It's Winter! (censored) Need a legal Raid Scanner
So this is going to be the first weekend where I get to see what it will be like to Raid in the winter. Yay - Frostbite and malfunctioning phones!
*cough*
Anyway.
So it's going to be too bleeping cold to walk around and looking at gyms on my scanner, and where I live people have pretty much stopped raiding anything that isn't a Tyranitar or if we can park nearby, a Suicune. (and even with Suicune, once people catch their Dex Entry they stop coming out to raids. No one seems to care about this Legendary beyond the Dex Entry) But I've got 3 days all to myself as the rest of the family is going out of town, so I really want to hit up a bunch of Omastar and Scyther raids.
Is there a useful and LEGAL Gym scanner that I can use to find Level 3 gym raids? With the now 45min window (GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR) and the -8 Celsius weather (BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR), the idea of walking around until gyms come onto my radar to see if they have Level 3 raids is not only unappealing, but kinda unhealthy. I'm not looking to get my account suspended by using something against the ToS, and GymHuntr seems to be weirdly malfunctioning as of late (for example it simply refuses to show the gym closest to my house. Ever. Under any filter. Every other gym in my area it shows, but my nearest gym doesn't apparently exist.) so I can't rely on it.
Is there a legal Gym scanner that I can use to find Level 3 Raids?
(Others who raid with me tend to use RocketMap, but they seem to be of the opinion that it's useful and they haven't been told it's illegal yet so ignorance is bliss. I'm hoping to find a more concrete answer.)
Answers
Throw in a really good Blissey into the gym by your house. Golden Berry it every now and then.
Next periodically, click on that Blissey and click “Go to Gym” you will be able to see if there’s a Raid going on and what it is by exiting to the main screen.
Click the white rectangle on the bottom right hand corner of your screen. Scroll over to Raids (if there is one active or about to hatch from that gym near your house).
Most legal way to check that specific gym close to you.
I don't know that any of them are legal, technically, but other than Gymhuntr, another one I use is https://gyms.pokehunter.co/
Niantic really ought to just add the "Go to Gym" button as a reward for getting any gym badge to gold, even when you don't have a defender there. Maybe silver gym badges too. I have two gyms I can see with less than a 5-mile trip, and it's idiotic that there's no better in-game way to check the rest of them that are scattered miles apart.
Nope...not winter.
For us, heat exhaustion is a bigger issue - it is a legit concern sometimes.
On subject...Niantic need to make their own map to tell people where raids are.
It will put all the 'fan' versions out of business, it will improve their servers as the scanners are no longer needed, and it will give paying customers what they have been asking for over a long period of time.
It just makes sense...so it probably won't happen.
I am really enjoying playing the game here in Phoenix, Arizona USA right now. Such a joy! Days are sunny and mild. Evenings are cool. My fingers are not sweating and making the ball stick when I throw it. The Ice type pokemon are still melting into my hands. The fire types are keeping me just warm enough to not need a long sleeve shirt. What can I say! Perfect pokemon weather!