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You don't have to consider my words as an oracle. We have a closed circle of dozens of people in Poland who strive for accurate readings of their microclimate. We check meteorological equipment of different brands, in different regions of our country.
Some are firefighters in firefighting units, and for them, precise wind readings are needed to know whether interventions by firefighting units in a particular region of Poland will be needed as a result of worsening weather or heavy rainfall.
We try to make the readings from our sensors close or even analogous to reality.
You'd be surprised that these closed group of a few dozen people in Poland measure the temperature in a manner similar to the WMO, that is, 2 meters and above the surface of the grass, in an airy and sunny place. We exchange observations on the performance of radiation shields, pointing out their advantages and disadvantages. About this, too, there will soon be an interesting thread in the forum, because there is much to write about in the context of passive shielding.
I myself do not measure the temperature on the balcony and neither do my colleagues. Those who actually can't, have a temperature measurement 2-3 m above the roof, so better than at the railing and balcony, where the temperature measurement is less reliable. It gives them back the microclimate, so to speak, anyway.
Wind measurement in most cases is more than 2-3 meters above the roof and masts, so it makes no sense to measure wind speed and direction on the balcony, because we measure turbulence and distorted flow through the building. That's why the accuracy of sensors to measure wind speed and direction is so important. There's no telling how many uncensored words will go Wittboy and WS80's way when the next software version comes out, which probably won't bring a breakthrough in accuracy. There have already been quite a few questions to me about whether to upload 1.2.8 to the WS80, and I have answered that at my own risk for testing purposes. I made similar statements about the update to Wittboy, admitting that it would not bring a breakthrough in measurement quality. I once told Ecowitt what needs to be done to get closer to the accuracy stated in the product sheet, but as you can see they don't want to listen to someone who has experience with semi-professional and professional WMO-compliant equipment.
What you don't understand is that my field operations require measurement equipment that is similar/compatible with WMO, so that the physical quantities measured are similar or even analogous to those that are present at the time. That's why I look at Ecowitt ultrasound through the prism of low-accuracy products that I have thoroughly tested under many extreme conditions. Both the WS80 and WS90 Wittboy and I found them to be inferior equipment to the Davis.
These 40Khz transducers are the key to why Ecowitt has a problem and is releasing more software versions for the WS80 and derivatives for ultrasonic wind measurement. Someday they may understand this mistake, while your narrative will suddenly change. It's better than it was in the beginning when these Finne Offset products came out, but it's still far from perfect and the declarations in the product sheets. Especially with the increased airflow, which show temperature drift when measuring wind.
You laugh at Hongyuv, and all it takes is testing equipment with 200Khz transducers once, and looking at equipment like the WS80, for example, through the prism of a toy with low accuracy and slow refresh rates. Several colleagues acquired, for example, the Hongyuv WDS2 after my suggestions. They said that the return to Wittboy on the main measurement is not there. More are asking, too, because they are annoyed by the constant shortcomings of Ecowitt wind meters and the fact that they are Fine Offset testers for their money. They paid money and got an underdeveloped product and are fed up with the constant climbing of roofs and masts.
No one here is saying that you need to measure only Hongyuv wind, there are other companies like Gill, Vaisala, which are even slightly better in our opinion, but also more expensive. We also have access to such equipment at a fraction of the price from companies that equip AWOS systems and the military, among others, with meteorological instruments with the most accurate readings. Both new units and used ones at attractive pricing and software. In our opinion, whoever tries such equipment once, will not want to look at wind measurement equipment from Fine Offset, seeing how full of flaws and shortcomings it is.
If one has a limited budget and doesn't want super accurate measurements, go for the ultrasonic measuring products from Ecowitt. Myself and several of my colleagues, after the adventures with this equipment, the next copies of WS80 and derivatives will not be until the hardware layer and accuracy is improved, even at the expense of the quality of the equipment. There is good cloud and iot services, but the hardware is mostly low-end with questionable accuracy. Most of it is suitable for purely amateur measurements, maybe semi-professional, but not much.
@Gyvate I know that you cooperate with Ecowitt and you can't say anything bad about their equipment. People who cooperate, who distribute their equipment, are not objective testers. Nobody bribes me and I tell what the truth is. I don't like to live in lies and hypocrisy.
I'm not happy with equipment that shows random numbers, because I know what kind of bundle to have similar data to nearby professional stations. Equipment is the basis for good measurement, then sensor placement and data visualization. Ecowitt's iOt services are good, but the strong savings on components are then reflected in the constant attempt to refine the firmware in ultrasonic wind meters. About, among other things, poor and unstable connectivity could also be written quite a lot, because it also reports many complaints in Poland. Here Ecowitt should look in the direction of Lorawan.
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