• After witnessing the continued decrease of involvement in the SpotterNetwork staff in serving SN members with troubleshooting issues recently, I have unilaterally decided to terminate the relationship between SpotterNetwork's support and Stormtrack. I have witnessed multiple users unable to receive support weeks after initiating help threads on the forum. I find this lack of response from SpotterNetwork officials disappointing and a failure to hold up their end of the agreement that was made years ago, before I took over management of this site. In my opinion, having Stormtrack users sit and wait for so long to receive help on SpotterNetwork issues on the Stormtrack forums reflects poorly not only on SpotterNetwork, but on Stormtrack and (by association) me as well. Since the issue has not been satisfactorily addressed, I no longer wish for the Stormtrack forum to be associated with SpotterNetwork.

    I apologize to those who continue to have issues with the service and continue to see their issues left unaddressed. Please understand that the connection between ST and SN was put in place long before I had any say over it. But now that I am the "captain of this ship," it is within my right (nay, duty) to make adjustments as I see necessary. Ending this relationship is such an adjustment.

    For those who continue to need help, I recommend navigating a web browswer to SpotterNetwork's About page, and seeking the individuals listed on that page for all further inquiries about SpotterNetwork.

    From this moment forward, the SpotterNetwork sub-forum has been hidden/deleted and there will be no assurance that any SpotterNetwork issues brought up in any of Stormtrack's other sub-forums will be addressed. Do not rely on Stormtrack for help with SpotterNetwork issues.

    Sincerely, Jeff D.

Garmin 396 -- the ultimate gadget?

Tim Vasquez

Tim Vasquez

EF5
Joined
Dec 4, 2003
Messages
3,411
A nod to Jay Cazel who brought this up in November, but no one really followed up on it. I was looking through a copy of Sporty's pilot catalog a few days ago and saw the Garmin 396, shown below. It has radar data from XM satellite composited with all the usual GPS information. Plus it gives you full raw METAR reports.

The downside? The MSRP is $2695 (and I'm guessing the XM data is extra). But it's pretty neat... and with a lot of chasers being into gadgetry I'm sure someone will go for it this spring.

gpsmap396.jpg


This page has some interesting screen shots. Also here is the manufacturer's product page.
 
Garmin is located right here in Olathe, and I have a few friends who work there. If anyone needs a discount on this, I can receive up to 40 percent sometimes 60 via employees. Would love to have this as anyone would, and I believe this one can hook up to your laptop vs. the 376c (which can't). I don't have the cash for this although I'm sure someone does.
 
You can get the Garmin 376c for $800-$600 used it has:

* Current conditions
* City forecasts
* NEXRAD Radar
* Surface air pressure
* Surface analysis
* Lightning
* Storm cells
* Hurricane track
* Visibility forecast
* Wind speed & Direction
* Sea surface temperature
* Wave period
* Wave direction
* Wave height
* Buoy data

The MSRP is $999, if this unit starts selling used for $500 before April I might take the plunge. Of course the issue for me is really the size of the screen. Both the 376c and the 396 appear to have better radar data (though maybe because it's not Baron smooth). The 396 really has it all but until the price comes down significantly, I think the 376c might be worth it.
 
I think they use the same WX-Worx data feed... The link on the Garmin page points to http://www.xmradio.com/weather/index.html , which appears to be the same stuff as WxWorx. In addition, the Garmin pages indicate that the Master Mariner package is $50/mo (not including activation), but there are some $30/mo packages...
 
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