The GDL49 is a remote box that’s controlled ûby a 400 or 400 series navigator. It requires ûonly power and an external antenna.

In fits, starts and dribbles, the age of digital weather in the cockpit is upon us. But it’s neither full-blown nor, in our view, necessarily ready for market. But when has that stopped an enterprising avionics company from shipping products anyway?

As we reported in September’s exhaustive survey of the aircraft datalink offerings, the market—such that it can be called that—is chaotic and confused, with several discrete technologies competing for limited owner dollars.

One of the earliest to make it to the finish line is Garmin, whose satellite-based GDL49 is finally ready to ship late this summer and into the fall. We flew a demonstration version of the system recently, in Garmin’s…