Barometers???

[redsky49]

I have a pair of Weems and Plath instruments that are solid brass. Mine are roughly 3-1/2" dia. face, somewhat on the small size. From time to time I repolish and lacquer. That lasts for 5 or 6 years. The Barometer is surprisingly accurate, usually within a millibar or so with the local weather station. The clock recently had to have the quartz movement replaced due to a leaking battery. The movement is either Swiss or German (can't recall) and keeps typical quartz accurate time. These are rather old -at least twenty years - and look great, work great. At home I have a Chelsea Ship's clock, 6 or 7 inch face, also solid brass and with a quartz movement. Can't beat modern convenience of not winding

That said, my favorite barometer, no longer manufactured, had a 24 hour digital bar graph recording of pressure, in addition to the direct readout. This was the most useful. An historical view of barometric pressure is what helps to determine weather, not the immediate pressure. The hour by hour past measurements provide the trending data. Unless you are willing and able to record by hand the movement of the barometer's needle you would be better served by a recording type barometer.

Get the analog type for ambiance, digital for utility.

P.S. Weems and Plath still carry replacement parts for these instruments. That's where I got a replacement movement. My failed digital barograph, when the digital screen failed, could not be repaired and was tossed.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by ErBrown

I realize this is an old thread and would be curious to hear how many of you still stand behind the cheaper electronic weather stations. Do they hold up and are they dependable enough to be the only option for extended cruising?

Thanks,
EB

Absolutely.
9 years in and the deC/degF switch does it's own thing sometimes but otherwise still going strong. 24 hour history with bargraph, one of the lowest maintenance useful bits of kit onboard. A lovely brass one would be nice to look at but for that kind of money I could buy something useful

[quill]

How do the electronic ones hold up to lightning? It's a rare occurrence but it happens. After 30 years it happened to me. Did'nt affect my Seth Thomas.

[redsky49]

An inexpensive device like this will serve quite well. For a bit more money you get greater precision and detail, though.

[Orion Jim]

I have a Chelsea key-wind clock and matching barometer. I wind the clock once a week and love hearing it strike. It never wakes me when I'm sound asleep as I bring the set home for the winter so I'm used to the bells.
The matching aneroid barometer is also a lovely instrument. If I want split second precision I depend on my Casio watch or my instruments. The Chelsea clock and barometer are dependable tools, but mostly I just love them.

[Jim Cate]

We have had the same unit as shown in REd Sky's post above for the last 20 years. It has performed flawlessly... oh,no, we have had to replace the AA batteries at least three times in that period! It is surprisingly accurate (and this is important to me in my interpretation of MSL and Prog charts) when compared to official reports, something we do regularly.

All in all, a fantastic bargain in "marine" instruments... it cost well less than 100 Aussie dollars when we bought it, and the price is still in the same ball park. We have always had decorative android barometers in nice cases, and I compare their readings, just in case of lightning strike or asteroid impact... but I don't worry about it much!

Jim

[MBWhite]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

Yep. For under two hundred bucks I have a casio wrist watch that:

- is solar powered
- has a compass
- has sunrise/sunset
- has a barometer with 24 hour history
- is built like a tank
- has a gazillion other functions


One thing I love is that the 24 barometer history is right on the front screen above the time and next to the date. Whenever I glance on my watch, there's the barometric graph.

If you don't mind, what model watch are you wearing?

Thanks,

MBW

[J Clark H356]

I think I am on my second one of these in 13 years. Lots of features and change batteries once a year.


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[gjorgensen]

Most newer tablets and cellphones have a surprisingly accurate barometer built in (it's actually part of the accelerometer). Google your tablet/phone model to see if it has a barometer. If it does, all sorts of barometer apps are available for iOS and Android.

[zboss]

Originally Posted by gjorgensen

Most newer tablets and cellphones have a surprisingly accurate barometer built in (it's actually part of the accelerometer). Google your tablet/phone model to see if it has a barometer. If it does, all sorts of barometer apps are available for iOS and Android.

The really wanted to do this as well. However, when we looked at burning an additional 5-7 amps a day to keep them going 24/7 it seemed like it wasn't a good value. I know 5-7 amps doesn't seem like a lot but when you add up all you 5-7 amp devices, thats a lot of additional power.

We went with a battery powered la cross.

[gjorgensen]

Originally Posted by zboss

The really wanted to do this as well. However, when we looked at burning an additional 5-7 amps a day to keep them going 24/7 it seemed like it wasn't a good value. I know 5-7 amps doesn't seem like a lot but when you add up all you 5-7 amp devices, thats a lot of additional power.

We went with a battery powered la cross.

Yeah, no doubt most tablets are spendy on power vs. a Meteoman or similar. But so many people use a tablet to navigate now, I figured if you do you might as well run a barometer along with it for free. The one I've seen for Android runs in the background so it should run concurrently with Navionics or iNavx. But I agree - if you don't otherwise keep a tablet running, something like a Meteoman is a better option.

[Mal Reynolds]

Having been offshore I've become a barometer believer, comparing to surface analysis charts an altering course based on pressure changes. I've had a lot of trouble with the Weems & Plath electronic units - 2 of them failed. The first purchase for my new boat was the Mintaka Duo: http://www.starpath.com/catalog/accessories/1942.htm Pretty much the last word in electronic marine barometers. It's only been a month, so we'll see if it holds up. There is also an old aneroid on the bulkhead.


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[Seymore]

Here there's one of these guys. You can set the tracking for 48, 24, 12 and so on hours. It's accurate...

http://www.defender.com/product3.jsp...189&id=2537082

It's made by Vion in France, with a W & P label. A few years ago, when I got mine, they were very buggy with things like bad ICs, so that Defender and W & P dropped them with disgust. But they're back in Defender stock, so we can presume the bugs have been ironed out. In any case W & P's tech support was very good.

It goes for 9 months on a set of batteries.