Where does the windfield app get wind direction from?
Do I have to pay for the subscription version to get accurate direction?
We were riding into a hideous cross headwind today (~35k with gusts of 50-60k) and yet when I checked windfield, out of curiosity, it showed the wind as a tail crosswind. I’d swear it was about 90° off from the actual wind direction. 
@GPLama ?
I think the problem you’re seeing is with the measurement resolution of wind direction and speed, and also with the time dependence of that measurement. I don’t know what wind direction and speed data source Garmin uses, but I know from my own experience that what the wind data from a local weather services and national services show can differ from what I experience out on the road, even in rural areas.
FWIW, I take that data as being a good predictor of trends, but not a necessarily accurate measure of wind speed and direction over relatively short distances. After all, there are so many local factors that can influence wind speed and direction that don’t show up in the data because the requisite measurement resolution isn’t available.
❮LameHumorAttempt❯Oh, did you try turning your computer 90°?❮/LameHumorAttempt❯
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BTW, having BBCode enabled makes it very hard to make a joke using BBCode symbols. I had to go off the board for other grouping symbol options.
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Yes, actually - I did a u-turn to test it, then we actually turned 90°.
The app seemed consistent in what direction it was showing - but that was simply wrong - by almost 90°.
So when we turned left away from the wind, it was a cross tail from our right, but the app said it was from behind, on our left.
I’m assuming you are talking about the third party Windfield app at https://www.windfield.app ?
Funnily they just released an update today and one of the new features on the website, not in your Garmin, is to compare weather sources. I think I saw it was a Pro feature so if you want more info throw the Developer some cash and you can then choose which provider works best.
Here’s a screenshot of what it shows for me.
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Thanks Dion,
This seems to be one of those catch22 situations where I’m just trialling the free version to see if I want to pay for it, having seen GPLama’s recommendation.
I guess I’d be happier paying if it wasn’t just confusing me so far.
I find WindField mostly accurate. That said, the weather services cover large areas and it’s a question how good resolution they have. You can be affected by the orography (e.g. riding in a specific valley can change the wind direction there comparing to overall direction in the area). Also not sure if these services have any integration with local meteo services or just use numerical models
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I’ve used the free version for a few years. I live on a windy coast and find it’s generally OK with respect to direct but often under reports the strength of the wind.
It’s a get what you pay for thing but I agree it’s not a great test to see if it’s something you actually want to pay money for.
I was paying for Wind Field for a few years and it as working great until this past year for some reason. It started giving a lot of false readings (like more than 50% of the time). I contacted the developer, who has always been very responsive, and he suggested I try changing the weather station used (which is an option in the paid version), but that didn’t seem to fix the problem. I recently switched from the Garmin to a Hammerhead Karoo and the built in Wind Direction app on the Karoo is much more reliable and accurate and doesn’t require a subscription – so I’m very happy with that now. When working, the wind direction field on the head unit is the most useful point of data for riding and racing, IMHO. If I had to choose only one point of data to keep on display on my head unit, it would be that one. Also, the Karoo computes a lot of interesting wind data if you have a course loaded up (e.g., a graph of when in the ride/race you will be in the headwind/tailwind and by how much).