Home Weather Stations

[Peanut]

My parents have an indoor/outdoor thermometer. It’s never worked correctly. That said I’ve been wanting one for myself but know little about them. I’m looking for one in the $50/$100 price range. I need it to monitor both indoor and outdoor temps as well as humidity.

Anyone have one? Pro’s/Con’s? Recommendations? Things to avoid?

 

[Bacpacker]

Let me look at what I have in my office. It was pretty cheap but runs very close to what our calibrated units run

 

[Supervisor42]

My parents have an indoor/outdoor thermometer. It’s never worked correctly. That said I’ve been wanting one for myself but know little about them. I’m looking for one in the $50/$100 price range. I need it to monitor both indoor and outdoor temps as well as humidity.

Anyone have one? Pro’s/Con’s? Recommendations? Things to avoid?

I have been using this $39 Wittime unit for years and totally love it.
https://www.amazon.com/Wittime-Wireless-Thermometer-Temperature-Barometer/dp/B09QJZ5XFB
Mine:

It's razor-sharp, unlike my picture.
Something nobody thinks about: The outside unit is very frugal with battery power, lasting over 2 years on lithiums while sending an update every minute.
Having to change batteries every 6 months sux.

 

[dademoss]

Mine is an Acuright "Atlas", the indoor unit died many years ago, but it reports over the internet too. Davis weather makes a good one, till the lightning strike took out the electronics.

https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/KOHCINCI86

 

[backlash]

I had an Ambient weather station but after 5 years it died.
It was accurate for temperature but the wind gage was crap and the rain gage never worked. Mostly because we get very little rain I guess.
Alexa, our phones, laptops, and tablets give us good enough information.
Most of the time they are all within 1° of each other.
We don't do anything that requires very accurate weather data. Close is good enough.
One piece of advice.
Get one with a display that you can mount high on the wall and still see the display.
The one I have now has to be at eye level or lower otherwise the display is blank.
Crappy displays on most of them I have researched.

 

[Supervisor42]

One piece of advice.
Get one with a display that you can mount high on the wall and still see the display.
The one I have now has to be at eye level or lower otherwise the display is blank.
Crappy displays on most of them I have researched.

The one I have is not LCD, but has huge bright LED numbers that I can easily read from across the room laying in my bed without glasses.
Being able to read it at all times is important.

 

[Neb]

I ...nough.
One piece of advice.
Get one with a display that you can mount high on the wall and still see the display.
The one I have now has to be at eye level or lower otherwise the display is blank.
Crappy displays ...

The Princess got a new stereo we put on top of a bookcase. Friggin display was bad. Got a replacement. Same problem!
It has an LCD display not LED.

Live n learn we did

Ben

 

[Bacpacker]

I had an Ambient weather station but after 5 years it died.
It was accurate for temperature but the wind gage was crap and the rain gage never worked. Mostly because we get very little rain I guess.
Alexa, our phones, laptops, and tablets give us good enough information.
Most of the time they are all within 1° of each other.
We don't do anything that requires very accurate weather data. Close is good enough.
One piece of advice.
Get one with a display that you can mount high on the wall and still see the display.
The one I have now has to be at eye level or lower otherwise the display is blank.
Crappy displays on most of them I have researched.

Electronic rain gauges are not accurate. Wind speed meters are not cheap for something that'll hold up.

This is the rain gauge I use. Accurate to .01" of rain and will measure up to 11".
https://www.weathershack.com/produc...GDVyU0sNn3GNJcfm8c4od6yTB2Mi0KPRoCewoQAvD_BwE

I send daily reports in to this group. I've been doing this for something like 15 years now.
https://www.cocorahs.org/

 

[Peanut]

The one I have is not LCD, but has huge bright LED numbers that I can easily read from across the room laying in my bed without glasses.
Being able to read it at all times is important.

The displays of their current models are LCD. In fact, i was unable to find any stations with led displays. Looked at dozens of makes/models, they all had lcd's, probably all made by the same chinese company.

Other than that... they all seem to have the same features in that price range. That left reading reviews and finding one with few complaints.

Think I'll order on friday, might have to roll dice to find a winner.

 

[Supervisor42]

The displays of their current models are LCD. In fact, i was unable to find any stations with led displays. Looked at dozens of makes/models, they all had lcd's, probably all made by the same chinese company.

Other than that... they all seem to have the same features in that price range. That left reading reviews and finding one with few complaints.

Think I'll order on friday, might have to roll dice to find a winner.

I was just trying to differentiate between the display I have, and one like this that I call "LCD":

If you are old, try and read that from across the room .
Size matters too. The above one from 3' away for scale:

Can you read it good now?

 

[Bacpacker]

Peanut, sorry man. I never had a chance to get info on mine at work today. Won't be back until Monday

 

[lonewolf]

if I want to see what the weather is doing I just look out the window or go outdoors.

 

[Weedygarden]

This is the rain gauge I use. Accurate to .01" of rain and will measure up to 11".
https://www.weathershack.com/produc...GDVyU0sNn3GNJcfm8c4od6yTB2Mi0KPRoCewoQAvD_BwE

Every farmer needs a good and accurate rain gauge like this.

 

[Peanut]

Every farmer needs a good and accurate rain gauge like this.

I have one i bought on Back's recommendation 3yrs ago. Excellent rain gauge, most accurate one i've used or ever seen.

Need another one though, the puppy chewed on my old one, broke a piece off the inside tube. I glued it back together, sort of. It still works, just a bit annoying to handle being extra careful so not damage it further.

 

[Tim Horton]

I had one that displayed much like in post #3.. No rain gauge with it..
The best advise I can add is to install the outdoor transmitter out of direct sun and as protected as possible... Battery life was short...

I only used the cheap plastic cup in a steel holder stuck in the ground rain gauge as too many times they would freeze and break.. Readings were close enough..

 

[backlash]

if I want to see what the weather is doing I just look out the window or go outdoors.

Same here.

 

[Supervisor42]

I had one that displayed much like in post #3.. No rain gauge with it..
The best advise I can add is to install the outdoor transmitter out of direct sun and as protected as possible... Battery life was short...

You touched on one of the important points in the big lecture I have waiting in the wings about how to get the most use out of every function of a weather station .

 

[lonewolf]

Same here.

I can actually smell snow before it gets here, we have it so infrequently.

 

[Tim Horton]

I can actually smell snow before it gets here, we have it so infrequently.
== ==
Now that is interesting...

 

[Heartbroken]

I can smell the snow before it comes too. And sometimes the rain. I have an Ambient Osprey 2902A weather station and I really enjoy it. The wind always measures lower than what it actually is, but aside from that it has been pretty close to the reported levels at the airport and it's dependable. It's been running with no maintenance for five years now. It's interesting to track the fronts when they come through and I can download and graph the information. No home weather station will be perfect, but they are fun and informative.

 

[Tim Horton]

The wind always measures lower than what it actually is, but aside from that it has been pretty close to the reported levels at the airport and it's dependable.
-- --
Remember... An airport is out in the open and no one lives there.. So there weather reports will be a little different than anywhere else..

 

[Heartbroken]

Yep, but I'm literally within sight of the airport, at the same elevation, and have my station on a 30' tower. It's close on everything except the wind. It's a known thing with this ambient model; something to do with the way the anemometer readings are averaged or something, I didn't really understand their explanation.

 

[Peanut]

Thanks for the help everyone!!! I went with a WitTime 2076B weather station, ordered 2 extra remote sensors, keep one as a spare. It has barometric pressure which is important in the land of hurricanes and tornadoes. I rely on bar press a lot during storms. Other than that, operation is straight forward. Display is big and clear/color, can use up to 3 sensors.

I already have the Stratus rain gauge @Bacpacker posted but it's slightly chewed by a puppy causing it to malfunction during a down pour. I really like it, measures to 1/100th of an inch. On a farm 1/100ths matter. So I ordered a new one, they have them on amerzit now... $40.

Most basic weather station models are $40-$50 bucks. The next step up are those with a wind gauge. Wind speed isn't important to me, unless cows are flying by, then i know it's windy!

 

[Mountain trapper]

I've got a Davis Pro weather wireless station. It displays the temp, wind, rain and forecast. It has a bunch of other stuff that i dont pay much attention. I have it mounted on a pole about 300 feet from the house. I think I paid around $600 for it about 20 years ago.

 

[Supervisor42]

Thanks for the help everyone!!! I went with a WitTime 2076B weather station, ordered 2 extra remote sensors, keep one as a spare. It has barometric pressure which is important in the land of hurricanes and tornadoes. I rely on bar press a lot during storms. Other than that, operation is straight forward. Display is big and clear/color, can use up to 3 sensors.

I already have the Stratus rain gauge @Bacpacker posted but it's slightly chewed by a puppy causing it to malfunction during a down pour. I really like it, measures to 1/100th of an inch. On a farm 1/100ths matter. So I ordered a new one, they have them on amerzit now... $40.

Most basic weather station models are $40-$50 bucks. The next step up are those with a wind gauge. Wind speed isn't important to me, unless cows are flying by, then i know it's windy!


View attachment 120253View attachment 120254

I'm glad I'm not the only one that knows how important reading the barometric pressure is . (Another part of my unused lecture)
Learn to relate to it in millibars and not inches of Hg, it will come in handy because whenever they talk about the pressure (power) in the center of spinny-things, it is always in millibars.

 

[Peanut]

Yep, millibars tell me everything i need to know about a storm. Let's me know how powerful it's going to be, a direct correlation. To bad the little bluetooth sensors can't transmit from vernon or reform, heck, i'd settle for one in gordo... I'd be able to predict arrival times.

 

[Haertig]

I just go to Weather Underground and look at all the readings off of everybody ELSE's expensive setups that surround me. I've found that once people buy the expensive ones, that they just have to upload their data to Weather Underground. It's the ego thing ... "Gee, I paid all this money for this gizmo, everybody else needs to see what I bought!"

Why should I agonize about spending $100 or $200 on my own and try to choose a good one? I'll just look at the guy next doors exotic $800 setup instead. Or the person two doors down's setup. Or the person across the street.

Look below to see what surrounds me. And this picture is not even zoomed in - when you zoom in, even more of the stations appear! Pick whichever station you want, they're everywhere! I'm pretty confident that the temperature in my backyard is either 18 or 19 degrees at the moment, based on the bazillion sensors surrounding me. Not shown in the picture below are all the other readings you can display from these other people's stations - wind, humidity, pressure, rainfall ... you name it.

And I guaranty that there will be EVEN MORE stations surrounding me after Christmas. Weather stations seem to be a popular gift.

And if I'm really in a hurry, I just speak aloud "Alexa, what's the temperature?" Or "Alexa, what's the humidity?" And this voice comes out of nowhere and tells me. It's based on your zip code. Mine probably gets it's data from the private airport in town, which is about three miles from my house as the crow flies, and does a good job of matching my back yard (other than wind - there's usually more of that on the open and flat airport property).

 

[Supervisor42]

Yep, millibars tell me everything i need to know about a storm. Let's me know how powerful it's going to be, a direct correlation. To bad the little bluetooth sensors can't transmit from vernon or reform, heck, i'd settle for one in gordo... I'd be able to predict arrival times.

If you use 2 outdoor sensors make certain that the light from the setting sun can't hit them thru out the year (this is harder than you think ). It moves around more than you can imagine.
I mounted ours high up on a shutter on the front porch.
Unreachable? Sure enough, for about 20 minutes, 2 weeks out of the year, the setting sun was able to reach it.
If the sun hits it, it cannot tell the truth about air temp.

 

[joel]

I can actually smell snow before it gets here, we have it so infrequently.

Wolf blood.

 

[Haertig]

Here's a Weather Underground live report from a single station.

https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/KCOLONGM35
I picked one randomly that is a few hundred yards from the range I shoot at. You can see historical data (scroll down). No need to buy your own station. However, if you just want a simple display on your wall or counter top, then that would be easier to do with your own basic station. Weather Underground requires a web browser to access, on your computer, tablet, or phone - so not appropriate if you are cooking in the kitchen and just want to look up and see the temperature outside. But even easier than that is saying "Alexa, what is the temperature?" You have to be willing to install an Alexa device if you want voice control though.