WS-2801A Advanced Wireless Color Forecast Station w/Temperature, Humidity, Barometer

Actually the non-color version (back lighted) of this unit is easier to read from a distance. The remotes that come with this unit will work well as the 1-3 remote sensors on older units too.; in my case the remotes connected to my much older Ambient WS-0265 station. Surprisingly, my older Ambient WS-0265 picked up the signals from the remotes at little farther distance than this new unit did. Very easy to set up, and the display is beautiful in colour. The remotes read accurately against each other. The minimum and maximum temperature / humidity readings are a must feature. Atomic Clock works perfect and barometer is a great feature and takes a shot at predicting the weather. This is all you really need to have without getting tangled up with an outdoor weather station and all those extra gadgets to maintain.

this station has every function we were looking for. high / lows temps & humidity . indoor temp & humidity. moon phases, forecasts . calibration modes....very nice case with folding support leg....good screen that can be see across the room. dims nicely and also a screen shut off. and an alarm clock with snooze! the manual is straight forward and in english. the only hic cup was making sure to follow start up sequence closely. bind the remote to the console while in the room at about five to ten feet away. this isn't stated in the manual so we installed the batteries in the remote sensor and walked at outside to hang sensor in place. we waited over nite for the console to recognize the remote. the desire to push buttons was there but the manual states DO NOT PUSH BUTTONS until remote has recognized console. we checked out the remote this morning and faintly remembered reading about other stations needing to be very near the console to bind. brought the remote into the room and presto! instant bind. we scoured the net for a station that had all the goodies...this one has rave reviews...and now we know why. this ambient product is well desiged and exudes quality had great reviews and the osprey station looks like our next upgrade. thanx Ambient!

I know this is a long review but you may benefit from our experience after reading it. This is a terrific weather station for the price! I read through all the reviews before purchasing and noted all the negatives. Then, BEFORE BUYING, I thoroughly read the online PDF manual and found that many of the negatives I had noted were actually issues that other buyers encountered because they may have not read the manual in advance or post purchase. A few of the negatives turned out affect me as well: 1. The actual setup needs to be reviewed prior to doing so. It IS a bit finicky. I followed it exactly and did not encounter a problem but pre-reading the setup procedure helped me immensely. RTFM. 2. The sensor's orientation seems to affect the signal strength. I purchased a sensor shield into which I placed the sensor. That turned out to be good idea which allowed me to rotate the sensor within the shield. When first mounted, the base station had a weak signal from the sensor. I then rotated the sensor within the shield so the front of the sensor (with the display) faced in a direct line to the base station. The signal strength on the base station then reached the maximum. The manual does not mention sensor rotation vis-a-vis signal strength, but it may be worth a try if your signal is weak. 3. The display's orientation can, indeed, be an issue. We found best position for viewing is to orient it within about 30/35-degrees of its perpendicular center. This should be fairly easy with the stand as long as it is not high or low on a shelf. Ours is mounted at eye-level on the wall. A note on its accuracy. We live within a 25-mile radius of three Class C/D airports; each of which has an Automated Weather Observation System (AWOS). These systems generate periodic weather reports known as Meteorological Terminal Air Reports (METARs) and can be accessed over the internet. As a pilot, I routinely depend on METARs to report weather conditions. I can tell you that, in my location, what is reported by the WS-2801A is always within the range reported from the three local Class C/D airports. Also note that you can calibrate the outdoor (channel 1) temperature, humidity and relative barometric pressure as well as the temperature and humidity on the two additional sensor channels. We tracked the outdoor data and the averaged (same time) METAR from our local airports for a week before we made any calibrations. By comparing these data sources, we were able to determine the calibration offsets needed to bring our WS-2801A within the averaged data reported from the airports. It has been over 2-weeks since calibration and the data is still spot-on! As for the other problems reported here, I believe many of them stem from not carefully reading the manual and, thus, having expectations beyond that which the WS-2801A can support. For instance, the manual clearly states that the pictograph representing the forecast needs "at least one month for the weather station to learn the barometric pressure over time" (page29). Further, on page 30, the manual states "the reason the current conditions do not match the forecast icon is because the forecast is a prediction 24-48 hours in advance" and "in most locations, this (24-48 hour) prediction is only 70% accurate." It has not yet been a month since our final calibration so we are not yet expecting the forecast pictograph to be accurate. After the 1-month time frame, I will be using the pictograph for a very general forecast but will rely upon the National Weather Service for timely and sensitive data like determining if frost is likely overnight. Finally, there ave been several mentions that the automatic date and time (RCC) setting does not work. The manual states (page 12) that "in some locations RRC may take a couple of days to receive the signal." And, in fact, the RCC signal is actually received by the sensor and forwarded to the base station. When first installed, the sensor interrupts its weather-sending operation after the first 30-seconds to try to receive the RRC signal. If it fails, it will try every 2 hours until a signal is received. Please note that the time signal is actually an AM radio signal (from WWVB) and is usually fairly weak during the day. Therefore, signal establishment may occur at night in most locations. We installed ours on a Thursday and it wasn't until Saturday morning that I noticed the RCC icon on the base station. Since then, I've noticed that the sensor seems to wait 1-week (each Saturday in our case) before trying to reset the time and date. The manual does not mention this but it seems logical that the day and time of the successful RRC signal reception be remembered by the sensor for next time. It also seems plausible that there is a "hard-coded" update frequency of once a week. Please read the manual before buying so you understand the capabilities (and limitations) of this excellent home weather station!

After a couple of weeks, it is still working perfectly. The instructions are great, providing a relatively quick start for a device with lots of configuration options that are important to make it work well (e.g., setting offsets for barometric pressure), but if you just accept the defaults it should probably work fine. The instructions are written in clear English, with helpful information to confirm you're on the right track (e.g. "after putting batteries in the remote, the remote should show the temperature". The screen can be made totally dark, which is important to me. One can set the date/time manually, which is valuable in places where the radio signal for time is poor. I'm not entirely sure I understand the numeric gauge next to the pressure, but the up/down/sideways arrow below it does seem to indicate which way the pressure has been changing recently. Other reviewers have expressed disappointment that the batteries for the indoor unit are just for a backup and you need to have it plugged in. I tried unplugging mine, and it seemed to still update the data; the screen just went dark, though I could still peer at it and see the information, and also the screen would light up for a little while when I hit the brightness button on the top. They recommend non-rechargable batteries but mine is working fine with Eneloop AAA's. The one thing I'd like would be an option to continuously display dew point instead of relative humidity, but since I can just press the button to see dew point, this is not a big deal.

I bought the version with 3 sensors. So I have a total of 4, since the device itself is a sensor for the location you keep it in. PRO: Very bright and legible when viewed from directly in front. Easily calibrated. Accuracy verified by comparison to the thermostat reading on my furnace. Can detect readings from the sensors at both ends of our apartment and on the second floor, which involves plaster, brick & at least 30 feet distance. CON: Can't be viewed from an angle, so I can't put it on an upper shelf above my desk & read the info while I'm sitting in my chair. (This might be a PRO if you keep it by your bedside & don't want it to be distracting while you are trying to go to sleep.) Screen unreadable after 5 or 10 seconds on battery alone, unless you tap the bar on top (again, might be a PRO in some circumstances, & certainly conserves battery power). Does not show more than the base device sensor and one other sensor at a time. (But cycles through them quickly enough.) RECOMMENDATION: If you plan to use lithium batteries, which you should at least for sensors which will be in cold locations, have them ready to install at the beginning since the setup directions contemplate the sensor batteries being installed before the device batteries.

This is about the 20th weather station I've had, I can't stand virtually everything about this. I understand the challenges in the humidity being inaccurate, but that's just the start. First off, the temperatures between the sensor and the display unit can be off by as much as 3-4 degrees, which is inexplicable. The remote sensors are somehow not weather tight and constantly fail after getting wet. Even when dry they lose connection at least 3-4 times a month and the only way to get them to reconnect is to bring it inside and pull power/batteries from both and wait for them to sync. Eventually that doesn't work and now its done. Also the range is horrendous, it almost has to have complete line of sight and be within 100 feet of the remote or you will get nothing, and once it loses sync you are starting over as mentioned above. I would easily pay several hundred dollars for a weather station that wasn't a total piece of junk, and you CAN NOT FIND ANY. I've had it with this cheap crap, I don't understand who these engineers are who take absolutely no pride in their work and release a product like this on the market. Stay away from all of these unless you want a second job troubleshooting them and constantly replacing them. I would estimate manufacturing cost at around one fifth of what is being charged for this.

This is a great weather station. It has held up well over the couple years I've had it. I had Oregon Scientific ones before this one, and they didn't hold up as well. I had outdoor receivers fail with their setups, but these have held up better. The one downside to this base station is that it has to be plugged in, but I'll take that over the battery powered Oregon ones. This one looks a little better for my eyes. I love the adjustable brightness settings. It's a great unit. I like it so much, I gave one as a gift to a family member. I don't have my outdoor sensors very far from the base, but I've never had any signal strength issues. Recommended.

I ordered this because the other Weather Station I tried did not have the calibration features this one has. I boxed up the other one that I paid $28 for and put it on the shelf. This one can calibrate all temperatures and humidity readings and the barometer. The procedure is a bit lengthy and can take a few hours, but the time spent is worth it. Just follow the manual directions EXACTLY and it will be within 1% or better of the actual readings compare to a known source. After I calibrated the unit with the local temperatures and the barometric pressure from the nearest NWS reporting airport, the barometer matches the reported air pressure exactly. 10PM ET, NWS Barometric Pressure is 30.14 and this unit reports 30.14 and rising. Indoor temperature reading is within 0.5° F of the actual temperature. Outdoor temperature is with 1° F of the actual temperature. Humidity reading at my location is lower than at the airport due to the over 25 miles distance. This unit also has the Atomic Clock to sync the time with WWVB, but it can take several days to finally lock onto the signal due to RF Propagation and other factors. The remote sensor has the radio receiver. It will check for the time signal every few hours. Once the signal is found it will display an icon at the top left of the display. Initial setup is easy and should only take about 10 minutes. Calibration takes longer and should be repeated several times 6 hours apart to get the readings to be more accurate. The unit also support 3 remote sensors, but I only needed one. Use Lithium batteries for best results. The base unit requires 3 AAA batteries and I recommend Lithium, the batteries are backup in case of power loss. Keep the unit plugged in with the supplied AC Adapter and wire. The backlight can be dimmed or turned off for night if it is in your bedroom. This unit operates at 915MHz rather than 433MHz that most units use. I did not rate Tech Support as I did not need it. And Last but Not Least, the manual is in regular English instead of translated Chinese. EDIT: After 3 days of heavy rain the outdoor sensor was stuck on the same temperature and 97% Humidity. It was even inside a ZipLock bag with the zip part open at the bottom It is supposed to be weatherproof, but apparently not. I brought it in and took out the screws and a SPIDER crawled out! I dried the sensor with a hair dryer on warm after removing the Lithium batteries. I put it all back together and it seems to be working again, but I had to have the console detect it again. It is taking hours to stabilize again indoors to match the console temp and humidity.

Excellent produit

It did not work

Display is beautiful but keeping the outdoor sensor synced up and working is a true PITA. At this stage of wireless technology there is no excuse for this device giving as much trouble as it has given me. When it works it works well but when it loses sync, good luck getting it to sync back up.

Bought in March 2021. The weather station freeze after a month and I had to do a hard reset. November 2021 is dead. Two set of batteries were used in that period.