About

Stratos Instruments makes weather instruments and observatory goods in Garden
City, Idaho. Everything we sell is checked against a laboratory reference before it ships, and
the figures from that check go in the box on a card with your instrument’s serial number on it.

Why the card matters more than the dial

An instrument that has never been checked is a guess with a pointer on it. The dial is the
easy part — anyone can print a scale. What is difficult, and what almost nobody does at this
price, is to measure each finished instrument against a known reference and write down what it
actually read.

So that is what we do. Thermometers are checked at two points: an ice bath at 0 °C and
a stirred reference at 40 °C. Barometers are set against a laboratory reference column.
Anemometer heads are run in a calibration duct at three speeds. Deck watch movements run
ninety-six hours in four positions. Every one of those numbers is written on the card that
ships with the instrument — not a class limit, not a nominal figure for the model, but the
measurement taken from the object in your hands.

If an instrument cannot be re-zeroed by its owner, we do not sell it.

Built to be serviced

Every dial instrument we make has a recessed zero-adjust screw and a card explaining how to
use it without losing the factory setting. Spindles and bushes on the wind vane are replaceable
and we stock them. The barograph takes a standard seven-day chart. The psychrometer takes
standard wicks, and three spares are in the box.

This is deliberate. An instrument that cannot be adjusted drifts quietly until it is lying to
you, and an instrument that cannot be serviced is disposable. Neither is worth owning.

Materials, and why

We use brass for cases, bezels and bearing surfaces because it moves predictably with
temperature, takes a bearing without galling, and can be engine-engraved — so a scale is cut
into the metal rather than printed on top of it. A printed scale wears off. A cut one is still
legible when the instrument is older than its owner. Where something sits out in the weather it
is copper, brass or stainless, so there is no steel to rust and no paint to flake.

Where we are

The workshop is in Garden City, Idaho. Questions about an instrument, a reading, or a
calibration card can go to support@stratosgoods.store and will be answered by someone
who has actually assembled one.