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Originally Posted by jjconstant
I'm not at all familiar with AvnWx past the link you provided, but a quick glance at it shows that it doesn't seem to do one of the things I love about Weathermeister and that is to show TFRs and Restricted and MOAs right on the map. Mouse hover over them and you get the info. I find it very intuitive for flight/route planning and weather. It also has great depth of information but organized in a way that makes it easy to determine what info you would like to bore down into and the one click gets you that info. It pulls Wx info from lots of different areas, organizes it for a pilot's ease of use, provides quick links to Airnav for airport info, compares fuel prices along a user defined radius from your route, one click digital sectionals etc. etc.
I've been using it for a few years now and the comfort level I have with it is great enough that I have no need to look for alternatives, even if they are cheaper. If anyone is just starting out on picking a package, then it would be interesting to see an ease of use, depth of info, cost comparison, but I doubt you could beat WeatherMeister. I'm just not interested in investing many hours of my time to thoroughly compare the products to see if I could save 15 bucks a year. Call me "big spender"! Also...no ads!
Do you use AvnWx? If so, maybe a pirep for the rest of use who have given a pirep on WeatherMeister...
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Jeremy, I spent an hour on each site and find that both sites have an amazing amount of useful information. AvnWx does have TFRs, restricted and special use airspaces right on their free-access map, along with a whole bunch of other stuff including current airport weathers (Metars), but you have to check the displays you want in the View box on the upper left side of the screen.
Both Weathermeister and AvnWx require a subscription to get full weather briefs, Notams, Pireps, forecasts (TAFs), winds aloft, and more. Neither subscription-based service shows advertisements. The free-side of AvnWx requests donations, and is similar to an upgraded combination of Runwayfinder.com and NavMonster.com, which were probably forced down by a patent troll.
Some differences that Weathermeister calculates are the optimal altitudes for speed or economy cruising, based on winds-aloft forecasts. Weathermeister gives you fuel prices along your intended route (obtained through AirNav.com). Weathermeister gives you a ground-elevation profile along your route (Route Elevation Profile), as well as distances, transit times, and fuel burns, at different altitudes. Weathermeister also includes a link for filing flight plans through Duats.com, with information from your own aircraft profile.