Barometers???

[sailingpup]

'm looking at getting a new barometer and clock for my boat and have been looking at Wempe, Weems & Plath, Chelsea. Does anyone have any opinions? I'm looking at a decent quality $200-400 range.
I found a Wempe barometer stuffed into a drawer after we bought the boat, so I'm wondering if I should send it out and have it serviced. Is the Wempe worth having serviced, and does anyone know who could do this; in Canada, USA is ok too, prefer not sending it back to Germany.
R

[conachair]

Originally Posted by sailingpup

'm looking at getting a new barometer and clock for my boat and have been looking at Wempe, Weems & Plath, Chelsea. Does anyone have any opinions? I'm looking at a decent quality $200-400 range.
I found a Wempe barometer stuffed into a drawer after we bought the boat, so I'm wondering if I should send it out and have it serviced. Is the Wempe worth having serviced, and does anyone know who could do this; in Canada, USA is ok too, prefer not sending it back to Germany.
R

An electronic one for not much more than a 10th of the cost has provided me with perfect service for the past 6 years round the Atlantic, 24h history very useful. Not as pretty as a Wempe but better at the job.

[Dockhead]

+1

I have a cheap electronic barograph which does the business. Those pretty mechanical barometers are pretty useless unless you log the readings over time, and why would you bother if you can buy a barograph for $100?

For traditional decorative purposes, I do have a WWII vintage U.S. Navy surplus Chelsea ship's clock. It's pretty accurate and therefore can be used for its original purpose, although a cheap quartz clock would be better.

[donradcliffe]

Don't waste your money on the pretty brass things. The insides are crap and they are for decoration only. Get a cheap plastic digital one.

[colemj]

Weems and Plath is crap and highly over-rated. We have had two of them. They are plated brass that corrode and peel after a short time. Even on the most expensive models, the insides are cheap toy mechanisms.

Get an electronic weather station for half the price and enjoy a recording barometer, indoor and outdoor humidity and temperature readings, windspeed and a clock and calendar - all on a single display that takes up less room than the big brass crap. And a lot of them provide a wireless link to a computer running more advanced weather and recording software that uses the data.

Mark

[GordMay]

La Crosse offer numerous electronic weather stations, at reasonable prices
➥ Products by La Crosse Technology - Tomorrow's Weather Today

At home, I have an “Acu-Rite” #02010-RX, with indoor/outdoor temperature and humidity, barometric pressure & history, self-setting clock and calendar, and forecast of morning, noon & night (4-hour, 4 to 8-hour and 8 to 12-hour) weather conditions (North America) .
➥ AcuRite Professional Digital Weather Center with Forecast / Temperature / Humidity 02010

[Paul L]

If you are looking for a real westher instrument, then the recording digital ones are better. Take a look at the NASA Meteoman, decent price. If you want a nice looking brass clock and baro pair, then look for a decent price as they arent that different inside.

[zeehag]

mine is one of the above mentioned ones--tells trends which is the important thing--exact is for the meteorologists. ye will do fine with any of the ones ye can find in matched pairs with clock--you arent writing weather, you are trending it.

[gjordan]

I had an old wind up Barograph and loved it . At this point in time I would buy an electronic Barograph since they are so much better.____Grant.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

Don't waste your money on the pretty brass things. The insides are crap and they are for decoration only. Get a cheap plastic digital one.

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.

[Eric50]

I must say that all above opinion are fully shared, meteoman is onboard for the reading and monitoring, beside brass one(s) for the decoration.

A good mix between electronic recording display of the pressure and the traditionnal "marine" look is the barograph with paper chart on a turning drum, very nice but needs some room and the chart has to be change once a week.

Some are also to be rewind with a key time to time, most of the recent ones are working with an "AA" battery.

The electronics ones have interesting features as a sounding alarm in case of critical drop of atmospheric pressure, change in the scales for an easier reading...

Cheers.

[MarkSF]

My Garmin 78 handheld GPS also has a barometer, and will track the pressure over time.

For the boat, I bought a used, made in West Germany, one on Ebay. It's at least 40 years old and going strong. Cost me less than a new Weems and Plath, which are now made in China.