Looking for a wireless home weather station

[gchappel]

Anyone have any experience with the wireless weathers stations? I have been using a cheap oregon scientific wireless rain gauge and would like to move up. The unit would need to have a range of about 200 feet.
I would like to record rain, wind speed and direction. Temp and humidity would be nice, but not critical for me.
I would like to have a computer/ipad app that would generate a bar graph or similar display, so for instance I can see how much rain we have had each day for the last 30days.
An annual total would also be great.
The few sales people I have talked to so far have been of little help, they do not even know their own product.
Any help or direction would be great, or if you know of a company or salesperson that knows his way around the block.
Thanks again, this forum knows all
Gary

[Cajundaddy]

I have owned the Davis Vantage Pro 2 (6152) for about 8 years. It has been flawless and a much better weather station than I expected. That said I feel it is nearly obsolete with the excellent local weather, radar, satellite and historical data found with a few clicks of my iphone from Weather Underground.
http://www.wunderground.com/

If you must have your own, I recommend Vantage Pro 2 highly.
Davis Weather Stations Comparison Chart

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by Cajundaddy

I have owned the Davis Vantage Pro 2 (6152) for about 8 years. It has been flawless and a much better weather station than I expected. That said I feel it is nearly obsolete with the excellent local weather, radar, satellite and historical data found with a few clicks of my iphone from Weather Underground.
Weather Forecast & Reports - Long Range & Local | Wunderground | Weather Underground

If you must have your own, I recommend Vantage Pro 2 highly.
Davis Weather Stations Comparison Chart

I agree. I have the same unit. It is great. It is neat to see the heat index data and the actual rainfall at my house. I like it.

[dyhunter]

+1 on Davis Vantage Pro. Have had one 10 years and love it.

[masraum]

I also have a Davis Vantage Pro 2. I've only had it a couple of years now, but it's a great product. It's also not cheap. It will also interface with your computer so you can connect the base station to your computer and have an app that you can use to view your data (besides being able to view in on your base station. AmbientWeather.com: weather stations, weather station equipment, weather radios, and more is a good source to go for weather station gear.

I also purchased the weather display app to display my data.

[jyl]

Where are your instruments installed?

I've been interested in one of these things, but I have (1) a small lot (2) lots of tall trees and I'm worried my wind measurements would be all bogus. My house is three stories but the trees on the sidewalk strip are taller yet. If I mounted the unit on a 10 foot mast outside the top floor dormer window, it would be just above the roof peak, but the wind would be coming through the trees then rushing up and over the house, seems like an untrue measurement.

[Cajundaddy]

Originally Posted by jyl

Where are your instruments installed?

I've been interested in one of these things, but I have (1) a small lot (2) lots of tall trees and I'm worried my wind measurements would be all bogus. My house is three stories but the trees on the sidewalk strip are taller yet. If I mounted the unit on a 10 foot mast outside the top floor dormer window, it would be just above the roof peak, but the wind would be coming through the trees then rushing up and over the house, seems like an untrue measurement.

I just mounted it on the peak of my roofline in reasonably clean air. My wind speed readings are very close to those at a nearby airport so good enough for me. It's probably not perfect but it's a lot more accurate than the wind speed and direction I was getting before (which was no wind speed or direction). Every measurement tool has a reasonable margin for error and some sites may simply not be suitable for a weather station.

[gchappel]

Thanks so much for the input.
Gary

[masraum]

I bought an extra wireless transmitter. I have the rain and outdoor temp guages mounted to our fence, they are solar powered with a backup battery. The wind speed/dir gauge are mounted to a mast over the chimney over the roofline and also solar powered. We still have trees that are taller, but I suspect that's the cleanest air in the area without me trying to mount it to the top of a telephone/light pole (I think the city frowns on that). And my wind seems to mostly agree with the other local weather stations and the weather (radical direction changes when fronts come through, north winds when the weather cools, south and/or east winds when things heat up).

[masraum]

Here's a screenshot of the app that I use.

You may notice the odd spikes in the humidity and dew point graphs. I believe those are caused by an issue in the USB drivers for the computer.

[jyl]

Ooo - my inner geek is drooling so hard I'm leaking - want, want , want

[red-beard]

I bought one of these a while ago. It's definitely wireless. And old skool! Some might say it's obsolete, but I prefer not to be on the bleeding edge.

[MT930]

Originally Posted by Cajundaddy

I have owned the Davis Vantage Pro 2 (6152) for about 8 years. It has been flawless and a much better weather station than I expected. That said I feel it is nearly obsolete with the excellent local weather, radar, satellite and historical data found with a few clicks of my iphone from Weather Underground.
Weather Forecast & Reports - Long Range & Local | Wunderground | Weather Underground

If you must have your own, I recommend Vantage Pro 2 highly.
Davis Weather Stations Comparison Chart

Yes Sir ^^^^^^

[RWebb]