As we were going to stay in the same place for a few weeks I decided to bring a pocket weather station to Argentina. I had  a Silva one I had used while mountaineering but thought it was a bit primitive and looked for something better.

While browsing the Net, I rediscovered the Kestrel brand. They are famous in boating circles for their wind meters, but not very widely distributed and I was surprised to see how their range had expanded. While all the models are of exactly the same size and design their all-singing, all-dancing top of the range 4500BT would pick up wind speed, wind direction, temperature, humidity and barometric pressure, automatically calculate all the derived figures such as Wet Bulb or Wind Chill, automatically record them at programmable intervals and deliver them to a computer via BlueTooth. Just from reading the specification sheet I was in love.

There are only a few places to get them from in the UK and one is the importer’s Paul Russell web site. I did my sums and ordered a 4500BT and matching wind vane attachment from them. Sent via Royal Mail it arrived the next day and I immediately tested it, soon finding that the Bluetooth communication didn’t work. I only had days to go, but they suggested that if I also used Royal Mail, I could send back the unit overnight, they would immediately fix it or replace it and send it back to me on the same day. It worked and I got a working unit back with only hours to spare.

Because I use Macintosh computers I cannot connect to the device with the Windows-only software supplied free for the Kestrel. There is a workaround however as the engineers nicely supplied the communication parameters for the device and you can connect to it from any operating system with a terminal program. From there, it is easy to command a memory dump and paste it into a spreadsheet. The bluetooth connection allows you to download data without disturbing the unit which needs to be set on a tripod for the wind vane to work. As added niceties, the unit is completely waterproof (and can actually be submerged!) and, as a serious, professional tool, it is delivered  with a certificate of calibration for all the sensors. At almost £500 with VAT for the top range model, the Kestrels are not cheap, but at that level of functionality and quality, they are pretty much alone in their market.