Garmin 496 - XM Weather

I'm planning to buy a Garmin 496. I just talked to the XM weather folks to see how much the 120 xm radio channel option would cost. The lady told me that with the WX subscription you can get the XM radio function for $6/mon. If you have a subscription for your auto, you can change it to the family plan for $6/mon. also.

Did I understand correctly? and is that what you are paying?

Garmin 496 w/ XM WX

I have the Garmin 496 with XM weather only for 29.99/month. You will really like it for flying X/C. My friend pays for and has wired XM radio into his headsets and says it's about $6.00 to add to the aviation subscription. Enjoy it! Joe Hesano

I don't have the service but this is the way i understand it.

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

On my 396 I have just the aviator lite subscription and that's good enough for me, and I pay the extra $6/mo for music. In the past I've used 396's that have the full XM packages and found the satellite mosaic (clouds) is hit or miss, sometimes grossly inaccurate. Winds aloft has been hit or miss also. Last year coming home from SNF as a flight of 7 RV's/Rockets we flew under a low overcast for about 200 miles that never showed up as clouds on the 396. I thought it was just me until I talked to Tom Martin after we got home who experienced the same thing with his brand-new 496. Nexrad on the 396 has always been accurate, and really all I've found I've needed is nexrad and metars, which you get with the aviator lite subscription. Having the cloud picture is of limited usefulness since you don't know how they're layered, but the metars along your route of flight will tell you that.

rocketbob said:

...Last year coming home from SNF as a flight of 7 RV's/Rockets we flew under a low overcast for about 200 miles that never showed up as clouds on the 396. I thought it was just me until I talked to Tom Martin after we got home who experienced the same thing with his brand-new 496. Nexrad on the 396 has always been accurate, and really all I've found I've needed is nexrad and metars, which you get with the aviator lite subscription. Having the cloud picture is of limited usefulness since you don't know how they're layered, but the metars along your route of flight will tell you that.

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I agree the cloud picture is of limited usefulness. Shoot I don't care if there are clouds or not as long as they aren't low.

For me the NEXRAD is not accurate as I live near some shaded areas. That is why I get the higher level subscription. It has lightning which will show me where thunderstorms are when the radar doesn't.

By the way, winds aloft forecasts have never been accurate and they probably never will be. And forecasts are what we get on the XM weather (they are a little vague on some of these things, like what kind of satellite cloud photo that is).

I agree with all of the above - Aviator Lite will give you all that you really need, but the lightning is a good addition if you want a full picture of convective weatehr..... and the six bucks for music is a GREAT addition for those long solo cross-countries - or flying Acro to some serious rock!

Paul

How?

Ironflight said:

I agree with all of the above - Aviator Lite will give you all that you really need, but the lightning is a good addition if you want a full picture of convective weatehr..... and the six bucks for music is a GREAT addition for those long solo cross-countries - or flying Acro to some serious rock!

Paul

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What additional is needed to get the music to play through your headset? What are the wiring issues/challenges? thanks

Build9A said:

What additional is needed to get the music to play through your headset? What are the wiring issues/challenges? thanks

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If your audio panel has an "Aux IN" port, you just gt a patch cable with a mini stereo plug on each end and you're done. If you don't have that, you can get an adapter for your headset that has a similar plug - and many modern headsets already have a a jack!

Paul