Home Weather Monitor

[slick4591]

I've bought a couple of those hundred dollar AcuRite monitors and they've lasted about a year before something breaks. I've done without one for a while as I've been putting a few bucks back for a better unit. I'm looking at a Davis unit now but I don't know anyone that's actually owned one. Just trying to get some feedback if anyone knows about them.

 

[greybeard]

Been looking at Davis VantageVue myself.
reviews

Other options
https://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/buyingguide.asp

WeatherUnderground is a network of PWS and they have a blog discussing the pros and cons of different units.
https://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/overview.asp

 

[slick4591]

Thanks for the links! I saw the VantageVue and it sorta scared me off because it is built like the AcuRite which don't last very long. I'm looking at the Vantage Pro2 and hoping for the price it's a whole lot better.

 

[slick4591]

May not matter to anyone but I yesterday I was referred to an avid weather guy that told me he had been using a Davis station for 20 years and had recently updated to the version I'm buying. Twenty years of service was good enough for me to decide.

 

[M-5]

this is the most accurate and reliable weather station on the market .

 

[wlamarparmer]

Had Davis Vantage Vue Wireless 10 yrs. Replaced sending station 2 yr ago.
Happy with it.

 

[greybeard]

I mostly want a reliable one because I want to know just how high the winds get here when these tropical systems come thru. All we ever hear on the weather channels and local Houston channels is what is happening on the coast or in the Houston metroplex....and unrelated to PWS, the same thing happens when the river floods. It's all about the flooding down river where all the subdivisions are........TV don't care about us ag folks out in the boonies.

 

[Nesikep]

I've been interested in this as well.. I particularly want one for precipitation, since I'm certain we get FAR less than in town or even some places 2 miles away... Good to hear the Accurite isn't that long lasting.
Price of the Davis, with our lousy exchange rate is kinda steep.. better part of the price of a steer.. Meh!

 

[slick4591]

I've been interested in this as well.. I particularly want one for precipitation, since I'm certain we get FAR less than in town or even some places 2 miles away... Good to hear the Accurite isn't that long lasting.
Price of the Davis, with our lousy exchange rate is kinda steep.. better part of the price of a steer.. Meh!

Yeah, I didn't like having to spend that amount of money, but I'm hoping it's actually a better deal in the long run. I bought my first AcuRite for about $100. The wind cups broke off about a year later and I called for a replacement. I was told that the outside body housing was in two parts. The part that held the cups was around $65+ shipping. I ordered it and all was well for a while. Not far down the road the rain gauge (bottom part of the unit) part stopped working. I just gave up and bought a new one because I figured it wouldn't be long until the wind cups broke again. I think it had gone up to $125 by then. It maybe lasted a year before I threw it in the garbage because of several problems.

After I tossed it I found that my BIL and his son in law bought the same units and they only lasted about 6 months before they started having identical problems with the gauge part. I've been without one for a while now and quietly putting back a stash for a good one. I ordered it yesterday and hoping for good service out of it.

 

[pdfangus]

I don't recall the brand but I have had one for four or five years but it does not have a rain gauge...but that is okay because I have a gauge right beside it...temperature seems to work good but the wind gauge always reads a bit low....we have had some real blows and it never shows more than 18 mph....these were breezes that I had to hold my hat to my head....teevee guys were claiming thirty plus mph... we are a ways from the teevee stations...but the wind was blowing more than 18...