Topic: Weatherflow Tempest Teaser

[nincehelser]

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https://weatherflow.com/kickstarter/

[waiukuweather]

they mention that the rain sensor has vibration dampening layer below it to reduce the problem with wind vibration causing false readings
this new station will be good for quick plug and play deployment for hyper local weather data or similar
i.e for that sort of application
(as ideally you want temperature recorded at standard height, not at wind height)

hopefully they are working on having a separate rain sensor, although you can add a separate SKY sensor and get that allocated to be your rain sensor and mount that at ground level (i.e so less wind vibration causing false rain )

[doubleohwhatever]

I have to admit that I was really hoping the next WeatherFlow station would be a more professional station even if that meant a higher price.

The haptic rain sensor is questionable at best and I'm guessing that they're sticking with the same all-in-one lux, uv, and solar radiation sensor.

I'm sure they'll sell a lot of these and most owners will likely be happy with theirs. However, I do hope we'll see a more professional station from WeatherFlow in the future.

[ValentineWeather]

Columbia weather systems have had similar products out for years all High-end stations for big $.

Even if this station proves not just a toy, I personally would never install an all-in-one type station, but do look forward to reviews because it's possible they may offer a split sensor type system with wind separate from temp/hum/precip sometime down the road.

[doubleohwhatever]

Columbia is just an integrator. Their Orion, Pulsar, and Magellan all-in-one stations are actually Vaisala, Lufft, and Gill stations.

[arrowspace90]

I will probably get a Tempest to replace my Sky when they are production next year.  I would be way more hesitant, but I have a Pro II to compare data, and it's up where the wind is.  If my Davis tip bucket is under-reporting up there (it may well be), it sure shouldn't be more than what the Sky/Tempest reports down at 6 feet.
I am intrigued with Rain Check, because it's like having the "weather fairy" to tell me what the total should have been, compared to 2 gauges of what actually was measured.
When I jostled my Sky while securing its pole, it recorded .08 rain.  Rain Check deleted that overnight.

[jgentry]

I have to admit that I was really hoping the next WeatherFlow station would be a more professional station even if that meant a higher price.

The haptic rain sensor is questionable at best and I'm guessing that they're sticking with the same all-in-one lux, uv, and solar radiation sensor.

I'm sure they'll sell a lot of these and most owners will likely be happy with theirs. However, I do hope we'll see a more professional station from WeatherFlow in the future.

I asked weatherflow if the tempest station would have better specs than ther smart station. Here is their response:

Yes. And lots of enhancements to our proprietary tech in the sonic and haptic.

[txbayou]

Here is what a WF rep said on the community forum:

"Regarding the revised weather station hardware, from a functional performance standpoint, the new Tempest does essentially the same thing in most of the same ways. Think of it like this: you just bought the 2020 Ford Mustang. Then Ford announces that there will be a 2021 Mustang released next year. Both are Mustangs, both drive and look amazing, but the 2021 has a slightly different stereo package and isn’t available for delivery until March. ( iPhone 12? But, I just bought the iPhone 11! )

As noted, all WeatherFlow station owners will benefit from the new AI-powered forecasting.

If you want to return the station you purchased a week ago and instead pre-order Tempest on Kickstarter for delivery in 2020 you are certainly welcome to do so, but the functional difference would be nominal, and the wait significant."

so count me confused as to how enhanced the enhancements are going to be.

This time around, I think I'll be content to wait at least until I've read a lot of reports from hands-on users. Esp re rain measurement. Also WF seems to be going through the generations rather quickly (if memory serves, it's only been about a year between production of Smart Weather "MK I" and the promised production of Tempest "MK II", ), so why not just sit it out to the "MK III" (name TBD) model that will follow up to the Tempest?

Don’t get me wrong I like what WF is working on, however in all likelihood this time round it’s waitnsee 4 me.

BTW I use an iPhone 6. 

[doubleohwhatever]

so count me confused as to how enhanced the enhancements are going to be.

This time around, I think I'll be content to wait at least until I've read a lot of reports from hands-on users. Also WF seems to be going through the generations rather quickly (if memory serves, it's only been about a year between production of Smart Weather "MK I" and the promised production of Tempest "MK II", ), so why not just sit it out to the "MK III" (name TBD) model that will follow up to the Tempest?

Agreed. I'm going to pass on the Tempest until first hand reviews are out. I ultimately had to send my WeatherFlow back as the rain sensor just wasn't accurate. The UV and Solar Radiation sensors were also a bit off.

I really do hope they've solved these issues and if so I'll be happy to purchase a Tempest. However, I'm not hopeful. Maybe the next product will be more of a "pro" station.

[nincehelser]

Interesting.

From: https://community.weatherflow.com/t/new-tempest-weather-system/4444/48

WFstaff
WeatherFlow Staff
2d

The advantage of the old WF model is that it has separate parts for temperature and relative humidity of wind and precipitation. So I can place the Air unit in adequate Stevenson shelter at 2 m. With the new model this is not possible and for that reason I will not change the Air. Apart from this, I do not see that the problem with unreliable precipitation measurement has been solved.

Ponder this: when you know the solar radiation, the temp, the wind, and the thermo-dynamic properties of the physical device you can apply a crafty mathematical formula to correct for sun expsoure and effectively eliminate the need for a clunky Stevenson shield or waste power on aspiration. (Or you can opt to put the AIR as you have in your Stevenson at your choice.)

Plus, many precip performance tweaks we haven’t told you about yet. Have faith @bocestar.

[doubleohwhatever]

Just sounds like more fixing hardware via software to me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[nincehelser]

Just sounds like more fixing hardware via software to me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Is that any worse than fixing hardware with more hardware like we do now?

[doubleohwhatever]

Is that any worse than fixing hardware with more hardware like we do now?

It's one thing to use software fixes for unforeseen hardware issues. For example, I'm sure WeatherFlow honestly thought the rain sensor would perform better in real world scenarios than it does. In that situation, toss all the software fixes that can be managed at it.

It's something else to to continue to rely on software rather than improve the hardware for a second generation of a product. This is what I fear is happening with the Tempest and I hope that I am wrong.

Just my opinion.

[nincehelser]

Is that any worse than fixing hardware with more hardware like we do now?

It's one thing to use software fixes for unforeseen hardware issues. For example, I'm sure WeatherFlow honestly thought the rain sensor would perform better in real world scenarios than it does. In that situation, toss all the software fixes that can be managed at it.

It's something else to to continue to rely on software rather than improve the hardware for a second generation of a product. This is what I fear is happening with the Tempest and I hope that I am wrong.

Just my opinion.

If software can essentially eliminate the need for an aspiration fan, I'm all for it.

[CW2274]

Is that any worse than fixing hardware with more hardware like we do now?

It's one thing to use software fixes for unforeseen hardware issues. For example, I'm sure WeatherFlow honestly thought the rain sensor would perform better in real world scenarios than it does. In that situation, toss all the software fixes that can be managed at it.

It's something else to to continue to rely on software rather than improve the hardware for a second generation of a product. This is what I fear is happening with the Tempest and I hope that I am wrong.

Just my opinion.

If software can essentially eliminate the need for an aspiration fan, I'm all for it.

No way, certainly not with current tech. Kinda like how it can't get wind right with rain, and it can't get rain right with wind.

[nincehelser]

Is that any worse than fixing hardware with more hardware like we do now?

It's one thing to use software fixes for unforeseen hardware issues. For example, I'm sure WeatherFlow honestly thought the rain sensor would perform better in real world scenarios than it does. In that situation, toss all the software fixes that can be managed at it.

It's something else to to continue to rely on software rather than improve the hardware for a second generation of a product. This is what I fear is happening with the Tempest and I hope that I am wrong.

Just my opinion.

If software can essentially eliminate the need for an aspiration fan, I'm all for it.

No way, certainly not with current tech. Kinda like how it can't get wind right with rain, and it can't get rain right with wind.

Please tell me why you think it is an intractable problem.