Gear test: NASA Target Wind

I used the NASA Target Wind on my boat for nearly 10 years. Well it worked, but nearly every autumn or winter, when the winter storms came, I lost the damm wind propeller (wind anemometer cup).

  

There had been different causes, which made them to fell off:

• mostly the securing ring went off and the propeller drops off
• 2 times the shaft where you stick the propeller on broke off. Once I brazed a new controll unit in the mast unit. As it happend again I bought a completly mast unit without the cables and brazed again the cable on, in the hope that thing works longer. The new mast unit looked like as it where the same of NASA Clipper Wind. I think 3 years later, the shaft was broke of again.

And that is the fact what makes me quite upset with the NASA Target Wind, nearly every year a new propeller, which costs you 30€. I think the mast unit was around 60 to 70€. Than you have to climb up the mast or lay down your mast to replace that thing.

On the plus side the NASA Target Wind is the cheapest on the market and it works. It gives you the basic information about wind strengh and direction (just scale, no digit angle as you see on a Target 2 below) . For crusing a boat, in my opinion all you need. The alignment for the wind direction is quite easy, just turn your boat in the wind, and make the alignment setup written down in the manual and it works.

 

If you want a cheap unit that works, you are fine with the NASA Target (2) Wind. In every good chandlery you get the spare parts you need, like a wind anemometer cup ;-) or on the website of NASA Marine.