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Using Messenger Weather on an ocean transit

MattD110td5x
over 1 year ago

Hi Team,

Recently I used a garmin messenger blue toothed to a pixel 8 running the Android messenger app. This is a first impressions kinda post but there are some fairly serious comments here that really need to be addressed.

1/ The product is designed to be used without the internet - why can you only enter a weather location using on-line google maps? why doesn't it switch to an offline google map when there is one available - just like the google maps applictation? in the middle of the tasman sea google maps was working fine using the offline map - garmn was dead in the water. When you are sailing you don't know your future location/time - you are at the will of the sea - setting up a dozen random locations before you leave is counterintuitive.
*** Messenger App needs to work with google offline maps for weather locations.
and/or allow manual entry of Lat/Lon of a future location for a weather request

2/ When you request weather for "My Location" there is no indication of the Lat/Lon of the location requested - then when you have moved to another "My Location" and refresh you can't tell if the weather is for where you are now or where you were then?
*** My location weather needs to display the Lat/Lon of the location for which the weather is applicable.

3/ When you are relying on messenger to provide weather data at sea you really need to know what weather model they are using - so this can be matched to the weather model that was used for the original routing.
*** Garmin to publish the weather model source (would be different for different regions)

4/ The weather forecast provided was highly (dangerously) innaccurate - I would like a refund - that was the worst $1.50 I have ever spent - a forecast of 14kn/18kn gusts with 0kn current was actually 28kn/+42kn sustained gusts and 2kn of current, OK for us on a well prepared yacht, but still a surprise!
*** Garmin needs to check their sources - this was not a reasonable weather prediction - it was so wrong I don't think the "My Location" was correct.

other than that the txt functions worked a treat - I'm still glad I have one. 

- matthew

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  • +1 11 months ago

    Hello I have sent you a private message to gather some personal information. However, I would like to post a few things publicly as far as things that may help in the meantime. 

    When using the messenger app without an internet connection it would be benefecial to also have the explore mobile app installed on your phone. This allows you to utilize the mapping from it to gather a location when offline. Requesting Weather Forecasts With the Garmin Messenger App. 

    Regarding the source for all of our weather you can also find that information in Frequently Asked Questions on Weather for inReach. 

    Where Does the Weather Data Come From?

    • Land forecasts are powered by Meteoblue, a leading provider of weather data around the globe. They provide a forecast from the nearest reporting weather station to the location requested.  Using that weather station data, Meteoblue adjusts that forecast based on the requested location and elevation. Their site provides weather location review.
    • Marine forecasts are based on OCENS premium marine weather data which provide wave and wind levels to 1/100th of a degree lat or lon. Atlantic data sources includes; WW3 Multi-Global, WW3 Navy, NDFD, GFS Global Wave as well as HRRR and RAP for wind in some areas. 
  • 0 11 months ago in reply to Garmin-Leslie

    Hi Ms Garmin,

    I'm not familiar with those weather sources - but I'm not sailing in the Atlantic so I guess that's to be expected.

    For sailing most will use a router to plan, most routers can load several weather models to see if they agree and if they converge then your confidence is high. Access to average of multiple weather models to confirm the weather along the track provides confidence that the route plan is still valid.

    Around Australia, NZ and the South Pacific, the favourite model is ASX/ACCESS and we would compare it to Euro ECMWF and maybe the less accurate; PWG, PWE, GFS(US) and ICON.

    regards,  Matthew

  • +1 12 days ago in reply to MattD110td5x

    Update to the statement given above: Land forecasts are powered by meteoblue, a leading provider of weather data around the globe. The forecasts are based on a multi-model approach, which combines various weather models with current measurements and observations as available, specifically for the location and elevation requested. The meteoblue website provides extensive additional weather information.