Barometers

[rebel heart]

My aneroid barometer gave up the ghost; got quoted a couple of hundred to have the element replaced and tested. It works in a ziplock bag if you squeeze but isn't responding to more subtle (ie: real) atmospheric changes. I have one of the big brass ones on the bulkhead right now, and as beautiful as they look, I'm kind of looking around for an alternative.

If money was no object I'd get one of the nautilus models from weems and plath at $400, but for $50 I can get a digital like one of these:

Home Weather Station With Wind Speed

PalmStar Digital Compass

I don't really care about anything else except the barometer. I might even just get a wristwatch that has a good one built in.

[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

[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

[svcambria]

Got one of these - surprised to see how much the price has increased over the past six or seven years - but very reliable:

Digital Barometers - Barometers - Weather

and a 24 hour history of barometric variation.
Also my Faruno radar has a built in digital barometer.
My old brass barometer - Boston - broke, got it fixed but it never quite seemed to recover, so I no longer really believe what it displays... it is decoration now...

Michael

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by svcambria

Got one of these - surprised to see how much the price has increased over the past six or seven years - but very reliable:

Digital Barometers - Barometers - Weather

and a 24 hour history of barometric variation.
Also my Faruno radar has a built in digital barometer.
My old brass barometer - Boston - broke, got it fixed but it never quite seemed to recover, so I no longer really believe what it displays... it is decoration now...

Michael

At our navigation station we have a version of this suggested unit in a teak case that we obtained from Celestaire for less than $50.00 USD several years ago as an alternative to buying a barograph. It is very accurate once calibrated, which I did at the local airport using their automated phone line altimeter readings. We also have a traditional Weems and Plath barometer (an matching ship-strike clock) in our Saloon that we originally bought for our Rhodes Reliant in the mid-'70's that still works well (matching the readings for the digital version). Oddly, although I know it serves no usedful purpose, I still find myself tapping the face of the digital barometer before recording a reading just as I did/do the W&P!

FWIW...

[capt_douglas]

Due to the diurnal properties of barometric pressure, I'd recommend one that records the barometric pressure over a long period as opposed to the more common dial versions. The biggest problems I've seen with barometers is that the low pressure chamber leaks after a while or the mechanicals become stiff.

We've got the electronic version on board with the rain, humidity, and wind speed sensor options [Davis Vantage VUE Pro]. There are times when it'd be nice to download the data to the weather log but most of the time it's easy to copy the data. As far as I can tell, the unit's as accurate as the day we installed it. We also opted for the calibrated version, thinking that better (?) accuracy and possibly improved reliability were worth the added cost.

We've also got one of those recording barographs that use paper and reside in a glass case. Very sharp looking and nautical but also very delicate and expensive (ink and paper) that sits in the saloon. Most of us use the digital model for accurate data.

[speciald@ocens.]

I have a Weems and Plath Electronic barometer that I bought at a boat show for less than $200. I like it as it displays a time line of barometric pressure and I can see trends at a glance.

[rebel heart]

Glad to see I'm not the only guy who's done with the $600 manual barometer that stops working in a few years time. Looks great, but just not reliable enough.

[Astrid]

No rebel, you aren't the only one.

[Pblais]

I can get decent results with my Casio wrist band watch. It does a window of time and the reading I've taken and used as an altimiter seems decent so the basic accuracy is there. It will tell you the sharp drops and rises and has a genral accuracy. Given I can swim with it on and I've had it a long time now it would be a decent choice. I think the watches run about &200 -300. It's the best watches Casio makes.

The temperature is a joke as it measures the temperature of your wrist with great precision. The timers and other attributes of the watch are good as well. The battery lasts a very long time and has a light for night use. Mine is old but the newer PathFiner is a notch better.

[rebel heart]

Paul would you count on your watch as *the* ship's barometer then?

[Kettlewell]

I'll third this one: Digital Barometers - Barometers - Weather

It's been onboard for something like 10 or more years (I forget), never missed a beat. The batteries last years. Gives the 24-hour trend, which is as long as I ever need. Very accurate when comparing it to local NOAA weather radio, etc. I also have a nice brass one on the bulkhead that is about 27 years old and it has never given me a problem. The two are very close in readings.

[rebel heart]

You know I like something like this, but $250 vs. $50 (for one of the weather stations)...

Amazon.com: Casio Men's PAW1500T-7V Pathfinder Multi-Band Solar Atomic Ultimate Watch: Watches

Then again, with no cell phone it might be nice to have the time on me and the weather station won't do that.

[Kettlewell]

I've tried some atomic watches and clocks and never been able to get one that actually synchronizes properly with the atomic clock. Not saying the Casio won't do it, but I think it is a dubious need since all I have to do is turn on the GPS to get a very accurate time signal that is within I think 18 seconds of UTC at this time. If I needed it for celestial I would look up the difference between GPS time and UTC.

[svcambria]

Beware the atomic clock!
I had one in Tahiti and it kept resetting the time to Japan time zone. Not terribly useful to know what time it is in Japan when you sre in French Polynesia...
Gave it the float test...
Michael

Note: GPS is now ahead of UTC by 15 seconds. Apparently they don't account for leap seconds...