Steve Peterson
EF1
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2004
- Messages
- 72
I think you will get various responses from chasers depending on how much they chase, how much they can afford, how far they chase, if they chase with others and how many electronics they can handle at one time while chasing, bascially what they want out of chasing. For me, I started out with absolutely nothing but my car, the AM/FM radio and a simple camera. As the years passed I would gradually add and even remove various electronic devices.
I bought a camcorder and am now on my forth one, each being an upgrade. To me camcorders are pretty high on my "need" list. The great thing about camcorders now vs when I started was how much improvement has been made with battery technololgy, it's great! I think a still camera is pretty essential as well. Two years ago I finally upgraded to a digital camera. Although my digital camera is not top of the line and I do plan to upgrade shortly, it may be my best electronic purchase for chasing to date. I take so many more pictures now with my digital camera because I now have no worries of wasting film which gets costly fast. It's also nice to be able to get pics up on the net instantly instead of waiting for them to be developed.
I have also been using a laptop with cellphone connection for 3 years now. To me this is important as well. To be able to grab radar scans while on the road has improved my success dramatically. It's also great to be able to get sat images, sfc maps, spc products, etc as well. Many people are now upgrading the XM systems to get radar data as well. I do not have one but would really like to. At this point, I am not sure I chase enough to make the cost worth while for me, but it's definately on my wish list.
I do not have GPS, still using the old maps. I would get GPS but my laptop is too old to have two things connected at once. For the most part, everything I have heard is pretty good about GPS. Once in a while you will hear people tell stories about how a road was not on a GPS map, but for the most part they say it makes navigating much easier.
A couple of things I no longer use is a scanner and a portable tv. The portable tv was great to get radar but I didn't really need it anymore since I get my data with the laptop now. My AM/FM radio has the NOAA radio frequencies built in so I no longer need to use the scanner for that. I used to use the scanner to listen to spotters give reports about the storms as well but again with the laptop I can pretty much figure out what is going on myself. I was also getting to the point of information overload with the scanner chatting continously during storms. It's actually been nice not having to listen to that the last few years. Also, I don't use my portable weather station any more. The only reason I ever used it was for dewpoint, nothing like overshooting the dryline while in the air conditioned car and not even knowing it! Again, the laptop with the ability to download sfc maps and radar images to find boundries has let me get rid of this.
Many people also use HAM radios to communicate with local spotter groups and with others they may be chasing with. I do not have one and don't plan to get one but I know many think highly of them. For me, I just use my cell phone to communicate with others.
That's pretty much all I use now. The advancement of technology has helped me and let me get rid of some gadgets in recent years and it has definately made my chasing more enjoyable. Again as I said earlier, it's all about what suits your needs. I am sure you will find others that have much more or less then I do. One thing I have tried to do over the years was try to make one major purchase per year and try to gradually build up to what you think you need. Of course once you do, then some camera or something else better comes out and you think you've got to have it. That's the way it goes with electronics I guess.
Hope that helps
:lol:
