iFly GPS Forum

In the part of the world where I fly (southern US), ADS-B is comprehensive. Check out the current coverage on this page (when it finishes loading, click the "ADS-B" button): http://www.faa.gov/nextgen/flashmap/ . You'll find that your route would have been well-covered, until you left the Florida coast.

Since XM is subscription-based, and ADS-B is "free", the primary tradeoff is full coverage plus some additional weather products (more like what you have available pre-flight, I think) on XM, vs. no ongoing costs for ADS-B.

It is a little more expensive to "get started" with ADS-B, since the receivers are still kinda pricey. But they're not as pricey as they were, and the ADS-B coverage is better than it was when I got into it. I've been very pleased with my ADS-B weather on the iFly.

That said, I've never had XM and so don't have personal experience to compare with.

Barry, fwiw, I've flown with ads-b on Ifly 720 using the Clarity unit, ads-b with foreflite and ipad, and nexrad on a 396. The Clarity was a disaster and I highly recommend against it (I and several others returned for refund). The foreflite and Ipad with the Stratus II seemed to work fairly well if you are a fluent Ipad user. However, for reliability and features, I prefer the nexrad on my 396. I recently made a long xcountry flt from WVa to Fla (RT) and had to dodge nasty weather all the way. I tried using the ipad with ads-b but since I'm not an avid Ipad person, I had a lot of trouble. I fired up the trusty 396 and was able to navigate around the bad stuff. Although I hate the monthly fee, when you are in a jam, it works. It has its own battery and a 12v cord. The Ipad ran out of gas on me (I thought it was fully charged) on the return trip....glad I had nexrad. I think I would like nexrad on the Ifly