Kestrel 3500FW Fire Weather Meter, Safety Orange

THis great little machine collects pretty much all the data you'll need for a recreational excursion, but buyers should consider spending a bit extra for the 5500, which allows you to download data. I recently completed a ten day hike in Iceland, and although it was interesting to track data, it is much easier to download the data than to log data manually (especially when the weather is bad). My previous Kestrel lasted just under 25 years.

Used for a fire season and it held up great! Ready to use for another season!

I have owned the Kestrel 2500 for about 8 years now. It looks the same, but doesn't have the humidity displays (relative humidity, dewpoint, wet bulb temperature) that are so useful in the Wildland Fire service. It has been carried to the airport day after day, dropped in the mud, stepped on and otherwise abused without an issue. We were having a humidity issue in our office, so I opted to purchase the 3500 to troubleshoot the problem. It performed flawlessly - three daily readings for a month. Careful recording of temps, dewpoints, relative humidity and duct airflow speeds allowed us to isolate - and correct - the problem. A word about accuracy: Don't get wrapped around the axle when any of the values change a few tenths of a unit. Read the specification sheet and study the +/- percentage values. This is a rugged, high quality field unit, not a delicate $5,000 device in a NASA lab. You'll love it! >>>>>> Note to the editors: Rate these features: "Warmth"? "Thickness?" - WTF does that mean?

I researched this product carefully and knew exactly what I was getting. They prices seemed to be pretty fixed, lots of vendors offer it at exactly the same price. There is an abundance of similar looking and featured equipment on the market, much of it for a fraction of the price, but I felt this was worth paying extra for because it's a rugged professional quality instrument, not a cheap knockoff that is likely to be inaccurate and stop working in a year. I'ts ranges like for wind speed also exceed most other similar looking models, and include ranges that I well might use. Many other anemometers top speeds exclude most storm speeds. This won't measure a severe hurricane but it will measure most severe weather events I'm likely to see as an outdoorsman and boater. I chose this one because I'd get it faster with Amazon Prime and was getting it for a trip but was surprised when the delivery turned out to take longer than I'm accustomed to. It didn't make it in time for my trip, but the product is exactly what I wanted and expected. It was packed well and the only think I can complain about is the slow shipping. It should not have been called Prime.

Nice new and true

Not sure why this was so much more expensive, the orange color? Husband is on a wildfire crew and lost his old one so I thought the color would be perfect. Not seeing any other features the other models don’t have. Oh well, he loves it.

Let me tell you. The kiddo tossed this gift out the window into the snow when he saw it was not a toy for him. It was left in diverse weather conditions and still works like a charm after it was discovered a week later!

Good for quick fairly accurate measurements for weather. I mainly use it to figure out the conditions real quick on the spot where I’m at whether on a fire or just out hiking. Being able to figure out the humidity, wind speed and wet bulb pretty quick can be a big help on the line.

Great device however I would have not purchased without Bluetooth.