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Radar Omega

Tom Mull

EF0
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
41
Location
Wildwood, MO
Has anyone used the Radar Omega app on their phone yet? If so, what do you think of it?

How does it compare to PYKL3? Does it give as much information as PYKL3?
 
I'm a beta tester for Radar Omega, and yes, it is just as good or better than pykl3. pykl3 was a bit more customizable, but Radar Omega has a lot of options to work with. I'd give it a try. It's definitely a great supplement to Radarscope.
 
Jason Boggs said:
I'm a beta tester for Radar Omega, and yes, it is just as good or better than pykl3. pykl3 was a bit more customizable, but Radar Omega has a lot of options to work with. I'd give it a try. It's definitely a great supplement to Radarscope.
Click to expand...
I don't know if I agree with you that Radar Omega is that good. Do you know how to get it to show where there is hail and size? What about tornado vortex signature and cloud rotation? All these options were easy to set up in PYKL3.
 
Tom Mull said:
I don't know if I agree with you that Radar Omega is that good. Do you know how to get it to show where there is hail and size? What about tornado vortex signature and cloud rotation? All these options were easy to set up in PYKL3.
Click to expand...
Of course! RadarOmega has that and a WHOLE lot more. Satellite data, models, metar data, hail size, CC, 10 different background maps, customizable warnings/watches, audible alert when it updates a new radar image, customizable radar table, smoothing, split screen, realtime lightning, etc. Need me to go on? LOL All in all it's better than what Pykl3 was. Now, I will say that some of these features are a monthly cost. I pay 11 bucks a month, and it's well worth it, but I'm a radar nerd, so it is what it is.
 
Jason Boggs said:
Of course! RadarOmega has that and a WHOLE lot more. Satellite data, models, metar data, hail size, CC, 10 different background maps, customizable warnings/watches, audible alert when it updates a new radar image, customizable radar table, smoothing, split screen, realtime lightning, etc. Need me to go on? LOL All in all it's better than what Pykl3 was. Now, I will say that some of these features are a monthly cost. I pay 11 bucks a month, and it's well worth it, but I'm a radar nerd, so it is what it is.
Click to expand...
Is there an online user's group for Radaromega to help new users get up to speed on the app? I know there are Facebook and Twitter groups, but it looks like they discuss the weather more than the app.
 
Steven Hanis said:
For those who use Radar Omega, what would you miss the most without paying for a monthly subscription?
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I have had the basic Radar Omega for about a week. To be honest, I think the basic app is pretty much a "bait and switch" come-on to get you to buy a subscription. The basic app gives you just enough info to get you to buy it, but to get what you really need, you have to buy a monthly subscription.

I would suggest getting wX Radar instead of the basic Radar Omega. You get more weather info with wX than you do with the basic Radar Omega and wX is free.
 
To be fair, I think most apps require a payment to get the full experience. There is free stuff out there, but I feel like you get what you pay for. The exception is wX. I love wX and use it regularly for it's wealth of info, but I still prefer Radarscope for radar display. I mentioned to wX's developer, @Joshua Tee, that he should add a donate function, as I would gladly throw some $ his way to keep the app ad-free, and to reward his efforts. I don't mind spending a little to get quality, but YMMV. Just comes down to what you need, what you want, and what you're willing to pay for it.

Have you considered GR or WSV3, or are you strictly looking for something compatible with phones?
 
Mark Gressman Jr said:
To be fair, I think most apps require a payment to get the full experience. There is free stuff out there, but I feel like you get what you pay for. The exception is wX. I love wX and use it regularly for it's wealth of info, but I still prefer Radarscope for radar display. I mentioned to wX's developer, @Joshua Tee, that he should add a donate function, as I would gladly throw some $ his way to keep the app ad-free, and to reward his efforts. I don't mind spending a little to get quality, but YMMV. Just comes down to what you need, what you want, and what you're willing to pay for it.

Have you considered GR or WSV3, or are you strictly looking for something compatible with phones?
Click to expand...

Radarscope's radar is not at the level that MyRadar's radar display is at.
GR is an OK software but the movement around the 3d visualization is not good. It restricts movement to just orbiting around the 3d origin, and when zooming it places the camera in a restricted radius around the 3d origin. It's also limited to perspective projection and doesn't offer an orthographic or isomorphic rendering.

WSV3 is insane. They want you to disable your machine's virtualization which includes what the system requires for anti-virus protection.

"• Firewalls/anti-virus: As stated on the Download page, anti-virus is not supported. If you must use it, expect it to ruin your ability to use WSV3. However, if you must use a firewall (also not supported), V5.1-onwards should give you much better chances at a normal user experience due to the long-awaited elimination of the old, inferior direct-connect MySQL “optimization server” which required access to Port 3306. All WSV3 traffic should now exclusively occur over HTTP/HTTPS (Ports 80 and 443), however we cannot officially guarantee support with firewalls at this time."

Such desperate strategies are red flags.
Joshua Tee has the most decent tool.
 
Shawn Harrison said:
Radarscope's radar is not at the level that MyRadar's radar display is at.
Click to expand...

I don’t understand how you can say RadarScope is not at the level of MyRadar. MyRadar (bottom image) is smoothed and is nowhere near the resolution of RadarScope (top image). Or am I just not using the right version or settings? Admittedly I have not spent much time in the MyRadar app.

IMG_1798.jpegIMG_1797.png
 
JamesCaruso said:
I don’t understand how you can say RadarScope is not at the level of MyRadar. MyRadar (bottom image) is smoothed and is nowhere near the resolution of RadarScope (top image). Or am I just not using the right version or settings? Admittedly I have not spent much time in the MyRadar app.

View attachment 24074View attachment 24075
Click to expand...

I played around with MyRadar, but deleted it. You have to pay the $20/year premium upgrade to get the "professional radar" features like base reflectivity and velocity detail from individual radar sites. I never did the subscription, so have no idea if the premium features are up to par with the likes of RadarScope or Radar Omega.
 
While I agree with James about Radarscope being better, I also recognize preference on display is very subjective.... different strokes for different folks. I was more so approving with Shawn's comments on the Wx app, which has served me very well over the last few years. It's such an amazing resource for important info, all in one place.

I also found his critiques of the laptop software to be useful, as I'm looking to step up into something more comprehensive radar wise. Still need to do more research, and run a trial of GRAE vs WSV3, but I'm also curious if AWIPS 2 is worth the effort of setting up. Seems to be the best overall, but least user friendly.

The pricing of various apps is also a factor. I've come to realize that a lot of what's offered in Radarscope Tier 2 is available for free if you know where to look. I think it comes down to what UI/display the user likes best, as they're all pretty comparable and will get the job done.
 
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