Weather Station deal at bestbuy

[J Kinkaid]

http://www.lacrossetechnology.com/2317/index.php

They have this model on sale for $99

WS-2317U

great for all of you weather weenies

 

[J Kinkaid]

anyone have this model already ?

 

[J Kinkaid]

I just picked up one in store and will give it to somebody as a Xmas gift

 

[Jayson Prentice]

Care to take it out and give us a little review on how it at least looks, I might be interested in something like that given it is on the cheap side. I'm not looking for anything professional grade at the momemt though, so as long as it looks fairly decent and not going to just be a hassle I might get one of these myself as well.

 

[J Kinkaid]

I will pick up an extra tomorrow and post a review over the weekened

 

[Jayson Prentice]

Well this station has plenty of horror stories to go with it too... I would go and visit some of the reviews on eham or another site that you can find to compare them. But, I will tell you I picked up one of these cheapo stations and it depends what you are looking for and where you plan on mounting it. This model doesn't have good range at all, going through just one window is apparently enough to make the range fall from 100 meters to 50 or so...

Also, keep in mind that this station only gives you updates every 2-3 minutes in some cases, which will hurt you if you want to keep track of wind closely. It also only will do wind directions in 25 degree intervals or something like that. I've also had a lot of problems with it losing its' signal and not working for several hours. I am getting a replacement sometime this week and we'll see how that one does, but for now if you are looking for anything professional then I would recommend shying away from this one.

 

[David Drummond]

Any word on this unit. I am looking very hard at purchasing. Wondering pros and cons compared to a Oregon Scientific Delux wireless (on sale for 199.00). Read the horror stories associated with the Oregon model. Want to avoid as many problems as I can.

Thanks.

I have an Oregon Scientific that I had mounted mobile for years with no problems at all. I switched to a Davis and now I replace the cups about 3-4 times a chase season. The cups are way weak on the Davis IMO for mobile use.

 

[Dan Robinson]

I used an Oregon wireless model from May to July last year with no problems (17,000 miles).

 

[Brian Emfinger]

I bought it and installed it today. For the price it does seem pretty good. I mounted it on a light pole (wooden) about 20 feet up. Installation was pretty easy and done within just a few minutes. Its about 50 yds from the recieving station. I put in the batteries and by the time I got in the house it was already recieving. It says that the signal using the wireless is variable depending on wind speed (32-128seconds) and every 8 seconds using the 30ft cable. The transmission right now seems to be about every 32 seconds which is about what the manual says on using the wireless. The receiving station is nice with several features that I didnt expect. The PC software looks decent BUT I didnt realize my laptop doesnt have a serial connection so for now I cant have it on the computer. It also comes with software to automatically upload the information to the website via ftp which is cool. For the price I would say that it seems to be a good deal! The data also is fairly accurate with it being relatively close to what my kestrel 4000 was reading.

 

[Jayson Prentice]

Brian, if you would like to have the information on your computer you can get an adapter for it. I talked to a gal from LaCrosse and you the only adapter available is the DB9M to USB adapter that you can find on a couple of websites. I think it will run you about $20 if you want to get it to work on your computer...

I'm still in the process of getting a replacement for mine, as it still doesn't want to connect via wireless that often. Hopefully have that done by early next week and back on track...

 

[Evan Bookbinder]

32-128 seconds?!! No wonder these units are so horrible with missing pretty much every wind gust. My Davis Vantage Pro wireless receives new sensor data approximately every 1.5 seconds.

Oh well, I guess they're OK for the price but I skipped on that purchase without thinking twice.

Evan