Garmin weather.. not thrilled so far?

Flot · 05-30-2008, 07:59 AM

Ok so I have a 4212 with a GDL30. I activated it a week ago with the "fisherman" (?) package.

I've only had a couple opportunities to play with the system but so far I'm not terribly impressed. Now I AM a fair weather boater, but last evening I was out and there were some fairly decent clouds all around... so I switch to "precipitation" on the weather screen and nothing. Nada. I make sure that "show cloud cover" is on but that seems to be my only option.

I switch to "wave height" and it paints the ocean a lighter blue color. Ok, fair enough, it was 2-4 all around.

Does "precipitation" literally only mean I'm going to see something if there's a big black cloud dumping rain nearby?

The first time I was out, I kept getting "Marine weather warning" notifications... with an "OK" button. No indication of where to find the warning or what it was.

I think I finally found that about 7 button pushes away.

Am I expecting too much? It seems like I am getting little to no data from the weather system, although it checks out fine... From all the comments I read I figured this was the best thing since pre-rigged bait... but for $35 a month I may go back to the old fashioned way...

Glen E · 05-30-2008, 08:56 AM

wait till you get a marine bulletin that reports a fast moving squall that you did not see and it saves you from getting drenched.....also allows you to drive around bad weather...saved my butt may times coming back from the bahamas where we were able to adjust our course to go around bad stuff...agreed on many days it's not needed...

bluewaterpirate · 05-30-2008, 09:28 AM

If the Marine Warning is for the area your boating in you'll know it. You get visual prompting (your display turns red and flashes) plus you'll get an audiable alarm if you have it turned on.

http://bluewaterpirate.phanfare.com/...ageID=21244592

http://bluewaterpirate.phanfare.com/...ageID=21244612

http://bluewaterpirate.phanfare.com/...ageID=37616416

Ocean Breeze · 05-30-2008, 09:57 AM

Tom, does the 545 have an external antenna for the GPS or is it internal? I know you need one for the XM but what about the Chartplotter?

bluewaterpirate · 05-30-2008, 09:59 AM

Comes with an internal but if you need to you can add an external one.

tarnold · 05-30-2008, 10:03 AM

Tom, have you found the surface temperature readings to being accurate and close to real time?

Thanks,

Tommy

bluewaterpirate · 05-30-2008, 10:12 AM

I'll let you know in a week ..... heading to Hatteras for 7 days of fishing! What I've seen so far they're within two degrees. Remember when your dislpaying the SST info using the newer Garmins you can get spot readings anywhere on the SST chart by just placing your cursor on a location.

http://bluewaterpirate.phanfare.com/...ageID=36670007

Birdman · 05-30-2008, 12:37 PM

Tom, you have an awsome collection of video's there. I hope Garmin is paying you properly for those!!!

How much is the service (monthly, yearly?) for the Weather module? I'm trying to decide if I should get it with my 5215. I will NOT have sat radio.

jcsp · 05-30-2008, 12:45 PM

Flot, from a pilot/boater who uses the product, my two-cents-worth is I'd tinker with it a little more before you give up. I really like the product, although my experience is in using a 496 "handheld" with the XM package, which I use for aviation and on the boat and I've had it for about 2 years. The NEXRAD data is slightly oversensitive, it actually shows light green returns that may not be there on the ground. This may be because the local NOAA radar is picking up returns off of haze, humidity or virga which is falling but never hits the ground. The storm cell function is probably as important as anything to boaters, because it will give you cloud height (i.e., intensity) and tell you where the storms are headed and how fast, allowing you to circumnavigate them and, perhaps, save a day of fishing/diving if not your life! I've been diving on days when it looked like the whole Gulf of Mexico was covered with red hatch marine warning, but the water outside of the storms was slick as glass. We were east of a water spout on that one, and stayed clear of any storms by 20 miles, thanks to this unit. From trying to fly around some really bad junk recently, I can tell you, it is spot-on for keeping you out of the soup/turbulence/lightning, etc.

I haven't used the 4212, but I wonder, if you zoom out or in, if it will change what you're seeing? It does on the 496. Can you cursor over to the weather on that unit? On the 496, it actually will show you how many decibels of "z" it is returning, which indicates the strength of the cell. You can go to the weather menu and see warning boxes, NEXRAD, tides, storm cells, etc. Also, are you getting XM audio as part of your subscription? I ask that because, in addition to being entertained, hearing the XM radio tells me that I'm getting good signal to update my weather. Are you sure your weather is updating every few minutes? I'm looking into a 5215 and may add the weather, but not if it doesn't function like the 496!

Glen E · 05-30-2008, 12:48 PM

It may just be my imagination but the Wx seems to work better when you use a "north up" orientation on the map rather than course up....

bluewaterpirate · 05-30-2008, 12:53 PM

Thanks Birdman ......

Got tired of trying to tell fellow boaters what they would see. A video/picture is sure worth a thousand words.

Fisherman Package 29.99 per month

Master Mariner Package 49.99 per month (I use this one).

Here you go ..... what you get for your money.

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

Glenn ......

Works fine North Up/CourseUp/TrackUp on the 545. There have been some software improvements/enhancements made to the new units to make this happen.

Flot · 05-30-2008, 01:29 PM

Well let me put it this way - if I look above me and I see big grey clouds, should the "preciptation" screen be showing them to me? Because last night, mine sure wasn't... I zoomed in and out and according to the signal meter at the top of the screen, had signal, but no weather in site for south florida... (nor any indication that it wasn't getting data?)

My problem of course is that I'm the one driving the boat and usually on some kind of mission - so haven't had a lot of time to fool around with it - but didn't even see very many options available...

jcsp · 05-30-2008, 02:13 PM

Not necessarily, Flot. If there's no precip coming from or in those big grey clouds, you won't get a return. Is the signal meter for XM or GPS?

If you go to your menu, you should see an entry for weather that you can hit to cycle through your available options.

sandyda · 05-31-2008, 12:14 PM

Thanks to XM weather, I just got the boat home and put to bed, drove home in light to heavy rain, sat down at this computer just in time for the Bottom to drop out above me. All I could see at the time was a darkening horizon, and now I can see about 18" in monsoon rain, thunder and lightning everywhere. This is some bad stuff, and now we're under a tornado watch in Maryland. I think I'll turn this off and unplug a few toys.

lazydawg · 05-31-2008, 12:24 PM

Though I've never subcribed to XM weather for my gld30a and 3210, my question is what else is there besides WYSIWYG and NOAA weather radio?
LD

Ethan · 05-31-2008, 01:22 PM

XM saved my butt today, We just drove around all the t-storm cells.

REDSTRIPE · 06-04-2008, 06:48 PM

It may be as easy as them sending a reset signal!!

DarthBaiter · 06-04-2008, 08:44 PM

I don't think it shows clouds unless it's producing rain.

I was out in the Hudson River last week and the sun was out. My 478 showed a green patch of light showercoming towards me at a good clip. I was in doubt as the sun was shining and I saw no cloud that looked like it was raining. But sure enough, a minute later, I got hit with a sun shower. The XM weather was dead on.