Garmin 530 weather display

[Dominique_K 10,157]

I have been recently toying with the WT Garmin. I found a weather functionality that I am not sure to understand.

  I didn't find anything useful in the 238-page original manual. Anybody having some ideas about : 

- the legends : is red for thunder, orange for heavy rain and green for lighter rain ? 

- what elevation for the radar cone ? The aircraft (the MV Porter) is at rest on tarmac here . 

- can I trust MSFS to give back a reliable information ? 

Edited May 14, 2023 by Dominique_K

[Matchstick 1,945]

If I'm remembering correctly this may not be weather radar data but rather Nextrad  radar data broadcast from ground stations and displayed by the GNS

[sd_flyer 6,272]

Just now, Matchstick said:

If I'm remembering correctly this may not be weather radar data but rather Nextrad  radar data broadcast from ground stations and displayed by the GNS

Yes this is exactly it. Weather overlay with delay 10-15 minutes. So it can't be called radar.

[Dominique_K 10,157]

Hmmm the plot thickens. OK, thank you both,  I said radar because I saw it after I checked the Weather Radar Pod on the tablet.   Maybe a coincidence...

So it actually is delayed radar info. This brings me back to my questions about the legends and the altitude of what I see on the display. How can I manage my trajectory with this info. ?

[Alvega 2,127]

2 hours ago, Dominique_K said:

Hmmm the plot thickens. OK, thank you both,  I said radar because I saw it after I checked the Weather Radar Pod on the tablet.   Maybe a coincidence...

So it actually is delayed radar info. This brings me back to my questions about the legends and the altitude of what I see on the display. How can I manage my trajectory with this info. ?

If you want to avoid rain in the sim don't enter the colored areas. If you enter the green area you will see light rain, in the orange area medium rain and in the red area heavy rain. 

[jhelix70 22]

Interesting stuff, thanks folks.

I have also been wondering about terrain data.  I seem to remember that in FSX the default GPS units could display a colored overlay of terrain height.  I haven't been able to find this function on the MSFS default GPS units.  Can they do that, or at least give minimum safe altitudes along a route?

[Dominique_K 10,157]

19 minutes ago, jhelix70 said:

 colored overlay of terrain height.  

When you are on the NAV Garmin 530 screen, you see on the bottom line GPS MSG NAV followed by  five positions represented by small rectangles . The terrain feature is the third one that you reach turning the small knob on the right.

[jhelix70 22]

Hi Dominique,

Thanks so much!

happy flying.