We've been looking at digital barometers for some years now. But the cost, and lack of a pressure alarm has kept us faithful to the barograph we've used the last 25 years.

Then in Savu Savu, Fiji, we met up with a couple of cruisers, both of whom have these little Weems & Plath digital units. They are very cool.

First, they show a graph of the preceding period - the length of which you can control - so trends are obvious. Next, they have a built-in delta alarm. If there is more than a 3mb pressure drop in a short period of time, an alarm goes off. There is also a user-adjustable alarm.

And the alarms work. Sitting in Marina del Rey last winter, the alarms would periodically start beeping just ahead of a big squall. The two cruisers who turned us onto these units had both been saved from weather-related problems by their alarms.

At around US$150 we think this is a great investment.