ECOWITT Wireless Weather Stations, Large Display Wi-Fi Outdoor Weather Station with Ultrasonic Anemometer Sensor Package and Self-Emptying Rain Gauge Sensor for Home Farm 868MHZ

We bought this because a succession of outdoor sensors for weather stations kept failing, so we thought we'd invest in something more robust and more informative.We are really happy with it because it provides far more information than our previous weather stations and it syncs with a web based server giving us access on our phones/computers along with historical data for analysis. We intend to use the info to decide on whether or not solar panels and/or a small wind turbine would be beneficial.Installation and setup was a piece of cake. The instructions are very detailed, and every single step is fully explained in the setup procedure. Further, all of the functions are explained in sufficient detail for somebody who has never used one before to understand how it works. The strength of signal between the sensor unit and the base station is strong even though it is further away than our previous sensors which struggled to maintain contact over that distance and wall thickness.The base unit is good, but we could live without the display as it is easier to use an iPhone.The readings can be calibrated but we have not done this as the results it is giving are very similar to the readings of other weather stations in our area. So, we are confident it is close enough for what we need to know.If I was to recommend any changes to the design, it would be to put the bubble for levelling and direction indicator on the underside of the sensor unit so that it can be levelled and aimed from below when being sited high up. Otherwise you need to get it level on the pole with the pole set up plumb on the ground, then carry it up a ladder pre assembled.

Really nice kit and very good results.Very easy to setup and upload data to Weather Underground, Met Office WOW, and Weather Cloud.Out of the box this kit coversTemp-In+Out/Pressure/Wind/Rain/Solar/UV and includes a display console which acts as a gateway to upload to internet websites - Pre configured for WU, WOW, and Weather Cloud and Ecowitt's own cloud storage service.Before buying the Ecowitt kit I looked at all the other major players.Some of the products available are clearly aimed at professional level installations with costs starting at £900 just for Temp/Pressure/Wind/Rain measurements with an add-on UV sensor costing more than the Ecowitt kit in total.Without going to yet another even higher cost level, if one wanted non mechanical wind measurements for long term maintenance free observations, the competitors costs are well over £1500 for the same set of features that the Ecowitt equipment offers while including a Sonic Anemometer.Clearly this is not true professional equipment, but the build quality and thought that has gone into this kit is very high. For home observations I cannot rate it highly enough.I started mounting the rain gauge and main sensor array at a low level to check everything worked as expected. I did find a bug that meant that you couldn't offset the North orientation of the main array. With a couple of emails to Customer Support in HK it was sorted by updating to the latest Firmware. I would suggest that a Firmware update is probably a good idea even if you don't intend to mount in a non standard orientation, just in case.Also supplied in the box is a cable with a waterproof plug and bare ends that is for connecting the heater element built into the array for cold weather measurements of wind when ice may affect the sonar. This is ideally attached to a 12V supply which is available from Ecowitt and a UK supplier of Weather Spares, but can be attached to a 5V USB supply (cheap) if only needing protection down to about -10C.I have now mounted the main array much higher for more consistent wind readings and added anti-bird spikes to the rain gauge !The main array has a solar cell with a super capacitor that provides most if not all of the needed power. This is backed up by 2x AA cells which are supposed to be Lithium type for greatest life span and cold weather performance, but I am currently using Eneloop NiMH and they are working well.In order to avoid having to lower the main array (and climb a ladder) to change the battery backup cells I have bought a spare battery compartment cover and a remote battery pack case and dummy cells, made by Ecowitt for another of their models (available from Ecowitt or the Weather Spares company).Adaptation was a simple matter of a couple of holes in the cover and passing the wires through new holes in the ends of the dummy cells and soldering the 2 wires back together having been passed through said holes. Picture hopefully explains all. Small amounts of super glue were used to seal the holes in the cover.I have also added an Ecowitt lightning sensor which looks really nifty in its case mounted to the rain gauge stand. Not really needed, but maybe fun to see what it shows ?If you want to save quite a bit of money, or maybe just prefer a mobile phone to a console for viewing your observations, then the GW1100 is a marvellous (tiny) piece of kit that can be purchased with the sensor array and will constantly upload data to the same weather websites. Comes with an extension USB cable for use with an existing USB phone charger / 5V supply.Overall - Great kit at a great price.Added screenshots of the Ecowitt cloud website that show the neat graphs available for selectable time periods.

Two caveats at the end of this review, but I am extremely impressed having given up with a Weatherflow system which started to die after three years.Extremely easy to set up and the large screen console is superb. It recognises all the sensors immediately and the range is excellent: I can view the display, which is the Wi-Fi connected hub, at the front of the house whilst all the sensors are distributed to the back. The display is really comprehensive and covers internal sensors for which there is enormous capacity. I have an air quality monitor working with it and will add several internal temperature/hygrometer sensors and a lightning sensor.The display enables comprehensive settings and shows a variety of graphs - far more than WU can manage. It integrates with WU seamlessly as well.Remarkably for a Chinese device, the website and manual are comprehensive and in impeccable English and really helpful.I cannot comment on durability and reliability, but the 5 inch standard tipping bucket rain gauge is a great improvement over haptic rain gauges and the ultrasonic anemometer much more reliable than mechanical.There is a problem connecting data feed to WOW (Met Office site) at present, but I suspect a firmware upgrade will sort that.I was furious when I found that the stainless steel supporting arm had been drilled inaccurately; I spent an hour modifying it, but the device redeemed itself in operation.I have attached a couple of shots of the display

This was simple to setup and get operating and is weatherproof . My only issue was tha the lightning detector isnt compatable as per the sellers answer so I am returning it and buying a 3500 . Even so - for the basic functions ( rain wind temp hunidity etc) it is excellent and super simple - I would use the web interphase rather than the app . Took 10 minutes to setup and was then fully functional NB there is an arrow on the weather vane that needs to point west - looking at others near me 90% of people havn't noticed this ( it uses it for windf direction so all local ones are showing wrong wind direction )