Mini Weather Station

[RS4]

Hi all.

My first post, so here goes....

Am looking to set up a mini weather station at home but not sure which one to go with. Hoping someone out there can give me some advice.

After doing a litle research on the net, I am leaning towards a Oregon Scientific WMR200.

I like that it is wireless, has a nice LCD touch screen, soloar power, etc. RRP is $599 but have seen it on Ryda.com for $469.

Does anyone have this? Or can anyone suggest an alternative?

What do I need to look for in this type of weather station?

[Karl Lijnders]

Welcome to the forum RS4

The Davis Weather stations are also very very good. A lot of people on here have used or are using them and they do the job really well. Vantage Pro series are very good.

Otherwise there are other fantastic weather stations in Australian Geographic Stores but the range varies from store to store.

There are a couple of experts on this issue who I am sure will help you out later on today.

Hoping to hear more reports and observations from you with the weather coming in!!

[RS4]

Thanks Karl.

Was going to place the order for the WMR200 today, but will hold off to hear some of the other opinions which I hopefully get!

Will do a little research on the Vantage Pro now.

And when I do make the purchase, I will post a question regarding the best locations for instruments to be located around my home for best accuracy.

I have always been interested in the weather (always checking BOM, local wether stations - Geelong, snow forums) but now looking forward to getting my own setup happening!

[Karl Lijnders]

The general rule is to have a 6m clear radius around your instruments generally for best results. Particularly with rain registering in the gauge correctly, especially in these lattitudes, it can certainly come in sideways. So to catch the rain correctly have your rain set with that 6m radius clear of any tree shadow, building etc...

[RS4]

May be a struggle to get 6m clear in my backyard. Could I put the rain gauge on the roof with the anemometer (double storey house)? Or is it better to have the rain gauge lower to the ground for a more accurate reading?

Also, I believe the Oregon Scientific WMR200 is not Win7 compatible. Can anyone comment?

[Karl Lijnders]

Roof is good if you get to it to make adjustments and maintenence if something goes haywire. Lots of people place it on the roof. Again try and get it on the portion of the roof that will be as clear as possible from any obstruction. A flat part of the roof would be ideal!!

[Lily]

Hey RS, welcome to AWF

I've had the Oregon but it got smashed in the March hailstorm. I've replaced it with the Vantage Pro and I can assure you you will be much, much happier with the performance and software on the Davis models. While the Oregon is reasonable, the software just doesn't stack up against Davis.

Like you, I have difficulty in getting 6m clearance in our backyard, I suspect that would probably be common for most people living in urban areas. Fortunately we have vacant land behind us, so I'm able to get a fairly good clearance by attaching to our rear fence, though there are a few trees about that can at times affect the readings slightly. You can only do the best with what you have available, roof would definitely be a good site

I purchased my Davis Vantage Pro through one of our members, Aussky, I'm sure she'll be happy to answer any questions. She was (and continues to be) more than helpful

[RS4]

Thanks for all the info everyone, finding it very helpful....keep it coming!

Does anyone know about WMR200 compatibility with Win7? Just downloaded the manual and states: "Operating System: XP SP2 or Vista" but doesn't state Win7. A couple of comments in other forums state to be careful about Win7 compatibility, but you would think that an update would be brought out for Win7.

The Davis models are the next step up in price (around $1k)....I am already over my original budget with the WMR200 at around $500. I must admit, I also like the look of the Oregon console unit more than the Davis! Very technical, eh!!

[Lily]

RS, I had the WMR200 (well, I still have bits of it LOL), but I'm on Vista, no idea about compatibility with Win7, sorry. It does say on their website it's not compatible and after a quick google search I can't see any updates to indicate this has changed.

I agree, the WMR200 console is much prettier , but again, I feel the software for Davis is far superior. Downloading the data with the WMR200 was a complete pain in the you know what, it took forever, the software seemed to have glitches all the time that I was having to investigate and fix... it was a little frustrating, to be honest. Even though I have an issue with the data logger on my Davis WS, overall it's performance and particularly the software's performance has been much better.

My Davis didn't cost me $1000 You might want to pm Jane (Aussky) for a price, I'm sure she can help you out and you'll probably only pay a few hundred more than what you're looking at for the OS WMR200. In the long run, for me the extra dollars have been well worth it.

As you can see, I'm a convert, so yes I admit, I'm terribly biased

[RS4]

After making an online enquiry yesterday, I received a call back from Oregon Scientific. The rep stated that the software in the WMR200 box is not Win7 compatible, however, they provide a link (and authorisation code) to download software which is compatible. So hopefully this alleviates the sotware problems you encountered Lily.

Also, I will probably buy direct from OS as they will get back to me on Monday confirming that they can price match the cheapest price I have found on the net (approx $120 cheaper than the price on their online store! Amazing the margins these guys have!!). Buying direct from OS means a shorter delivery time.....be able to post some obs sooner

[Karl Lijnders]

Awesome. Be great to have another weatherstation up and running in VIC. I think we need to canvas all the weatherstations into a link board so we can track weather much more effectively, rather than relying on the limited rescources at the BoM.