Hey everyone,

We have added a 496 to our aircraft and I've got a question. Since we have multiple aircraft that we would like to eventually add XM to, do any of you know whether or not you have to pay for the subscription for each receiver, or can you add a receiver for an additional charge per month?

I emailed XM with no reply. Called them and the lady, besides being hard to understand (wonder what country their call center is in) was having a hard time grasping what I was asking. From what I could gather, it sounds like you have to pay the full subscription for each reciever.

Anyone have multiple receivers and can tell me how this works?

Second question, which package do you all use? Aviator lite or Aviator (Pro isn't needed). Any of you gone with the Aviator package, only to go down to the lite pacakge later? Or vice versa?

Lastly, it looks like radio subscription is in addition to the weather, is this correct?

Their site is geared to selling you a radio with the subscription. It seems kind of hard to find just pricing information for the service. What are you guys paying and for what package?


Thanks,
GSP

If I recall correctly you can have up to five radios under your XM "radio" subscription. They were an additional 6 bucks a month each, but prices went up this month. The XM weather is a different beast and you'll pay full subscription for each WX service.

The XM in my 396 is the primary on my account (along with Aviator Lite WX) and I pay for two additional XM radios for my daughters. I just pull the Garmin with me when I go from airplane to my truck, and use it for both XM radio and nav.

The Aviator Lite works great for low altitude and slow speed where I spend my time. The delay in the NEXRAD is only 10 minutes which is close enough to real time for my needs, and being able to pull up current wx along your routes and destinations, to me, is a must have for avoiding unwarranted fuel stops. Makes it so easy to adjust and plan as the weather changes.

Gump

Thanks for the input Gump. We used a 496 flying from CT to UT in January a few years ago and you are dead on with why it is so useful.

If I understand it right, it looks like they have different radio packages. Do you know of where I can see just them and their cost? On their website, the only place I could find them is if I went to buy a radio, then there would be a drop down menu with the different packages. Which do you have and how much does it run you a year? Do you manage your accounts online and is it pretty straight forward?

Thanks for the input.

GSP

I use Aviator LT at $29.95 a month.

And the other biggie in having it is showing TFR's. That XM WX has saved my bacon more than once around here in bumfuk middle of nowhere Nevada, when I don't bother to check with FSS before a coyote chasing flight. Red rings pop up on the screen all over the place around here when the military is blowing stuff up, and it is a horrible sinking feeling to realize that without the XM I would have been oblivious and flown right in to the middle of where I was not supposed to be. That year's subscription is less than one hours attorney's fees to fight a violation.

For XM Radio I use the $12.95 a month music package. I just have the dock wired into the stereo intercom, and have an FM translator in the truck.

http://www.xmwxweather.com/aviation/dat ... icing.html

http://www.xmradio.com/whatisxm/plans-pricing.xmc

Gump

If you do a lot of flying where you have no access to FSS briefing or cell service on the ground the Aviator package gives you a pretty full briefing. You can get winds aloft which is nice particularly if your sitting in a hole in the mountains. Echo tops and satellite mosaic give you a great picture of cloud cover and possibility of bad weather before it pops up on the Nexrad. It has given me a great weather briefing where I have had no other source of access without getting in the air as well as helps in planning the length of your stay.
As Gump pointed the TFR's are nice as they pop up out of nowhere. Without them I may have had some great close up shots the latest in military wares. XM weather is outstanding. I don't know how I flew without it for so many years. Guess that's true of GPS too!
Price is $49.95/ mo but is going up $5 a month soon. Seems Howard Stern's salary has put a hurt on Serious/XM radio.


1

If you are considering the Aviator package for $49 consider the
Master Mariner instead. You can find it on their marine product webpage. It is the same price, offers everything the Aviator offers (yes including aviation specific stuff like TFR & METAR etc.) plus a lot of cool content like buoy weather and isobar overlays.

Their documentation is a bit confusing about aviation features on the Mariner so you will have to trust the hundreds of pilots who have gone that route - and me who looked at a friend's 496 in Tennessee last Thnksgvng and confirmed it myself. It showed active TFRs...looked just like aviator data but had more products available that seemed handy. The isobars seemed that they would be nice for on the move cross country planning. Plus you can take it Marlin fishing

Of course if you just want aviator lite then you will pay less.

Thanks guys. I finally found the pricing...I'm sure it was staring me in the face on a couple of pages I was on. Thanks for the links though Gump. I think we have a bead on what we are going to do.

How much did your extra radios go up this month? From $6 to ??? I might add it to my car while I'm at it.

Thanks,
GSP

I pay by the year for the whole kit and kaboodle, and last year was $600+. I don't renew till October, but I'm sure the a**holes are gonna raise it a bunch. The additional radios were $5.95 a month each, but I seem to remember one of the flyers they sent me saying it was going up to $8.95. Guess I'll find out when they bill the credit card.

Gump

When I bought my 496 it came with the XM antenna. I thought it would be cool to buy another antenna for my p/u truck so's I wouldn't have to keep taking the antenna out of the plane since I buried the wire. Bought one cheep on Ebay. Found out that the subscription is sold to the antenna, got 2 antennas gotta buy 2 subscriptions.

Glidergeek wrote:When I bought my 496 it came with the XM antenna. I thought it would be cool to buy another antenna for my p/u truck so's I wouldn't have to keep taking the antenna out of the plane since I buried the wire. Bought one cheep on Ebay. Found out that the subscription is sold to the antenna, got 2 antennas gotta buy 2 subscriptions.

I didn't think about that. I was going to get a second antenna for the rig. Good thing I didn't.

That's not the antenna, that's the XM radio electronics in the hockey puck, and the antenna.

Gump

i have a xm radio account with 4 radios they wanted around 500 for year renewal called and told them to cancel account then they lowered bill to 200$$ might work on plane account to??

I use XM weather. Aviator regular. $49.00 per month. XM radio in truck is $3.99 I think you can have a family plan and have like 5 radios at the $3.99 price with the weather account.

As noted above, the whole XM system is in the "hockey puck" antenna. The first ones had a poorly thought out magnet in the base. When you put it on the glare shield, your wet compass was useless. I complained and got a free new hockey puck without magnet. I have a 396 in my Baron, and a 496 in my 185. Both are mounted in Airgizmo mounts. Both have the XM antenna "extension cord" routed to the lower right corner of the panel. The extension cord was supplied in with each gps I bought, it has a male and female end for your XM antenna. I can plug the hockey puck into either aircraft without pulling the gps out of the Airgizmo. I pay for one XM subscription, and put the hockey puck in which ever aircraft I want XM in. I have been doing this for several years, some times it takes a minuet or two for the GPS to recognize the hockey puck, but I have never had a problem. If i blast off without the hockey puck, I still have a gps in the aircraft.