Topic: SURVEY/POLL - Fine Offset Weather station (Ambient, Ecowitt, Froggit, Misol..)

[Gyvate]

Hi guys,
I'd like to get an overview how many of our users are using which of the available Fine Offset reseller brands as their Weather Station.
You can make three different choices if you own different consoles or gateways from different brands.

If you use an Ecowitt console and Froggit sensors, that's only a vote for Ecowitt.
If you use a Froggit console and other Ecowitt sensors, the vote goes for Froggit.
If you have an Ambient WS-2000 or WS-5000 or WS-1965 or Weather Hub 2.0 (ObserverIP 2.0) and in addition a GW1x00 or GW2000 etc. console/gateway, the votes should go for Ambient and Ecowitt.
If you have Froggit and Ecowitt consoles, the votes should go for Froggit and Ecowitt.
etc.
and - if you use Ambient only, your vote is welcome in the Ambient line too 

If you have other Fine Offset/Ecowitt compatible brands in use (poll: other, no brand), I'd appreciate you posting a picture of the console and the name under which you purchased the device here in this thread/subject/post
.
Thanks for helping to get an idea about the distribution of the Fine Offset reseller hardware.

[Gyvate]

interesting so far - about 50/50 for Ecowitt vs. clones ...
I would have expected a bigger number of Ambient devices though.
What is also interesting is that there are 350+ viewings of the post so far (07-Aug-2024 - 04:00 EDT) but only ~60 voters.
I would have expected at least 50% of the sub-forum visitors to own a Fine Offset (clone) console.
That would be 180 vs. ~60 voters .... - also interesting

[Rover1822]

interesting so far - about 50/50 for Ecowitt vs. clones ...
I would have expected a bigger number of Ambient devices though.
What is also interesting is that there are 350+ viewings of the post so far (07-Aug-2024 - 04:00 EDT) but only ~60 voters.
I would have expected at least 50% of the sub-forum visitors to own a Fine Offset (clone) console.
That would be 180 vs. ~60 voters .... - also interesting

1. On the Ambient numbers, a lot of us own both , so it moves both numbers as we could select both in the poll selection.
2. The number of viewers includes everyone, including guests, and also repeat viewing, so it is not a metric to use. SMF user views is not unique viewers.

I'm not surprised by the numbers, but the poll is for a limited audience of those that review this channel. I would expect the Ecowitt numbers to be higher actually as this is a global response. But then again, limited to those that follow the channel

[Gyvate]

@Rover1822
I see your point - that's why I already gave a 50% "leeway".
There are indications that Ambient stations have a rather high percentage in their sales compared to other resellers.
Also, there is a closed (need to register) Ecowitt family group on Facebook: ~ 2,500 users
whereas the Ambient Facebook group, also registration  needed, has 18,000+ users.

Of course, our forum is not representative as mostly only a few "nerds" and people in trouble come here.
At least ~ 5 years ago, at @galfert times, the dominating topics were Ambient related.

There are many people who are just happy with what they got and they never show up here or in another user group.
It seems that the WS-2902D is still the lead horse in the Ambient stables whereas here in our forum it plays a minor role

Also in Europe, just going through the online offers, the WS2910 and the HP2551 (HP2550 console + WS69/WH65 outdoor array), dominate the reseller offers (with the exception of Froggit who are closest to the Ecowitt product bandwidth in their reselling offers compared to others, even Ambient).

As a side-remark:
It's also interesting that after having had the opportunity to observe two years of the Ecowitt WS90 performance, they have decided to adopt it as their new WS-4000 station..

I know that many people in the forum walk the parallel path, started with Ambient and then add Ecowitt consoles/gateways.
That's why I allowed more than one vote in the poll.
But if the double users here are representative for all Ambient WS-2000/5000 owners is to be doubted.

One of the reasons for this poll is to get some more information beyond the usual and likely to be wrong speculations.

[Jeje2]

As a pure side note - I'm shocked  with the amount of different brands under which Fine offsets products are sold in total. Many of these I had not heard about before. (Gywate: thx for sharing this information  )

How about the availability of these brands in different parts of the world? Like Froggit is Germany but can be said like Europe...  How about these others?

I'm quite happy with Ecowitt and as far as I've seen so far they have the widest product availability of Fine offset. (Or is there someone having a wider product range?)

[Gyvate]

I don't think that Fine Offset could survive without their reseller business - and the OEM concept is a known and valid business model. Of course it depends on what a reseller considers worth buying from them and reselling under their own brand.

In a way Ecowitt is also a reseller even though the brand is owned by Fine Offset.
And they have the widest offer on console, sensors etc.

Next "in line" regarding variety is the German HS Group with their brand Froggit.
In my observation, many other resellers just sell one or two maximum three models. You just have to make an elaborate internet search to figure these things out. Some Scandinavian resellers selling on a DK/N, S platform even have a GW1x00 - but these are strange platforms - you can only buy there when you have an address in DK, N, S (or have someone who does it for you if the shipping still pays off - warranty may be tricky then).

It's mainly WS2910 and HP2551 and a few WS2320 - and some WH2650+WH32B+WH65 (expondo.xx, Steinberg Systems).

In terms of variety it's Ecowitt (433, 868, 915), Froggit (868), Misol (433, few 868), Ambient (915), dnt/elv (868) in that sequence.
At the end of the day, for the consumer it doesn't matter. It's the same quality you get independent of the brand name - some are even sold without a brand label.

WeatherSpares in the UK is in my opinion not a real reseller - it's sort of a specialised weather station market place with an exclusive (so they claim) selling of Ecowitt hardware in the UK. They also sell Davis and GARNI weather stations though - with the latter only a WS2910 clone (GARNI 940)

[Rover1822]

It's also interesting that after having had the opportunity to observe two years of the Ecowitt WS90 performance, they have decided to adopt it as their new WS-4000 station..

I somewhat felt this was going to happen, my theory is they realized how much of a market share they were losing with a product they could potentially sell. I still find it interesting that they haven't made arrangements to sell the the GWXXXX series consoles. 

[Gyvate]

It's also interesting that after having had the opportunity to observe two years of the Ecowitt WS90 performance, they have decided to adopt it as their new WS-4000 station..

I somewhat felt this was going to happen, my theory is they realized how much of a market share they were losing with a product they could potentially sell. I still find it interesting that they haven't made arrangements to sell the the GWXXXX series consoles.

Why would they ? Having their Observer IP Weather Hub 2.0 (WH2682) and now their new Ambient Weather Network Hub 2.0 ...
The Weather Hub 2.0 is factually a GW2000 or the new Hub a GW3000 with its microSD card - but, as usual, limited to their Ambient branded sensors.
As you can see from your WS-2000 sensorsID page, the WS90 was planned to be added already some time ago - in future upgrades it will probably read WS4000 at this position.
And they will continue selling the whole package with a WS-4000 console, which is nothing else but a WS-2000 console with the new WiFi modem.
So if someone wants to upgrade from their WS-2000 to a WS-4000 they will have to buy the console even though not needed. I doubt they will sell the WS-4000-ARRAY (WS90) as a single item.

[wd40]

An interesting aspect of the poll would have been location of the purchaser.  That is USA or nonUSA to see what influence that had on purchase.

I choose Ambient because of their weather network.

[wxfan]

For me it was a no brainer to buy all Ecowitt, price and customer service so far is good. All the rest are more expensive.

[Jeje2]

For me it was a no brainer to buy all Ecowitt, price and customer service so far is good. All the rest are more expensive.

Main reason for Ecowitt is the product range, it just is wider than anybody else offers...

Though as living in EU choice wasn't easy as Froggit as good package deals, like gateway + 8*WH31 -- it was a real countdown when I bought my first setup... But as price as just about the same delivered to me and as Ecowitt had a litttle wider product range than Froggit -- I chose Ecowitt.  And did it again as made my second order a month ago...

[jbroome]

For me it was a no brainer to buy all Ecowitt, price and customer service so far is good. All the rest are more expensive.

I bought the Ambient Osprey with a cheapo console when it was on a very good sale, which happens occasionally.  Ditto some of the Ambient soil moisture sensors. And I've bought a few Misol pieces on mega-sale too.  I run a mix of 915 and 433 MHz stuff in the US, so it opens a few more options.  But the vast majority of my stuff is indeed Ecowitt - purchased directly, on Ali Express, and on Amazon -- whatever was cheapest or fastest at the time.  I really like that we have some options available to us here.

   ---Jonathan

[Vasco]

I have to say I'd never heard of Tesa until a new user posted recently over at https://discourse.weather-watch.com/ . . .

As the poll currently shows no Tesa users, can I vote on his behalf? 

[Gyvate]

I have to say I'd never heard of Tesa until a new user posted recently over at https://discourse.weather-watch.com/ . . .

As the poll currently shows no Tesa users, can I vote on his behalf? 

that risks to get double votes  - a person from NZ posted a WS2980 (WS2910 clone) related question in the "Ecowitt Family" Facebook group.
https://weatherstation.co.nz/products/tesa-ws-2980c-pro-tesa-prof-7-colour-wifi-weather-station

[Gyvate]

what I can tell from the votes provided so far is that the focus of the forum has definitely shifted in the past five years from Ambient to Ecowitt - which reflects in the number of Ambient votes.
And the proportion 78 : 50 = Ecowitt : resellers does pretty surely not reflect the business numbers of Fine Offset with their resellers.
Maybe most Ambient users who do not just only use their weather stations prefer being in the closed community of their Facebook group (> 18,000 members as mentioned earlier).
On the other hand, WS2320, WS2910 and HP2551 models which are mainly sold by the resellers (exception Ambient and Froggit) are quite solid weather stations and apart from an outdoor T/RH sensor in the array giving up its ghost here and there nothing much happens.
Here in the forum we have mostly the power users with many sensors, data logging programs etc.

[kheller2]

Come on 100 responses!! come on....

[el1x]

I stumbled across this forum/post when looking for clarification information on my newly setup WS80 etc. I signed up just to get cast my vote and get closer to 100 

[Gyvate]

I stumbled across this forum/post when looking for clarification information on my newly setup WS80 etc. I signed up just to get cast my vote and get closer to 100 

you could look up https://meshka.eu/Ecowitt/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=start#ws80
maybe something useful for you there ...

[Gyvate]

almost 100 votes and 146 stations - (99 - 25-Aug-2024 19:20 CEST/13:20 EDT)
57% Ecowitt
43% Resellers
that's our forum Fine Offset manufactured station distribution by reseller (Ecowitt being also a reseller)

I think the real sales figures are rather the opposite with Ecowitt around 25% based on other indicators - but that's a guesstimate.

[Rover1822]

Erm.. when will this be over ?. I like reading new posts , as opposed to your technical post bump ups.
Please don't hit me.

[Gyvate]

Erm.. when will this be over ?. I like reading new posts , as opposed to your technical post bump ups.
Please don't hit me.

what about a new thread:
Subject: new post for the personal delight of @Rover1822 

[Rover1822]

Nope, don't think that is needed

Edit , in reality, I like this poll subject  aspect, and I think it should be part of the sticky Topics.

[Rocketman]

I totally agree with Rover1822 this should be a sticky topic . I will add something shortly

[Gyvate]

I have requested the Global Moderator to make the thread sticky ...

[BoDuke]

Wish granted; it's sticky now.  I also unstuck a couple older sticky posts which were not as relevant any longer about differences between older weather station models.