Do you suspend your SiriusXM during the winter?

[neilpilot]

49 minutes ago, M016576 said:

The only company worse than Sirius XM to deal with is Jeppeson!  Talk to three different sales people, get three different answers for pricing/packages... and then what finally shows up in your subscription isn’t even the right nav data... man, I REALLY wish we had an alternate source for panel mounted nav data.

Well I must be doing something wrong.  Except for having trouble finding out how I can pay my annual invoice online, I've had no issues with Jepps data for my GNS430W over the past decade.  Now Comcast is another story.....

[Andy95W]

6 hours ago, steingar said:

One of the happier days of my life was the one during which I got to cancel XM permanently. I had never before witnessed such a dysfunctional company. Why anyone would bother with them in the age of ADSB is beyond me.

Same here.  I tried for 3 months to cancel my subscription.  On the 3rd month, my credit card expired.  They asked for my new credit card number for almost 6 months.

[flyboy0681]

6 hours ago, neilpilot said:

Guess we've been lucky.  Haven't had a problem with XM weather service or billing.  On several recent flights with significant weather I've compared ADSB to XM, and the ADSB radar was definitely inferior. 

On the flight down to Panama City for the Summit, I flew through a relatively weak segment of a strong cold front near Montgomery to get on the east side before continuing south.  Based on 4 inputs (XM, ADSB, Stormscope and visual) the ADSB image was substandard since it not only painted a partial picture but seemed to include a much greater delay than XM.  The weather was where XM showed it, and not where it was depicted on my ADSB. 

Aviation Consumer ran an article comparing the two and Sirius definitely came out ahead, and I must agree. The biggest difference, which is quite noticeable,  is the fidelity of the Sirius image. Sirius contains many more pixels than ADS-B, where the Sirius weather is very fine and blended, ADS-B paints large boxes of pixels.

[N231BN]

The limitations of FIS-B weather becomes more apparent the faster you go. A Citation can outrun the regional weather update so you are stuck with the horrid resolution of national nexrad.

Also, FIS-B doesn't load metars across the whole country. Sometimes you could be within 100 miles of your destination before it's weather report loads.

[neilpilot]

27 minutes ago, flyboy0681 said:

Aviation Consumer ran an article comparing the two and Sirius definitely came out ahead, and I must agree. The biggest difference, which is quite noticeable,  is the fidelity of the Sirius image. Sirius contains many more pixels than ADS-B, where the Sirius weather is very fine and blended, ADS-B paints large boxes of pixels.

My observation described above goes beyond the expected advantage of XM over ADSB radar depiction, i.e. that XM paints a higher quality image.  From my experience specific to the flight down to Summit in late September, the cells positions indicated by ADSB were significantly delayed relative to XM.  If I didn't have XM on that flight, and relied entirely on ADSB, the radar imagry would have been grossly misleading.

 

[Bryan]

Sorry to revive an old thread, but without calling SiriusXM and get on their spam list, what is the best rate you are paying for XM Aviation Weather and Audio?

I am considering adding a (legacy) SXAR1 or a GDL 51/52 in my plane.  Today I used music on my phone Bluetooth'd to my audio panel for music and have FIS-B weather + Strikefinder.  Just trying to figure out if the monthly subscription is worth it to me.

[exM20K]

1 hour ago, Bryan said:

Sorry to revive an old thread, but without calling SiriusXM and get on their spam list, what is the best rate you are paying for XM Aviation Weather and Audio?

I am considering adding a (legacy) SXAR1 or a GDL 51/52 in my plane.  Today I used music on my phone Bluetooth'd to my audio panel for music and have FIS-B weather + Strikefinder.  Just trying to figure out if the monthly subscription is worth it to me.

Another advantage for us G1000 owners: no such dilema!  ADS-B no worky!

Seriously.... I keep the XM weather and entertainment going year round.  I do, like most, have a protable ADS-B WX solution (Stratus 2s), and I find it useful.  But the quality, update frequency, preflight availablilty, and range of coverage with SiriusXM is worth it for me.

Cost?  Doesn't even make the needle quiver.  Plane TCO excluding cost of funds is ~$30,000 per year.  Sirius XM is < $500 per year, which includes:

• Aviator LT weather, but getting a lot of features of the higher tier (winds aloft, freezing levels, etc) dunno why.  
• Entertainment (plane)
• 2 cars (all the channels)
• 1 motorcycle (150ish channels).

There are some different plans available depending on the hardware - XM or Sirius.

this

or for us legacy folks

This

 

The LT with the extra features for free is a pretty good value IMHO.  Family discounts and haggling w/ SXM can get pricing down.

 

[steingar]

Why anyone would pay for XM in the age of ADSB is beyond me.  I have never in  my life witness a more dysfunctional company than XM.  Cutting them off gave my more pleasure than blowing off any other service provider ever has.  I am amazed they're still in business.

[neilpilot]

23 minutes ago, steingar said:

Why anyone would pay for XM in the age of ADSB is beyond me.  I have never in  my life witness a more dysfunctional company than XM.  Cutting them off gave my more pleasure than blowing off any other service provider ever has.  I am amazed they're still in business.

did you read my 11/17 post above?  That's why

[Andy95W]

6 hours ago, neilpilot said:

did you read my 11/17 post above?  That's why

I read your 11/17 post.  Using either XM or ADS-B as a means of tactical avoidance of thunderstorms is nuts.  XM might've been better on the day in question, but it can still have significant delays.

On-board radar or spherics is the only safe and effective way to avoid weather.

[larryb]

I’ll take all the help I can get. So it is ADSB, SXM, and stormscope in my plane. Oh, looking out the window too. Sure, you can fly without any of this. And pilots did for decades. But it is available now and I’m going to use it all.

[LANCECASPER]

12 hours ago, Bryan said:

Sorry to revive an old thread, but without calling SiriusXM and get on their spam list, what is the best rate you are paying for XM Aviation Weather and Audio?

I am considering adding a (legacy) SXAR1 or a GDL 51/52 in my plane.  Today I used music on my phone Bluetooth'd to my audio panel for music and have FIS-B weather + Strikefinder.  Just trying to figure out if the monthly subscription is worth it to me.

For audio I buy the All Access plan even though its 20.99 per month. I can use it on my GDL52, on my iPhone I can stream it in any car I'm in. I can use it on my computer. tablet. etc

[bradp]

I kept the $10/month cheapest boating subscription for my GDL-69.  It’s useful.  The main advantage of the ADSB product is that it will animate whereas the XM is static.  Seeing whether something is building or dissipating over time and which direction it’s heading in is key for strategic avoidance.  The blogs on ADSB are there just to remind us that it’s not to be used for tactical avoidance :-) 

Now when can I get a real-time data feed of an individual nexrad / approach terminal beamed into the cockpit over FIS-B?  

[aviatoreb]

4 hours ago, bradp said:

I kept the $10/month cheapest boating subscription for my GDL-69.  It’s useful.  The main advantage of the ADSB product is that it will animate whereas the XM is static.  Seeing whether something is building or dissipating over time and which direction it’s heading in is key for strategic avoidance.  The blogs on ADSB are there just to remind us that it’s not to be used for tactical avoidance :-) 

Now when can I get a real-time data feed of an individual nexrad / approach terminal beamed into the cockpit over FIS-B?  

I also have the boating subscription.  It works. $10.  Not bad.  I consider my XM weather as the backup for when I am not in a situation where I can receive ADSB which is relatively often as I live in remote rural.  So especially low altitudes.  But that boat subscription still has reporting stations textual data, including airports.  And the Nexrad images, so its pretty good.  In fact, I keep the Garmin 510 because it can get the boating subscription but I worry that if I were to upgrade to the 660, that it would be unable to get the boating subscription since then XM would be wise to my cheap-bastardness.  Does anyone else receive boating on the 660?

[steingar]

18 hours ago, neilpilot said:

did you read my 11/17 post above?  That's why

If you really need the increased resolution of XM I promise you you're doing it wrong.  The purpose of this stuff is strategic planning, not threading the needle.

[Jerry 5TJ]

As a highly SUBJECTIVE note:  I’ve found the XM display tends to match the on-board RDR2000 radar depiction somewhat better than does the ADS-B regional radar.  

Perhaps it is the color rendering.  Perhaps the pixel size.  Perhaps image age.  In any case that’s only true within 40-60 miles of significant weather.  

Best of all — Use both XM and ADS-B IN, plus Stormscope strike data.  The ship’s radar is the most expensive and generally least useful tool: Except when you get within 40 miles of a Cb.