We stock exclusively Aercus Instruments products as they offer the best value for money with the other mid-market brands having fallen behind in the last few years in terms of the features you get for your money. So our advice is to choose based on price, the look and feel of the stations and any minor variations between units. We have found them equally as reliable and accurate as each other and all are easy to install. Outside of these two things Complete mid-market stations all have very similar functionality and you can expect to measure all main weather variables: The other distinguising characteristic to look for is that some include light/UV measurements and some don't. These are becoming less pupular as the price of Complete stations has come down in recent years.Ĭomplete mid-market weather stations fall into two categories, those that connect to your PC/Mac and those that have recently appeared on the market that can send their data directly to the internet without needing to stay connected to a PC/Mac (by connecting directly to your modem/router). Some examples of these stations without significant data logging capability or PC/Mac connectability are the La Crosse WS1516 and the TFA Stratos. But there are a few Semi-Complete stations that have limited historic data functionality (typically limited to the last 24 hours and/or rolling maximums and minimums) and cannot be connected to a PC/Mac. Most complete weather stations have built in data loggers and can connect to a PC/Mac for downloading/analysing the data and uploading to websites. So given the similarity across the mid-market brands how do you decide which mid-market weather station to buy?įirst of all, in terms of functionality there is one big dividing line. We’ll talk further about Davis stations later. There are other high spec brands but you tend to be moving into commercial/industrial territory which is reflected in price but not really reflected in additional functionality, accuracy or robustness for the typical user. The main higher spec brand that is priced economically is Davis. Fortunately these are plug and play and as long as you have bought from a reputable dealer a replacement part can often be sent out fairly swiftly without the need to return the unit. However, if you’re going to get an out of the box fault with mid-market stations it is usually the outside transmitter. More often than not this is setup related so when you buy from us (in addition to the manual) you also get a free 29 page guide to make sure you avoid these common mistakes. The most common fault is a loss of communication between the outdoor transmitter and indoor console. We have also found them to be equally robust as each other, with fault rates not differing widely across the brands. In terms of the mid-market brands they all have much the same degree of accuracy, for example +/-1C for temperature and +/-5%RH for humidity. The rest of this article addresses Complete weather stations which are stations with the full array of outdoor sensors which includes wind and rain sensors.Īt a consumer/commercial level there are two groups of stations, the mid-market weather stations and the higher spec weather stations. The Aercus Instruments WS1173 is a fully featured desktop station that you will find here. For desktop weather stations one brand is as good as another so select based on the look and feel you like and whether you want outdoor temperature/humidity and how the barometric pressure is displayed (some only show a forecast not the actual pressure number or trend). Most have clocks with alarms and some have a short range forecasting capability. Typical weather variables measured are temperature, humidity and barometric pressure. These are very basic stations designed for casual use and if they have an outdoor sensor it is at most a temperature and humidity sensor. We’ve been selling and servicing all the major brands of weather stations and weather instruments since 2004 so let us cut to the chase and give you the inside knowledge, as it is actually fairly simple.įirst of all let’s address desktop stations (sometimes called temperature stations). If you have put in the time going through the various forums you will have found that by necessity most people’s reviews and recommendations are of stations they have owned, so it’s difficult to get the view of someone who is familiar with all the major brands. What is the best weather station? Which weather station should I buy? Which weather station is right for me? What factors should I consider? It can be difficult choosing a weather station, even after spending hours on the internet reading all the weather station reviews, recommendations and comparisons.
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