Thought this might help before you try it.
After much frustration with my AnywhereMap XM weather downloads, I
went looking for a new source of in-flight weather information. I
have had it with the lack of reliablilty with the XM data downloads,
and didn't want to break the bank, either, going with a 496 or
something. I had seen several ads for the new Garmin Pilot Mycast
available for cell phones, and for the price, $10 per month, I
thought I'd give it a shot.
One word: Wow!
The longer description:
On my LG-EnV phone, it is absolutely incredible!
The radar pictures are excellent. I was worried that on such a small
screen the resolution would be terrible, but comparing it here side-by-
side with the NOAA images on my computer, there is almost no
difference. The only downside is that there is only one level of zoom,
either tight or wide. Not a huge issue. The data download is
incredibly fast; nothing takes more than a few seconds, and it is a
moving radar loop, not a static picture.
The Route planning is easy. Select your departure, destination, and
any waypoints, and the weather briefing will include data for all
re****ting points between you and your destination, either in METAR/
Decoded Metar text data format, or graphically with a weather map
depiction. It will also give Sigmets, Airmets, TFRs, lightning strike
data, and graphical pireps. In addition, the depiction of current
weather at re****ting stations with a multi-colored pie is easy to
read. Need to know where to go for an alternate? Just look for Green/
Green for the nearest re****ting station with VFR ceiling and
visibility.
Weather can either be displayed for your whole route, or you can
select a nearby air****t to zoom in on for a better view of local
conditions. This is very useful for long routes.
The flight planning ****tion worked as advertised as well. I put in my
airplane data and pilot information, and my CSC-Duats access
information, and it does the rest. So far, I've not had any issues
with flight plans being lost. It stores routes and individual
air****ts, so after I set them up, I just select from a scroll down
list for which route I want. I don't know how many different routes
or air****ts it will store, but I have about 20 in so far.
So far, it has been very easy to use. I figured most of the features
out jsut playing with it, then I went back to the manual available
online to figure out anything I didn't understand and to learn some of
the tricks (FE: use the arrow keys to scroll between re****ted pireps
on the map, then press OK to see the text data from the pirep).
I haven't got my first bill from Verizon yet, so I don't know if there
is additional charges for the data connetion, but at $10 a month for
the application, I would highly recommend this, even if only for the
coolness of sitting here at my desk, checking the currently crappy
weather, and dreaming about flying!
Vic
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