[flyingwelshman]

This little gadget plugs into the ear plug of your smartphone. The plug is just the holder. The wind vanes spin and send a signal to your smartphone. The free software picks up the signal and shows wind speed, including highs and averages.

In and of itself this is pretty cool. What's cooler though is that Vaavud puts your wind info onto Googlemaps for all to see. You can see wind speeds from all of the active Vaavud units in your area.

This seems like it will be a handy gadget to play around with.

The website shows the price at €45. I just picked one up in Ontario (Sobstad) for $49.95 CDN (minus 10% special).

A couple of downsides: as the sender seems to have a pretty short range (inches) the unit works best as designed - which is plugged in to the ear bud jack, which means that the phone will be exposed to the elements when you are using the windmeter. I am thinking of mounting a plug on a rail just to attach the windmeter and, with my phone in its waterproof housing, hold the phone close to the Vaavud when I want a reading.

Another downside is that now, with accurate wind information, those 35 kt gusts are going to be somewhat diminished.

Of course those with masthead wind instruments won't need this device other than as a back-up.

So, if anyone has been using this, what are your thoughts?

For more info you can visit the website here.

Here's a link to the iTunes Store for the free app. This shows a screenshot of the map feature.

 

[capta]

I guess you won't be getting readings in the rain, beating w/ spray on deck, etc. About time a phone was built for you sailors who just can't seem to manage w/o your smart phones; a waterproof one.
For us, a big plus of sailing is being unconnected. We know where ours is, but most often find the phone completely discharged in it's holder. Oops. Then again, we probably don't even have the right sim card in the darned thing. Oops, again.

 

[flyingwelshman]

After reading through some of the reviews etc. on-line it looks like this anemometer works well with some of the protective cases that are available.

Plus I generally only check the wind speed when I'm not sailing. Once underway I rely on observing conditions when making sailtrim decisions. It would be fun to be able to confirm those Force 8's though.

FWIW I don't count myself as a sailor 'who just can't seem to manage w/o your smart phones'. In fact although I have my phone with me for emergencies I rarely, if ever, use it while aboard.

I have a conventional anemometer something like this:

The trouble with it is that it must be aligned perfectly with the wind direction in order to be accurate. The Vaavud doesn't need to be.

I think the most interesting aspect of this device is that it will upload real-time wind info that is accessible by anyone who has the software.

 

[sulli]

I guess you won't be getting readings in the rain, beating w/ spray on deck, etc. About time a phone was built for you sailors who just can't seem to manage w/o your smart phones; a waterproof one.
For us, a big plus of sailing is being unconnected. We know where ours is, but most often find the phone completely discharged in it's holder. Oops. Then again, we probably don't even have the right sim card in the darned thing. Oops, again.

Get a Casio Gzone mine spent 2days in 7 feet of brackish water and never skipped a beat, battery still had a charge but didn't receive calls