NASA Clipper Wireless Wind Instrument System

[ErikFinn]

I used to hate the wind instruments. They would cost an arm and a leg and the transducer would brake every so often, and the replacement also would cost an arm and a leg. For 30 odd years all I wanted was a windex and the feeling of the fresh sea wind on my face.

Recently I have started to soften a bit. I have never installed a WIRED transducer but I reckon it's no easy project? The txer wire through the mast..?

Then there are the WIRELESS systems such as this NASA, and I'm considering to purchase this one:

Clipper: NASA Marine Instruments

Anyone has this particular make and model and would care to share experiences? Did the txer brake? Was a replacement or spares easily available? I can't see the factory listing the wireless txer only... hmmmmm..

What I recall having read about various wireless wind systems is that there has been issues and they are not so reliable. Maybe just one off cases and I hope folks would prove that wrong.

My other option is the even more affordable traditional style wired system from NASA but the txer wire install through the mast does not excite me..

[GordMay]

➥ http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ts-159230.html

➥ http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ts-140808.html

[ErikFinn]

Thanks Gord, I had read those threads already

[barnakiel]

You get what you pay for.

Ex Silva now Garmin is the better choice - more accurate and better built.

b.

[Rapanui]

I had NASA Clipper instruments on my previous boat including wired wind and it was all faultless for 10 years sailing the English Channel. Very good value for money and well made. Spares such as cups, vanes and speed impellers dirt cheap. Their GPS repeater is a really useful bit of kit. Cannot say how reliable their wireless stuff is, but I would not hesitate to buy their stuff again. I now have inherited Raymarine ST60 which is good stuff but in my view not worth nearly twice as much. Marine instrumentation has a vastly inflated price which is not justified by the content or specification. I guess it is partly justified by the high end, all embracing and relentless marketing costs by the big boys plus discounting the OEM prices to boat builders so that we pay inflated prices for extras. In NASA's case, low cost does not mean cheap quality.

[Captain Puget]

2nd the vote for Gwind (garmin) wireless

[hellosailor]

Let's see now...In the 1960's the US had this big project to land on the moon and this incredibly famous technical agency called "NASA" to do the job.


So pretty much every idiot around the world knew who NASA was. Not N.A.S.A., but NASA. Even if the BBC now have an annoying habit of calling them "Nasa" which is purely imaginary.


And some technical person decides to call his instrument company "NASA"....which cynic could say was intentionally trying to fool people into thinking there was a technical connection and some engineering excellence or partnership involved.


Nope, sorry, that kind of intentional (or grossly uneducated) coincidence just makes me distrust the management and the company, forever after.


Just one man's highly opinionated opinion.

[Getweh]

Interestingly, I have the Clipper Wireless on one boat, and the ST60+ on another. The Clipper occasionally gives me direction readings a few degrees off (compared to what I'm observing on the Windex/in my face) which could be due to dirty air up there. The ST60 has worked flawlessly.... Till just before christmas - when it just stopped.

It has been my experience with electronics, that whereas it's true you can get better quality by paying more, the additional cost does not necessarily directly co-relate to what you're gonna get out of it. Sometimes seems a bit like a crap shoot.

.......Never had a B&G fail though......

G

[Saqqara]

You might try searching more broadly on the internet for reports. There is another forum site that seems to be popular in the region where NASA instruments are also popular.

I have the wired NASA NMEA instrument. Based on my experience with it, and my reading about it on various forums, I am of the opinion it's a poor product, for need of a few minor improvements which I hope were made in the new wireless version.

The masthead is an inconvenient place to have equipment fail, so do your research.