolved doing this and the system has
been 90% stable since then.

On 1/8/2006 12:24 PM, William L.Snow, PE wrote the following:
Well, I am now convinced that I made a wrong choice.
The system is h.i.s.t.o.r.y.
Thanks for the input.
Bill Snow

You might want to take a look at ChartCase.

http://www.flightprep.com/rootpage.php?page=HomeEFBSW

They have recently added XM weather. I have been beta
testing the 3.0 version and my strong impression is that
these guys do care about quality. And the team has been in
the flying business for a long time. IIRC they originally
wrote the flight planner that Jeppesen now sells, then went
off on their own to offer Golden Eagle via the DUATS
relationship. Definitely not hobbyist stuff as another
poster alleged CV to be.

As far as the satellites and keeping them in view, certainly
any system without an external antenna will have that
problem. I think they all use the same receivers.