Weather Station Hardware > What Weather Station Should I Buy?

[Europe] Looking for an alternative to my newly purchased Netatmo

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simtom:
Hello everyone,
Last week I bought a complete kit from Netatmo (including the rain gauge, anemometer and radiation shield), mainly because there was a sale and because some friends have one themselves and could definitely recommend it .

Normally I'm the type of person who sometimes spends weeks researching and comparing, but in this case it was more of an impulse purchase.

Well, not even a week has passed and I'm already starting to have serious doubts about returning the whole kit. For example, the anemometer has only worked for 2 hours since it was installed last Friday, and the outside temperature is also a few degrees higher than other stations or official measurements. This despite the fact that I use their Shield, which is designed to be unaffected by direct sunlight. At night the temperature readings are definitely normal, so the sunlight is clearly having an influence.

I must say, I am someone who likes minimal designs and in that respect the Netatmo is the best looking, this is also true for the app (clear and nice design). And not unimportant, I have to sell this whole crazy hobby of mine to my girlfriend😅. Attaching all the sensors was a breeze with the included mounting hardware. Of course, all of this is useless if the actual measurements are not correct, or are simply not being transmitted.

After some research (so in this case, after the purchase...) I ended up on this forum. I've already seen some brand names appear like a Davis, WeatherFlow Tempest, Ambient Weather and Ecowitt, with the last three being the most affordable. You also have Froggit, but they actually use the same hardware as Ecowitt, right? I've read that the Davis products are the gold standard, but those prices are just a bit too high for me, plus you apparently have to buy a separate logger to see the measurements online. Important to note also is that I live in Belgium (EU) so not all products are readily available, or when they are, they are pretty expensive because of import taxes (such as the Ambient Weather stuff). Additionally, the WeatherFlow Tempest is not even available in Europe, or at least I couldn't find it (the official website lists it as unavailable).

One product that got my attention is the Ecowitt Wittboy, it looks pretty sleek and has all the sensors I need + it's within my budget (I don't think it comes with an indoor sensor module, unless buying either the monitor or WLAN option).

Requirements for an alternative are:
- budget is around €350 (preferably including all mounting hardware, this was included with the Netatmo);
- no included monitor (I'm from the generation that grew up with a smartphone so I don't need another screen taking up space);
- a somewhat nice design, although only the Netatmo will probably be able to claim that price;
- nice integration with an app and web dashboard;
- possibility to add modules later;
- (bonus) indoor module such as the Netatmo to measure indoor temperature and CO2 levels.

It's also important to note that it should be as much plug-and-play as possible. Maybe it's a drawback now that I have the Netatmo, but that installation was very easy and fast.

Pfew, quite the intro but hopefully this will lead to a better purchase this time around.

overcastSloth:
Hey!

Unfortunately I can't provide any information / answers for you - but I am in a very similar boat - also in Europe looking for a home setup on the more affordable end of the spectrum. I was also looking at the Netatmo system (honestly bcz of how great it looks). I started doing a bit of research and found some conflicting reviews - so one thing lead to another and here I am :)

My usecase is slightly different and I'm looking initially for a very simple setup of indoor temp + humidity + CO2 and outdoor temp + humidity. FWIW I'm already leaning toward Ecowitt as their system seems to be quite modular, so you can add things as you go

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