Author Topic: BloomSky or WS1001?  (Read 2034 times)

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Offline Martlet

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BloomSky or WS1001?
« on: May 02, 2016, 12:51:52 PM »
What has been everyone's experience with the BloomSky?  It says it "predicts" precipitation, which is different than measuring it.  I like the camera, but I'd like a precipitation tracker as well.

The Ambient Weather has that function.  It also has wind, but I'll never get an accurate reading in my location.

How does everyone like it?  Is it worthy of being a primary sensor for a hobbyist?  I can see snow being an issue, too.

Thanks.
« Last Edit: May 02, 2016, 12:54:01 PM by Martlet »
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Offline Jáchym

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Re: BloomSky or WS1001?
« Reply #1 on: May 02, 2016, 12:58:27 PM »
Hi,
BloomSky is nice, but definitely not ideal as an accurate weather measuring device.

precipitation is only detected as "yes/no" and I wouldn´t trust the other values either. It is more or less just an indicative value

Online PaulMy

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Re: BloomSky or WS1001?
« Reply #2 on: May 02, 2016, 01:02:16 PM »
I like it but
Quote
Is it worthy of being a primary sensor for a hobbyist?
NO!


Snow can clog up the camera lens, as well as rain drops, but it clears with some sunshine or as the air dries.  I made it a morning dust off of the lens as I was making my CoCoRaHS snow cover walk-about and walked by it.  Can't do that though if it is mounted high.

Enjoy,
Paul

Online PaulMy

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Re: BloomSky or WS1001?
« Reply #3 on: May 02, 2016, 01:33:19 PM »
Actually most of the data is not that far from my Davis VP2.  Today, since midnight on the hour the difference in temperature has been within the range 0.18C and 0.46°C

The humidity tracks within 5-10%  - showed 99% while we had a light rain during the night and only 89% on my Davis

The pressure tracked very close with most less than 1 hPa difference, and the biggest difference was 1014.90 hPa for Davis compared to 1016 hPa for BloomSky (the BloomSky table view does not show any decimals).  Seems like BloomSky has made some significant improvements in this since I got my first device in February when the difference was much, much greater.

Still, only more of a good toy as data upload interval is anywhere from 5 minutes to 20 minutes or more and that is controlled by BloomSky.

Enjoy,
Paul

Offline nincehelser

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Re: BloomSky or WS1001?
« Reply #4 on: May 02, 2016, 01:57:37 PM »
What has been everyone's experience with the BloomSky?  It says it "predicts" precipitation, which is different than measuring it.  I like the camera, but I'd like a precipitation tracker as well.

The Ambient Weather has that function.  It also has wind, but I'll never get an accurate reading in my location.

How does everyone like it?  Is it worthy of being a primary sensor for a hobbyist?  I can see snow being an issue, too.

Thanks.

I like it, but it's primarily a weather camera.

I wouldn't consider it for a primary sensor.

Offline SpringHillWeather

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Re: BloomSky or WS1001?
« Reply #5 on: May 02, 2016, 02:19:11 PM »
What has been everyone's experience with the BloomSky?  It says it "predicts" precipitation, which is different than measuring it.  I like the camera, but I'd like a precipitation tracker as well.

The Ambient Weather has that function.  It also has wind, but I'll never get an accurate reading in my location.

How does everyone like it?  Is it worthy of being a primary sensor for a hobbyist?  I can see snow being an issue, too.

Thanks.

I love my BloomSky but its used as Skycam first.  (However, It did just text me that its raining outside :)   

Unless your using it for a special location or business then I would then say no.   

I also use the Ambient, but look at the others like Acurite, Davis and different brands listed here on the forums.
« Last Edit: May 02, 2016, 02:53:23 PM by StatenIslandWeather »
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Offline VaJim

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Re: BloomSky or WS1001?
« Reply #6 on: May 02, 2016, 02:48:53 PM »
What has been everyone's experience with the BloomSky?  It says it "predicts" precipitation, which is different than measuring it.  I like the camera, but I'd like a precipitation tracker as well.

The Ambient Weather has that function.  It also has wind, but I'll never get an accurate reading in my location.

How does everyone like it?  Is it worthy of being a primary sensor for a hobbyist?  I can see snow being an issue, too.

Thanks.

I have the Bloomsky for the camera shots.  The temps appear to be close to some of my other stations, although if you mount it close to a back-drop (fence, building) you may suffer heat reflection.  As far as I can tell the pressure in the Iphone app is still way off.  The prediction is probably pulled from some other source.

I don't own a WS1001 but do have a Acurite 5-in-1.  Not a bad station.  Not my primary station.

Offline hankster

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Re: BloomSky or WS1001?
« Reply #7 on: May 02, 2016, 11:59:45 PM »
IMHO it's only good for the camera. My daytimes temps can run as high as +6 degrees over my Davis Vue. The barometer is always  about .19 inHg high, since I have it in the shade to try to control the daytime temps the UV sensor is useless and my rain sensor quit working a few weeks ago. Good thing is that the humidity is fairly close.

The problem with the camera is it uploads to BloomSky's servers once every 5 minutes. This makes the daytime videos short and choppy. You have no control over that and can't make any changes to the settings or where the shapshots are sent.

Offline ocala

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Re: BloomSky or WS1001?
« Reply #8 on: May 03, 2016, 05:43:57 AM »
Surprisingly so far, my numbers are pretty close.
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