Sirius weather page request after a couple offshore trips

[backman]

1. Decrease the size and density of wind barbs, way too dense.
2. Somewhere give me a time date stamp as to what I’m looking at. The timeline is sexy but irrelevant without a date stamp.
3. Most important - get NOW accurate! Very frustrating to see a wind barb say 5 knots NE when your feeling 10-12 NW sustained and it stays that way for hours.

 

[Marlin My Darlin]

Thank you very much for the suggestions!! I will pass them on to our product development team and Sirius.

 

[bryang223]

The lack of split screen capability is my biggest complaint.

 

[Magnetron]

1. Decrease the size and density of wind barbs, way too dense.

I answered this on Tue May 03, 2022 3:36 pm

2. Somewhere give me a time date stamp as to what I’m looking at. The timeline is sexy but irrelevant without a date stamp.

In the fish mapping page on the plotter, you can swipe up and tap on "subscription" which should show you the latest update interval.

3. Most important - get NOW accurate! Very frustrating to see a wind barb say 5 knots NE when your feeling 10-12 NW sustained and it stays that way for hours.

I agree that the updates by Sirius are a bit slow if using it for a close proximity gauge. That's why Furuno makes directional windspeed sensors, as does Airmar, that would arguably give you the most accurate wind readings for where you're at NOW, over waiting for a service to periodically update.

Therefore I recommend installing a FI70 Basic Wind Transducer Package or pick up an Airmar 220WX.

Hope this helps, :sail

- Maggy

 

[backman]

It’s not helpful.

Here my use case and it’s not an unusual use case in the northeast.

I study thr hell out of FishWeather, Buoy weather, wind finder NOAA and anything else Else I can find for 3 days before I leave the dock for a 48 hour trip. I have a good sense of what the weather might be when I leave the dock, but 20 mile south, I’m unable to access of any of those apps or the Furuno weather. I’m going to be 100-120 miles out for the next 44 hours and Sirius is my only data connection. I know about where I am from my eyes and my ass , what I need to know is what is between me and home and what is coming my way NOW. I need it accurate NOW and I need it to 200 miles to my west/windward so if I have to bail, I can do so in time to avoid incoming weather.

To be honest as I had this discussion with another captain who got his ass handed to him Saturday nite - the Furuno/Sirius stuff was more relatable with BBWX1/Navnet 3 than it is now with TZ3 and BBWX4, like it or not - we both said the same thing “ we would trust our life to this 2-3 years ago, we won’t do so today as it’s unreliable”.

As to fish mapping, I’m spending 74$ per month for poor to mediocre information for advanced weather, I don’t see the value in spending more for fish mapping in the basic stuff isn’t accurate.

And..to end on a compliment - the rest of the TZ3 stuff is mind blowingly good , mostly intuitive and easy to use and has exquisite radar and Fishfinder detail which is why I went furuno for the 4th time in 25 years, the weather need work, pass it back to the development team…

 

[Johnny Electron]

While any suggestions would be more productive under the suggestion topic area, there is more to it than one might think. First off Furuno can't create, modify, or increase resolution of the data which Sirius is providing in the downstream. What they give is what is displayed. The look and features are regulated by Sirius. Once we tried smoothing the data to make it look better and was forced to revert back because Sirius wouldn't permit it. We don't control Sirius/XM, we partner with them. Like the other companies we must work with them and we can't force changes to their downstream. The animation feature of Sirius is very limited because even the largest subscription provides only 78 hours of forecasting and of only limited data like winds, so there is very little excitement to play forward. Furuno can't change that. It is also exactly why I like the forecasting better with the free Furuno NavCenter weather. While NavCenter is a long term forecast tool (up to 16 days), Sirius offers the advantage of being live data. The Fish Mapping is a new feature for Sirius/XM and we show the same data which is provided by them. Any suggestions and changes really should be provided to them. While the forum is responsive, there is a limit to suggestions that are in control by another company. There is not much Furuno can change about the Sirius/XM offering. The other companies show the same fish mapping but at least the Furuno lets you choose the under laying chart. (others are fixed) We would welcome changes and I think you have some good ideas. Have you ever spoken to them? What did they say?

 

[mattology]

If you can't change how the radar is displayed, how come the same sirius xm weather viewed on a Garmin unit is so remarkably different compared to a Furuno display?

Instead of partnering with sirius, I wonder if they are outright purchasing the data?

 

[backman]

I did a few months back and they pointed back at Furuno . I will try again and report back what they say. The issue as you put it is lack of fidelity in “live data” , whether I use Navcenter or any of the various weather apps I have - “forecast” data is good enough.