Digital Weather Station -worth the money?

[earthdragon64]

I'm looking at possibly getting some kind of digital weather forecast station type thing. One of the type with a sensor that goes outside and a screen inside with all the information about temperature, humidity etc.

There seems to be a huge selection available, priced from about £30.00 to £235.00 I just don't know where to start, so has anyone got any recommendations?

I'm not looking for anything too complex, or too expensive, and preferably something that's easy to set up and doesn't absolutely eat batteries.

[big bill]

Hello Audrey not too sure about them but were you are all you have to do is stick your head out the door and look upto the mountains and you will soon know what its like
I am sure you can get some that are wired upto the mains via a transformer but not sure could be worth checking on

[loripo]

Following you around again big bill.
If you google UK on home solar powered weather station there are quite a few, it probably depends on how sophisicated a setup you want.

[Jason Claxton]

Hi I've just brought a Timex one for £40 from B&Q it has an outdoor sensor with temperature and humidity.As for eating batteries I dont know yet ,but the main unit takes 2 AAAs and the outdoor another 2 AAA's.It measures barometeric pressure.But the outside sensor will only measure down to -4 temperature wise.I consider it more of a toy myself,so I guess you'll have go for what you need.Jason.

[earthdragon64]

Originally Posted by big bill

Hello Audrey not too sure about them but were you are all you have to do is stick your head out the door and look upto the mountains and you will soon know what its like
I am sure you can get some that are wired upto the mains via a transformer but not sure could be worth checking on

Hi Bill, I'm looking for something a tad more spohisticated than sticking my head out of the door. I do that now and I'm fed up getting wet. Wired to the mains sounds good, but maybe I should look for something that's solar powered.

Originally Posted by Jason Claxton

Hi I've just brought a Timex one for £40 from B&Q it has an outdoor sensor with temperature and humidity.As for eating batteries I dont know yet ,but the main unit takes 2 AAAs and the outdoor another 2 AAA's.It measures barometeric pressure.But the outside sensor will only measure down to -4 temperature wise.I consider it more of a toy myself,so I guess you'll have go for what you need.Jason.

Sounds quite good, but I'll definitely need something that goes a lot lower than -4c.

[LynM]

It is a bit of a minefield out there! I've got the details of ClimeMet from a company called Skyview (this is their site)

So much depends on what info you want it to give you also, of course, how much you can afford. I would definitely say that you 'gets what you pays for' in something like this.

[5hort5]

The below links go through the range really, there are others out there but it all depends on what you want. The main point is the same with everything in that you get what you pay for. The more you spend the build quality is better, the sensor record rates are better and they come with add on sensors and logging etc.

Professional Wireless Weather Centre : Professional Weather Station : Maplin

The above model is a good starter and Maplin do deals every now and again with them and at 70 quid isn't to bad on the pocket

http://www.meteorologica.co.uk/produ...eria=&PT_ID=84

This is probably the next step up and includes a connection to the PC so you can log the data over the years. £170

http://www.meteorologica.co.uk/produ...eria=&PT_ID=84

For a named brand full starter the LaCrosse weather station WS3600 seems to get good user reviews at £200 but the sample rate was a little low was under the spec of the oregon I brought at the time

Professional Weather Station (WMR200) :Professional: Weather: Oregon Scientific

This would be the one for me (if I had the money), I have the previous version of this and it does well. £400


http://www.meteorologica.co.uk/produ...eria=&PT_ID=84

This vantage pro is the daddy for the amateur at £1200 though you'll need to be into your weather

[5hort5]

Sorry - Should have said that if you don't wish to record/log the weather on a computer but just view it then this would be the one I'd pick:

Full Wireless Weather Station plus UV Sensor (WMR80_UV) :Professional: Weather: Oregon Scientific

[earthdragon64]

Thanks LynM and 5hort5, with the other replies that's given me a manageable range of things to have a closer look at.

For a while now I've been dissatisfied with the accuracy of the weather reports on the TV. Not so much the forecasts, these are usually for very wide areas so are never going to be locally accurate anyway, but reporting of actual high and low temperatures and wind speeds often seems to be wrong.

I suppose I'm looking for something fairly easy to set up, and cheap to run that will give me accurate temperature readings, forecasting is a bit of bonus I wasn't expecting, I thought weather stations would only give actual readings.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by earthdragon64

Hi Bill, I'm looking for something a tad more spohisticated than sticking my head out of the door. I do that now and I'm fed up getting wet. :

easy - hang a string outside your bedroom window and just look at/feel it in the morning

if its horizontal its windy

if its wet then its raining

and if you cant bend it its freezing cold !