ADS-B or SiriusXM? What's right for you?

In this gear comparison we asked John Zimmerman, an aviation writer and ATP, to critically look at two products that have revolutionized cockpit weather: ADS-B In and SiriusXM. Watch and decide which product is right for your style of flying.

[jyellowhammer]

Excellent breakdown of the two capabilities. I learned many things I was unaware of. Thanks John. Fly Safe!

[ChrisUhlik]

Super high quality explanation! Thanks for making this.

[StarFrog]

Never knew SiriusXM had this! Thanks for the information!

[svenf]

Great comparison, thank you!
I wish the timestamps were generated when the pics are being produced and traveled with them through the system all the way to the cockpit - that way pilots would always know exactly how old a pic is rather than having to guesstimate and/or apply unnecessary time math based on pic type. Would that be too easy to implement..?

[apackwestbound]

AOPA has provided another outstanding, informative and extremely well done video. Thank you for the educational material! May I offer one suggestion? This video uses the word “radar” frequently; and when it does this video is educating us regarding the differences in the weather package products available and displayed using either ADS-B or Sirius-XM. In the airplane I fly “radar” information comes from a transmitter on the jet joined to a dish, located behind the specially designed nose cone, that emits energy and interprets the strength of the energy returned. That “radar” then displays the data as “radar returns” on my “radar” EFIS display. I in fact do use that information to pick my way in-between thunderstorms as I am trained, authorized and expected to use the “radar” in that capacity. Occasionally, when I am several thousand miles out over the ocean on an ETOPS flight for example, it’s the best option. By referring to the composite picture of past weather conditions as “radar” we may be inadvertently contributing to the temptation to use this EXCELLENT tool in precisely the manner that this video cautions us on several occasions not to. The term confusion I am attempting to draw attention to is a small but important point. In the world of aviation the word “radar” is already used and has a fairly common understanding, I would recommend finding a different term to refer to the “picture” the pilot is looking at coming from either ADS-B or Sirius-XM representing some other institution or entities “radar” information that was collected at an earlier time.

[jessediaz]

Excellent video. I’m so much better informed now... thanks!

[ttpatrkymtnpnet]

Very helpful presentation. It would have been improved by, at least, mentioning the Android option for cockpit information display. I use Avare on an Android tablet, and find that it is very comparable to my friend's Foreflight app on his iPad. I recently built a Stratux ADS-B In receiver. It works with Avare, but I haven't had a chance to really use it in flight. One problem is that I live in the west, and, as Zimmerman noted, ADS-B coverage can be spotty out here.

[timbacchus]

Do you have to use a subscription to foreflight to use a ADSB receiver or is there free software to see traffic.

[mikecournoyer]

Awesome, well done and informative video! I have both but didn’t know all the nuances that this video explained.

[COpilot-utyw]

Shout out to KBJC my home! 9:03

My take away was to have both and get a Garmin GDL 52

[the.mr.beacher]

ADS-B is now mandatory though, right?

[OAleathaO]

My advice when getting used to any avionics is to fly with another pilot in your aircraft of choice with you as the passenger. This gives you an unstressful situation to explore your avionics without having to also fly the aircraft.

[cw]

Thx, just getting to use ADS-B and noticed the degrade with distance and thought what you confirmed...

[Diegoc]

If I fly in the Caribbean where Sirius XM coverage is not available, can I still utilize the GDL 51 for weather data, even though it lacks ABS D but includes Sirius XM?

[ellenorbjornsdottir]

Do you know if NAV Canada transmits ADS-B Wx?

[aelumley]

Very nice presentation but one question. My understanding with ADS-B IN is that traffic information can come directly from the aircraft with ADS-B OUT, and that has been my experience as I can see traffic with the receiver sitting on the window sill of my house. Another thing I'm not 100% sure if is if I'm seeing all ADS-B traffic since I don't have OUT. Please confirm in the comments.

[donjennings]

A lot of good information. Thank You !

[TheCymbalProject]

I saw SiriusXM and thought Escape 69... now I know better.

[Mr.Stud.Puffin]

This is great, thank you for this video. Very comprehensive and detailed without all the extra info. Really thank you!! Very helpful!!

[JumbalayahJihad]

An informative and Sirius explanation of the two... ha ha. I did a pun.