I'm considering getting one and I keep leaning toward the Davis Instruments units. Anyone have experience with these, or other recommendations? If you have one, is it something you are really glad to have or just a novelty item? Thanks.

For basic home use, I like the Ambient Weather WS2902. We have a few in our family.

The base station can be put anywhere with power and it connects directly out to wifi without needing a computer connection so you can check it remotely.

I have the same one as the poster above and would recommend. I use remote sensors as well to monitor the temp in garage and well house. Just wish it was more seamless with home automation (ie SmartThings). Use to use IFFFT until they changed their format.

I used to have an Ambient and I've had Davis. It's cool, but even as a weather nerd, it's largely novelty. The outdoor thermometer on my Honeywell thermostat is more accurate and give me live info for temps. Instead o owning an maintaining my own stations, I now just mPing and Wundergound for live info from other peoples stations nearby. There are few places these days that don't have a weather station very very close. I grew tired of maintaining it or worrying about why my weather station was not registering rain fall or wind speed or whatever the issue was at the time. Also, I just got busy with life and had other crap to keep me busy instead.

I used to like it because I could log in and see the temperature at my house when I was at work. Why? Because it was cool. Lol. It served no other purpose.

Now, I have an official NWS rain gauge and a thermometer on my hvac system and neither requires any upkeep.

another vote for the ambient weather station

we have had a couple and really like them

Weather Station

Have this one at the ranch and love it. Monitor from my phone on Weather Underground and it's great.

Look into the Tempest- no moving parts. I got a second generation almost a year ago. It did fail a few weeks ago, but support was pretty responsive and they sent me a new one.

Rainfall is not precise, but you can actually report your rainfall directly to Tempest if you have another rain gauge and feel that it needs calibrating. They will make adjustments on their end specifically for your unit.

https://weatherflow.com/tempest-weather-system/

I have the Davis Inst. Vantage Vue. It's been running for about 5 years and has never missed a beat. No bells, whistles, or flashing lights. Just information. Will buy another when this one craters.

I have the Vantage Vue also - have had no issues and I like it so far.

I have an Ambient Weather WS-2000. Very pleased with it.

Nobody Knows My Name said:

---

Look into the Tempest- no moving parts. I got a second generation almost a year ago. It did fail a few weeks ago, but support was pretty responsive and they sent me a new one.

Rainfall is not precise, but you can actually report you rainfall directly to Tempest if you have another rain gauge and feel that it needs calibrating. They will make adjustments on their end specifically for your unit.

https://weatherflow.com/tempest-weather-system/

---

Now this is something worth looking into. We had four Davis Vantge cues along our rural road and Evey single
One lasted no longer than about a year before becoming inoperable. Temperature and humidity isn't anything special. Wind and rain is, and if you live in a rural environment, dust and particulates just chewed up and gummed up the moving parts.

I've really enjoyed it, but was a bit disappointed when it didn't even last a year. Temperature sensor showed failed and support asked to power cycle the unit. Well essentially couldn't even get it connected back to the hub once I power cycled it. Not entirely sure if it was a hardware or software issue, but they ended up sending me a brand new unit.

Acurite 5n1 here. Got it in 2016, I keep saying I'll get a nicer one when it dies but it keeps on going. It has auto upload to Wunderground and I also capture the data locally.

All good and helpful input. I see Ambient makes one with no moving parts. Any one have this one?
https://ambientweather.com/amws5000.html

Davis Vantage Pro2 here. Love it. My current unit is about 10 years old. Had a previous unit that I used for about 7 years before I gifted it to my parents. They use it for a long time until they move into assisted living.

Easy to maintain and very accurate.

I have an Accurite, does what I want it to do. I'm not a professional meteorologist and don't need to spend stupid money on something that just tells me temp, rain, wind, humidity and pressure.

Davis are nice, and you pay for the build quality. I've been through 2 accurites - lasted 2 years each before something or other gave out. Now running Ambient linked above - we'll see how long it lasts...

Go whole hog and spring for a Campbell and Vaisala system.

Have an Ambient Weather WS2902, which matches well with the Rachio irrigation system to irrigate only when the lawn needs it. I'm considering upgrading the weather station to one that is compatible with their new soil moisture meters. That will mean two different sources for info on the Rachio (rainfall received, and soil moisture).

We run Davis sensors with our telemetry. I can see weather conditions at my place from anywhere in the world on the same app I run my pivots with.

Disclaimer, I the Technical Territory Manager for the company.

Ag83 said:

---

I have an Ambient Weather WS-2000. Very pleased with it.

---

I have this as well and have been pleased. I couldn't find sensors I wanted available, and Ecowitt sensors don't work with Ambient, so I also bought an Ecowitt and their sensors. Ecowitt works with ambient sensors, but it doesn't have a display, so you have to use it on the web or phone app. It was pretty cheap, so I don't mind having two.

Nobody Knows My Name said:

---

Look into the Tempest- no moving parts. I got a second generation almost a year ago. It did fail a few weeks ago, but support was pretty responsive and they sent me a new one.

Rainfall is not precise, but you can actually report your rainfall directly to Tempest if you have another rain gauge and feel that it needs calibrating. They will make adjustments on their end specifically for your unit.

https://weatherflow.com/tempest-weather-system/

---

I have two of these and they worked well. Their support has been great. It takes a month or so for them to fully self calibrate the rain but it becomes more accurate over time.

I've had two Accurite's and neither lasted more than two years.

I have two Davis Vantage Pro2 units. Davis isn't cheap and sometimes looks a bit antiquated, but they last forever.

One for the house where I pull data over a Meteobridge to Wunderground. Originally I had an iPad running a Wunderground app (WunderStation), but now it's strictly data to my phone. It's been rock solid for 7+ years now.

The other is at our remote place in Alpine with no electricity or internet. I use this one to download rain, wind, and temp data. Only downside is that the data logger only has 512kb of memory so I'm limited to how much data it can collect. I may rig up a solar Raspberry Pi data logger to hold more data, but that for another day.

Thanks. I think I may have it narrowed down to the two Davis options and the two options with no moving parts (Ambient WS-5000 and the Tempest).

Question, on your Vantage Pro2, it appears the rain sensor is separate from the rest of the suite. Is it also solar powered with battery backup or just battery powered?

I have an Aggie Weather Rock. No batteries. It has never been wrong.
When I need something more critical, I reach out to my niece.... an Aggie meteorologist for real time weather info

Catag94 said:

---

Question, on your Vantage Pro2, it appears the rain sensor is separate from the rest of the suite. Is it also solar powered with battery backup or just battery powered?

---

There is a wireless transmitter that is powered by solar and a battery backup at night. That transmitter can manage 4 devices. Usually that's your rain, temperature, and wind sensors. The rain and temp are pretty much connected to each other. The anemometer has a long cable if you want to place it in a higher location. I added a second transmitter and place the anemometer on top of my roofline. Ideally rain and temps should be a 2 meters and wind at 10 meters.

Reminds me of the argument between two local weathermen who were in disagreement over who had the biggest Doppler.