Weather Defender out this Friday

[Joey Ketcham]

Honestly, I don't think I like the idea of emergency managers and first responders using Weather Defender as a means of getting radar data, watches and warning after seeing how it performed on Saturday during the severe weather across central Kansas. The first MD that was issued for the day in Central Kansas, I never did see it pop up on Weather Defender. An hour later it wasn't displaying the watch either and god only knows how well it handled the warnings, I uninstalled it for a second time by the time it got to that point.

Emergency managers are better off using either StormLab or GRLevel3. I know that I am coming across as being harsh towards Weather Defender, and it is nothing personal, but it is a competitive business when you have two other radar software out on the market (GRLevel3 and StormLab) that are far more superior than any other product, if you are going to produce a weather radar software and charge $20/month it damn well better be worth every cent and Weather Defender isn't, it is a rip off. If you are subscribed to Weather Defender for a year you'll pay $240, if you pay a one time fee of $80 for GRLevel3 and nothing else you are already have a way better product than Weather Defender will ever be.

 

[paulmarv]

I tend to agree with the posts in this thread, however, I do have a curiosity.

If the thing was as fast as GR, and was a one-time-only $100 charge, would you buy it?

I've actually been working on a similar product for 5-months now, and this feedback with WeatherDefender will certainly help me with this.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

If the thing was as fast as GR, and was a one-time-only $100 charge, would you buy it?

Sure. I'm not biased to any one particular software, they each have their own unique thing that I like about them so I like them all. If there was a program similar to Weather Defender that was faster and a one time cost, yeah I would buy it.

 

[paulmarv]

Sure. I'm not biased to any one particular software, they each have their own unique thing that I like about them so I like them all. If there was a program similar to Weather Defender that was faster and a one time cost, yeah I would buy it.

Yes. The reason WD is so slow is because it doesn't use an actual hardware renderer like GR and my program do. I'm also going to try to get in Buoy Data/History and Level-II 3D Volumization, so think of it as GR plus all the pros of WD.

By the way, there is one thing I really like about WeatherDefender. The chat and team features are really great for storm chasers like us, because we want to stay connected out on the field. That's something GR doesn't have and I think is a really cool feature about WD.

But, in all, I agree. GR > WD.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

By the way, there is one thing I really like about WeatherDefender. The chat and team features are really great for storm chasers like us, because we want to stay connected out on the field. That's something GR doesn't have and I think is a really cool feature about WD.
.

I agree with that. I've said all along that Spotter Network should have some sort of messaging system integrated in it so you can send simple text messages to other chasers/spotters who are actively on spotter network.

 

[Jim Saueressig]

I've actually been working on a similar product for 5-months now, and this feedback with WeatherDefender will certainly help me with this.

Speed would be a real priority, the problem with bloatware is you have no speed and it can slow down even other programs you are running. I don't want to dig into some long winded menu to check a box to add an overlay. I want a header menu with just what I need.

I am just not sure that I need more than GRLVL3 for that kind of money without some significant improvements over GRLVL3. In order to sell your product you have to convince me that you have a better more usable product for the same or very near the same money. The only thing I can see you being able to sell is a fast GRLVL2AE type product for less money. Wireless speeds are increasing so maybe you can grab such a market if you can create that type of a product for less money as the ability to us it improves.

 

[Jason Blum]

GRLVL3 is an awfully tough act to follow.
I have it decked-out with some of www.allisonhouse.com 's fantastic placefiles, and it's pretty much a work of perfection.

IMHO.

That said, competition is healthy, and will ensure that all of the products in question continue to improve and adapt to the needs of the community; so I'm glad to see alternatives!

 

[AbeBush]

Well Weatherdefender has upgraded to version 1.1, and boasts dozens of new features and additions:

Some of the enhancements include:
• New activity-specific weather maps, including: summer and winter weather, aviation, marine, forestry, amateur radio, and high-contrast maps
• Dozens of new alert conditions, including: tornadoes, lightning, large hail, high winds, heavy precipitation, and more.
• Drawing tool enhancements including the ability to add points by latitude/longitude or street address.
• Increased alert range on Lightning Strikes (up to 50 miles in commercial edition).
• Increased warning time on Severe Storm tracks (up to 3 hours in commercial edition).
• Better support for GIS integration with industry-leading formats like ArcView Shapefile and Google Earth (KML).

Now the bad news.

I was a charter member of Weatherdefender when it first came out, and joined up with the charter $12.50 per month membership to WeatherDefender. However, because it rendered incredibly slow and the animated radar/satellite loops were extremely bad to the extent of not being useable, I unfortunately uninstalled the software and cancelled my membership nearly immediately after I started using it.

I did try out the new 7 day trial version, to see if Weatherdefender has improved any. Based on the teaser email, I figured it was sure to be about 500% faster (which would put it still not as fast as GRLevelX or StormLAB), on top of the new features and enhancements.

Well, unfortunately it still runs just as slow as it always did.

And, they now charge a $249.95 activation fee just to unlock the program! If you become a paying subscriber while still during the 7 day free trial, they'll knock the activation fee down to $149.95.

Not only that, but they charge $29.95 per month, in addition to the hefty activation fee.

Not worth it.

They'd have to charge no more than $10.00 per month with NO activation fee before I'd even consider it. Especially considering that WeatherTAP has almost all the features that Weatherdefender offers (they don't have as cool of graphics or overlays on the national map, however), and they only charge $7.95 per month.

To be honest, I can't believe folks would be willing to spend that kind of money for such a slow-rendering application...especially considering there are many much better products out there for much cheaper!

Abe

 

[D. Hayes]

Someone is smoking something bad.

I just went and seen for myself. They don't even tell the activation prices up front. I guess long as someone is willing to pay he'll charge. I tried it for a month a year or so ago. It looked good but ran like tar in the winter even on a fast PC. I'd guess he's not targeting chaser anymore.

 

[AbeBush]

I didn't know about the activation fee either. You don't really know about it unless you look carefully in the pricing. It says "$29.95 per month + activation". But the "+ activation" is in very small print. But I didn't even see it at all until I clicked "Buy Now" and got as far as logging into my paypal account when I saw they were going to charge me $179.90 when i was expecting to only be charged $29.95.

I emailed their support department asking what is up with that, and they wrote back telling me $149.95 is the activation fee, and the remaining $29.95 was my first month subscriber fee. Then they tried to make it sound like it was such a great deal, and told me that the activation fee is normally $249.95 but they're reducing the price of the activation fee for those who purchase during the trial period...but after the trial period the fee goes up to $249.95. That's for non-commercial users. Commercial users are way more expensive.

I wrote back telling them no thanks, and uninstalled the application while I was only on the first or second day of the trial period.

Apparently they think Weatherdefender is so much better than every other application out there -- which all cost significantly less -- that folks won't care how much it costs they'll just wait in line to purchase it or something.

Not me though! It looks neat, but I'd rather use it as a screen saver or something but it's not useable in the field or even at home to monitor severe weather with because it's way too slow (and I have a fast computer with tons of memory) and the animated features don't work at all for me because they're set up really bad.

Abe
Abe

 

[Joey Ketcham]

$249.94 activation fee? Seriously? The software is not that great to begin with, I wouldn't even say it's good. I used the trial and uninstalled it pretty quick.

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

$250 is a hilarious price to charge for a piece of software that mostly duplicates functionality that is found (in most cases, in a much better and more usable format) functionality already found in several other less expensive programs.

Putting a $250 "activation" in fine print is skirting rather close to what some customers might consider fraud. Sheesh.

 

[rdale]

I'm not sure how you can call that fraud? It's really not the best software in the first place, so if they can get a few people in with the high fees and keep them monthly then it's worth their while.

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

I think some might feel it was fraud because the extremely high activation fee was not disclosed up front. One might become suspicious that it is that way by design, created with the hope that an unwitting user will not notice the extra charge when they get to Paypal.

Most legit purchases, be it software or otherwise, do not sock you with a hidden "activation fee" that is nearly 1000% above the prominently displayed monthly charge.

Again, I am not implying that this is the case and that there is actual intended fraud here. But from a potential customer's standpoint, it looks really bad.

 

[AbeBush]

I know that I was going to sign up for one month, just to check out the new features like the perimeter alert. I was only expecting to be paying $29.95 but when I clicked "buy now" and logged into my paypal account, the charge was $179.90. Even then I had no clue why so expensive...I figured they were charging 6 months in advance or something. It wasn't until I emailed their billing support department that I found $29.95 was the monthly fee, but the activation fee is $149.95 if you purchase during the 7 day trial period (the activation fee is normally $249.95).

I got a reply back from them this morning, and told them I will never purchase if there's an activation fee, they're the only weather apps company that has tried to charge an activation fee.

I also told them that even without the activation fee, $29.95 per month is still way too much. She wrote back telling me the increase in price is because of the added features, including lightning.

I wrote back telling her that WeatherTAP provides lightning data and almost everything else provided by Weatherdefender, for $7.95 per month.

I have a AllisonHouse Storm Analyst subscription which includes lightning data as well, and that can be used across both GRLevelX as well as StormLab.

I wrote back telling her that they are probably missing out on a lot of customers including myself, because of how expensive their prices are. To be honest, I doubt that I would use the product all that much even if it was free, because it's just not useable in the field or even at home to monitor specific storms. It's great as a national weather-at-a-glance map, I love all the graphics overlaid onto the national map...until you try zoom down on an area in a hurry because it runs so slow even on my fast computer. And the animated loops aren't even worth trying to use.

I hope others will write to them letting them know their thoughts, maybe they'll consider coming way down in price.