Author Topic: Acurite is blowing it  (Read 4748 times)

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Offline radioman61

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Acurite is blowing it
« on: October 20, 2018, 09:28:30 PM »
All the hype, the anticipation, the two years of beta testing...yeah I expected the Atlas to be a much better product than it’s turning out to be.  The hardware seems to have some good ideas executed poorly. We have bad lightning detectors or bad fans or maybe both...nobody knows for sure. Now it seems the housing has flaws.  I have little faith the rainfall is even close.  I’ll do my own calibration if Acurite can supply a procedure but they claim they’re calibrated when manufactured. Wrong again guys.  The Access was a turd out of the gate.  It’s clock still runs wild and there’s no fix.  The five minute update interval to My Acurite is a joke.  i just had a strong cold front blow through and while the HD display recorded a 33 mph wind gust, My Acurite shows 13 at the same time.  It’s peak wind is a 15 mph gust from 8 hours ago.  The software is simply retarded.  Whoever decided on how rainfall totals would be displayed on the HD display must have been drunk.  The future forecast changes constantly and is rarely even close to what’s actually forecast.  I really wanted to like this weather station. I had high expectations it would put them on the same level as Davis.  It had the potential to do that but falls way short.  I gave my 5 in 1 and Hub to a friend who is delighted with it.  I should have bought a WS 2000 and likely will.

Offline davefr

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Re: Acurite is blowing it
« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2018, 10:42:25 PM »
All the hype, the anticipation, the two years of beta testing...yeah I expected the Atlas to be a much better product than it’s turning out to be.  The hardware seems to have some good ideas executed poorly. We have bad lightning detectors or bad fans or maybe both...nobody knows for sure. Now it seems the housing has flaws.  I have little faith the rainfall is even close.  I’ll do my own calibration if Acurite can supply a procedure but they claim they’re calibrated when manufactured. Wrong again guys.  The Access was a turd out of the gate.  It’s clock still runs wild and there’s no fix.  The five minute update interval to My Acurite is a joke.  i just had a strong cold front blow through and while the HD display recorded a 33 mph wind gust, My Acurite shows 13 at the same time.  It’s peak wind is a 15 mph gust from 8 hours ago.  The software is simply retarded.  Whoever decided on how rainfall totals would be displayed on the HD display must have been drunk.  The future forecast changes constantly and is rarely even close to what’s actually forecast.  I really wanted to like this weather station. I had high expectations it would put them on the same level as Davis.  It had the potential to do that but falls way short.  I gave my 5 in 1 and Hub to a friend who is delighted with it.  I should have bought a WS 2000 and likely will.

The WS-2000 is really nice.  I have no regrets thus far.

The Osprey sensor is not quite Davis quality but you can buy 4 of them for the price of one Davis sensor refurb. Everything downstream of the sensor blows Davis out of the water. Has Davis done anything new/innovative this entire century?

It looks like Atlas is a "still born".  I hope their Elite model is better.
« Last Edit: October 20, 2018, 10:45:33 PM by davefr »

Offline CW2274

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Re: Acurite is blowing it
« Reply #2 on: October 20, 2018, 10:51:40 PM »
All the hype, the anticipation, the two years of beta testing...yeah I expected the Atlas to be a much better product than it’s turning out to be.  The hardware seems to have some good ideas executed poorly. We have bad lightning detectors or bad fans or maybe both...nobody knows for sure. Now it seems the housing has flaws.  I have little faith the rainfall is even close.  I’ll do my own calibration if Acurite can supply a procedure but they claim they’re calibrated when manufactured. Wrong again guys.  The Access was a turd out of the gate.  It’s clock still runs wild and there’s no fix.  The five minute update interval to My Acurite is a joke.  i just had a strong cold front blow through and while the HD display recorded a 33 mph wind gust, My Acurite shows 13 at the same time.  It’s peak wind is a 15 mph gust from 8 hours ago.  The software is simply retarded.  Whoever decided on how rainfall totals would be displayed on the HD display must have been drunk.  The future forecast changes constantly and is rarely even close to what’s actually forecast.  I really wanted to like this weather station. I had high expectations it would put them on the same level as Davis.  It had the potential to do that but falls way short.  I gave my 5 in 1 and Hub to a friend who is delighted with it.  I should have bought a WS 2000 and likely will.
Everything downstream of the sensor blows Davis out of the water.
At what point does this "blowing out of the water" occur? Oh yeah, being pretty....Please...

Offline Mattk

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Re: Acurite is blowing it
« Reply #3 on: October 20, 2018, 11:39:21 PM »
Well if it doesn't actually work in any consistent and constructive way then it blows nothing out of the water, sounds like all the hype had promise but was nothing more than hype.

Offline radioman61

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Re: Acurite is blowing it
« Reply #4 on: October 21, 2018, 08:16:09 AM »

[/quote]
Everything downstream of the sensor blows Davis out of the water.
[/quote]At what point does this "blowing out of the water" occur? Oh yeah, being pretty....Please...
[/quote]

The Davis sensor suite is far superior but that’s where their edge stops.  The display for the vantage vue look like it’s last refresh was done during the Clinton administration. Putting a Davis on line is prohibitively expensive.  The Atlas looks pretty but what’s the use if the data isn’t reliable?

Offline galfert

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Re: Acurite is blowing it
« Reply #5 on: October 21, 2018, 08:53:53 AM »
Radioman61,
When is your Atlas return period over? Are you leaning more towards a return or keep? We can't have everyone returning the Atlas. We need some people to keep it through the Winter and learn and report about how it does then.  :lol:

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Offline DoctorKnow

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Re: Acurite is blowing it
« Reply #6 on: October 21, 2018, 09:01:17 AM »
Myradioman61,

Do you not connect your access to Wunderground? The data is sent instantly there from the Access every 10 secs.

Only a few are having issues with fans. I am not, and my lightning chip has never given false lightning strikes...

The rain bucket is simple to adjust. I calibrated mine very easily. It wasn't off much, and if you have any obstructions around, that can cause it to read lower.

If your forecast is off, you can calibrate the barometer also.

I have had this beta tester for over a year, and I have not had the issues that those on here are reporting. The only real issues I came across was the red light staying on after I put the lightning chip in. All I had to do was remove the batteries and reinsert. It's been fine since. Also the anemometer needed to be pushed down as it had risen above the magnet reader during shipping.

Offline radioman61

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Re: Acurite is blowing it
« Reply #7 on: October 21, 2018, 09:17:17 AM »
I’m going to keep it through the winter and see what happens.  The Atlas is on a pipe extended a good distance above the roof so servicing it is a chore and once the snow begins...impossible. How did you calibrate the rain gauge?  I’m aware of the adjustment screws but have not seen a procedure specific to the Atlas yet.  I am also reporting to WU (KPACARLI8) although their iPhone app is not too impressive. The WunderStation app for the iPad is awesome and close to what I expected from the HD display. My disappointment is based in that I expected the Atlas and HD display to be a big step up from the 5 in 1 and it’s been at best just a sideways move.

Offline worachj

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Re: Acurite is blowing it
« Reply #8 on: October 21, 2018, 09:24:47 AM »
Count me as someone who’s not having problems (except rain calibration). It is concerning so many people from this site have problems and are not happy. Hoping mine stays trouble free and last 3-5 years!

I love the touch screen HD display, except for the stupid way the rain total is displayed.  I hate, hate, hate the rolling time frames (24hr, 48hr, 72hr, 7days). I’ve actual had my rain totals decrease while it was raining because of the rolling 48hr reading.

I want to complain about the rain totals to AcuRite and get them to change and hopefully release a firmware update for the HD display. What’s the best way to contact AcuRite? I found this suggestion link I’m going to try. Hope others will complain too.

https://support.acurite.com/hc/en-us/requests/new


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Offline DoctorKnow

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Re: Acurite is blowing it
« Reply #9 on: October 21, 2018, 09:27:23 AM »
Acurite has a battery pack to extend the battery compartment to the ground.

To calibrate the rain tippers, you open the rain bucket and there are two phillips type screw heads. Turn them a bit to raise the tipper from dropping so far when they empty. Someone said turn them left I think. It's been so long since I did mine I would have to go look at it, and I am not able to easily where I mounted it... This isn't difficult though to adjust.

Offline worachj

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Re: Acurite is blowing it
« Reply #10 on: October 21, 2018, 09:32:12 AM »
Rain gauge calibration (turn both screws the same amount):

•Turn screws counter-clockwise to increase rainfall.
•Turn screws clockwise to decrease rainfall.
« Last Edit: October 21, 2018, 09:35:02 AM by worachj »


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Offline radioman61

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Re: Acurite is blowing it
« Reply #11 on: October 21, 2018, 09:33:39 AM »
The 5 in 1 had a procedure that used a specific amount of water dripped in to the rain collection cup to equal a desired reading on the display.  I forget the amounts but that’s easy to find.  I would think this doesn’t apply to the Atlas since the collection area and tipping spoons are different.

I also found a free app for the iPhone called PWS Weather Station that pulls your data from WU and give better results than the My Acurite app.

Acurite has a battery pack to extend the battery compartment to the ground.

To calibrate the rain tippers, you open the rain bucket and there are two phillips type screw heads. Turn them a bit to raise the tipper from dropping so far when they empty. Someone said turn them left I think. It's been so long since I did mine I would have to go look at it, and I am not able to easily where I mounted it... This isn't difficult though to adjust.

Offline davefr

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Re: Acurite is blowing it
« Reply #12 on: October 21, 2018, 10:43:47 AM »

Everything downstream of the sensor blows Davis out of the water.
Quote
At what point does this "blowing out of the water" occur? Oh yeah, being pretty....Please...

OK here's why the WS-2000 "blows Davis out of the water downstream of the sensor suite":

- WS-2000 is WiFi to the router vs. Davis that requires running ethernet cable, overpriced dongles  and/or third party add ons.  These all add a significant cost over the basic Davis kit. (2-3X)
- WS-2000 has a well organized color HD display with wide viewing angle vs. Davis's primitive displays from the "Atari" era.
- WS-2000 supports PWS weather.  Davis does not.
- WS-2000 displays time direct from NIST time servers.
- WS-2000 records indoor temp/humidity from the location of your choice and supports up to 8 additional wireless sensors each customizable with email/SMS alerts.

All Ambient has to do is come out with a WS-3000 kit with an upgraded/improved Osprey sensor w/1000' range, a larger touch screen display and a few other features and they'll kill Davis in the upper end of the marketplace.



« Last Edit: October 21, 2018, 11:07:23 AM by davefr »

Offline MacGarage

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Re: Acurite is blowing it
« Reply #13 on: October 21, 2018, 11:01:22 AM »
If I recall correctly, the Atlas rain gauge calibration instructions are molded into the housing when you open it up.
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Offline radioman61

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Re: Acurite is blowing it
« Reply #14 on: October 21, 2018, 11:09:42 AM »
Davis has one thing however that sets them apart... 2.5 second update intervals.



Everything downstream of the sensor blows Davis out of the water.
Quote
At what point does this "blowing out of the water" occur? Oh yeah, being pretty....Please...

OK here's why the WS-2000 "blows Davis out of the water downstream of the sensor suite":

- WS-2000 is WiFi to the router vs. Davis that requires running ethernet cable, overpriced dongles  and/or third party add ons.  These all add a significant cost over the basic Davis kit. (2-3X)
- WS-2000 has a well organized color HD display with wide viewing angle vs. Davis's primitive displays from the "Atari" era.
- WS-2000 supports PWS weather.  Davis does not.
- WS-2000 displays time direct from NIST time servers.
- WS-2000 records indoor temp/humidity from the location of your choice and supports up to 8 additional wireless sensors each customizable with email/SMS alerts.

All Ambient has to do is come out with a WS-3000 kit with an upgraded/improved Osprey sensor w/1000' range, a larger touch screen display and a few other features and they'll kill Davis in the upper end of the marketplace.

Offline Bushman

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Re: Acurite is blowing it
« Reply #15 on: October 21, 2018, 11:20:00 AM »

Everything downstream of the sensor blows Davis out of the water.
Quote
At what point does this "blowing out of the water" occur? Oh yeah, being pretty....Please...

OK here's why the WS-2000 "blows Davis out of the water downstream of the sensor suite":

- WS-2000 is WiFi to the router vs. Davis that requires running ethernet cable, overpriced dongles  and/or third party add ons.  These all add a significant cost over the basic Davis kit. (2-3X)
- WS-2000 has a well organized color HD display with wide viewing angle vs. Davis's primitive displays from the "Atari" era.
- WS-2000 supports PWS weather.  Davis does not.
- WS-2000 displays time direct from NIST time servers.
- WS-2000 records indoor temp/humidity from the location of your choice and supports up to 8 additional wireless sensors each customizable with email/SMS alerts.

All Ambient has to do is come out with a WS-3000 kit with an upgraded/improved Osprey sensor w/1000' range, a larger touch screen display and a few other features and they'll kill Davis in the upper end of the marketplace.

From last to first... the build quality (plastics etc.) of Ambient does not hold a candle to Davis.  But getting to the rest of your points one at a time:
- Not sure where you get 2-3x for a dongle etc.  That said, the $149 WiFilogger removes the need for any cables, etc. AND posts to weather sites.  More than Ambient.  And the Meteobridge Nano ($189 IIRC?) also works on wifi and blows Ambient out of the water in terms of connectivity (incl. SQL Dbs for data storage)
- I agree Davis console is crappy but I never use mine:  I use my phone or laptop to view.
- The loggers handle NIST etc.
- My Davis handles 8 added sensors.

Not sure if Ambient will ever get to the Davis level.  You can see how well Chaney is doing with the Atlas...
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Offline davefr

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Re: Acurite is blowing it
« Reply #16 on: October 21, 2018, 11:46:58 AM »

Everything downstream of the sensor blows Davis out of the water.
Quote
At what point does this "blowing out of the water" occur? Oh yeah, being pretty....Please...

OK here's why the WS-2000 "blows Davis out of the water downstream of the sensor suite":

- WS-2000 is WiFi to the router vs. Davis that requires running ethernet cable, overpriced dongles  and/or third party add ons.  These all add a significant cost over the basic Davis kit. (2-3X)
- WS-2000 has a well organized color HD display with wide viewing angle vs. Davis's primitive displays from the "Atari" era.
- WS-2000 supports PWS weather.  Davis does not.
- WS-2000 displays time direct from NIST time servers.
- WS-2000 records indoor temp/humidity from the location of your choice and supports up to 8 additional wireless sensors each customizable with email/SMS alerts.

All Ambient has to do is come out with a WS-3000 kit with an upgraded/improved Osprey sensor w/1000' range, a larger touch screen display and a few other features and they'll kill Davis in the upper end of the marketplace.

From last to first... the build quality (plastics etc.) of Ambient does not hold a candle to Davis.  But getting to the rest of your points one at a time:
- Not sure where you get 2-3x for a dongle etc.  That said, the $149 WiFilogger removes the need for any cables, etc. AND posts to weather sites.  More than Ambient.  And the Meteobridge Nano ($189 IIRC?) also works on wifi and blows Ambient out of the water in terms of connectivity (incl. SQL Dbs for data storage)
- I agree Davis console is crappy but I never use mine:  I use my phone or laptop to view.
- The loggers handle NIST etc.
- My Davis handles 8 added sensors.

Not sure if Ambient will ever get to the Davis level.  You can see how well Chaney is doing with the Atlas...

I agree that everyone has different needs/priorities.

Remote monitoring local weather from a phone or laptop is great when I'm remote but when I'm at home there's no way in hell I'm going to grab a phone or laptop, logon and open an app. I want frequent and instant weather updates via a quick glance at an always on console.

A weather station without an easy to read/always on console is simply not an option.

Offline Bushman

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Re: Acurite is blowing it
« Reply #17 on: October 21, 2018, 12:00:08 PM »
$50 buck color HD touchscreen tablet displaying WU or better yet - my custom webpage that Meteobridge delivers..  :)  (And yes, again  - I agree the Davis consoles suck.  But I wonder how many folks would pay for an HD console?)
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Offline Bushman

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Re: Acurite is blowing it
« Reply #18 on: October 21, 2018, 12:01:03 PM »
Forgot to mention that is what I do with my Acurite, displaying MYAcurite on a cheap Chinese tablet.  The included B&W tablet sits in the kitchen for the temp only display.
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Offline wase4711

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Re: Acurite is blowing it
« Reply #19 on: October 21, 2018, 02:01:10 PM »
what I dont understand is that with all the Davis users/fans/employees/etc that must monitor websites like this, dont they realize they could shut the door on all the competitors if they came out with a modern, color console. and built in wifi/internet access?
I mean they are a hi tech company, providing hi tech products; they must know they are 20 years+ behind the times by not having those 2 things built in..

I know you can buy addons and modifications that will allow both of these things, but, at the prices Davis charges, they must realize that its a stretch for alot of folks to just buy a complete unit; when you add on the things that make it wifi/internet enabled, and, use a tablet/what ever for a color display, that total cost puts their stuff way out of reach for many many folks..


Offline Bushman

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Re: Acurite is blowing it
« Reply #20 on: October 21, 2018, 02:21:01 PM »
what I dont understand is that with all the Davis users/fans/employees/etc that must monitor websites like this, dont they realize they could shut the door on all the competitors if they came out with a modern, color console. and built in wifi/internet access?
I mean they are a hi tech company, providing hi tech products; they must know they are 20 years+ behind the times by not having those 2 things built in..

I know you can buy addons and modifications that will allow both of these things, but, at the prices Davis charges, they must realize that its a stretch for alot of folks to just buy a complete unit; when you add on the things that make it wifi/internet enabled, and, use a tablet/what ever for a color display, that total cost puts their stuff way out of reach for many many folks..

You make some very good points.  Actually, I think Davis is really not interested in the consumer (prosumer) market all that much.  See the EnviroWeather  and its precursor the 8X.  They sell  crapton of stations to SAR, VFD/FD etc.  Retail consumers are a PITA. 

And for the record, I think that when you  piece together a system (  too much work for most) it way outperforms anything else at not much more cost.
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Offline davefr

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Re: Acurite is blowing it
« Reply #21 on: October 21, 2018, 02:21:26 PM »
$50 buck color HD touchscreen tablet displaying WU or better yet - my custom webpage that Meteobridge delivers..  :)  (And yes, again  - I agree the Davis consoles suck.  But I wonder how many folks would pay for an HD console?)

So you buy the basic Davis kit, then have to add a WeatherlinkIP or USB dongle to get to the outside world, then you add a third party WiFi adapter to get to the internet, then you buy a generic tablet and figure out how to display your favorite data from a website, and hope and pray that everything plays well together. Or you simply get the WS-2000 kit that already does all that for a fraction of the price.

If the Osprey sensor has half the life of the Davis sensor so what? A replacement sensor is a mere $53. Feedback from WS-2902 users seems to be pretty positive (ie 4.5 stars) with very few reports of Osprey sensor problems.

My only fear was the WS-2000 wireless connection reliability.  So far it's proved to be flawless.

Where's the Davis value proposition?

Offline Bushman

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Re: Acurite is blowing it
« Reply #22 on: October 21, 2018, 02:28:54 PM »
You don't add the dingle AND a wifi addition - they are one and the same.  You can plug either into the back of the console or the IP.  Or you could eschew the console totally and go MB Pro.

And yeah, it costs more, but  there are lots of 10-20 yr old Davis stations still in operation.  Mine goes back to 06 IIRC and other than the stoopid(tm) Supercap issue it had ONCE is still chugging along.  I've gone through three of four lesser stations in that time (although to be fair to Chaney, my Acurite 5-1 ISS is still fine; the console has been a POS from Dyy one - but I use a cheap table displaying MyAcurite for now and then WU when Chaney's support for my irreplaceable SmartHub ends)

"Buy once - cry once" like Dad used to say.   YMMV
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Offline wase4711

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Re: Acurite is blowing it
« Reply #23 on: October 21, 2018, 02:32:12 PM »
Often, the premium/top of the line products dont offer a great value proposition; people who are fans of the product like to buy the best within that product line/catagory, hence the fan base of the Davis products are strong..

And yes, Bushman, I think you are correct that retail consumers ARE a PITA, but they spend lots of $$$, are pretty easy to upsell, and I assume Davis loves to make money and profit, so who knows what their marketing/design people are planning on doing next..

I've had almost every prosumer brand/item out there over the last 20 years, so I know there are lots of folks like me who will buy/upgrade/try almost any product out there when it comes to weather stations..

Offline Bushman

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Re: Acurite is blowing it
« Reply #24 on: October 21, 2018, 03:01:03 PM »
Vantage Vue with console:  $268 USD plus $149 USD for Wifi logger.  Done and done.  or $168 for the Vue ISS plus $108 for the Envoy and then your choice of (~$60 US for a clone logger and Meteobridge- approx $100 for HW and license) OR the Envoy.  So for $425 you are good to go. 

And don't forget all the add-ons that other mfgs. do not offer like Emergency Response package, viniculture etc.
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