Kestrel® 3500 Pocket Wind Meter

I love knowing how fast the wind goes!

I tried the Kestrel 3500 that a colleague owned, and it worked flawlessly. I spend much time outdoors, on the water and in the woods, and such an instrument could save my life if severe weather were to occur.

Our company is involved in the supply and installation of fiber reinforced bolts and injection resins for specialized ground support in underground mines. We use our Kestrel 3500 to verify temperature and relative humidity conditions that are important to the resin set and cure times as well as other ventilation parameters.
The meter is extremely robust and has become an important tool for us.

This unit is Great! I use it to report local weather for Skywarn.

This unit is great! Easy to use and indestructable, especially for students!

I have been a Special Agent with the USG for over 20 years and a Kestral 3500 has been a favorite piece of equipment for the years that I have had it. I have used it on the range for long range calculations and record keeping to having it in my go bag to be prepared for any deployment. The company is excellent with customer support which goes a long way in addition to the excellent value. I recently moved to my agencies most north eastern office so keeping up on weather and climate is a must and I carry my Kestral in the car every day.

I am a Paramedic Firefighter and purchased a Kestrel 3500 several months ago. The members of my station use its data almost daily as it relates to heat index or wind chill. On a hazardous material call knowing the speed of the wind is of great value. Knowing a weather change is imminent by the barometric pressure is an added feature. The real reason I am writing is the durability of the 3500. Today after a shift at the firehouse my 3500 went through the washer and dryer. As soon as I turned it on it displayed the temperature fresh out of the dryer. All other functions operated perfectly. This is a quality piece of equipment I don’t think I could do without.

In several prior seasons, I used the manual sling psychrometer for humidity measurement and the manual wind meter with the little ball that always gets stuck, leaving me to rely, as I usually do, on watching tree tops for wind effect during a fire assignment. Without any prior automated weather-instrument experience, I found the Kestrel 3500 easy to use, durable and reliable. And, unlike the psychrometer, there’s no glass thermometer for me to break. One of the best features is the units’ ability to provide constant updates on weather conditions. At the press of a button, I have the relative humidity and, based on the readings, may therefore elect to disengage from direct attack of a wildfire, shifting strategies for risk mitigation and firefighter safety. Another great thing about the Kestrel units: I can replace the diagnostic instruments in the traditional, bulky belt weather kit with a single, compact device that stows easily in my line pack. Additionally, due to the lowered risk of human error, I believe the 3500 and 4000 are more accurate than manual devices. Further, both units have a handy backlight feature for nighttime ops. (Wildland Firefighter 7/05)