But the logger is a very important piece. If your computer locks up or quits for whatever reason, you lose data, maybe quite a bit of data. To me the data logger is simply a data backup for those times when the computer is not working, the power is off, or various other reasons the console (or computer) can't talk to the ISS.
Greg, there has to be some type of communications "port" to the console, whether you used a logger or not. What Davis didn't want to do was design a specific type of communications to make that connection, the console was designed to not be protocol specific (well OK, Davis specific) so they didn't have to make different consoles for different connections. I think their concept is great and probably reduces the overall cost of their products in the long run.
I do think they could make it clearer for people that are buying a new station though. This question pops up all the time with people purchasing a new Davis.
As far as piecing together a station... I know a lot of you like to tinker which is great, I just don't have the time (or patience at my advanced age!
) to go that route. I wanted something that would work flawlessly right out of the box, so I was willing to pay the price for that. I'm am absolutely sure that there are people here that would probably do that and not bat an eye though.
But to say Davis is gouging people is a little harsh.