Author Topic: What is peoples opinion on Netatmo's weather station?  (Read 1638 times)

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Offline Da9L

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What is peoples opinion on Netatmo's weather station?
« on: March 29, 2020, 08:24:32 AM »
I've had the complete setup of that system, but ever since i replaced it all with a Fine offset setup, i haven't missed it a single bit.

I've since come to think about what makes Netatmo so expensive? They don't seem to be any more precise than my fine offset setup, yet their base system (which doesn't track wind or rain mind you) costs the same as my complete fine offset setup.

Is there any special story about them that i don't know of?

Offline galfert

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Re: What is peoples opinion on Netatmo's weather station?
« Reply #1 on: March 29, 2020, 08:47:01 AM »
When I see the Netatmo stations I see a piece of equipment that was designed with form over function. It looks like something that would be displayed to show off some sort of modern fanciness. I don't have a problem with products that aim to look sleak while performing a function if there is no compromise in the function it needs to do. But to me the Netatmo fails this basic test.

I think a lot of marketing money went into the Netatmo. That right there drives the price up. It has this pretentious look that I think also draws the wrong crowd. It draws more of the uninformed metro yuppie crowd that is willing to pay anything, than appealing to the real weather hobbyists.

These stations performed terrible. They were easy to spot on WU before they all got kicked off WU.
https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=34815.0
« Last Edit: March 29, 2020, 10:13:11 AM by galfert »
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Offline miraculon

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Re: What is peoples opinion on Netatmo's weather station?
« Reply #2 on: March 29, 2020, 09:55:38 AM »
I bought a "not working - for parts" Netatmo on eBay a few years back. The remote sensor was indeed faulty.

I took the sensor module apart and found suspect looking solder connections around the main IC, which I assume is a processor. I resoldered all of the terminals, and it has worked fine ever since.

About a year ago, I purchased a NovaLynx 380-601 Small Instrument Shelter. I relocated the Netatmo into this shelter and I get readings that agree with my multiple Davis temp sensors within a couple tenths of a degree. From this, assuming you get a good one and it is properly shielded from solar heating, it is not all that bad.



I think that the mistake is that you can mount the rather dark silver sensor by itself, which is asking for trouble.

I recently received the rain gauge as a gift. It also seems to be working well.

Originally, I had a bad impression about Netatmo, but more recent experience has been better. Of course buying a $325 shelter for it would be ridiculous. (I bought it to house an old-school Taylor Orchard min thermometer, and there was plenty of room for the sensor)

Greg H.


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Offline KC5JIM

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Re: What is peoples opinion on Netatmo's weather station?
« Reply #3 on: April 02, 2020, 09:01:23 AM »
Netatmo is nothing but a toy purchased by people with more money than sense. They are wildly inaccurate and built with zero quality control, but Netatmo knows that their target demographic doesn't give one whit about either of those. The typical Netatmo purchaser is just looking for something that LOOKS neat to impress their equally vapid friends with.
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Offline BikerGeek

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Re: What is peoples opinion on Netatmo's weather station?
« Reply #4 on: October 28, 2020, 03:41:45 PM »
I have Netatmo weather station and would have to say that it performs perfectly. My station is getting two thumbs up in the CWOP MADIS quality ratings.

Seems to be some strong opinions to the contrary so I thought that a happy owner might weigh in a positive vote for Netatmo.
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Offline galfert

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Re: What is peoples opinion on Netatmo's weather station?
« Reply #5 on: October 29, 2020, 06:33:41 AM »
Green check mark is not a perfect indicator.

You are the outlier between your neighbors.

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Offline miraculon

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Re: What is peoples opinion on Netatmo's weather station?
« Reply #6 on: October 29, 2020, 08:42:14 AM »
I have Netatmo weather station and would have to say that it performs perfectly. My station is getting two thumbs up in the CWOP MADIS quality ratings.

Seems to be some strong opinions to the contrary so I thought that a happy owner might weigh in a positive vote for Netatmo.

FW7830 (BikerGeek), where/how do you have your sensor located? from the data plots it appears to be getting some solar heating effect.

My experience with the NetAtmo is that it really needs to be shielded from the sun. It works well in my thermometer shelter. Not a viable option for most people, if I didn't want the shelter for another thermometer, I wouldn't have bought it for just the NetAtmo.

Greg H.





Blitzortung Stations #706 and #1682
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Offline BikerGeek

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Re: What is peoples opinion on Netatmo's weather station?
« Reply #7 on: October 29, 2020, 02:29:37 PM »

FW7830 (BikerGeek), where/how do you have your sensor located? from the data plots it appears to be getting some solar heating effect.

My experience with the NetAtmo is that it really needs to be shielded from the sun. It works well in my thermometer shelter. Not a viable option for most people, if I didn't want the shelter for another thermometer, I wouldn't have bought it for just the NetAtmo.

Greg H.
Hello Greg H,
The sensor is mounted on the backside of a wood beam which is under the roof of my patio. The sensor gets no direct sunlight in that location but the frontside of the beam would get direct sunlight. I have attached a picture. Maybe the wood beam is the heating sensor? It is very thick wood beam so I wonder.

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I don't know where @galfert got his graph but if he could share how he did that I would like to see if that morning surge is repeatable as a daily event that can be seen repeated just after sunrise.

My backyard is the typical landscaping gravel/rock as you would see in the Phoenix area and that might hold heat (heat island effect) but it shouldn't cause the sunrise surge that showed in the graph. The rock/gravel might hold heat that would cause a constant higher reading not a surge.

Regardless maybe a shield would be a good investment.
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Offline galfert

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Re: What is peoples opinion on Netatmo's weather station?
« Reply #8 on: October 29, 2020, 03:40:59 PM »
Graph came from weather.Gladstonefamily.net

You need to get to the Quality Control Graphs section of Gladstonefamily.net (3 ways to get there):
- Go to your station page https://weather.gladstonefamily.net/site/F7830 then do the next step.
- Click on any of the daily graphs as that takes you to: https://weather.gladstonefamily.net/qchart/F7830  (this method is direct if you save this page)
- You can also get there from your FindU page as it has the like for Quality Control on the left column): http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxpage.cgi?last=24&call=FW7830

The previous steps are 3 different ways to get the Quality Control graphs of Gladstonefamily.net. Now you can proceed with these steps:
- Scroll all the way down to the bottom where you see your nearest CWOP neighbors and check on all their boxes to select them all. They are all nearby within about 4 miles.
- Click on the Add to Charts button
- And there you have it....all the graphs with all selected stations data plotted
- You can then scroll to the bottom and pick any date to compare

You can also note the notation of the URL format. Notice it is just &addnl=XXXXX where the X's are the station to add. If you want to substitute a station for your local METAR then just manually change and contruct the URL with stations that you want (5 local METAR included):
https://weather.gladstonefamily.net/qchart/F7830?date=20201029&addnl=KDVT&addnl=KSDL&addnl=KLUF&addnl=KIWA&addnl=KPHX&Add+to+charts=Add+to+charts&.cgifields=addnl
« Last Edit: October 30, 2020, 10:13:33 AM by galfert »
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Offline BikerGeek

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Re: What is peoples opinion on Netatmo's weather station?
« Reply #9 on: October 29, 2020, 05:03:36 PM »
Thanks @galfert!

It looks to be a repeatable event at about 2 hours after sunrise. If I go back to last week and way back to a month ago when we had hotter overnight temps it wasn't as bad. Now that we are seeing some over night lows around 50 the surge at around 2 hours after the sun comes up seems to be very noticeable.

I might try adding a shield to see if it helps. It can't hurt.
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Offline davidmc36

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Re: What is peoples opinion on Netatmo's weather station?
« Reply #10 on: October 29, 2020, 06:01:46 PM »
My first thought would be that heat is rising off the tarmac and "pooling" under the deck.

Is the sensor in a "boxed in area" where rising air could pool or are there open ends some how?

Offline BikerGeek

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Re: What is peoples opinion on Netatmo's weather station?
« Reply #11 on: October 29, 2020, 06:37:15 PM »
My first thought would be that heat is rising off the tarmac and "pooling" under the deck.

Is the sensor in a "boxed in area" where rising air could pool or are there open ends some how?
The patio roof is open at each end of the beam, so not boxed with a place for air to pool. Your thinking might still be on track. It is possible that the sensor's metal casing which is aluminum is heating from the rising air and the patio roof slows the air just enough to cause the surge.
« Last Edit: October 29, 2020, 06:38:56 PM by BikerGeek »
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Offline CW2274

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Re: What is peoples opinion on Netatmo's weather station?
« Reply #12 on: October 29, 2020, 07:06:52 PM »
My first thought would be that heat is rising off the tarmac and "pooling" under the deck.

Is the sensor in a "boxed in area" where rising air could pool or are there open ends some how?
It is possible that the sensor's metal casing which is aluminum is heating
Why in the world they would put a temp sensor inside something that is so conducive to conducting heat is beyond me.

To start, I'd get the housing off the beam and see what that gets you.
« Last Edit: October 30, 2020, 03:31:44 AM by CW2274 »

Offline miraculon

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Re: What is peoples opinion on Netatmo's weather station?
« Reply #13 on: October 30, 2020, 08:58:54 AM »
My first thought would be that heat is rising off the tarmac and "pooling" under the deck.

Is the sensor in a "boxed in area" where rising air could pool or are there open ends some how?

My front porch has a raised area that traps air. This raised area is surrounded by four sides. I have a temperature sensor there and it reads high, especially during the afternoon. It is completely in the shade, yet it reads several degrees too high. It came with the display unit, so I just stuck it there, I really don't rely on it for anything.

I think that the trapped heat theory has merit. I also wonder about IR reflection. Heat conduction through the beam is another possibility.

Greg H.


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CoCoRaHS: MI-PI-1
CWOP: CW4114 and KE8DAF-13
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Offline miraculon

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Re: What is peoples opinion on Netatmo's weather station?
« Reply #14 on: October 30, 2020, 09:09:22 AM »
Quote
Regardless maybe a shield would be a good investment.

A Davis 7714 would be a good bet for a shield. I don't have the Netatmo's dimensions handy, but you could compare the 7714's dimensions to see if it would fit. It looks like it would need to lay on its side in order to fit.

Please double check this yourself.





Greg H.




Blitzortung Stations #706 and #1682
CoCoRaHS: MI-PI-1
CWOP: CW4114 and KE8DAF-13
WU: KMIROGER7
Amateur Radio Callsign: KE8DAF

 

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