Whistles

I've used this site to purchase Storm and WindStorm whistles:

http://www.wind-storm-whistles.com

I've come to appreciate the WindStorm, which is smaller and more rounded than the Storm, but still damn loud.

If I blow a Storm or WindStorm as hard as I can, it actually is so loud it hurts my ears a bit. That just doesn't happen with my Fox40.
 
Thank you for the link. That's as low a price as I have found using Google, and the shipping is low.

Tom
 
Something I forgot to mention before ...

One very noticable difference between the Storm whistles and the Fox40 is the pitch of the whistle. The Storm family of whistles definitely have a noticably lower pitch than the Fox40. I'm not sure if that's good or bad.

I myself like the lower tone. I've read some web sites that suggest that children and younger adults will claim the Fox40 is louder (they hear high pitches better), while older adults will claim the Storm whistles are louder. I haven't tested that myself yet.

Another thing people refer to a lot is the fact that the Storm whistles have "peas" and the Fox40 whistles are pealess. There seems to be concern that a whistle with a pea will freeze-up on cold weather (the moisture from breath freezes). I never worried about it, figuring I can stuff the whistle inside my coat or even in an armpit to keep it warm and/or fairly quickly thaw it out.

There is also concern that whistles with peas will be "overblown" such that the pea locks up and stops the sound from emitting. I don't experience this with the Storm family of whistles. I've blown as hard as I can without pea lockup.

I myself like the warbling sound of whistles with peas better than the monotone of the pealess whistle, though I've never tested which is easiest to hear from a distance or when in a thick forest.
 
Cheap pea whistles can be overblown and the pea will get stuck in the opening silencing the whistle, it has happened to me but never in a quality whistle such as the Acme or the Storm, the Acme thunderer is an excellent pea whistle, comes in several sizes and in Bakelite or chromed brass, for the standard metal whistle in freezing weather you can use a plastic mouthpiece. Fox also makes a pea whistle, it is metal and has two small teeth-like pieces on the opening to prevent the pea from stalling if overblown.

My EDC whistle is the pealess Acme Tornado 2000 with the sides filed down, it fits fine in a neck lanyard under my shirt.

Pitch can be important, I've heard that a lower tone carries further but a higher tone is heard better over crowd noise, that is why referees use a high pitch whistle (often Fox 40 or Acme thunderer) but the English police use the two tone tubular whistle. Also high pitch can hurt the ears more, some people recommend a lower pitch or a simple pea whistle for children because if they get lost and the whistle sound hurts their ears they will stop blowing.

I also like pea whistles because they "talk" better, you can vary the pitch and volume by using more or less air pressure and by partially closing your hand over the whistle (somewhat as a bosun pipe works).

SOLAS approved whistles designed for fixing to a life vest shouldn't be hard to find, check at marine stores, a Google search should find some including the Storm and Acme. The Fox 40 should be available at many sports shops.

Luis
 
John-Boy said:
Those look great! But it looks like those whistles are made just for the kit? Is there a place to order just the whistle?
Click to expand...

Someone posted that the "Howler" (AKA "Fox 40 Micro") is available at SportsmansGuide. I can't find them there. They are available 2/6.99 at ParagonSports.com.
 
raider502 said:
Try Backpacking Light
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/acr_emergency_whistle.html

They carry the ACR whistle this is a flat light weight whistle that is much louder than my Fox 40, and easier to blow. They sell them for $8.99 for a pack of three, and they use free shipping. I have three and I am going to order some more in a few more weeks. They are ideal for Altoid tin kits or any place you want to stick small items.
Click to expand...

I'll second this one. May not be the loudest whistle money can buy but it's gotta be close. Picked mine up at a Gander Mountain store, they're about the best buy I've come across.
 
I've got Fox 40's and a Storm. The Storm is a lil bulky but louder than heck!!

REI has them both available: Whistles
 
As I posted in another thread, the ACR's are $1.50 each at Redden Marine Supply. As with anything that inexpensive, the S&H if you only buy one is disproportionate. Buy 12 and it comes to $23.75 shipped.
 
kenk said:
Another thing people refer to a lot is the fact that the Storm whistles have "peas" and the Fox40 whistles are pealess. .
Click to expand...


The Storm whistles are in fact pealess :confused: at least mine are.

My simple ear testing at different distances indicates the storm whistles seem to be almost 2 times louder than the Fox 40.

No question they are LOUD and covering your ears is important.

The only neg I see about the storm's is they take a lot of lung volume to get a good sound maybe not possible with children.

Skam
 
My Storm rattles when I shake it. I suppose a critter could be storing things inside. :D

And it's BIG! - twice the size of a Fox 40. I really notice it carried on a lanyard.


What confuses me is that Storm's claimed db rating (98 IIRC) is LESS than the clamed db rating of the Fox 40, the Fox 40 Micro ("Howler")(114 IIRC), and the Acme Tornado 2000.

We need someone with a mania for collecting whistles and a noise meter.
 
The storm has a pea, it is like an upside down regular pea whistle with a resonance chamber built around it.

There is more than decibel rating to how well or how far you can hear a whistle or how it will hurt your ears, the frequency and the trill have a lot to do with how effective a whistle can be as a signaling device.

In general pea whistles are easier to blow than pealess, you don't have to blow as hard to get a sound.

In general I feel that any of the following is fine as an emergency whistle and I don't think that there is a significant difference in performance between them:

Storm, Fox 40, Acme 2000, Acme 560, Acme 636, Acme 60.5, Acme 635.

My choice for EDC is usually an Acme 2000 with sides filed down for flatness or an Acme 636 which is small and flat to begin with, I often carry an Acme 560 because I like it much (strong, loud, easy to blow, talks well and I like the pea trill). For children I recommend the Acme 660, it is easy to blow, loud, inexpensive and comes in many colors.

Luis

Edited to add picture:


Click to enlarge

Edited again to comment (somewhat off topic):

After I took this picture I decided that my collection was a mess, whistles on lanyards hanging on carabiners on a coat hanger along with other stuff, no classification, no order. So I took them all down, off the lanyards and separated them into plastic bags classified as 1.- metal pea whistles, 2.- plastic pea whistles, 3.- Fox, 4.- Acme tornado, 5.- tubulars, 6.- cheapoes, 7.- others . I counted 131 whistles in total.
 
Here's a graph from the Acme Whistles site showing intensity vs flow for the Acme 585, compared to the "best of the rest" (whatever that means). The Acme 585 is a medium pitch metal pea whistle popular with Hockey referees, though the official whistle of the NHL is made by Fox (also a medium pitch metal pea whistle).

http://www.acmewhistles.co.uk/images/graph.gif

Luis

Edited to add pictures, my two year old niece with her pea whistle, the lanyard is a piece of knitting yarn (to break easily if pulled).


Click to enlarge
 
Go to stormwhistles.com and they tell you exactly where to get the whistles. They have a smaller version also.
 
I've never seen one of these whistles from Japanese sports and auto parts manufacturer Molten (some made in Taiwan or China) but they sure seem interesting, there's a pea whistle in titanium, a couple of battery operated whistles and some unusual pealess designs.

Click the link, click on Sports Equipment, click on Whistles:

http://www.molten.co.jp/english/sports/index.html

Luis
 
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