Calypso Ultrasonic Wind

[Sailmonkey]

I’ve been eyeballing one of these. The size suits our small boat, and I have no other nema 2000 gear aboard, so the output is just right.

https://calypsoinstruments.com/shop/...c-anemometer-9

Has anyone got any real life use out of these? How is the build quality? How about direction accuracy (primary use would be to steer the autopilot close hauled)?

[KeelMe]

It's overpriced for a small unknown brand but I guess "boutique electronics" are the big thing these days.

I would be interested to see how it works in a complete tablet navigation system. If it only works with the Sailing Anemotracker App I would pass on it until it had better integration with some of the more popular apps. If you look at the app page most of the comments are "It crashed".

Ultimately, If it were $200 I'd buy one. I'd only pay $500 if it had NMEA 2000. That being said it is the best looking ultrasonic anemometer I have seen so far.

[RaymondR]

It claims a "resolution" of +/- 1 so if it meets it's manufacturers specifications should work for an autopilot control.

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

It claims a "resolution" of +/- 1 so if it meets it's manufacturers specifications should work for an autopilot control.

I’m wondering though if that is in a wind tunnel type of test without any turbulent flow.

The small aperture size is what worries me.

[Sailmonkey]

So far there is no one who’s laid hands on one?

Well, I went out on a limb and bought a geonav autopilot, so may do the same here.......

[Neptune's Gear]

There is a good reason NONE of the pro race teams use solid state gear, YET....

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by Neptune's Gear

There is a good reason NONE of the pro race teams use solid state gear, YET....

What is the good reason? Is the direction not stable? Is the speed not as accurate as cups?

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Neptune's Gear

There is a good reason NONE of the pro race teams use solid state gear, YET....

Sponsorship?

[VENTS]

Why race yachts do not use a non-mechanical wind sensor?
Indeed, the major marine electronics brands for the competition, B & G, NKE have an important sponsorship policy. These companies do not tolerate other sensors on board.
On the other hand, the canvassing of professional race teams requires a lot of investment time, for a small market.

Regarding the size of the sensor, it suffices with adequate signal processing.
Calipso has not yet understood everything on this point!
Their main distributor, Vaavud filed for bankruptcy last week ...
The manager of Vaavud did not seem very happy with his supplier on the technical point.
https://mailchi.mp/vaavud/vaavud-one-last-email?e=[UNIQID]

[GTom]

It seems cheap (if you can call a 500€ wind instrument cheap), but you also need the NMEA connect to integrate it in the boat's system, adding up a bill of 680€+shipping total, closer to the price of the CV7SF2.

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by GTom

It seems cheap (if you can call a 500€ wind instrument cheap), but you also need the NMEA connect to integrate it in the boat's system, adding up a bill of 680€+shipping total, closer to the price of the CV7SF2.

You shouldn’t need the connect with the wired version.

[GTom]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

You shouldn’t need the connect with the wired version.

That's the point, I need a wireless wind instrument. The actual one (tacktick) is broken and I don't want to pull another wire in the mast.

[Eborrese]

I have tried other wireless units (the one now sold under the Garmin brand name), and have just purchased the Calypso.

The previous one I had, had a lot of problems connecting, battery problems etc. I used that on a cruiser.

The Calypso seems great in my initial testing - I am going to use it for race analasys on a dinghy and F18 catamaran. It is waterproof, light and seems well buildt. It is also compatible with a few other apps, so I am not dependent on Calypsos own app to make it work.

I will let you know when I have testet it some more how it works.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Eborrese.

[Eborrese]

I did try this on my dinghy today, after several hours of trying to upgrade the firmware. I am still not successful with that and have sent an e-mail to support asking for help. I suppose some of the problems that I had today is due to an old firmware in the brand new unit I got.

The app from Calypso look ok, but cannot be used horizontally. As I had my phone strapped to my arm, this was pretty much useless. I also tried Sailracer.net - which I purchased for this purpose, but that did not give any interesting data at all except wind speed. I guess this may have to do with the firmware on my unit.

I did have a capsize, and what I noticed was that after this the unit gave wrong direction on the wind. After a while tacking upwind, the wind seemed to switch slowly around the rear of the boat (from behind going upwind!), before it settled approx.. where it should be. I assume the compass in the unit did not like to be upside down. It took about 10 minutes before it showed the correct wind angle.

Also, going upwind it claimed the wind was about 8 knots+, while my boat speed was between 6-8 knots. I assume the wind was closer to 15 knots in real life. As the numbers where not very easy to read from the side, I might have misread these. However, going downwind – the true windspeed increased to 13-18 knots – while my boatspeed was in the same range. This seemed more accurate to me.
So far, my experience is that I have spent a lot of time trying to update the unit unsuccessfully, trying to fint apps that work properly, and getting the correct readings. As of now, this seems more like a very expensive toy then something that can actually be used.

I will let you know if support can help me with these issues and if the unit then gets any better.