Portable Weather Station

Reviews

Knowing the weather, both current conditions and forecast, is helpful for planning purposes. Most people turn to their television set or to the internet to get this information, but the LaCrosse Technology Wireless Forecast Station offers an alternative. This device sits on a table or desk, or can be wall- mounted. It displays the indoor and outdoor temperatures, humidity, time, date, and forecast for the coming day. While knowing about the weather can be useful, the LaCrosse Technology Wireless Forecast Station has its share of issues. Looking at the pros first, I like the easy to read LCD display, the accuracy of the time, which is taken directly from the official Atomic Clock, and the useful information regarding indoor temps, outdoor temp, humidity, etc. The unit has a nice appearance, too, and it looks good on most any desktop. The display is made even more interesting by the use of the forecast symbols and the flashing rays of the sun or flashing streaks of rain. This might seem like a distraction, but only a few lines flash, so you don't even notice unless you look straight at the display. On the negative side, the LaCrosse Technology Wireless Forecast Station has a few flaws that cannot be overlooked and chief among them is the accuracy of the forecast. The manufacturer admits that the forecast is only 75 percent accurate, which isn't very good. Keep in mind that this forecast is supposed to be for the next twelve hours- not the next several days. Given the closeness of the time frame, I expect better accuracy than this. Other issues are less significant, but still bear mentioning. First, the unit is rather light and that means it is very easy to accidentally knock it off your desk. Second, there is the fact that four AA batteries are required for operation. Both the base unit and the sensor need a pair of batteries to function. The batteries last for a while, but you always have to be on the lookout for a fading screen or other signs that the batteries are near the end of their life. I like knowing about the weather conditions and the LaCrosse Technology Wireless Forecast Station is a nice novelty item with some good information to share about the weather. I like the accurate time, the LCD display, and other features but this unit is not without its faults, the worst of which is the unreliable weather forecast. I will continue to keep it on my desktop and consult it every now and then when I am curious about the weather, but the unreliable accuracy of the forecast and other faults convince me to rate this device only average overall.

This is a newer version of a weather station that served me well for a dozen years. In fact, that older weather station still works, but the outdoor sender died. So, I thought I would order this model, and its sender would feed data to both the old indoor unit and this new indoor unit. Great theory, as the picture on Amazon has 433mhz clearly stamped on the front of the indoor unit. But that is incorrect. This unit comes with the 915mhz sender, as the text describing the unit clearly states. But rather than send it back, I kept it because it works so well and looks so good and is priced so low, as these things go. The old unit went into a drawer as I hate to throw away anything that still works.

This item was too narrow in viewing for our choice. We really had to view closely to read and not be distracted by the frame. Of course, us old folks like to see the "big picture" on everything!

This was my first product from LaCrosse Technology, and am completely satisfied. I'm a weather bug and have been for 50 years, and I watch what type of products I purchase and from whom.

This item looks like the picture. However, my husband did not like it because he thought that the numbers were too small to read. (without glasses)