Topic: BloomSky looking to scale back web services

[ChrisB]

Im sure I’m not the only one who received the following email today from BloomSky. Looks like the end is nigh for some of the web features they offer currently, and asking its users’ if they would consider paying $49.99/year to keep some of them. What do you all think? Personally I think it’s a kick in the teeth for those of us who shelled out a lot of money for the unit more recently. I don’t think they can claim “well it’s been free since 2015!!!” when it is highly unlikely that any of those are still in continuous service. My experience with them is that they work brilliantly for 1/2 years, then they become faulty and have to be replaced/scrapped.

Hi BloomSky user,

Dear all, it has really been a long time! We are truly appreciative of your support and your enthusiasm for the weather station.

During the summer of 2014, we threw an extremely successful Kickstarter Campaign that was pivotal for meeting a supportive community of early adapters and weather enthusiasts, developing our prototypes and securing early Venture Capital funding. We made it a success because of your support.

Since 2015 till now, BloomSky is continuing to invest and maintain our online weather data server and weather data infrastructure. Meanwhile it has been always an utmost priority for us to provide precise products and more accurate data in the future, so we may need to do the online weather data services reduction through some adjustment to our online business service terms.

However, before that, we’d like to know your opinions on these matters, if the online services are also important to you, then let's pursue large goals together once again. 

Here is the comparison chart for our current online service and redacted online services:

 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

The following questionnaire is for us to boost the future plan and devided which function on our WEB and APP are most important for our customers, according to the result, we may delete some function on our WEB and APP or via crowdfunding to continue our online services. Please click the link and take 1 minutes to fulfill the form.[\i]

[Daali]

It's not surprising since the amount of data that thing sends every day.  They are in for a rude awakening if they think $49.99 is going to fly for access to that data.  I'll just end the experiment; the camera/process is good but the weather hardware is not.

[box]

It's not surprising since the amount of data that thing sends every day.  They are in for a rude awakening if they think $49.99 is going to fly for access to that data.  I'll just end the experiment; the camera/process is good but the weather hardware is not.

strange, most services monetise the data from personal weather stations and the webservices they offer in return are a by-product

[Daali]

I'm not sure they've figured that out yet. My bloomsky data is so bad, who would want it? =)

I was merely thinking of the storage/archive space and bandwidth.

[PaulMy]

I don’t think they can claim “well it’s been free since 2015!!!” when it is highly unlikely that any of those are still in continuous service. My experience with them is that they work brilliantly for 1/2 years, then they become faulty and have to be replaced/scrapped.

Funny, I just dusted off the snow from mine that has been going continuous since I got it, February 2016 if I recall correctly    https://map.bloomsky.com/weather-stations/gqBxp6apnJSnoJim
It was at our previous place for over 3 years, and now at our new place going on to 3 years and I haven't touched it, other than clear the snow from the lens and solar panel.  Just went back to look at the old logged data and charts... haven't gone back further but data from 3 years ago - Jan 22 to Jan 28, 2019 is still viewable.  However video is only for the last 10 days.

Enjoy,
Paul

[ChrisB]

I don’t think they can claim “well it’s been free since 2015!!!” when it is highly unlikely that any of those are still in continuous service. My experience with them is that they work brilliantly for 1/2 years, then they become faulty and have to be replaced/scrapped.

Funny, I just dusted off the snow from mine that has been going continuous since I got it, February 2016 if I recall correctly    https://map.bloomsky.com/weather-stations/gqBxp6apnJSnoJim
It was at our previous place for over 3 years, and now at our new place going on to 3 years and I haven't touched it, other than clear the snow from the lens and solar panel.  Just went back to look at the old logged data and charts... haven't gone back further but dat from 3 years ago - Jan 22 to Jan 28, 2019 is still viewable.  However video is only for the last 10 days.

Enjoy,
Paul

That’s impressive!  I’ve only had mine just over two years and it has stopped transmitting despite lots of attempts to fix it. I’ve also had a Storm that failed on me. It’s a shame as I love the products and web features, I just wish they were more robust.

[Daali]

my storm failed as well.  My Sky unit is a kickstarter original and still intermittently works. 

[ocala]

That's amazing Paul. My first quit after 3 months. The replacement lasted almost a year.

[thomas]

My solar cell completly rusted out.  I have also been through 3 cams, the last one is still working but I would not think about replacing it when it goes.

[Aardvark]

After trying for several years with Bloomsky and getting nowhere with their products and I had their 1 and 2 and the add on rain unit, frequent issues with their network, such as never getting my camera images and then them telling me it was my fault, I figured they were a fly by night company and had no desire other than to rake in suckers like me, my money on a product that, like the Weatherlink Live, depended on them to use their device.

So I finally gave up, used them for my baseball practice, dumped them in the trash and now some rat out there is enjoying them. Oh and I canceled my subscription.  I guess the only camera would be one that I can connect such as an IP camera.

So what if you do not want their package, you have a nice lawn ornament?   One thing that always irked me  was when it decided to start recording the day and of course I thought I would get some nice circumpolar shots and of course it doesn't work that way.

[BigOkie]

my storm failed as well.  My Sky unit is a kickstarter original and still intermittently works.

I've had my Sky unit since early 2015 (the first one I got failed within a month) and it has been happily plugging away ever since.

[Daali]

After trying for several years with Bloomsky and getting nowhere with their products and I had their 1 and 2 and the add on rain unit, frequent issues with their network, such as never getting my camera images and then them telling me it was my fault, I figured they were a fly by night company and had no desire other than to rake in suckers like me, my money on a product that, like the Weatherlink Live, depended on them to use their device.

So I finally gave up, used them for my baseball practice, dumped them in the trash and now some rat out there is enjoying them. Oh and I canceled my subscription.  I guess the only camera would be one that I can connect such as an IP camera.

So what if you do not want their package, you have a nice lawn ornament?   One thing that always irked me  was when it decided to start recording the day and of course I thought I would get some nice circumpolar shots and of course it doesn't work that way.

We need the firmware so we can set our own servers up for processing

[Chifraction]

It's been a while but, thanks for bringing this up. It's disheartening to receive news like this, especially when it involves changes to services we've come to rely on. The idea of suddenly having to pay for features that were previously free can indeed feel like a bit of a shock, especially for those who've invested in BloomSky units recently.

[AlexaDuffy]

It's been a while but, thanks for bringing this up. It's disheartening to receive news like this, especially when it involves changes to services we've come to rely on. The idea of suddenly having to pay for features that were previously free can indeed feel like a bit of a shock, especially for those who've invested in BloomSky units recently.

Hopefully, BloomSky will take into account the concerns of its users and find a solution that works for everyone involved. In the meantime, if you're interested in exploring more about weather stations or related topics, check out https://datahive360.com/. They might have some insights or resources that could be helpful in navigating this situation.