Weather reports with Garmin Tread Overland and Sirius XM Travel Link

[Datsun Man]

Just giving a little information regarding the Weather reports with both the Garmin Tread Overland and Sirius XM Travel Link.

The Garmin Tread Overland will be a two part deal. These parts will cover the Tread Weather and the InReach Weather. Both have their Pro's and Con's. Regardless they are helpful.

For starters we will go to the Tread Weather App. This is only going to be available if you have your cellphone connected to the Tread GPS with the Tread App on the phone. You also have to have Cell Service for it to work. Without cell service you will be out of luck, but thankfully there is no subscription charge to use this feature.

For the Tread Overland you will be able to find the Weather Icon in the lower left corner of the home screen.



As you can tell it will give you a basic temperature report for the current time along with the expected high and low. Click that icon and it will take you to the Weather home screen.



From there you get simple 6 day forecast for the current area you are in. Clicking each day will give you more details of the High's and Low's for the day. As you can tell there are icons for the Radar, Conditions and any local Alerts.



Starting with the Radar you get a nice little view of the map with a past time of what the weather is doing. If I remember correctly it shows the past 45 minutes to hour. Though it is a short window, it is enough to show what the Weather is doing



Next is the conditions tab. This simply lets you know what type of conditions an area might be dealing with. This includes strong winds, dense fog, wet areas from recent rain or snow and ice from a recent winter storm. That said I feel it could be off as both Kansas and Wyoming are clearly supposed to be highlighted in Yellow for High Winds.



Last is the Alerts Tab. This will give you all sorts of different alerts for different areas. For example you can see a bunch of Fire Weather Warnings due to it being dry and windy lately.

From just this it's like having a portable version of the Weather Channel without having to open the Weather Channel on the phone. Too bad it only works when the cellphone has cell service.

 

[Datsun Man]

Next is the Weather from the InReach. The InReach is still helpful but requires a a subscription to use. Depending on how often you are going to be remote will depend if it's worth the cost for you.

For the InReach you can access it on the home screen. After entering it you will see the message screen and the weather screen.



As you can tell you can have multiple places selected depending on what areas you want to look at. I myself choose to stick with my location.



When selecting my location or a new forecast with a selected area you get this basic screen. The Menu in the top right will allow you to select the basic or premium forecast. I have it set to Premium as it works out well showing more data.



After the update it gives you similar information to what the Tread Weather gives you, but also there is more detail by time when you select a day.









As you can tell it gives you a fair Weather Forecast report. Unfortunately you do not get a map to show you what the weather is doing.

Regardless it is still a helpful tool for know what to expect when staying in one place for an extended period of time. Just make sure it is something you can justify.

 

[Datsun Man]

Next we have the Sirius XM Travel Link. For this example I will be showing this from my Nissan Frontier. Other vehicles may be similar in their own way.

For starters in order to get Sirius XM Travel Link you must have a radio with Sirius XM and Navigation. Most newer vehicles that have Factory Navigation should have Sirius XM available and will allow Sirius XM Travel Link.

Sirius XM Travel Link also requires a subscription to use. Thankfully it is only $1.99 a month which is a small cost compared to other things like an InReach Subscription or even StarLink.



For the Nissan Radio you simply press the Apps button and it will take you to this menu. Right away you will see the Sirius XM Travel Link icon. Other vehicles might take a few other button sequences to get there.



Once you get in there you will have the option to look at Weather, Fuel Prices, Stocks, Sports or even local Movie Listings. For now we will go into the Weather Section.



Once in the Weather Section you will start with the Nearby Weather. After the Radio turns on it will take a few minutes to load this information as it is getting the information strait from Sirius XM via Satellite. As you can tell it gives you a basic overview of the current weather. You even have the option to look at the Map, different locations or the forecast.







With the Forecast tab you can choose between a 6 hour or 5 day Forecast. The 6 hour will give you more details close by, but the 5 day will give you an idea of temperature and type of weather for the 5 days.





Next is the Map Tab. This is the cool feature in my opinion and goes well with the InReach. Strait from Sirius XM you will have information from Weather Radar of what the current conditions are. The only downside is it doesn't update like the Weather Channel or Tread Weather Radar maps do.

With that said it is still a very helpful tool overall. For only $1.99 a month it is hard to not use it. It also does not require a Subscription for Sirius XM Radio. Those two are completely different subscriptions by themselves.

What one should you choose? Should you get the Travel Link over the InReach Weather? Is it better to get the InReach over the Travel Link? Well that all depends on a few things.

First and foremost if you don't have a radio that can use Travel Link then you simply don't have that option. If you have a radio that is capable of using Travel Link then I say get it at the least especially if you go remote.

For the InReach Weather you don't necessarily have to have a Tread GPS to have the information. Even with the InReach MINI and the InReach Message app on the phone you can get the same thing. If you go remote often you should be investing in an InReach Device of sorts anyway as well. This will help ensure you can have help at the least as needed. Having the Weather is simply a secondary function of the InReach. If you have a Garmin InReach product and have an active subscription then you can get the weather information. Having a InReach device connected to a compatible GPS will give you a similar view as well.

As for the Tread Weather. It is helpful, but it has limitations. If you have a Tread GPS then I would take advantage of it. It can still be helpful for road trips or simply seeing what the Weather is doing nearby.

Out of all 3 it really depends on what you are doing. One who stays on the street and has the fancy Radio from the factory can get away with Sirius XM Travel Link. For one that goes remote from time to time and has yet to justify the cost of a Tread GPS then I would at least recommend an InReach Device of sorts(I am aware that there are other brands and that InReach is the most known). If you go remote often and can justify the cost of a Tread GPS, I would take time to consider which model exactly you want. If you get the Overland or Overland XL then you will not be able to connect a separate InReach Device to the unit. Other Tread Devices will allow it as they don't have the InReach built-in. Regardless it is still going to be helpful.

Put simple they all have their Pro's and Con's to consider.