WS-0800-IP

We all have an interest in weather. Some delve very deeply and want to know most if not all of the weather factors. And other people simply want to know how to dress or whether that picnic has a good chance of succeeding. I have had a couple of weather stations up on the roof over the years. They performed as expected. However, New York winters (and summers too) eventually brought them to their knees. At this point in my life, just give me the basics – temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure so that I can make a reasonable assumption of what faces me when I walk out the door.So I was thrilled to be given the oportunity to receive the Ambient Weather ws-800 wireless internet reporting weather station in exchange for an unbiased real world test. The following is my evaluation.To begin with, I am amazed at just how small the entire setup is. That in itself was impressive. In the picture, I have included a ruler so that you can see exactly what I am talking about. There are two transmitters. One for outside and one for in the house. They are identical in size shape and function. The temperature and humidity are diplayed on a small lcd screen. However, the indoor device also will display the barometric pressure. Having the barometer inside prevents wild swings in pressure caused by the sun. Both transmitters send data to the Observer IP reciever. The receiver then forwards that information to Weather Underground. At that point, it is available to the world.Setting up the weather station was a snap. As soon as the batteries were put in the transmitters, they began sending out data. The Observer IP is equally simple. You need to plug in the a.c. power adapter and a short (provided) ethernet cable goes from the receiver to your router. In my case, as all my router ports were in use, I added a switch.In the box, there is a User Manual. I had skimmed through it. I urge you to read it carefully in order to avoid my mistakes. I registered with Weather Underground, yet my data was not showing up on-line. I had skipped a step, which was to register the station as well. I also made a mistake with the station I.D., using a “0” instead of an “O”. Once I realized what errors I had made, the data began to flow. Other than what I did wrong, it was really a very smooth setup / installation.This is a good deal. The price is fair. The quality appears to be rock solid. Because the Observer IP receiver is so lightweight, I will probably glue some velcro to the bottom so it stays in one spot on my desk. It is excellently positioned for those that want basic weather. This is well worth more than the price it sells at. If you have any questions just send me a note.

Great, simple weather station that makes uploading your data to the Weather Underground easy!The box includes an indoor temperature/humidity/barometer sensor, an outdoor temperature/humidity sensor, and the receiver/network device. Setting everything up is very simple - just put batteries in the two sensor units and plug in the receiver/network device and connect it via network cable to your router. I immediately went to the Ambient Weather website to download the IPTools utility which allows you to update the firmware and also identify the IP address of the unit (which you can also do by going through your router interface). After updating the firmware, I logged into the unit, entered my Weather Underground weather station ID information, and within a minute my weather station was reporting data to the Weather Underground. Easy! I have another weather station that uploads to the Weather Underground and setting it up involved several days of configuring a Raspberry Pi computer and interface, remembering Linux commands, and occasional troubleshooting. The Ambient Weather WS-0800-IP weather station solves this problem by making it absolutely simple to upload temperature and humidity data to the Weather Underground! It also appears to be very accurate when I compare to my other temperature/humidity sensors.Pros:* Simple to set up* Makes uploading your data to the Weather Underground very easy!* Temperature and humidity appear to be accurate based on comparisons to my other weather devices.* Small and unobtrusiveCons:* Needs to be directly plugged into your router (no wifi) which could be an issue for some people.* Getting the indoor sensor, outdoor sensor, receiver, and your router all within a close enough distance to work together could be an issue for some. Wasn't a problem for my setup, but if you happen to have your router in the basement and your outdoor weather sensor in the backyard, it probably won't work.All in all, a great and simple weather station. Sure, it's missing an anemometer and rain gauge that more expensive weather stations have, but the simplicity with which this reports to the Weather Underground makes it ideal for someone who doesn't want to fuss with keeping a dedicated computer on all the time to upload data to the Weather Underground.I received this unit in exchange for an unbiased review.