Boatshow: XM Weather

XM Weather, brought to you by the XM radio folks, ought to get some kind of award for most ubiquitous marketing at the show. I saw an XM WX demonstration in nearly every electronics booth. The product is interesting, even compelling, though not without some wrinkles. A small black box hooks up to either a computer or the latest Garmin multifunction displays, and downloads a stream of weather data that’s keyed to your location. The data includes wind speeds, wave heights, sea temperatures, buoy reports, NEXRAD radar, hurricane tracks, not to mention all kinds of forecasts. In fact, the menu of weather data is staggering. However, there’s room for improvement in the software which displays the data—the child-like colors and unrefined user interface design turned me off a bit.

One limitation is that the range of the XM satellites is not worldwide. Basically covering North America, it extends somewhat into Mexico and the Caribbean. The other, is that it’s a bit expensive. While XM radio service is some $13/month for the 120 or so channels, the cheapest WX plan is $30/month, going up to $50! I have to admire the chutzpah of taking information, much of which is produced by the government, and distributing it at such a price point. It must be more profitable for them than music, which they’ve got to pay royalties on. Oh, and if you want to receive music, that costs extra.

I thought I saw Nobeltec charting software demonstrating weather overlays from XM WX, but going back to my notes from the show, it was actually the SkyMate’s weather data. More on the Skymate later. -Ed.