Topic: My dad is a weather freak!

[kjandb]

What would be a good weather station under $200?  Not sure if I even need to spend that much.  And I'm not sure what features he really needs...it's just a 'hobby' for him.  My dad knows his way around electronics and computers so it's OK if it's a little 'advanced'.  I know one requirement is being able to set it up on wunderground.com.  Thanks for your input.

[capeweather]

A lot of that depends. Lacrosse and Oregon Scientific have a a lot of stations for under 200 bucks that you could buy and quickly get setup on the internet. Whether or not he wants to add more features such as UV or solar radiation time will only tell since I don't believe any of there stations have this according to the specs sheet provided by Ambient. You may want to review it.

http://site.ambientweatherstore.com/specs/specs.PDF

I don't have a lot of experience with Lacrosse or Oregon Scientific but I'm sure either will be a great start. Take a look around on Ambient's site and see what might fit him best.

http://www.ambientweather.com/commsltn.html

[Anthony]

I have the OS-WMR-968 station and it has served me well. The only problem I have had it water got into the anemometer transmitter and shorted it out. Other than that it's been a great station. The only two draw backs are:
1. it measures rain in 0.04" incraments and not 0.01" However the guage can me modified easily.
2. the frequency at which wind speed and wind gusts are updated.
You can find these stations for under $200. If you want a recommendation on where I would by it, send me a PM.
The biggest draw back to OS is. I've heard there customer support has a lot to be desired. Remember this is hear say. Not personal experience.

As for the LaCross stations. I know nothing about them.

[weatherforyou]

I know one requirement is being able to set it up on wunderground.com.

... and weatherforyou.com and CWOP.  

To keep it around $200 you could go with a basic Oregon Scientific unit which would leave room to purchase most of the software listed in this forum, or a more advanced Oregon Scientific station and FreeWX.  If your budget could go to around $250 or $300 it opens up many more options.

What a great son!  

[Sigdigit]

Have not had good luck with Lacrosse wireless rain gauge.  Cannot maintain wireless connection.  Davis costs more, but is 100% reliable signal transmission.