XM radar and radio
XM radar and radio
Went and bought the module for the garmin for radar and radio. I think Sean from manni-yunk said he had gotten it. Havent hooked it up yet but was wondering since the unit gives you water temps, do you still need the offshore water temp sites. The other question is how is the radio, does it recieve and transmit through the sterio OK? I got the unit through e-bay for a really good price, just could not pass it up. Is it what it says it is? What is the down side of the unit besides the monthly fee? Mike
Mike Lawrence 81 sportfish 33' shot'n'beer 
Mike, Its great - I love it and the NEXRAD feature is worth every penny. When we are offshore and I see lightening - I can look at the Garmin and see exactly where the strike was, which direction the storm came from, which direction it is heading. We have avoided rain, lightening, even found routes home with lower waves. I still get shots from sat services because they will tell you how long the water has been a certain temp which, as you know, is important. But if we get somewhere and cant find life - the Garmin is good to help find another area to check out. I usually get the sat service charts for pre-trip planning, then the Garmin to adjust the plan if the first spot didnt work. The music is great - only negative is that the way mine is set up - I change the chanels on the XM radio right on the garmin - not the radio. There are other XM ready radios that would work better - but for me - the Radio wasnt XM ready so all channel changes are on the Garmin (flybridge) and the radio is in the cabin. I am adding a remote control to the radio for the flybridge so I can have acces to everything there. Xm lets you "suspend" the service in the winter so you only pay for the susmmer months so the fee isnt bad. I absolutely love it and guys that have fished with us have went out and got it after using mine. The guy that fishes with me almost every trip always sbrings his portable Sirius unit also - so we end up with both.
How accruate are the water temps and how tight in an area. My boat is only 3 minites from my house and I am ussally down there every day having a beer so I would be checking the sat every day. Just looking at ways to cut costs. As it looks now your talking almost 900 plus in fuel plus the bait, which is also going up. I heard that a flat of butters are going to go for 35 a flat from 24. What do you think?
Mike Lawrence 81 sportfish 33' shot'n'beer
I have been thinking about adding the weather and radio to the boat but like you Buzz I have a furuno navnet. I am a subscriber to XM for my car which is worth every penny of the monthly subscription. I am waiting to see what happens to the merger between Cirius and XM before I make a decision.The merger was passed by the justice department a couple of days ago now it needs the FCC approval. Michael 33SF