There are many excellent home weather stations out there, but if you’re looking for the best of the best, you’re in the right place. Here are our top five picks for the best weather stations for 2020.
Davis Instruments 6250 Vantage Vue
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Our top pick is the Davis Instruments 6250 Vantage Vue. One of the most impressive things about this unit is that it updates every 2.5 seconds, which is significantly faster than other brands. The outdoor transmitter has an astounding 1,000-foot range. It’s sensitive enough to pick up winds speeds as slow as 2 miles per hour and powerful enough to record those as high as 150 miles per hour.
The compact display is sleek and durable and features forecast icons that let you know whether to expect sun, clouds or partly sunny weather as well as rain or snow. Heat index and wind chill update every ten seconds to give you the most accurate information for when you’re ready to walk out the door. You can also see daily highs and lows, hourly temperatures, and even astronomical events like meteor showers. Plus, you can set up to 22 different alerts for high winds, heavy rains, and flood warnings.
The tactile keypad has domed buttons that are easy to locate. They even glow in the dark, so they’re easy to see at night. The sensor is powered by a solar panel during the day and uses lithium batteries as a backup when needed. If you want a weather station with all the bells and whistles, this is one of the best ones out there.
Davis Instruments 6152 Vantage Pro2
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Another great choice from David Instruments is the 6152 Vantage Pro2. This wireless weather station has a solar-powered transmitter with backup batteries that can transmit and receive data up to 1,000 feet away.
If you live in an area that is frequently hit by extreme weather conditions, this is the personal weather station for you. It’s been tested to withstand wind speeds of up to 200 miles per hour and features an accurate, weather-resistant rain collector. Bird spikes prevent any potential disruptions, and the built-in bubble level makes it easy to mount for precise measurements.
The console is easy to read and provides a lot of information. It displays the outside temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, date, time, moon phase, as well as daily and monthly rain totals, just to name a few. You can also get 12 to 48-hour accurate local weather conditions forecasts, so you always know the temperature and humidity. Plus, you can add an optional WeatherLinkIP to automatically upload your data for easy sharing or analysis.
Ambient Weather WS-2902C
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Next is the Ambient Weather WS-2902C weather station, a pretty advanced model for a reasonable price. It features wifi remote monitoring and an easy-to-read LCD color display with three different brightness settings.
Plus, the Osprey can transmit data wirelessly to the internet, which makes it easy to share with a weather community like the Ambient Weather Network. There are ten different weather sensors in all. It measures wind speed and direction, has a rain gauge for rainfall, outdoor temperature and humidity sensor, UV and solar radiation, dew point, wind chill, and heat index. The calendar and time sync automatically when connected to wireless internet, so you get real-time data.
Not only can you see data on the base unit, but you can also use your smartphone, tablet, or computer to view real-time weather, alerts, and historical data remotely. We should note that this weather station requires the use of the AmbientTool app, which is available for iOS and Android. It’s compatible with IFTTT and can be used with Alexa to control lights or blinds.
The new WS2902C version also supports an option for eight additional sensors. The WH31 thermo-hygrometer sensors and PM2.5 air quality sensor. The air quality sensor can be used indoor or outdoor. These are pass-through sensors and data collected is sent to Ambientweather.net. Unfortunately, the information is not able to be displayed on the console itself and cannot be calibrated.
The Osprey weather station is continually improving and changing. The online services and associated applications help to maintain quality information for its users.
Netatmo Weather Station
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The Netatmo weather station is loaded with some impressive features that not only give you a lot of information about the outside environment but the one inside as well. It’s equipped with a carbon dioxide sensor and alerts you when the level gets too high, so you can open a window and let some fresh air in. It also monitors the noise level in the room and alerts you when it’s getting too loud.
The outside sensor provides a lot of useful information, too, including temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, and forecast for the days ahead. The device was designed to be connected to your smartphone and is compatible with apps that let you view past and present data in graph form.
One of the best things about this weather station is that it doesn’t take up much room. A lot of weather stations have large base units with a big LCD display, but the Netatmo uses your smartphone, so there’s no base to worry about. The indoor sensor can be placed on any flat surface and mounting hardware and a Velcro mounting strip and included for the outdoor module. Both are made of durable aluminum, and a one-year limited warranty covers the whole thing.
Ambient Weather WS-1201
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For an accurate and affordable digital weather station, the Ambient Weather WS-1201 is worth a closer look. The all-in-one outdoor sensor transmits outdoor temperature and outdoor humidity as well as wind speed and direction, rainfall, UV and solar radiation. It updates every 14 seconds, but wind speeds are continuously sampled in the time frame to deliver the most precise data possible.
The display screen is menu-based and can show data in either imperial or metric units. In addition to the humidity and temperature, wind, rainfall, and radiation measurements, it also displays sunset, sunrise, moon phases, dew point, heat index, rainfall rate, and a graph that provides trends for barometer, temperature, and humidity readings.
You can set high and low audible alarms to alert you of certain changes and look through historical data which can be exported to Excel for better analysis. There are a few things to keep in mind about this weather station before you buy. The sensor uses a solar collector for power during the day and non-rechargeable AAA batteries at night. It has a range of 300 feet in open conditions and is not designed to work in saltwater environments. One more thing, it does not connect to the internet, though it’s still a great choice for personal use.
