Used GPS

[Fly_Unity]

I vote for the Garmin eTrex as well really cheap and tells you everything you NEED to know (except weather) like track, course, ETA, ETE etc. I just spent several hours programing all the Lats and longs of my state's airports in there and I was all set

I did a 11 hour cross country yesterday in the 172, and I sure did miss the weather. Im pretty sure flight watch got tired of me calling in so much hehe. The Garmin 1000 has me spoiled

 

[killbilly]

XM weather's importance depends on your mission. I don't see its value for VFR flight and, for IFR, where I fly, its usually severe clear visual and "actual" typically means ice, thunderstorms or cumulo-granite. So the extra initial and recurring cost of XM weather wasn't worth it to me. Change my geographic location so I have a lot more flyable actual, and my calculation changes.

Curious - I've never done any flying in CO. Do you guys have the same problems with pop-up thunderstorms and fast-building cumulus-about-to-unleash-a-flood that we have in TX? I don't know what your weather is typically like.

Down here, you can stand outside in the summer for 15 minutes and watch a little puffy cloud turn into a 30-40-thousand foot tall monster. It's unreal sometimes, how fast they build here.

 

[drunkenbeagle]

Down here, you can stand outside in the summer for 15 minutes and watch a little puffy cloud turn into a 30-40-thousand foot tall monster. It's unreal sometimes, how fast they build here.

Here in FL, we get our fair share of thunderstorms. They are usually pretty isolated though. Flying around them is generally not a problem (as long as you can stay VMC to see them)

 

[tommychuck]

We get a fair amount T-storm activity in the summer but it's usually fairly isolated and only happens in the afternoon.

Being close to the mountains, you get a lot of stuff that starts developing locally but then moves further east, out on to the plains. That's where you see the big old anvil heads.

I remember on my ASEL checkride, my DE flew his 152 into the local airport just before a cell passed over and we had to wait it out (all of about 30 minutes). He took this down time to point out a cumulonimbus cloud and give me the definition of the word protuberances:

"Cumulonimbus mamma is a cumulonimbus cloud having hanging protuberances like pouches, testes or udders on the underside of the cloud"

 

[TUCKnTRUCK]

Not to be a nay sayer.. but is the liquid status of XM sure to stay? Right now I don't think that feature is what I would base my choice on.

 

[MidlifeFlyer]

Not to be a nay sayer.. but is the liquid status of XM sure to stay? Right now I don't think that feature is what I would base my choice on.

My WAG is that if XM/Sirius goes under, the XM weather component will be bought by another company. It's become too popular in aviation and too tied into other products.