Jay Honeck wrote:
The XM -- as GPS -- should simply confirm what you already know.

I have re-read this absurd line a dozen times, and can find absolutely
no merit in any part of it. In fact, it illustrates such an ignorance
of VFR cross-country flying that I find it hard that a real pilot would
post such a thing.

Weather is a dynamic, ever-changing thing. If you're flying anywhere
near a front, as we were on this flight, over a five-hour duration (at
spam-can speeds of 170 mph), you cannot "already know" the weather
without XM.

You can actually keep a fairly accurate picture in mind with a
combination of listening to other airplanes and ATC, checking ASOS, AWOS
and ATIS along and to the side of your route and an occasional call to
FSS, although I find the latter only occasionally necessary when in IMC.

Matt