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Least expensive GPS with weather radar ?

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Joe Chindemi

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Toying with the idea of getting a gps ,and one of the things i was interested in was having
the weather radar option on it.
Seems like this year it rains about 6 days a week up here (northeast Pa. )
Without going overboard , are there any reasonable priced units that have the radar capability ?
I'm not looking for anything fancy , with talk to me directions , or radio, just something i can see a map on in the sun , and tell me if i am riding into a thunderstorm.................
thanks
Joe
 
#2 ·
How about a PDA phone and then down load "Weather bug"?
I know you don't want to spend what it takes to get a Garmin 478. I would NOT leave on any length of a ride without mine. The weather has saved my butt a bunch of times.
 
#4 ·
I thought the Zumo 550 had a weather tracking option through the XM service. Not sure if it is as fancy as the 478 NEXRAD though. Maybe someone here can give more info on that.
 
#5 ·
I use one of the six weather bands that every GL1800 comes with from the factory....cheap and seems to work ok. Obviously not as good as real time weather radar. But, if all you are wondering is if it is going to rain or not, it works fine. BTW, once you do buy the radar GPS, you then have to subscribe to the weather radar service for additional monthly $$. I have <never> ridden into a thunderstorm by surprise. You can usually tell by the dark clouds up ahead.. :wink: When you see those, turn on one of your six weather bands and get the scoop..
 
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#7 ·
Well, this is sort of going at the problem from a different tack, but here are a couple of screen grabs from my iphone.

Image


Or with the phone turned sideways it switches to landscape layout.

Image


You can pretty much see any web-based weather radar page, forecast, etc., from anywhere in the country so long as you have cell service. The phone has a GPS receiver and comes with Google maps so you can navigate fairly well so long as you are willing to stop to do data entry or to pull up a new website with the browser. Once a voice navigation application comes out for the phone all it will take is a good sturdy waterproof mount to turn the thing into a $299 Zumo.

Oh, yeah, it's a phone, too. :D
 
#8 ·
Once you get the bill for the Nexrad service, you will realize that there is no such thing as "affordable" when it comes to this option.

This is my understanding of these various systems. Somebody correct me if I am wrong here.

For those of you that use your cell phones and Zumo's for weather maps, from what I understand, the Nexrad service is an entirely different animal. It is a live map of current up to the second conditions. You can track storms much more accurately, which can be a real benefit when you are out in the middle of nowhere. Unless things are changing, the maps on your cell phone are much like what you would find on Weather.com. There is a delay of anywhere from 15 -30 minutes with those maps.

Nexrad is a great tool. I wish it was available to everyone at a more reasonable cost. But if you have to ask how much it costs, you probably can't afford it.

Fred and I had a good discussion about this about a year ago. When does it stop? Land line, cable TV, broadband Internet, multiple cell phone, Netflix, satellite radio, etc, etc. We are being killed with products that have monthly service charges attached to them, and a huge percentage of our paychecks is going to these services. I have had enough. I'm not jumping on the bandwagon. This is also the reason why I will never have XM or Sirrius.
 
#9 ·
For me nextrad is well worth the money. It up dates every 5 minutes. It will then sequence each 5 minute screen into a moving weather pattern. I have a iPhone but you can not watch a pattern of the storm to figure out where it is moving. I typed this reply on my iPhone.
 
#10 ·
LarryM said:
... When does it stop? Land line, cable TV, broadband Internet, multiple cell phone, Netflix, satellite radio, etc, etc. We are being killed with products that have monthly service charges attached to them, and a huge percentage of our paychecks is going to these services...
Click to expand...
Nobody can make you subscribe to any of these services - these are lifestyle choices that are not mandatory. You can still go and live in a mountain cabin and have a minimal exposure to these services if you like.

There's a ton of people in Idaho who live there for this very reason... :)
 
#11 ·
LarryM said:
Once you get the bill for the Nexrad service, you will realize that there is no such thing as "affordable" when it comes to this option.

This is my understanding of these various systems. Somebody correct me if I am wrong here.

For those of you that use your cell phones and Zumo's for weather maps, from what I understand, the Nexrad service is an entirely different animal. It is a live map of current up to the second conditions. You can track storms much more accurately, which can be a real benefit when you are out in the middle of nowhere. Unless things are changing, the maps on your cell phone are much like what you would find on Weather.com. There is a delay of anywhere from 15 -30 minutes with those maps.

Nexrad is a great tool. I wish it was available to everyone at a more reasonable cost. But if you have to ask how much it costs, you probably can't afford it.

Fred and I had a good discussion about this about a year ago. When does it stop? Land line, cable TV, broadband Internet, multiple cell phone, Netflix, satellite radio, etc, etc. We are being killed with products that have monthly service charges attached to them, and a huge percentage of our paychecks is going to these services. I have had enough. I'm not jumping on the bandwagon. This is also the reason why I will never have XM or Sirrius.
Click to expand...
The Nexrad system is owned by the taxpayers. You can see the displays on the net in realtime minus the short time it takes to rasterize the latest look and get it saved on the webserver. Updates typically take a couple of minutes to get out on the net. But you need to understand that the current generation of weather radars is doing what is called a volume scan. It looks at several elevations and makes several sweeps in order to deliver one rasterized picture of precipitation that you are accustomed to seeing on tv. Each picture takes 10 minutes to create in "clear air" mode and 4 to 6 minutes when it is raining. You can see the same animations or "loops" that you see on the XM service using a web browser, even one on an iphone. The data used to create the pics all comes from U.S. Radars owned by you and me.

What you are paying for with the XM service is for XM to gather and package the data and broadcast it to you over their satellite. XM's system will send you the feed no matter what the local weather picture is while with a cell phone you will always be at the mercy of the power to the cell phone towers. I would expect more reliability from XM than from the cell, but at what cost? Is it worth it to pay 10 bucks or more to XM every month just so you get to see the moving map on your GPS display rather than on your phone display? When I retire and become a storm chaser (in your dreams!) it might be worth it to get the additional reliability of the XM service. But for riding across the country all I need is to see where the big raindrops are coming down and where the tornado warnings are. I can get that on the web via my phone, maps and all, and keep my 10 bucks for that plate of enchiladas and a Tecate' at the end of the day. YMMV, of course.
 
#12 ·
I do not need any of the radar, XM, or any of the paid stuff or a GPS with any of this stuff on it.

I have the best weather prediction/information knopwn to man or woman and it is free. It is real simple to use.

Step 1

while Riding if your getting wet = it is raining :roll:

while riding if your sweating your ass off = hot :roll:

while riding if your getting hit = it is Hailing :roll:

while riding if you see a dark cloud = your about to get wet and hailed upon :roll:

Always in real time :flg: :lol:
 
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#13 ·
dusty74 said:
I do not need any of the radar, XM, or any of the paid stuff or a GPS with any of this stuff on it.

I have the best weather prediction/information knopwn to man or woman and it is free. It is real simple to use.

Step 1

while Riding if your getting wet = it is raining :roll:

while riding if your sweating your ass off = hot :roll:

while riding if your getting hit = it is Hailing :roll:

while riding if you see a dark cloud = your about to get wet and hailed upon :roll:

Always in real time :flg: :lol:
Click to expand...
That was good. :beer3:
 
#14 ·
Jon said:
LarryM said:
... When does it stop? Land line, cable TV, broadband Internet, multiple cell phone, Netflix, satellite radio, etc, etc. We are being killed with products that have monthly service charges attached to them, and a huge percentage of our paychecks is going to these services...
Click to expand...
Nobody can make you subscribe to any of these services - these are lifestyle choices that are not mandatory. You can still go and live in a mountain cabin and have a minimal exposure to these services if you like.

There's a ton of people in Idaho who live there for this very reason... :)
Click to expand...
You make a good point Jon. I could travel 40 miles, live like the Amish, and say to hell with all this high tech stuff. The problem is, I like high tech as much as anyone. I just want a little bang for my buck. For traveling business people, or those that travel extensively, I'm sure it makes sense.

I read a quote in and entrepreneur magazine a number of years ago where a wealthy businessman stated, "It is my job as an American business man to separate a fool from his money. Americans are such spendthrifts, they will buy anything if you can convince them they need it." (That is not an exact quote, and is partially paraphrased due to my poor memory.)
 
#16 ·
Fred H. said:
The Sky Watch subscription only costs $10 a month, and provides NexRad. Skywatch and a 376c is probably going to be your cheapest option for radar overlayed on a GPS.
Click to expand...
That is quite a bit less than the $25/month that everyone was mentioning last year. I assume you also have to pay for an XM subscription on top of that, correct?
 
#18 ·
LarryM said:
Fred H. said:
The Sky Watch subscription only costs $10 a month, and provides NexRad. Skywatch and a 376c is probably going to be your cheapest option for radar overlayed on a GPS.
Click to expand...
That is quite a bit less than the $25/month that everyone was mentioning last year. I assume you also have to pay for an XM subscription on top of that, correct?
Click to expand...
The Sailor package is $30. Skywatch is only $10, but it doesn't update as often. I think it updates every 15 minutes instead of every 5.
 
#19 ·
LD_RIDER,

"I use one of the six weather bands that every GL1800 comes with from the factory....cheap and seems to work ok."

You may already know this but you actually have a seventh (7th) Weather Station available on the GW Radio. There are only six buttons but if you toggle through using the selection switch on the left hand switches you can get to the seventh one.

Just an FYI . . . . .
 
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#20 ·
Gars said:
$50 activation fee and the $29 per month IIRC for the radar view.
Click to expand...
Actually, you can sign up for the SkyWatch and the activation fee is only $15 and the monthly fee is $10. And once you are signed up you can switch plans without paying the higher activation fee.

http://www.xmradio.com/weather/ma_service_pricing.xmc

LarryM said:
Once you get the bill for the Nexrad service, you will realize that there is no such thing as "affordable" when it comes to this option.
Click to expand...
Once you ride AROUND one thunderstorm, instead of headlong INTO it, you will realize that it is worth every penny, and then some. A couple years ago I watched several folks leave Marble Falls and ride right straight into a very bad hail storm and they got home bloody and bruised from it. I wonder how much they would have paid that day to have weather radar with them?
 
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