866B Anemometer

This is a straightforward handheld meter that has no downloadable memory however is good for field use for assessing real time wind speed. I have mine mounted on a tripod because it is kind of hard to hold it and move it around and things like that for giving period of time. Of course you have to know the wind direction if that’s what the purpose is I use it for measuring ground speed of wind for drone takeoff. The only thing that would compliment this would be a windsock. It has different units such as miles per hour. Kilometers per hour. Knots, meters per second, feet per minute. It also has minimum maximum and average. And the back screen is nice for the price of what limited use I have for it. It is a great anemometer. It uses two AA alkaline type batteries, which comes with it. The back cover is difficult to get off. Overall, I am happy with this purchase.

Works very well. The blades took a very small spot of superglue to get it perfectly balanced but still worked well before I did that. It's very sensitive but it doesn't have extremely fine resolution. I think it will do about .2MPH which is good enough for most purposes. Doesn't seem to draw a lot of vampire power so I don't feel like I have to take the batteries out every time I use it.

After both my wireless Acurite and LaCrosse anemometers failed, I decided to buy the HoldPeak 866B hand-held unit to calibrate a hard-wired anemometer I am building using an Arduino Mega connected to the mechanical parts of my defunct Acurite. The box containing the HoldPeak had one corner that was crushed. Fortunately, the unit itself, which was in a sealed plastic bag, was undamaged. The attached photos show all that was included - the unit, the zippered carrying case, the lanyard that screws into the tripod mounting hole, and the instruction sheet. Of course the unit would not power up right out of the box because the two included AAA batteries were wrapped in plastic. I used a jeweler's Phillips screwdriver to remove the two small screws holding the battery compartment cover. The cover itself required a knife blade to pry it out. Removed and unwrapped the batteries then reinstalled them. The unit now powered up. I found the included, bare-bones instructions somewhat ambiguous regarding the use of the MAX/MIN and AVG (average) buttons, I had assumed, based on the skimpy instructions, that after you completed a measurement, you could switch between MAX and MIN and see those two wind speeds displayed. Finally figured out that is not how they work. What the instructions don't say is to get the MAX wind speed, you first must press the MAX/MIN button so that MAX appears on the display. Then do your measurement. When you are finished, the display will show the maximum speed and hold it until you either turn the unit off, hit the MAX/MIN or AVG buttons, or take another measurement where the wind speed exceeds that shown on the display from the first measurement. I like this feature. You can take a reading without the MAX icon showing and, after you finish, hit the MAX button but the reading will not be the max speed that occurred but some lesser speed, Why the MIN (minimum) wind speed feature was included is beyond me. Because, let's face it, every measurement you make is going to have a zero minimum. And that is exactly what is shown (0.0) every time you begin a reading with the MIN icon showing on the display. Use of the AVG feature is also rather hokey. Before you do a measurement, you have to press the AVG button so that icon is displayed. Then make your measurement. The display will show the actual wind speed until you stop. Then the speed that is displayed will decrease to some value (probably the average) and hold there for about 5 seconds then begin to decrease down to zero. The only thing the instructions say about this is - "average reading in 15 seconds will be displayed". Despite the lack of detailed instructions on how to use the MAX/MIN and AVG features, I found the wind speed measurements to be quite accurate. I tested the unit several times at different speeds by holding it out of my car window with MAX showing on the display. As I drove, I kept an eye on my speedometer to note the maximum speed I attained. When I stopped and checked the reading, it was right on what my speedometer indicated. At least it was accurate up to a speed if 32 miles per hour, which is the fastest I have tested it so far. The instruction sheet indicates that the speed accuracy is +/- 5%, which appears to be true. The next time I hit the highway, I'll check it out at 65 mph. Also displayed at the bottom is the air temperature, which is switchable between °C and °F. The unit apparently has a wind chill feature that only works when the temperature of the unit goes below 0 degrees C (32 F). Again the instructions are vague on the subject. I had to go back to Amazon's listing of the unit to learn that, when the air temp is below 32F, the temperature reading changes from the actual air temp to the wind chill value. Being in Florida, I don't think I will ever have the opportunity to check it out. I'll leave that up to the poor devils up north. Another feature I like is the switchable backlight. Great for checking wind speeds at night. Finally, the bottom line is that the HoldPeak 866B does what I bought it for - to have an inexpensive hand-held anemometer that will measure wind speeds with some degree of accuracy.

This is a nice and fairly well made Anemometer that I'm glad I purchased. It's easy to use, battery life is really good, accuracy seems good plus very sensitive for a value meter and the screen brightness is plenty for me to easily see the results. I can't really think of any complaints since it's lasted me a while now and has been used well more than a dozen times so far. I primarily use it to test various fans that I have. That way I can have a measurable output to log as data for comparison purposes. That way I will have a general idea of what I need for future fan purposes now that I have data to compare. There are several other air things that this can be used for, but that's what I'm using it for at this time. I want to use it for other purposes in the future and am excited to see how it will pan out. If anything changes for the good or negative, I will update my review accordingly. After many months, it has held up very well and is still going strong, so I'm not sure what to anticipate at this point. Time will tell.

Works great after all th3se yrs

Wanted a simple cheap anemometer to assess wind speed and max gusts for preflight of our drone. I've now used this meter for two weeks. The HP-866B satisfies our wind measurement requirement and has the added feature of temperature both F and C. I like having the low battery indicator, simple (but cheap) carrying case, as well as the back light. The elegant simplicity, measured accuracy, extremely low price point (~$23), and ease of use were my key evaluation criteria for the '5' scoring. Product packaging was fine. There were a few minor "legend" errors on the Instruction Manual on the Function chart picture. Operational instructions however were correct and simple. I found the digital temperature readings took about 10 minutes to settle accurate when going from inside to outside (in my case today, this was a 25-30 degree differential). These are by no means show stoppers. I'm happy with my purchase!

Bien et simple à utiliser. Dommage que la temporisation de l'eclairage de l'écran soit un peu trop courte. J'ai un doute sur la mesure de la valeur maximale qui ne correspond pas à la valeur max que je vois.

Good one

Utilisé une fois pour calibrer un échangeur d'air.

Funciona bien, le cuesta mucho leer la temperatura (es lento).

This seems to do the job very well, when it arrived I was slightly surprised at the size as it looks fairly small in the pictures, it can be easily held in one hand however and the larger size blades means it will pick up even the smallest of breezes. It has a backlight function which illuminates the screen with a nice bright light, very easy to see in all lighting conditions. It also comes with 2 x AAA batteries which were hidden inside the battery compartment wrapped in plastic which I found to my surprise after buying a fresh pack of triple As and unscrewing the 2 small screws which hold the battery cover in place. The thermometer seems to be accurate, and although I do not own another anemometer I trust the readings which it is given as it seems really very sensitive to even the slightest shift in wind speed. Today it seems to be completely still outside my house, when I held this out of the window I was getting readings between 0.3 km/h and 0.7 km/h. Included in the box there is also a nice little zip wallet to keep it safe, a basic instruction booklet and a small black lanyard/wrist strap which screws into the threading on the bottom of the unit - this can also be mounted on a tripod using the same threaded hole. You are able to switch between m/s, km/h, ft/min, knots and mph as the unit of measurement, and celsius/fahrenheit for temperature. There is also a max/min function which could be useful if like me you are using this to judge whether or not it is safe to fly a drone. I am very happy with this purchase and would recommend to anyone.