recommend a wind speed and direction system....

[Rockter]

I was looking seriously at this system. The mast will be dropped in the spring and I wondered what system to fit.

I don't need the most expensive system around, just something reliable.

I notice this system seems to have a vertical pole to it....

Raymarine ST40 Wind System E22047 - allGadgets Marine

Is it a good system?

thanks.

Rockter.

[mitchbrown]

It's a lot less expensive than the st60 unit and ive been looking at these as well. Sorry no info but im interested to hear as well.

Mitch

[Geoff54]

The ST40 is a good unit although the display is smaller than most. As the link you provided is in the UK, I assume that is where you are located, in which case you might look at Clipper by NASA Marine (difficult to get on this side of the pond since Defender stopped stocking them). They have a full size (110mm x 110mm) display and a good reputation for reliable, no-frills electronics. You might also take a look at Echopilot who make sonar and recently branched out into other instruments. After those three the prices start to go up quickly.

One thing to bear in mind with all wind instruments is that unless you can connect them to your log (or GPS), you will only get apparent speed and direction. You might look at compatibility with the log that you have to see if they will talk to each other. Raymarine will generally talk to other Raymarine instruments via SeaTalk (their flavor of NMEA). Some NASA products are NMEA but I'm not sure which or if wind and log work together otherwise.

If you want a Close Hauled Meter take a close look at NASA because their close hauled is a much less expensive add on than the Raymarine unit. As far as I know only Nexus and Tacktick incorporate a close hauled meter as standard but they are more expensive.

BTW, a few years ago one of the magazines compared the Raymarine Rotovector head with the more expensive wind vane type (as used on the ST60 and above, I believe) and found no discernible difference, much to their surprise.

Hope that helps - Any real experts out there?

[Rockter]

I have just noticed that unit has a lower operating temperature of 0 degC.

Perhaps the LCD fades out below that?

I have no plans to sail in anything that cold (or colder), but that does not seem to be good enough for where I live.