Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'm a weather nerd. I've had several home weather stations over the years, some were better than others. Davis' stations are the best on the market, but they are expensive. You can have four complete WS-2080's for the price of the least-expensive Davis w/ the appropriate data-connect module. The Davis machines are definitely superior in accuracy & build quality and are (I believe) made in the US. All great things, and if you're very serious about home weather then Davis is the way to go. But if you're looking for a decent home weather station that has PC/Mac + Internet capabilities for a low price, the WS-2080 is an excellent choice. I've had mine up and running for over a year now, with no problems. I've had no problems with the sensor range; my base is sitting about 75' away from the outside sensor, through 1 exterior (with a few windows) and 3 interior (no windows) walls. No connection problems at all. Unlike some of the other low-cost home weather stations, I've not had any problems with erroneous data. It's clean. With a previous station I'd get frequent erroneous 57mph wind gusts when it rained, despite my best efforts of sealing & ferrite-choking the cables. A few caveats: 1) Use good lithium batteries in the outside sensor unit. It takes two AA's. Yes, lithium's are 2-3 times as expensive as alkalines. But lithium batteries will last much longer than standard alkalines, and they are much better in the cold. I live in the midwest, and I'm still on the first pair of AA lithiums from over a year ago, and they went through a brutally cold winter without any complaints. Alkalines are fine for the base. My station's connected to a PC, so it is powered via the USB connection anyway. 2) Build quality of the sensors is very low. The sensors work well and are decently accurate, but it's all made with the cheapest plastic. Don't drop any of the parts, they will break. Be *very* careful of the wind cups. I recently moved, and in moving I managed to accidentally tap the wind vane on my garage ceiling. Barely grazed it. One of the struts that supports the cups immediately snapped. The cup itself had the integrity of an egg shell; easily crushed by thumb & forefinger. Very brittle. I'm not sure if this is how it was when new, or the result of a year's worth of exposure to the elements. Luckily AmbientWeather sells replacement parts, so I'm just out a few bucks. 3) Buy the better radiation shield that Ambient Weather recommends. The station comes with a small shield, but it's woefully insufficient. Using the included one, my station would get temps 15+ degrees (F) above ambient in direct sunlight. Using AmbientWeather's suggested shield, temperatures are now unaffected by direct sunlight, just as it should be. If you are placing the thermometer/hygrometer sensor somewhere always shaded, then you'd be fine with the included shield. But if the sensor ever receives direct sunlight (not just during the day, but any day of the year too...), buy the better shield. 4) The wind & rain sensors must level to work properly. You absolutely must pay special attention to level the rain sensor. Must. The rain gauge in this (and most other) station works like a see-saw. As water pours through it, two little buckets tip back and forth inside the housing. As they rock, the sensor records that motion as amounts of water. If the housing isn't level, the buckets won't rock properly and the gauge won't work. Take the time to make sure it's level when you install the station. If the price were higher, I'd knock off a star for the build quality. But as it is, it's a decent station for the money. It's a great way to dip your toes into the world of the home weather stations without a large investment.