Aercus Instruments WeatherRanger - Professional Weather Station with WiFi and Real-time Internet Publishing

I just love this weather station. I had tried unsuccessfully to set up another brand station that I received as a gift, only to find it was faulty (so it was returned) I was pleasantly surprised to find that the other unit had cost about the same as the model below this, even though it was really cheaply made and quirky to set up. This station on the other hand was set up in a few minutes, the included mounting hardware had everything I needed, I just added a length of 22mm copper pipe to raise it up above the roof. All outdoor sensors are contained in the single piece unit, all you have to do is insert the batteries, push on the anemometer (wind speed) and wind vane, line it up to North, switch on the indoor control panel and it sets itself up in a couple of minutes. I did some research and decided to pay the extra to get this model with the LCD display panel, and I am really glad I did. the indoor sensor data is only available on the Weather Ranger display or on the iPad app. If you are using this with Android, you won't get the swish display of the iPad app or the Weather Ranger console. You also automatically get a premium subscription with wunderground.com when you register your station on that service, as you are providing data to their service. Not only that, but you get an easy to remember station name that you can give your friends and neighbours to set as their wunderground location (if you want to). you can also easily see your station's data and history online through wunderground, along with other stations in your area. I will be buying another of these, but the model without the display panel, to monitor another location that doesn't need indoor info.

The instructions are easy to follow for setup. However there is another page that tells you to line it up differently in the Southern Hemisphere. The display is clear and has all the data you need.

Would get 4.5 stars if that was possible, but I had to just guess my way through some of the installation process. For example, the pole that came with the station fitted snugly inside a standard sized Aluminum pole that I could buy locally. This made it much easier to mount it at an appropriate location than was covered in the manual, and I can now just lift the station and its pole out of the mounting pole for cleaning etc. The wireless link to the display console is straightforward and getting all the information into wunderground.com has worked well. But the manual could be revised to make things clearer. E.g: there are things in the "Setup" section that cover normal operation; then as someone in the southern hemisphere I'd say you could save space and make things clearer by merging a short version of Appendix I into the "Getting started" text; and the display console has something like a mini-USB socket that is not shown in the manual or explained anywhere. As someone who produces lots of graphs I'd never use the messy scale for numbers on the vertical axis of the graph in the upper left corner. E.g. standard graphics software would have 10,12,14,16 ... instead of 11.1, 12.7, 14.4, 16.1 ... But that said, this weather station is working well and I'm very glad that I bought it.

This is a lovely bit of kit. I'm still discovering, (through exploration of the historical data facility), the full potential, but already it has more than fulfilled my expectations. In addition the ability to back up all data with the use of the mini SD port is a joy, and simplicity itself. Of course I can't speak for all, but when exporting the data of my choice, I can then simply import using SD port of my Surface 3 tablet and the data is immediately available on an Excell spreadsheet. No need to import CVS data and re-format as I was expecting. A potential fly in the ointment might be unnervingly high humidity levels recorded within the house, and which contrast with my old humidity monitor by about 10%. However, I insist on my 5 star rating, as I'm more inclined to believe, (living in an extended chalet bungalow), that the readings are indeed unnervingly high!, and my old monitor is in error. At some stage, I shall get independent verification, and if an error is found I'll get back. Set up is a bit fiddly: both the erection of the array and the set up of the monitor, but don't worry, you'll get there very quickly. it's just a case of getting used to the modal nature of the buttons on the monitor - and developing the necessary grip to be able hold two poles, and two brackets together, whilst tightening 8 nuts all at the same time. I exaggerate of course, it's entirely possible with patience, though a mate would be useful. I guess my monitor is about 40-50' and one wall from the array, so absolutely no problems at all with connectivity. Setting up my account with Wunderground was also pretty easy with a couple of attempts, and logging in my tablet, phone or desktop and seeing my own data being updated every few seconds is so impressive. To summarise, all the data you could wish for, available to your monitor, spreadsheet, phone, tablet, desktop, updated every few seconds, with historical back up. It'll do for me

A well engineered product - Tips: When searching for your home network and entering a key to logon (assuming its encrypted) enter your wireless key (not password as shown on the console screen) - it may come back as "not connected" after a time, ignore that and see what happens later, it usually connects later on and you get the two icons appear on the main screen. I would advise joining wunderground and broadcast your weather station information to the internet.....great fun. Although a short pole is provided together with two large "U" brackets,a neater solution is to purchase your mounting pole the same diameter as the short one provided and cut a slot in the end so it locks in position like the original. Looks smarter!

Great service, arrived quickly. Very easy to install and configure. Connecting to wifi and wunderground also intuitive and easy. Only had for a week, and it was windless, unusual in Wellington, but PWS gave a reading at a very low wind speed, so good at low wind.

Very pleased with this weather station, does everything I expected it to, easy to set up, the information receiving on the website is better than expected!.....a lot stronger and robust than the last station I had!... Can recommend this item if looking for a good weather station, good experience.

Very pleased with this product. Bought to replace an Aercus WS3083. Whilst I loved the WS3083, despite costing almost twice the price, this WeatherRanger is the better model in my opinion especially if you want to upload weather data to Wunderground.com. Not quite in the league of Davis but meant for the smaller budget and a good start if first foray into PWS (Personal Weather Station) The unibody design makes installation straightforward with the obvious compromise of height for wind, UV & solar, over shade for external temperature but this is somewhat mitigated against by its considered design. Comes with a 32mm diameter 200mm (7.75") tube for mounting onto post or pole so consider where you are going to place it and buy the necessary items separately if required. Height vs safe & easy access needs to be considered. Internal temperature & humidity is measured with a separate sensor which does not have to be in the same room as the console. This is a useful feature. Easy to set up and adjust via clear menu structure. Sharp bright console which can be dimmed and / or turned off at night. Real time updates to Wunderground.com, loads of memory. EasyweatherIP software (free) can be used to display info on PC or Mac. MicroSD card slot to export data to, plus miniature USB port which I haven't used yet. Had the product about a month - no problems to report.

Great weather station and easy to set up