Product Features :
- Handheld tool for measuring wind speed temperature barometric pressure and altitude
- Particularly handy for military applications with its night vision preserving backlight
- Multi function 3 line display automatic and manual data storage
- Flip top impeller cover allows use of other functions while protecting the impeller
- Powered by 2 AAA batteries included 5 year warranty
>> Evolution of the Kestrel 4500NV
During the Iraqi and Afghanistan campaigns soldiers needed to know fairly precise windspeed for artillery and marksmanship purposes In fact some rifle scopes today expect the user to own a kestrel wind speed meter and need the data from the meter to compute the scope adustment
Kestrel worked with the US DOD to make the 4500NV after all the 4000 was hunter orange in fact they worked so hard that the backlight on the 4500NV NV stands for Night Vision is so dim that it is not as useful as the standard 4500 bright yellow case which has a nightlight like a timex indiglo watch too much for our Gen 3 NV systems
The download data function IS very slow the reason is that the case is weather sealed and the data is sent and received using infrared diodes on the back of the case Back in the days prior to usb these went to a 2400 9600 baud serial line and they were fine The USB version of the data adapter maintains the clock rates of the old serial standard to be compatible
The biggest win for the user is that on the 4000 you had to leave it turned on all the time if you wanted a graph of weather readings every XX minutes to predict the weather It did a great job graphing but also drained the battery and there was no way to tell the 4000 to wake up every 30 minutes take a reading and go back to sleep The 4500 series does this so now you get accurate weather without wasting batteries In fact 2 batteries which lasted 3 days on the 4000 can last 3 months on the 4500 due to this one simple improvement
Other military uses of the Kestrel are the Heat Index function which is used to ensure troops do not become dehydrated and to assess the risk of heat stroke in the summer sands of iraq High in the mountains of Afghanistan and other stans the windchil function is of great value
For civilian uses the 4500NV looks cool but unfortunately you give up alot of usage when the brighter glow of the 4500 s backlight would be nice The 4000 was made in 2 colors hunter orange and black It s too bad kestrel marries the feature set with the case color
Other than that they are identical A pet peeve of mine is that you can not strap on the computer interface while the unit is in the windvane to give direction data If you could you would get live real time weather data unfortunately the cable drag would be prohibitive so you must collect data over time then remove the unit from the windvane and dowload the data I guess you can t have your cake and eat it too
>> Good Concept But Some Disappointments
I have a few issues with my Kestrel 4500 NV Pocket Wind Meter
First the cheap plastic battery shim is a critical component to the calibration of the unit This shim can easily be lost and my efforts to find extras have thus far been unsuccessful Online sites do not carry them and NK customer service initially promised to send me a couple of extras but I am still waiting
Next some of the buttons on the unit sometimes require multiple key presses for input to be recognized Also the battery door seems flimsy and I do not know how it will stand up to multiple battery replacements
Because of these issues I have concerns about the overall durability of the unit
In addition I have the USB interface but note that the connection to the cradle is actually via a serial port This interface is only USB on the PC connection As a result downloading data to the PC is extremely s l o w
>> Kestrel Review
The product is an improvement over the older Kestrel 4000 It is very durable I cannot say if the results Temperature Pressure Dewpoint WindSpeed or Compass is accurate but you have at least one decimal point of precision
The wind speed is actual windspeed and is lower than you would get from an observation station
