Strike Finder - keep it or lose it?

[MooneyBob]

My Insight Strike Finder went bad. To repair or replace it will cost me over $ 1500. I never used it before as I got my IR just now. My dilemma is should I get it repaired and keep it or should I get rid of that and gain some panel space for future improvement?

I use Garmin Pilot that has pretty good weather features and radar. I know it is a not real time weather but I have no intentions to weave any storms.

What is your experience with the lighting detection devices?

Thanks

[PTK]

Bob. datalink weather shows precipitation ONLY.

The color graphics are nice but you don't know what is lurking in there. It may just be precipitation (mature or dissipating phase) or it may also be convective activity of developing cumulous phase. Remember you still need moisture for cumulous phase.

Only a stormscope can show you real time electrical discharges.

Also datalink wx is on the average about 6 min old. That's the age thrown around and that's VERY OLD considering a thunderstorm in cumulous stage can build thousands of feet per minute! You just don't know how much rising warm air below is fueling it.

It also depends on your flying. If you will be flying lots of IFR in rain you definitely need a stormscope and datalink wx. You should have both. Use the cockpit wx for strategic planning and use the stormscope as a tactical tool. More info is better.

My vote would be to keep it.

[Rwsavory]

I just used ours last weekend to avoid convection on a trip. We also have XM weather, but there is a significant delay with NEXRAD. Thunderstorms can bubble up quickly. It's not a matter of weaving through storms, it's the comfort in knowing that the coast is clear ahead. I would get it fixed.

[rbridges]

$1500?  Id probably keep it if it were up to me.  

[Bob_Belville]

I would keep it as well. I spent $1200 to rebuild my Stormscope a few months after buying my Mooney. Safety is priceless. I have NEXRAD displayed on a big  GTN750 screen but that info is not nearly as helpful as real time SS strikes.  

[RobertE]

I'm in the same boat - a Stormscope that has gone bad. Where did you get the $1500 approx quote? When I talked to L3 ( now owners of the product line) their minimum was $2,700. If you've found a place that will and can repair for less I'd be interested. My problem is a bad power supply.

[Jerry 5TJ]

I use both the stormscope and the XM weather in concert.   Lightning strikes are among the 'products' shown on the XM data, and when within range of the stormscope (about 100 miles on average) they generally agree with the strikes shown on the stormscope, but the XM strike updates come about every 5 to 10 minutes. 

The stormscope shows strikes real time; when Cb are actively forming you can see strikes pile up in seconds where none were visible one or two minutes before. 

I have used XM NEXRAD to pick the general area to fly through when in cloud with embedded Cb around (though not closer than about 50 miles) and I used the stormscope to 'fine tune' the path to stay as far from active strikes as practical. 

If you have a good stormscope or Insight system you can revive for 1.5 AMU I suggest, yes, it is worthwhile.   

[FlyDave]

I'd get it repaired and keep it.

As Jerry said, if you have XM it'll show lightning strikes (albeit +/- 10 minutes old) but if you're using ADS-B, lightning strikes are not one of the products offered (currently).

Having real time info on something like lightning is invaluable - even if you use it once in 5 years. If it saves you're bacon once then it will have been money well spent.

[cujet]

"If" it provides accurate lightning data, it's a very worthwhile tool. Some of them are quite inaccurate, either due to installation errors, poor design or faulty equipment. When yours was functional, did it match what you saw? If so, repair it. 

[Marauder]

I'd get it repaired and keep it.

As Jerry said, if you have XM it'll show lightning strikes (albeit +/- 10 minutes old) but if you're using ADS-B, lightning strikes are not one of the products offered (currently).

Having real time info on something like lightning is invaluable - even if you use it once in 5 years. If it saves you're bacon once then it will have been money well spent.

I agree with Dave. Keeping it makes sense. I pulled my WX-8 out and wish I had something to replace it with economically.

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[carusoam]

Some are easier to use than others...

A strike finder connected with a heading source?( there is a name for this) can be really helpful.

It points out unstable air from 100s of miles away, and of course, lightning strikes.

It is real time, in your plane, fair warning... And still takes practice to use properly.

Most of my flying days, there is nothing on that screen.....

This is from mostly old memories,

-a-

[N201MKTurbo]

If you don't want it I'll take it.

[Mooneymite]

+1

 

Keep it.

 

Unless you have airborne radar, it is your only source of real-time weather.

[Marauder]

Some are easier to use than others...

A strike finder connected with a heading source?( there is a name for this) can be really helpful.

It points out unstable air from 100s of miles away, and of course, lightning strikes.

It is real time, in your plane, fair warning... And still takes practice to use properly.

Most of my flying days, there is nothing on that screen.....

This is from mostly old memories,

-a-

I flew for years with the WX-8 and found it to be accurate only in a general sense. Because of radial spread, the display mechanism (lighted blocks instead of individual strikes) and the lack of heading synchronization, it pointed out areas where I didn't want to be, but not specific areas.

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[MooneyBob]

Thank you.

I will keep it.

[WardHolbrook]

Wise choice

[DonMuncy]

I think this is the first thread I have ever seen with unanimous comments.

[Jeev]

I use both the stormscope and the XM weather in concert.   Lightning strikes are among the 'products' shown on the XM data, and when within range of the stormscope (about 100 miles on average) they generally agree with the strikes shown on the stormscope, but the XM strike updates come about every 5 to 10 minutes. 

The stormscope shows strikes real time; when Cb are actively forming you can see strikes pile up in seconds where none were visible one or two minutes before. 

I have used XM NEXRAD to pick the general area to fly through when in cloud with embedded Cb around (though not closer than about 50 miles) and I used the stormscope to 'fine tune' the path to stay as far from active strikes as practical. 

If you have a good stormscope or Insight system you can revive for 1.5 AMU I suggest, yes, it is worthwhile.   

One more vote for keep and fix it. Above is exactly what I do.

[WardHolbrook]

I think this is the first thread I have ever seen with unanimous comments.

No it's not. 

[Marauder]

No it's not.

What was the other one? "Aviation is too expensive"

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[DaV8or]

I think this is the first thread I have ever seen with unanimous comments.

 

I'll be the outlier. If you do nothing but fly in California, get rid of it! If you fly anywhere else, well, you'll probably want it someday.

[AmigOne]

I have flown many hours behind the earlier Stormscopes and newer Strikefinders.  And also a few times across South America where weather information was very limited and you had to plan very carefully your alternates.  I remember seeing those dots materialize and disappear just as fast as we were flying through small cumulus with no adverse effects.  So after a while you begin to disregard these dots.  I would choose XM weather anytime over SF because: I can see the weather in great detail miles away and it does not matter that it is 1/2 hr old because as I get closer if I don't like what I see I land.  I will never be embedded trying to cross a line of weather because I consider it the most dangerous thing a pilot can do. In broad terms I can see what is in front and what is behind well enough to make a decision because I want wide spaces to cross a line and I will only do it if I see blue on the other side.  XM weather allows me to determine the vertical development of the cloud mass, another useful feature.  But most important: I never have to be anywhere.  The accident pages is full of pilots that apparently had. 

[John Pleisse]

I still have mine. It is one of the first analogue units and it is excellent. A few years back, I finished my run up and was about to take off when I noticed the SF (set on 200) painting a large mass of convection 150 miles to my northeast. I had checked the weather before flight and knew nothing of any such weather. When I returned, I double checked the weather to find a mesoscale just off the coast of Atlantic City, 95 miles to my northeast. The Strikefinder picked up this activity in the DC area...while on the ground. I have Stormscope experience as well. The older 10-A's don't do as good of a job. If your unit is an older analogue unit, they are barely worth the repair costs vs. newer digital unit. If the price doesn't go higher than $1,500, I think I'd do it once.....but not a second time.

 

Great thing to have when you just realized the battery in the I-pad just went down.

[MooneyBob]

I have sent it out for repair and it came back in 4 days and it cost $420. So I am very happy and I am keeping it. I already put it back in the plane.