Author Topic: Uninformed Newb looking for advice and recommendations  (Read 3942 times)

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Offline Coren

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Uninformed Newb looking for advice and recommendations
« on: July 18, 2018, 08:08:33 PM »
Hi all,

Newbie here. I’m looking to get a new station, like the subject says. I’d like your friendly recommendations and advice on what system/models work best. Thanks in advance. Looking forward to hearing from everyone.

Needs:
WiFi enabled
Nice display
Basic data (temp, rainfall, wind speed)
Under $200
Semi-Simple Setup (I’m a handy sort, but not an engineer)

Wants:
Multiple displays
Multiple indoor sensors
Multiple outdoor sensors (low low on the “Wants” list)
Works with Alexa
Works with IFFT
Solar (high on the “Wants” list but not a dealbreaker)

Again Thankie BigBig for the info. 

Offline info

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Re: Uninformed Newb looking for advice and recommendations
« Reply #1 on: July 18, 2018, 09:38:45 PM »
i don't know any thing about this station but may fit your neeeds
https://www.ambientweather.com/amws8478.html
Rick

Offline Coren

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Re: Uninformed Newb looking for advice and recommendations
« Reply #2 on: July 18, 2018, 09:40:50 PM »
Thanks for the quick reply, OTM. I’ve seen a few on Amazon in that price range. I’m not opposed to that as I’m just getting into weather stations.  Though I hope to upgrade before too long. 

Any words of advice to a greenhorn?

Offline Coren

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Re: Uninformed Newb looking for advice and recommendations
« Reply #3 on: July 18, 2018, 09:43:24 PM »
@Rick, thanks for the info. I’m looking at it.
Anything to look out for or any manufacturers you prefer?

Offline info

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Re: Uninformed Newb looking for advice and recommendations
« Reply #4 on: July 18, 2018, 09:43:31 PM »
up the investment may check this out
https://www.bloomsky.com/
Or invest in Davis , I had  my Davis for 10 years . This year my weather vane quit working , Call Davis They sold me new one direct for half the cost of new one .
Rick

Offline info

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Re: Uninformed Newb looking for advice and recommendations
« Reply #5 on: July 18, 2018, 09:46:37 PM »
This would be the set up If i had to do it today . But the cost is 3 times the 200 dollars . But it  a soild eqe.  from great company
https://www.ambientweather.com/am6250weatherbridgekit.html
Rick

Offline info

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Re: Uninformed Newb looking for advice and recommendations
« Reply #6 on: July 18, 2018, 09:48:57 PM »
My set up . Not much has changed in 10 years
https://www.ambientweather.com/61dawivaprop2.html
I do wish they had touch screen display
Rick

Offline dport

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Re: Uninformed Newb looking for advice and recommendations
« Reply #7 on: July 18, 2018, 10:16:53 PM »
Seems that a lot of folks are going with the Ambient ws-2902A.  I think this would meet all your needs:

https://www.amazon.com/Ambient-Weather-Professional-Monitoring-Compatible/dp/B01N5TEHLI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1531966471&sr=8-3&keywords=ambient+weather&dpID=51%252B%252BYImKI%252BL&preST=_SX300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

I would hop over to the Ambient section of this forum and check things out.  Best of luck. 


Offline galfert

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Re: Uninformed Newb looking for advice and recommendations
« Reply #8 on: July 19, 2018, 06:34:02 AM »
I second the Ambient Weather WS-2902A. Great station, you can add additional screens. Meets every one of your needs and all but one of your wants. It does not do multiple sensors. But there sort of is a way with Ambient you can combine multiple sensors. Using their ambientweather.net cloud service (free with their stations) you can combine multiple outdoor sensors and see them all under your one ambientweather.net cloud account.

You'll be able to publish to ambientweather.net, Weather Underground, and WeatherCloud. And if you choose to expand with an ObserverIP, WS-1000-BTH, and  Meteobridge (or WeatherBridge) you'll be able to publish to just about any cloud service out there.

The WS-2902A is the perfect starter system and also adequate for a bit more if you add to it.
https://www.ambientweather.com/amws2902.html

The WS-2902A is not only Ambient's top seller it is also a top seller on Amazon. Like usually in the top 5 spots. Sitting at #4 today (with 4.5 star rating) but only being beat out by some cheep temperature/hum/pressure sensors.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/lawn-garden/397435011/

You didn't mention where you were located. Because the WS-2902A is only for the US. If you are not in the US then you can still get a clone of the WS-2902A by way of several Fine Offset resellers. The WS-2902A is basically a Fine Offset WH2900. Other countries have resellers that sell it under their own brand, like Misol, Froggit, etc. The only difference then will be that it won't come with access to ambientweather.net but it might come with access to a different propiatary service (you'll have to inquire). Regardless they will all upload to Weather Underground. But this could then mean you can't combine multiple sensors without ambientweather.net.

« Last Edit: July 19, 2018, 07:18:50 AM by galfert »
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Offline Coren

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Re: Uninformed Newb looking for advice and recommendations
« Reply #9 on: July 30, 2018, 12:36:03 PM »
Thank you, all, for the info and recommendations. The Ambient Weather WS-2902A definitely seems to be the best option for the time being.

Again, thank you. I appreciate everyone being so helpful and welcoming. 

Offline gdicarlo

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Re: Uninformed Newb looking for advice and recommendations
« Reply #10 on: August 01, 2018, 11:17:08 PM »
I wouldn't go with Acurite. There equipment breaks down within a year. And there new Access hub which connects it to the internet does not work. They also have almost no  customer service. I would spend the extra money and go with Davis.

Offline jas340

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Re: Uninformed Newb looking for advice and recommendations
« Reply #11 on: August 03, 2018, 01:31:57 AM »
How about the Weatherflow??? Compatible with Alexa and has solar and lightning also!! I think they are about $175.00 when in stock but do not quote me.

http://weatherflow.com/smart-home-weather-stations/
« Last Edit: August 03, 2018, 01:35:17 AM by jas340 »

Offline SnowHiker

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Re: Uninformed Newb looking for advice and recommendations
« Reply #12 on: August 03, 2018, 02:49:22 AM »
The WS-2902A is not only Ambient's top seller it is also a top seller on Amazon. Like usually in the top 5 spots. Sitting at #4 today (with 4.5 star rating) but only being beat out by some cheep temperature/hum/pressure sensors.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/lawn-garden/397435011/


This got me curious about how the Davis stations rank on Amazon.

The Vantage Vue ranks 41,017 in Beauty and Personal Care:

 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

While the cabled Vantage Pro only ranks 280,044 in Beauty and Personal Care:

 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

It doesn't seem to say how they rank under Clothing and Apparel.






https://www.amazon.com/Davis-Instruments-6250-Vantage-Wireless/dp/B002LLVFK0/ref=sr_1_5?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1533276718&sr=1-5&keywords=davis+vantage

https://www.amazon.com/Davis-Instruments-6152C-Vantage-Weather/dp/B0002Z4J64/ref=sr_1_19?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1533276718&sr=1-19&keywords=davis+vantage

Offline galfert

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Re: Uninformed Newb looking for advice and recommendations
« Reply #13 on: August 03, 2018, 08:45:28 AM »
Maybe the anemometer or rain gauge have some uses in personal care that you are not aware of.

Like maybe the anemometer checks for bad breath.
The rain gauge maybe does urine testing.

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Offline Stormtracker

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Re: Uninformed Newb looking for advice and recommendations
« Reply #14 on: August 03, 2018, 11:02:58 AM »
The WS-2902A is not only Ambient's top seller it is also a top seller on Amazon. Like usually in the top 5 spots. Sitting at #4 today (with 4.5 star rating) but only being beat out by some cheep temperature/hum/pressure sensors.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/lawn-garden/397435011/


This got me curious about how the Davis stations rank on Amazon.

The Vantage Vue ranks 41,017 in Beauty and Personal Care:

 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

While the cabled Vantage Pro only ranks 280,044 in Beauty and Personal Care:

 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

It doesn't seem to say how they rank under Clothing and Apparel.






https://www.amazon.com/Davis-Instruments-6250-Vantage-Wireless/dp/B002LLVFK0/ref=sr_1_5?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1533276718&sr=1-5&keywords=davis+vantage

https://www.amazon.com/Davis-Instruments-6152C-Vantage-Weather/dp/B0002Z4J64/ref=sr_1_19?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1533276718&sr=1-19&keywords=davis+vantage

Amazon's ratings of weather stations is irrelevant.  Most of the ratings are based on price and secondarily, function.  The most important reviews are those of owners who have had the equipment for a few years as they have a better perspective on the durability and accuracy of the equipment.  Nonetheless, the Ambient stations are made in China thus, can offer a lot of bells and whistles for the buck.  Accuracy and reliability, on the other hand, is likely an entirely different matter.

Offline Stormtracker

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Re: Uninformed Newb looking for advice and recommendations
« Reply #15 on: August 03, 2018, 11:04:49 AM »
Thank you, all, for the info and recommendations. The Ambient Weather WS-2902A definitely seems to be the best option for the time being.

Again, thank you. I appreciate everyone being so helpful and welcoming.

Acurite, Oregon Scientific, Lacrosse, etc.., junk.

Offline vinceskahan

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Re: Uninformed Newb looking for advice and recommendations
« Reply #16 on: August 03, 2018, 07:49:12 PM »
How about the Weatherflow??? Compatible with Alexa and has solar and lightning also!! I think they are about $175.00 when in stock

Ummm..no. gonna be 300 minimum if they ever get their backlog of indiegogo orders worked out.

I don't  know of a quality station anywhere near $200 with the origins poster's feature set.
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Offline dport

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Re: Uninformed Newb looking for advice and recommendations
« Reply #17 on: August 03, 2018, 08:09:50 PM »
Weather flow is a joke. The weather flow stations around me have awful temp accuracy if even a beam of sun hits the sensor. Also, they GREATLY over report rainfall to the tune of 5x. Check out their forums. It’s a big issue. Today in my area all stations had between half inch and an inch of rainfall. The couple WF stations near us reported over 3 and 4.

Offline galfert

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Re: Uninformed Newb looking for advice and recommendations
« Reply #18 on: August 04, 2018, 08:59:35 AM »
Yep Weatherflow seems like another Netatmo. How can any company design an outdoor thermometer and not give it a radiation shield? Even cheap Chinese weather stations have a radiation shield. This is what you get when a marketing department designs a product. I don't know this personally but it sure is what it seems. They have an idea of how something should look rather than how it should work from an engineering perspective.

I've also read that the Weatherflow rain gauge suffers from high rain fall reporting and one of the culprits is just bad readings from the mechanism and anther culprit is that when birds sit on it it activates the rain sensor....I guess by shaking it or something.

I'm just reporting what I've read from reading the Weatherflow forum. I suppose like any new product it is going to have its bugs. Hopefully they can make the proper fixes and come out with version 2.0 as it seems they are all sold out at the moment.


« Last Edit: March 29, 2020, 10:12:46 AM by galfert »
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Offline galfert

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Re: Uninformed Newb looking for advice and recommendations
« Reply #19 on: August 04, 2018, 09:27:15 AM »
Thank you, all, for the info and recommendations. The Ambient Weather WS-2902A definitely seems to be the best option for the time being.

Again, thank you. I appreciate everyone being so helpful and welcoming.

Acurite, Oregon Scientific, Lacrosse, etc.., junk.

When you say, "etc...junk." Are you saying that Ambient Weather stations are junk too? Or are you saying that only Acurite, Oregon Scientific, LaCrosse and the like are junk? So what is "like" those? Is Ambient Weather like those? Basically it is confusing when you add the, "etc" to know what else that includes. And you should elaborate exactly why those you mentioned are junk so that you statement can be evaluated for relevance. How exactly are they junk?

I would like to add that out of that list Acurite and Ambient Weather seem to be very very popular and seem to have decent reporting (I realize that is an opinion of mine). And if you feel they are junk well compared to a Davis VP2 I suppose you are right. But you are also spending many times less to have an Internet connected and easy to use weather station with fairly accurate reporting.

What do you have? A Davis VP2? Even the Davis VP2 isn't perfect. If you read about the SHT31 humidity issues that mess up dew point and heat index reporting then compared to a Vaisala the Davis VP2 is junk. The VP2 can't even properly calculate altimeter pressure for CWOP reporting because it never gives you absolute pressure and only reports SLP. Those are a valid arguments.

So I'll elaborate how I feel Acurite and Ambient Weather are decent. They last a few years. They are minimal investment. Lots of people start with these and then many move up to a Davis VP2 when they can save up for it. Many people may be hesitant to jump right into a Davis VP2 not knowing if the investment or effort will be worth it or if they will be able to deal with the complexities of maintaining a weather station. So the $200 - $300 Acurite and Ambient Weather stations represent a decent entry level weather station with acceptable sensor reporting.

I can't speak for LaCrosse and Oregon Scientfic as I have no experience with them but they are reputable brands that also sell well and have been around for a long time.

From my experience the Netatmo and Weatherflow from what I've seen reported on WU the data coming from those stations is terrible and from following the user base of those owners in the respective forums. So for the same price of $200 - $300 those are junk.

And with that my junk statement is quantified. People can agree or disagree but at least they will know from where I based my statements.
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Offline weather34

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Re: Uninformed Newb looking for advice and recommendations
« Reply #20 on: August 04, 2018, 02:36:49 PM »

reference weatherflow
having tested 5 sky units and 3 air units  im not convinced on certain aspects of the design however i also feel the pressure of backers pushing for delivery did nothing to help,resolve the issues you are see being reported . development is still ongoing and improvements are being made in an acceptable timeframe of testing . my deep honest opinion is it is not ready for prime time but as above development is ongoing and progress is being made .

radiation shield is on the horizon
solar power is on the horizon

there are many quietly and some loudly complaining about backer timeframe  deliveries trust me you might wished you had waited a bit longer or become a bit patient whilst i sympathize with the frustration but the frustration may be even worse so hang in there if your contemplating one. remember its a first generation and currently the sonic wind sensor makes the vp2 and alike rather slow or poor in terms of dealing with low wind speeds .

ambient i could and can vouch my old ws1001  got cooked in one summer it went from a beige white to yellow in one summer eventually the wind vane crumbled into powder like and rain bucket area was breaking off at the top everytime a bird perched on it, i would often find the plastic edges stuck in hole where rain is measured..all this under one season of high UV .
not to mention how temperature, dewpoint would go crazy under dense fog conditions or when it rained as water would find its way into the temperature sensor area..

so im sure we can find flaws in just about any home weather enthusiast models.

im currently using a oregon scientific  wmr300 fitted with a davis aerocone and sht31 sensor its basically a replica of a vp2 most davis vp2 users may frown on this but neither oregon or davis offer any support here in turkey so support is not a negative.

have a nice day brian..





Offline CW2274

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Re: Uninformed Newb looking for advice and recommendations
« Reply #21 on: August 04, 2018, 03:41:06 PM »
Thank you, all, for the info and recommendations. The Ambient Weather WS-2902A definitely seems to be the best option for the time being.

Again, thank you. I appreciate everyone being so helpful and welcoming.

Acurite, Oregon Scientific, Lacrosse, etc.., junk.
The VP2 can't even properly calculate altimeter pressure for CWOP
I'll clarify this one more time because your info is still misleading. The VP2 console does not send the altimeter setting, but the Vue console, which is completely compatible with the VP2 ISS, does exactly that, send out the altimeter setting when selected. Not maybe or kinda or sorta, it does.

Offline galfert

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Re: Uninformed Newb looking for advice and recommendations
« Reply #22 on: August 04, 2018, 05:18:45 PM »
Thank you, all, for the info and recommendations. The Ambient Weather WS-2902A definitely seems to be the best option for the time being.

Again, thank you. I appreciate everyone being so helpful and welcoming.

Acurite, Oregon Scientific, Lacrosse, etc.., junk.
The VP2 can't even properly calculate altimeter pressure for CWOP
I'll clarify this one more time because your info is still misleading. The VP2 console does not send the altimeter setting, but the Vue console, which is completely compatible with the VP2 ISS, does exactly that, send out the altimeter setting when selected. Not maybe or kinda or sorta, it does.

I agree. I should have specified that the VP2 console does not. But with the Vue console you gain that feature.
Ecowitt GW1000 | Meteobridge on Raspberry Pi
WU: KFLWINTE111  |  PWSweather: KFLWINTE111
CWOP: FW3708  |  AWEKAS: 14814
Windy: pws-f075acbe
Weather Underground Issue Tracking
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Offline dport

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Re: Uninformed Newb looking for advice and recommendations
« Reply #23 on: August 04, 2018, 11:46:53 PM »

reference weatherflow
having tested 5 sky units and 3 air units  im not convinced on certain aspects of the design however i also feel the pressure of backers pushing for delivery did nothing to help,resolve the issues you are see being reported . development is still ongoing and improvements are being made in an acceptable timeframe of testing . my deep honest opinion is it is not ready for prime time but as above development is ongoing and progress is being made .

radiation shield is on the horizon
solar power is on the horizon

there are many quietly and some loudly complaining about backer timeframe  deliveries trust me you might wished you had waited a bit longer or become a bit patient whilst i sympathize with the frustration but the frustration may be even worse so hang in there if your contemplating one. remember its a first generation and currently the sonic wind sensor makes the vp2 and alike rather slow or poor in terms of dealing with low wind speeds .

ambient i could and can vouch my old ws1001  got cooked in one summer it went from a beige white to yellow in one summer eventually the wind vane crumbled into powder like and rain bucket area was breaking off at the top everytime a bird perched on it, i would often find the plastic edges stuck in hole where rain is measured..all this under one season of high UV .
not to mention how temperature, dewpoint would go crazy under dense fog conditions or when it rained as water would find its way into the temperature sensor area..

so im sure we can find flaws in just about any home weather enthusiast models.

im currently using a oregon scientific  wmr300 fitted with a davis aerocone and sht31 sensor its basically a replica of a vp2 most davis vp2 users may frown on this but neither oregon or davis offer any support here in turkey so support is not a negative.

have a nice day brian..

Thanks for your honest opinion.  I truly feel bad for the guy/gal up the street from me (about a mile away) who has a weatherflow.  The temp spikes like crazy for about an hour a day because, presumably, it’s in the sun.  Not many folks have a 100% shaded area outside at all times of the day.  Even so, that really wouldn’t be an accurate description of the outdoor temperature.  Also, every time it rains this person takes it offline from WU because the rain readings just look ridiculous.  I can only imagine how frustrated they are.

For the sake of the poor “backers” I hope they work out the kinks. Outside of that, these folks purchased a worthless piece of cheap plastic. 


Offline weather34

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Re: Uninformed Newb looking for advice and recommendations
« Reply #24 on: August 05, 2018, 12:32:46 AM »
hi question is did they purchase or crowdfund a project.. anyway temperature issue is easily resolved locating in a good radiation shield , most enthusiasts over time learn the importance of this ,im sure in time they will look into it ..have a nice day..brian

 

anything