I would like weather on my 478, how ?

[DockingPilot]

I have used GPSMAP units for years just not a 478. I already have the XM going and I included NAVTraffic which I was told included weather. I dont care about traffic, I just to be able to view storm cells and forcasts. But Im getting "Waiting on Data" and have no weather info.
What do I need to tell XM to make this happen if any of you fellas would mind telling me.
Thanks,
Frank

[Klay]

It's a subscription service. Last I checked, there were two levels they were selling, and the cheaper one was something like $50 a month. The higher level is aimed at mariners.


here's the page:

http://www8.garmin.com/xm/

[DockingPilot]

well, thats what I have. Not sure why its not working. OK, thanks.
Service Package Payment Plan
Audio XM Everything - Multi Radio Discount 1 Year
NavWeather XM NavWeather Service

[Steve W]

You don't want the Nav weather. It doesn't work on a 478. You want XM WX Weather. Not cheap but worth it IMO.

[DockingPilot]

Skywatch ?

[MichaelJ]

Originally Posted by DockingPilot

...I just to be able to view storm cells...

Ya mean like this?



You want the XM Weather Service and the "Aviator" package. You can save a few bucks with the "Aviator Lite", but you lose the Satellite views (yawn) and the lightning strike data (VERY nice to have).

Of the three services available, aviation, marine and ground, the two lower levels of the aviation service seems to be the most bang for the buck.

You will, of course, need a GSM-30 antenna/receiver.

[BlueLghtning]

I've been playing around with this just this week.

I have the 376, 478, & 2820 & 1 Garmin GXM-30 antenna. I've been using the XM WX weather packages over the years with the 376/478 only like the Aviator $30/mo or the Master Mariner ($50/mo). The Master Mariner is very pricey, but I like it on extended trips since it shows lightning and storm tracks and storm cells. Normally, I keep a $30 package. I know I've had skywatch in the past ($10/mo), but its been a while and I didn't remember it including nexrad, but recently, I saw a post where someone said it does do a radar summary, just doesn't update it as often. Hmm

Anyway, since the Zumo 665 came out with the new GXM-40 antenna, they offer it the XMNavWeather $3.99/mo and the XMNavTraffic (6.99/mo) and that includes nexrad. That kind of irked me since we have to pay at least $30/mo to get the nexrad with the GMX-30.

I decided to try an experiment. Since the 2820 is supposed to get XMNavWeather and XMNavTraffic, I switched my GXM-30 over to that. It does work on the 2820 as expected, although its weather is pretty corny with just forecasts and little sun or cloud symbols on the screen. No actual radar. So once I knew I had that working, I tried the antenna back on the 478. No dice, When you goto the XM screen that shows your subscriptions, it says there is none, so the 376c & 478 definitely can't pick up XMNavWeather. Next I'm going to try Skywatch and see if it does have a radar summary and how often it updates?

[Emoto]

Bluelightning, the question I have is can you ride along with your GPS displaying your map and an active route that you are navigating, and see things like storm cells overlaid on your map?

[BlueLghtning]

Originally Posted by Emoto

Bluelightning, the question I have is can you ride along with your GPS displaying your map and an active route that you are navigating, and see things like storm cells overlaid on your map?

Most definitely. There is a screen dedicated to the weather where you can show individual things like the Nexrad, Cloud cover, wind, storm cells, etc. Or you can turn the weather on on the main navigation screen and it will show anything that comes into your area. You can also choose to animate the weather and it will go back 30 minutes and show you how its moving which is nice to see if you can avoid it.

I have a few pics I've taken to show different things.

In this instance, the storm was moving NE and we were heading south, so we pushed on getting ahead of the storm.

You can see how it shows a lightning strike right in front of us. Notice the -00:01 at the bottom. That means that info is about 1 minute old. Probably a bit more since it takes a bit for the GPS to receive it also. When you are animating it, will count down from the furthest out (about 30 mins) till it gets to the most recent).


Here's a storm cell. This one has 3 boxes which means its a bit stronger.


You can also put the cursor on the actual cell and it will tell you this info like how strong it is in dbz and how high the ceilings are and how big the hail is.


Now its a bit weaker


Yeah, that's a mess

[Emoto]

Wow, that's cool! I see those pics are on a 478. Is this also possible on a 665?

[BlueLghtning]

As we stated earlier, for the X76/X78 models, you need one of the XM WX packages which are different then the XMNavWeather. - http://www.xmwxweather.com/overview/

You can see what all the stuff the different packages offer in this list - http://www.xmwxweather.com/xmwx-data/data-products.html

These are most of the packages I've played with over the years - http://www.xmwxweather.com/marine/da...e-pricing.html

[BlueLghtning]

Originally Posted by Emoto

Wow, that's cool! I see those pics are on a 478. Is this also possible on a 665?

The 665 supports the XMNavWeather which is cool, because its much cheaper. I'm not sure what all is included in that though? Not sure if the 665 supports the XM WX packages like the 478 does? I guess one of those guys will have to chime in that has one.

[Emoto]

Originally Posted by BlueLghtning

The 665 supports the XMNavWeather which is cool, because its much cheaper. I'm not sure what all is included in that though? Not sure if the 665 supports the XM WX packages like the 478 does? I guess one of those guys will have to chime in that has one.

Yeah, because what you showed above - being able to ride along and see the stuff on my map - is what I want. If I can't get that on a new Garmin unit, I have no real reason to buy one.

[BlueLghtning]

This is when you know you are screwed and you just have to give in. I had already gotten off the interstate to go further north, but the cell was moving really fast and had caught me.



I finally stopped to put on my rain gear


And this is what the sky's looked like. 15 minutes later I was getting hammered and didn't think I could keep the bike on the road. My wife was watching my SPOT and calling me on my cell asking if I was okay. As I'm saying, yeah its barely raining, there is thunder cracking in the background and I'm white knuckled as hell and can't see 5ft in front of me its raining so hard!

[DockingPilot]

Blue,
The photos didnt link. No pics.