Barometers

[Wotname]

FWIW, almost all common nautical aneroid barometers that I have tested rate badly even when new. The mechanical linkages and pivots are either just poorly designed or gummed up with manufacturing gunge. Usually disassembling, ultrasonic solvent cleaning, reassembling and careful lubrication makes them work quite a lot better.

A few pilots I know have used a cheap(ish) old aircraft altimeter with good results. You know you are at sea level so set the altimeter to zero and read the pressure off the subscale.

[MarkJ]

Mine is bung too. I can tell if its going up or down but thats all.

I like the look of the home weather statioon too. And at that price anytime it fails ya just chuck it and get another.

I understand the 'home' wind meters are slower to react than sailing ones... I think they take, like, 5 seconds. But even that would be fine for a recorded system

[Thorin]

Well I'm out voted. I haven't put any of the systems your looking at on a boat but I have tried a few around the house and I found anything under $150 just wasn't accurate. Then again they might work better if your at sea level. At any rate if you see a sudden drop in pressure on whatever device you use tell those girls sunning on the deck to make themselfs useful and start gathering sail!

[mbianka]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Here's a cheap unit, of which I'd be interested in hearing a review:
DealExtreme: $27.32 Solar Powered Digital Compass Altimeter + Barometer + Thermometer

GordMay:

Hmmm. For that price I'd like to pick one up to use as a backup and keep down by my bunk to check what the boat is doing when I'm there. Could also throw it in a ditch bag hope never to have too. I'm thinking I'd use the compass feature more but, an extra barometer on board is a good thing too.

[mbianka]

"I can get decent results with my Casio wrist band watch."

Pblias:

Had a similar Casio for years. Worked well until the wrist band broke while I taking my dive gear off on a dive boat in Grand Cayman. Watch is probably still working somewhere down on that reef. Now I just rely on the cell phone, radio or GPS for time. Though I do have a cheap Digital watch on board too. Though sunrise and sunset is all the time keeping I need most days.

[goboatingnow]

Vion do a nice electronics model with recording ability. I think a lot of companies badge it as well.


Dave

[osirissail]

I have a boat full of barometers from the metal classical versions up to the fancy all in one weather stations. But the only one that has consistently just worked day-in, day-out is the Speedtech SM-8 See: Speedtech WeatherMate Barometer You might find on on eBay, seems when something works they discontinue it for something more complicated that does not work (very long).
- - It has been faithfully just doing its thing for over a decade requiring only a new battery each year or two. You can set up up on a bulkhead and then get the local airport barometer reading and reset the calibration to match. After that there is nothing more to do.
- - I have a serious love for instruments that just keep working - the Speedtech SM-8 is at the top of my list.
- - Although the replacement model might not be too bad, especially if you have a deer problem in your anchorage - http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/c...E-SPG-5-NEXTAG

[Thorin]

Did you know that in Canada white tail deer are responsible for more human deaths and injuries than any other animal? We all need to do our part to eradicate this menace to our species and way of life. If that little barometer can help you sail around them you need to get it. They have been assaulting our roadways since the dawn of the automobile who knows when they will turn on our water ways!

[goboatingnow]

medication Thorin, medication, youve forgotton it again

[dacust]

Originally Posted by Thorin

Did you know that in Canada white tail deer are responsible for more human deaths and injuries than any other animal? We all need to do our part to eradicate this menace to our species and way of life. If that little barometer can help you sail around them you need to get it. They have been assaulting our roadways since the dawn of the automobile who knows when they will turn on our water ways!

Thanks for this idea. I had been designing a system using those ultrasonic whistlers (the ones people put on their bumpers) mounted on the blades of the wind generator to get the speed up so they would whistle.

But your idea sounds much more sensible.

-dan

[Jerry Woodward]

I just got one of the new Casio Pathfinder watches, the PAW2000T, and can highly recommend it ($280 on Amazon). It has a compass, barometer and altimeter, it's solar, and syncs with the atomic clock. The 2000T is also much thiner than the standard pathfinder, which are pretty big. I took it backpacking in the Rockies last week and the altimeter was very accurate. Thus, I presume the barometer will also be accurate since they both work by atmospheric pressure. Calibrating is easy. Both the barometer and altimeter give you a small graph so you can see whether it is rising or falling. There is also a data storage function that can store readings in various functions. Can't wait to take it sailing.

[osirissail]

Since this is a cruisers, cruising forum of more use would be a Garmin 76S series GPS which beside having all the GPS and a charting function also has a barometer and barometric graphing page. So you can really cover a lot of bases with that unit.

[markpierce]

My writwatch has an altimeter. So, when the altitude drops, the pressure has risen, and the opposite is true also (altitude drops, pressure has fallen).

Passenger questions captain in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean: "Is the water at sea level?"

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by markpierce

My writwatch has an altimeter. So, when the altitude drops, the pressure has risen, and the opposite is true also (altitude drops, pressure has fallen). . .

Huh? There is some serious Zen in there. Up is down, down is up. Oh Well! anyway, a falling barometer normally is not good, while a rising barometer bodes well.

[GeoPowers]

Originally Posted by chuckr

we have a weather station from la crosse technology -- works pretty well - and has a history over the past several hours that we set for milibars

chuck patty svsoulmates
on the hook solomons md

We have this one: Weather One Wireless Weather Station by LaCrosse | Orion Telescopes

Works great, very happy with it and looks good as a wall mount with some 3M outdoor double-stick tape at the nav table.