Author Topic: Costco / LaCrosse  (Read 33972 times)

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Offline GWD

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Costco / LaCrosse
« on: October 30, 2010, 09:52:58 AM »
Was just in a Costco in Woodland, CA, and they had what looked to be a new style LaCrosse wireless weather station for $80. It doesn't show up on the Costco website.

It couldn't be found on the LaCrosse website in my quick look.

Anybody know anything about it?

Offline MoradaWx

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Re: Costco / LaCrosse
« Reply #1 on: October 30, 2010, 10:33:46 AM »
Costco gets quite a few 1 off items that never show up on manufactures sites except maybe in support. A few years back I picked up a Black n Decker work mate that is great but never saw it any where else. They are big enough to request specials that no one can sell.

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Offline sam2004gp

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Re: Costco / LaCrosse
« Reply #2 on: October 30, 2010, 10:52:41 AM »
Yeah I saw something like that at Costco as well. 

It had a wireless USB Dongle to achieve a connection to your PC.  To be so cheap and to have one of those, it made me think that to keep a reliable connection or the software quality was not going to be it's strong point.
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Offline WeatherCat

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Re: Costco / LaCrosse
« Reply #3 on: October 30, 2010, 05:12:42 PM »
If it is the same one my Costco has it is this one:

http://www.lacrossetechnology.com/2812/

I have a 2810 and the only problem I have had in about a year was the doubling of rain, which is a known problem and is supposed to be fixed with the 2812.

I bought a 2812 and will be upgrading soon, and the 2810 will go back to La Crosse to be replaced by a spare 2812.

I think it is interesting that La Crosse lists the price at $279.99, and Costco sells it for $79.99. That is a big discount even for Costco. (But it was the same with the 2810.)
« Last Edit: October 30, 2010, 05:18:56 PM by WeatherCat »

Offline GWD

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Re: Costco / LaCrosse
« Reply #4 on: October 30, 2010, 05:49:45 PM »
I went through the 2810 debacle as well. Double the rain and finally the wind gauge and solar panel corroded and died.

The Costco one could very well be the LaCrosse 2812. It looks the same but the markings on the package were not definitive. It is just hard to believe that a $280 unit would be going for $80 - but that was the way with the 2810 as well. Thank goodness for Costco's generous return policy.

I ended up with a Davis VP2 - more expensive but no hiccups. The 2810 was a nice unit for the money so the 2812 should be good also if the bugs have been worked out. It would make a great holiday present.
« Last Edit: October 31, 2010, 10:00:19 AM by GWD »

Offline WeatherCat

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Re: Costco / LaCrosse
« Reply #5 on: October 30, 2010, 06:40:22 PM »
The ones at my Costco were clearly marked WS-2812U-IT. (On the back.)

I just hooked the new one up and the rain appears to measure correctly, 0.01" per tip.

My 2810 didn't have any problems with the anemometer getting water inside. Maybe they only had a few with that problem unlike the rain that was double for everyone.

Offline kokketiel

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Re: Costco / LaCrosse
« Reply #6 on: December 01, 2010, 09:24:37 PM »
We bought one a month or two ago (our first forage into weather stations), and so far I've been pretty happy.  I'm going to repurpose an old laptop to run HeavyWeather / WUHU to try and achieve 24/7 coverage.  Initially it didn't show up on LaCrosse's site, but showed up after a couple of days.

I've been somewhat interested in a Wx station for years, and looked at Davis, but at 5-10x cheaper, we decided to impulse buy the LaCrosse when we saw it at Costco.  I didn't have any issues with syncing, and up to now, things have been working pretty well.

I have two physical problems to solve - 1) mount the anemometer higher to get proper wind readings, and find some place where the pine needles won't block the rainfall meter.

Offline DanS

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Re: Costco / LaCrosse
« Reply #7 on: December 01, 2010, 09:56:39 PM »
We bought one a month or two ago (our first forage into weather stations), and so far I've been pretty happy.  I'm going to repurpose an old laptop to run HeavyWeather / WUHU to try and achieve 24/7 coverage.  Initially it didn't show up on LaCrosse's site, but showed up after a couple of days.

I've been somewhat interested in a Wx station for years, and looked at Davis, but at 5-10x cheaper, we decided to impulse buy the LaCrosse when we saw it at Costco.  I didn't have any issues with syncing, and up to now, things have been working pretty well.

I have two physical problems to solve - 1) mount the anemometer higher to get proper wind readings, and find some place where the pine needles won't block the rainfall meter.

Not sure of your anemometer location choices but you help the rain gauge by using one of these in the funnel . Less chance of a pine needle making it's way through.

Offline chief-david

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Re: Costco / LaCrosse
« Reply #8 on: December 01, 2010, 10:30:19 PM »
What cables are used to hook to a computer?

usb, serial etc.



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Offline DanS

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Re: Costco / LaCrosse
« Reply #9 on: December 01, 2010, 11:21:53 PM »
What cables are used to hook to a computer?

usb, serial etc.

100% wireless. No cables connecting any parts of the system. A USB dongle/transceiver plugs into the p.c. that the console communicates with. I believe the manual states a distance up to 80 feet for this link.

Offline SiGGy

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Re: Costco / LaCrosse
« Reply #10 on: December 02, 2010, 02:58:53 PM »
What cables are used to hook to a computer?

usb, serial etc.

100% wireless. No cables connecting any parts of the system. A USB dongle/transceiver plugs into the p.c. that the console communicates with. I believe the manual states a distance up to 80 feet for this link.

yes,  that seems to be about accurate with mine.  Although for the initial pairing process (done once) you need to place the base station within about 5' of the USB dongle on the computer.  Once this is done you can move the base station further away.  I tested removing/re-installing the batteries on the base station and it did re-sync with the computer without re-pairing.  Just know if you place the station out of USB dongle's wireless reach and them move it closer be patient waiting for it to re-sync.  It may take 60 seconds or so.

Offline kokketiel

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Re: Costco / LaCrosse
« Reply #11 on: December 04, 2010, 06:01:31 PM »
Not sure of your anemometer location choices but you help the rain gauge by using one of these in the funnel . Less chance of a pine needle making it's way through.

Thanks for the suggestion, but that won't make any difference to the pine needle issues that I've seen.  They'll go right through that.  It's mostly small single needles that gets stuck on the tipper through the funnel hole.  I was wondering how much inaccuracy I will introduce if I pull a stocking over the top.  I guess quite a bit.  There's basically nothing that will keep a pine needle from going somewhere when it wants to.  Filling the funnel with the type of foam they fill gutters with may also help, but again, how much of the rain will be deflected / absorbed by the "shield".

Offline 2812owner

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Re: Costco / LaCrosse
« Reply #12 on: December 07, 2010, 03:57:35 PM »
A La Crosse tech support person told me about it saying it came out about mid-October and that Costco had an exclusive on it (at least initially) and that the price was $80.  I got one (79.99) at a So. Cal. Costco and set it up with no problems (my first weather station/monitoring venture!) and it is working fine.  The above comments are correct re: model number, completely wireless, and the link to the LC website.  As long as it doesn't break down (and according to La Crosse techs the breakdowns others had with earlier units were operator caused - they have a 5 in 100,000 defect rate), I would definitely recommend it!

To me, the worst points are:

(1) the display is not lighted.

(2) The base receives and displays new data every 13 seconds and displays historical min/max data readings.  Though the software's current weather display on the computer also shows the every 13 second data update including historical min/max, the history file (used for graphing/tracking purposes) only saves currently displayed data readings (not including historical min/max readings) every 1 minute (on the minute) at the fastest interval setting (you can set a slower interval if you wish.)  Thus, your computer only accumulates 1 reading of the 4 or 5 readings per minute, giving you only a 20% chance of capturing actual min/max readings for your data tracking and graphing purposes!  That is, you only "save" the readings that happen to be on the display at the time it performs its save function.  So, if you look at your wind gust data (or make a graph) to see what happened during the last hour while you were not watching, you are most likely (80% chance) not going to know what the actual high gust speed was because it saves only 1 out of the 4 or 5 readings each minute.

However, all in all, I am very happy with it for the price (especially the completely wireless sensors and transmission to the display and to the computer!

I hope this info helps!

Offline GWD

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Re: Costco / LaCrosse
« Reply #13 on: December 08, 2010, 04:52:01 PM »
"...and according to La Crosse techs the breakdowns others had with earlier units were operator caused.."

Amazing that LaCrosse support would claim that all of the problems with the 2810 were caused by operator error. Double rain, corroded annys - yep operator error.

Guess all of the good folks on this forum don't know what they are doing. ](*,) Its enough to raise the hackles.

Offline DanS

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Re: Costco / LaCrosse
« Reply #14 on: December 08, 2010, 05:41:23 PM »
"...and according to La Crosse techs the breakdowns others had with earlier units were operator caused.."

Amazing that LaCrosse support would claim that all of the problems with the 2810 were caused by operator error. Double rain, corroded annys - yep operator error.

Guess all of the good folks on this forum don't know what they are doing. ](*,) Its enough to raise the hackles.

 #-o I guess in a way that employee was right.  We, the operators, wouldn't have had a problem if we never bought it in the first place!  #-o (passin' the buck :roll:)
« Last Edit: December 08, 2010, 05:52:52 PM by DanS »

Offline 2812owner

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Re: Costco / LaCrosse
« Reply #15 on: December 10, 2010, 01:27:36 AM »
Now, now, kids!  Play nice!  Of course, the rain gauge reading double (that is fixed on the 2812) is not operator error and they do admit to defects, and, everyone here is highly competent compared to most casual purchasers.  But, for $80, don't expect the 2812 to be top quality.  It's a nice intro product for a first-timer at a very low investment.  I'm having fun with it and if it blows up too soon, I'll get my $ back from Costco.  If it doesn't blow up, well then I'll just keep on enjoying it!  ;)

Offline DanS

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Re: Costco / LaCrosse
« Reply #16 on: December 10, 2010, 02:29:50 AM »
Happy to hear the 2812 performs as advertised!  When it rains can you watch the console count up in 0.01" increments or is it 0.02"?
Just wondering which way LaCrosse made their "adjustments" since the 2810 days. I believe then the 2810's rain gauge was setup for 0.01" readings while the console was designed to show 0.02" each time causing double rainfall measurements.
« Last Edit: December 10, 2010, 03:45:35 AM by DanS »

Offline 2812owner

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Re: Costco / LaCrosse
« Reply #17 on: December 10, 2010, 01:23:13 PM »
The wireless display definitely increases at .01" increments.  I am pretty sure the computer display does too but, I didn't really watch.  However, I believe so because the total for each category (total rainfall, last hour, last 24 hrs, etc.) agrees to the wireless display.  I do note occasional rounding differences for the wind gust speed between the wireless display and the computer (e.g., 1.3 mph per the display vs. 1.4 mph per the computer.)

I installed my unit 11/6/10.  Of course, right after I post here to try to help answer a question for someone and say everything's good, for 1 hour last evening and a few periods overnight, the wind sensor failed to transmit to the base (reading "----").  That's the first time that has happened!  The temp, rain, and humidity continue to transmit.  I looked for bird poop on the solar panel but, can't see it from the ground!  I will monitor and perhaps have to revisit my rooftop to look for problems.  As I have heard others say: No good deed goes unpunished!

Offline WeatherCat

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Re: Costco / LaCrosse
« Reply #18 on: December 10, 2010, 06:54:50 PM »
Happy to hear the 2812 performs as advertised!  When it rains can you watch the console count up in 0.01" increments or is it 0.02"?
Just wondering which way LaCrosse made their "adjustments" since the 2810 days. I believe then the 2810's rain gauge was setup for 0.01" readings while the console was designed to show 0.02" each time causing double rainfall measurements.

Here is some information I found when I setup my new 2812:

At first I was a little worried because the first tip wasn't displayed on the console, in last 1h, 24h, or total sections, but it was displayed in Heavy Weather, only in the total, and WUHU, everywhere. Starting with the second tip everything lined up and displayed as expected.

I think I figured out the issue, in that it is a rounding thing in the console. If I switched it to mm instead of inches it displayed 0.2mm. Which translates to 0.00787401575". The console obviously rounds down, where WUHU use normal human rounding and displayed 0.01".

From a brief observation it looks like tips measure 0.2 or 0.3mm each. The manual states 0.1mm resolution, but I suspect that is a typo as it also states 0.01" resolution which would be 0.254mm. (That probably explains the 0.2/0.3mm increments.)

Offline pierce

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Re: Costco / LaCrosse
« Reply #19 on: January 03, 2011, 12:30:34 AM »
indeed, my 2812 (Costco for $79) reads 0.01" increments.  in one substantial 12 hour rain event last week I seemed to show more rain than anyone around me, but when I went out to check on things, it really WAS pouring freekin' buckets, so I'm reserving my opinion on its accuracy til we've had a few more rainstorms.  Today's 0.8" at my station fits in with the dozens around me (a few wild cards reading ridiculously low or high, I'll ignore, the ones on the flats below me got 0.4-.6" and the ones in the valleys behind me got ~ 1.0", with some 1.4's in the hills...  this matches my general expectations for our local rain patterns)

note that the rain gauge and aneometer communicate with the thermo-hydro sending unit, and that thermo-hydro sending unit communicates with the base station, the base station in turn communicates with the PC     Initial sync is quite picky about the order you do things.   

if your PC reboots, it takes a long long time to resync, like 1/2 hour or something, but it eventually does.  you can manually resync the display panel -> PC in a half minute.

the wind gauge is far more sensitive and seems to be way more accurate than my old 2310 was.   that thing was a joke.

If I get 2 years out of this station for $80, I'm a happy camper.


Offline VaJim

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Re: Costco / LaCrosse
« Reply #20 on: January 03, 2011, 07:00:16 PM »
......  But, for $80, don't expect the 2812 to be top quality.  It's a nice intro product for a first-timer at a very low investment. 


...for what its worth.....Lacrosse lists the 2812 under its Professional Weather Station tab. :-)

Offline JBDragon

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Re: Costco / LaCrosse
« Reply #21 on: January 21, 2011, 10:01:27 PM »
I got this Setup a couple weeks ago.  I had problems though getting one that fully worked!  :-( My first 2 were duds.  #-o I first one I couldn't get the Wind speed and direction Unit to connect or the Water Gauge, just the Temp.  The Second one I could get the Water Gauge to connect.  The 3rd one I got everything worked.   I just returned it right back to Costco, no questions asked, and grabbed another to try out. :grin:

It's been working great since then.  It's now connected to the Internet sending Weather Data to PWSWeather.com (JBDragon1), Weather Underground (KCAVALLE22), Weatherbug (p09919), AWEKAS (JBDragon), and CWOP (DW6886).
So I can get a Home Weather report at anytime right from my IPhone 4.  There's a App called iAEKAS, that gets my Weather Data right from AWEKAS and shows it right there on the front Page of the App without doing a thing.  Kind of cool.  \:D/

How long one of these cheap $80 things hold up, I don't know! :!:  To mount it, I got a Antenna mounting Kit from Radio Shack.  It's a couple brackets that hold a Pole and screw up onto a side of a building.  Was like $25.  Then I got a 10' long 1 Inch Conduit Pipe for the Pole.  I cut it down to about 8 feet long.   Using a Level on the Pole, I mounted the 2 Brackets on the side of my 8x8 Wood Shed about 3 feet apart or so.  Making sure the Pole was level left/right by how the Lower bracket was mounted under the upper bracket, and leveled Forward back by adding a couple Washers behind the lower bracket to Level that direction so it's straight up!  If I had to go the other way I would add washers behind the upper mount.  You don't want your pole leaning that your mounting to!!!  It's up in the Air about 15 feet now!  It's a 1" pole, not going to bend, and the mount is quite solid.  
« Last Edit: January 21, 2011, 10:59:35 PM by JBDragon »

Offline AbuMaia

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Re: Costco / LaCrosse
« Reply #22 on: September 16, 2011, 11:05:54 PM »
Sorry for resurrecting this old thread, but I'm looking for a clarification. Is it true that if my station (2813 bought at Costco) dies, I can box it up and take it back to Costco for a replacement? Is there a time limit?
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Offline DanS

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Re: Costco / LaCrosse
« Reply #23 on: September 17, 2011, 12:27:15 AM »
Sorry for resurrecting this old thread, but I'm looking for a clarification. Is it true that if my station (2813 bought at Costco) dies, I can box it up and take it back to Costco for a replacement? Is there a time limit?

I see 3 months on this but maybe best to call to be sure? http://www.costco.com/service/featurepageleftnav.aspx?productno=11204333

Offline xykotik

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Re: Costco / LaCrosse
« Reply #24 on: September 17, 2011, 01:03:26 PM »
If it is the same one my Costco has it is this one:

http://www.lacrossetechnology.com/2812/

I have a 2810 and the only problem I have had in about a year was the doubling of rain, which is a known problem and is supposed to be fixed with the 2812.

I bought a 2812 and will be upgrading soon, and the 2810 will go back to La Crosse to be replaced by a spare 2812.

I think it is interesting that La Crosse lists the price at $279.99, and Costco sells it for $79.99. That is a big discount even for Costco. (But it was the same with the 2810.)

Do you think this would be a good C-mas gift for a green-thumb who wouldn't want to do ANY messing with software, etc?

I see they use HeavyWeather software.  Would something like Cumulus work?  How about CWOP and WU uploads?
Quote
•Storage of 1750 sets of weather records with user selectable recording interval from 1 minute to 24 hours
Does that work out ok?  He doesn't leave his PC on all the time.

Just getting ideas...


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