wind instuments

[John Howitt]

I'm thinking of asking the boss lady, for some kind of wind instrument to measure the speed (true and apparent), for Christmas.
Can anyone offer any insight into the pro's and con's of the hand held unit's vs the hard wired unit's

 

[Patrick S/V Shangra-La]

John,

There are a plethora of differences between the two. Cost being the most notable. As you have certainly noticed, a hand held unit cost much less to buy, but is also not as convenient.

The cost and installation of a hard wired unit is considerable, but so is the convenience. Being able to keep track of the the wind direction and speed, especially when using the auto pilot is, as the credit card says....Priceless.

I don't race, and when we are out I love setting my sails to a wind that is some where between 60 and 90 degree off the bow. The auto pilot is set and we relax. A quick glance at he wind indicator periodically tells me I need to adjust my AP either up or down a couple of degrees, which is much easier than adjusting sails. You can as you check the wind direction also check the wind speed

If however you want to only know the speed of the wind, a hand held is great, and the price is so much less and when it breaks and they all eventually break the cost is so much less.

If you are on a budget and only want to know the wind speed, go hand held.

 

[ITMaster]

If You Are Trying

To maintain a budget, you can go with the hand held unit for speed. To make do for awhile, you could tie some tell tales on the shrouds to get a sense of apparent wind direction. For about $30.00, you can pick up a Davis wind direction indicator to mount on the mast head that will again give you your apparent wind direction.

From what I hear now, the wireless instruments are not all that expensive and are easy to mount, and you don't worry about running wires. It's all about your bank account

 

[John Howitt]

Wind

Thanks for the opinion guy's, I appreciate that.
I don't really need one ,as I don't race, on my boat anyway. But sometimes it would be nice to know the actual speed of the wind.
As a sailor I'd really hate to exagerate

 

[Joe]

hand held windspeed units

I have a kestrel hand held unit I paid $80 for a few years back when the masthead transducer on my fixed unit died. It works fine... but you must understand that the handheld units will only give you Apparent wind speed.

If you want True wind speed (or true wind direction) you'll need an instrument that can process wind and boat speed information. I haven't seen a hand held unit that has that capability. (if you're a math guy I guess you could calculate the vectors to determine true speed and direction.... or just forget it)

I recently found a wind system.. transducer, cable and display.. that was being discontinued by West Marine for an outstanding price.. $300. But most of the better units are $500 and up. The wireless, solar powered units.. like TackTick makes... are pretty pricey.. well over $1000.