Internet connectivity: If your weather station can connect to the Internet, you’ll not only be able access it while you’re away, typically through an app or a special website, but you’ll also be able to share your data with the world via services such as Weather Underground. Battery-operated or solar-assisted units are the best choice-you might need to change the batteries once a year. Avoid stations that rely mostly or solely on solar power, as a few dreary days can prevent the instruments from have energy stored to do their job. Not all weather stations are built the same, and a high price doesn’t always mean high quality.īattery or solar power? Just about all weather stations these days operate wirelessly, so your instruments will run on either battery or solar power. Additionally, look through user reviews (or ours) for real-world testing. Here we’d recommend looking at the spec sheets and choosing stations with low margins of error. Here are some other features you might want to look for in a weather station:Īccuracy: By far the most important, accuracy is also the hardest to gauge. High-end stations are nice to have if you can afford them they’re typically the most accurate, but unless you need specialty measurements-UV, soil moisture, and the like-don’t spend the money. Wind and rain measurements are very useful, especially if you have activities affected by that type of weather. Mid-range and high-end weather stations are typically much better, and in my experience never more than about five-percent off most of the time. While temperature is generally accurate to within a degree or so, humidity is poorly measured, and readings can be 10 to 15 percent off actual values. The vast majority of the budget stations available at chain discount and hardware stores are inaccurate. Netatmo Weather Station comes with the base station and one indoor/outdoor temperature/humidity sensor, but you also need the rain and wind gauges to really enjoy this station’s capabilities.Īs with any product, spending more money doesn’t necessarily guarantee you’ll get a great product, but we’ve yet to find a cheap weather station deliver genuine value.
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A high-end model should deliver all of the above, plus other specialized measurements such as UV index, soil moisture, and water temperature (think your pool or a koi pond, for example). A mid-priced station will measure wind speed and direction, as well as rainfall. What to look for when shoppingĪt a minimum, a basic weather station should report temperature and humidity, inside and outside your home, and barometric pressure outside your home. With instruments being out in the elements 24/7, this is a very important factor to consider. We also evaluated each system’s ability to connect to and influence smart home systems. Which platforms are supported? Can you use voice commands? Did it work as expected?įinally, we examined durability. Weather conditions can vary dramatically in just a few miles, so with temperature we judged readings of within plus-or-minus two degrees, and all other measurements within a five percent tolerance of the NWS station as accurate. We paid special attention to ease of use and installation, and also used nearby National Weather Service stations to judge accuracy. We test weather stations over a period of at least one month to ensure we get the widest possible array of weather conditions to see how the station performs.
![easy weather plus radio controlled easy weather plus radio controlled](https://us.yuneec.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/hplus-ol-1.jpg)
Updated Februto add our Ambient Weather WS-5000 weather station review, which bumps the WeatherFlow Tempest into runner-up status due to its higher price tag and-as we discovered over long-term testing-less-accurate rain measurements. We’ll also discuss the features you should look for when shopping for one of these systems. We’ve performed extensive evaluations on a number of home weather stations and picked our favorites. With a home weather station, you get up-to-minute information on what she’s up to doing right outside your door. Yes, you can open an app, but the information there is from a remote station miles away and up to an hour old. Owning a personal weather station is one way to stay on top of mother nature. The weather can throw a monkey wrench into any of those plans. Some of us go for a run, others get the kids ready for school, some just want to know if it will be smooth sailing during their rush-hour commute.