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I’ve used the Sirius weather service on my HDS 12 for years. It works great and excels (for me) in two ways while guiding.

Storm and lightening alarms were set at 30 miles. Even though I was guiding at night, I wasn’t always able to see the lightening. Once the alarm went off, I could gauge the storm and which way it was coming. Many times it allowed me to stay out fishing because the storm went completely around me. One time that I won’t forget was when a storm was coming but it was actually two storms side by side with a pretty large gap between them. As luck would have it, we happened to be in the gap and never got wet.

Watching the wind speed. The wind speed indicators will cover your screen (don’t like that) but there are times when turning it on is good information. I know one walleye tourney angler that did or was going to use it to find own what the direction of the wind was at a certain hot spot. If the wind was in the wrong direction, it was unfishable and wouldn’t take the time to boat there.

Now for the frustrations. I’m sure and hope the billing people are better then they were. I don’t know if there’s enough space on Ido to list every issue I had with them.
1. When calling in, most think your talking about a car radio. In fact when I first started the service it was $12 a month. Imagine by surprise when the email came though that said I spent $125.! They were sending out a car radio too.

2. We can suspend service in the winter months. I was told by a number to cs people the suspension could be for up to 3 months “as listed in the terms of service agreement”. One year I decided to read it and it clearly stated up to 6 months of suspension was allowable. For that little find, I received an apology call from the Vice President and a free year of service.

There was much more but it always had to do with billing. I don’t have it on the floating camper because I can pick and choose what days I’m going out. As a guide, I was more locked in…but the service gave me the ability to still stay out of weather danger if something was coming our way.

PS the phone apps are great, like you said if there’s service and if a person could set localized alarms. NOAH weather radio… normally goes off after the storm has passed. Not always, but I wouldn’t call it reliable.