Predictwind offshore app - polars problem

[Tommo]

Is anybody here using the Predictwind Offshore app? I recently paid for a "standard" subscription and am disappointed (and amazed!) to find that the Offshore app does not actually use the polar that I have saved on the Predictwind website. It appears to use a very simplified approximation of my polar.

The website route calculation, however, does use the accurate polar.

Anybody else noticed this? There does not seem much point in paying for the professional subscription with 1km mesh if it uses a degraded polar for its calculations.

I am also disappointed to find that Predictwinds previously excellent technical support seems to have dried up.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Tommo.

[free in the sea]

hi tommo,
i use the app, we have had it for almost one year with honesty, am in two minds about renewing, we have battled all year with the program they keep updating and changing the program while we re in the carbie trying to find decent connection to reload was a pain,
at present we are on land and we are having difficulty with the latest version if , we download a grib we only get wind data no pressure no rain no cloud,
they response was just reload, we have done that through chrome , internet expl, we even brought a new computer ,
and the tracking has all over the world friends would email us and let us know apparently were doing 19 knots hahahhaha
its just ridiculous ,
i have the standard package as well 200 bucks for what,
sail grib is 40 bucks and has never given a problem,
only positive is the wind predictions are spot on, but otherwise pain in the arse,
waiting till Monday morning kiwi time to talk to them again.
micahel

[Safari38LH]

I think WeatherTrack is better if you are using an iPad.


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[nickolson]

Originally Posted by Tommo

Is anybody here using the Predictwind Offshore app? I recently paid for a "standard" subscription and am disappointed (and amazed!) to find that the Offshore app does not actually use the polar that I have saved on the Predictwind website. It appears to use a very simplified approximation of my polar.

The website route calculation, however, does use the accurate polar.

Anybody else noticed this? There does not seem much point in paying for the professional subscription with 1km mesh if it uses a degraded polar for its calculations.

I am also disappointed to find that Predictwinds previously excellent technical support seems to have dried up.

Hi Tommo,

I work for PredictWind. You are not correct with your assumption about polars.
The offshore app does use your polars that you have entered into your account on the web version.

Have you emailed support@predictwind.com? We reply to every support request.

Nick

[nickolson]

Originally Posted by free in the sea

hi tommo,
i use the app, we have had it for almost one year with honesty, am in two minds about renewing, we have battled all year with the program they keep updating and changing the program while we re in the carbie trying to find decent connection to reload was a pain,
at present we are on land and we are having difficulty with the latest version if , we download a grib we only get wind data no pressure no rain no cloud,
they response was just reload, we have done that through chrome , internet expl, we even brought a new computer ,
and the tracking has all over the world friends would email us and let us know apparently were doing 19 knots hahahhaha
its just ridiculous ,
i have the standard package as well 200 bucks for what,
sail grib is 40 bucks and has never given a problem,
only positive is the wind predictions are spot on, but otherwise pain in the arse,
waiting till Monday morning kiwi time to talk to them again.
micahel

Hi Micahel,

Yes you do have a unique issue. And yes we have updated the Offshore App, which is a far more advanced program than sail grib. I am sure we can fix your issue. I see in our system we are awaiting a reply from you.

The tracking comes from the Iridium GO! gps in the actual unit and sometimes has issue getting a signal if it isn't located appropriately in the boat. So can sometimes give odd results, usually this is filtered out.

All the best

Nick

[nickolson]

Originally Posted by Tommo

Is anybody here using the Predictwind Offshore app? I recently paid for a "standard" subscription and am disappointed (and amazed!) to find that the Offshore app does not actually use the polar that I have saved on the Predictwind website. It appears to use a very simplified approximation of my polar.

The website route calculation, however, does use the accurate polar.

Anybody else noticed this? There does not seem much point in paying for the professional subscription with 1km mesh if it uses a degraded polar for its calculations.

I am also disappointed to find that Predictwinds previously excellent technical support seems to have dried up.

Hi Tommo,

I work for PredictWind. You are incorrect with your assumption about the polars. The Offshore App uses the same polars as the web version, in fact the same servers do the calculation. No difference. How did you come to this conclusion?
When the offshore App does your Weather Routing request it sends off your user id to our servers where the routing is done based on your accounts settings, including the polars you have set.
I am a little mystified about your comment on our support. When did you email our support desk? We pride ourselves on giving the best support we can.

Nick

[nickolson]

[QUOTE=nickolson;1976120]Hi Tommo,

[free in the sea]

hi nik,
well as mentioned to jon earlier we finally have success with the program,
am not a computer genesis, so what it was I cant say but after numerous download attempts and a upgrade were through and on the new program.
which I have been trailing heavily since attaining it and much enjoy the new interface.
as I said earlier I think the perdictawind wind data is spot on as it has been for the last 12 months, and for my sake hopefully then, with the app now having all its full features running it will be smooth sailing from here on in, it does make it more enjoyable not to have to move the grib over to open cpn to view, although we do like to a back up system in place for the unexpected.
we have the gps aerial mounted high and clear on the Bimini arch so who knows, the unit works great phone calls are clear,
so maybe being told were quicker than we think is a good think,
thanks everybody like always for your responses.

[EllesBelles]

Originally Posted by Safari38LH

I think WeatherTrack is better if you are using an iPad.


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

We like WeatherTrack (on our IPads) very much also. We are PredictWind "professional" ($499 a year) users but aren't sure we will renew it for a third year. The course selections are just not that reliable and we've taken the time to update our boat's polars on the website too.

Currently, We have been running the departure models, then the weather models once we pick the time we will depart, then exporting GFS or one of the other four models into WeatherTrack and downloading the Grib map directly into WT. Then, using the GPS on our iPad, we follow our actual course as we sail on the WT app's screen and compare it to the WT data. It's just one of a number of apps and models we use, but it's been working quite well.