Davis Instruments 6250 Vantage Vue Wireless Weather Station with LCD Console

I bought this by mistake actually. I had not intended on spending this amount of money. I had thought about sending it back but after a week I went ahead and installed it.Installation was simple [for me anyway] My house faces the east so I decided to install in on the deck (west side of the house] as a temporary installation to get it up and running. Since I have had similar equipment in the past, I did little referring to the manual. Most settings are pretty straight forward. Latitude, Longitude and I already knew from the GPS in my phone. Elevation here is around 1000 feet ASL. So far my data matches that of the Automated Weather Obersavtion System (AWOS) at an airport about 2 air miles north of me which is at at the same elevation +/- 20 feet.Theis unit produces a lot of information and takes a bit of time to reason out and understand. While it is not a NOAA weather instriment it does produce very good data and, again, a lot of it.I live in an area where there are obstruction but not enough to fail to gain ground truth. Temp should be measured at 5 or so feet and wind at 33 or so feet. My ISS is probably at 10 feet above ground and in the clear from the west and that is where the severe comes from here. The rain guage appears to be very good. And if you reset all the data at 01/01/xxxx, you can have daily, weekly, monthly and annual rainfall totals. Remember however, in the midwest, AK, KY, MO, OH, IN and IL, it frequently rains sideways in spring. So totals WILL be off to a degree but close enough for the average user.My only complaint, and that is user ignorance, is that my wind direction is 180 degrees off. Yes, the unit's wind direction sensor is installed correctly. I DID read that there is a setting in the display unit to correct this and it is clearly listed in the FAQ on Davis' website. I'll attend to that shortly.Summary: Fine piece of equipment with a lot of bells and whistles. What is really cool is that you can purcase a 2nd display and put it in another room and program it, as you can the initial display unit, to alarm at high winds, excessive percipitation or temp.All in all I consider it money well spent. Update time is about as good as it gets.

I have used a Oregon Scientific weather station which costs a little over $100 from Amazon. Did it work? yes but far from accurate. Upon until I did a lot of research and found that Davis makes the most reliable, and accurate weather station that non-scientists can afford to buy. Yes, it's costs more than three times of the Oregon Scientific model, but you definitely get what you're paying for.I read the entire user guide before the unit arrived, so I had some idea of what I should be dealing with, but here're some simple steps that help the people who hate reading manuals, or just to give you some overview of how easy it is to set this thing up.1. Find a spot which is away from obstacles which might interfere with the wind speed sensor and direction. Ideally, in your backyard, but should be placed high up in the air. I would say, at least 10 feet from the ground. No, it does NOT have to be installed on the rooftop but might give you the most accurate wind speed and direction ready. I installed mine in my yard.2. Go to your local hardware store, and get a 10 footer electrical conduit with 1.5" diameter. I got mine from Home Depot for a little over $11.3. Get a Antennacraft Heavy-Duty 3-Foot Tripod Mount from Radio Shack about $32.4. If you want to weight down and secure the tripod and pole that holds the weather station, get three (one for each leg of the tripod) cinder blocks from hardware store.5. Assemble the weather station which is so simple that took me literally less than 5 minutes to do.6. Secure the pole to the tripod, find a ladder and climb up, tall enough to install the weather station on the top with the included U-Bolt, you will need a spanner or some sort to secure the nuts.7. Put 3 C-Cell batteries to the console, or just use the included power supply to power it up. Walk through the setup wizard. You will need to know your longitude and latitude, and your current elevation. You should be able to find a free app that give you that information, or just google it. After the console is configured, you're good to go.The navigation of the console will take a bit time to get used to but menus are pretty logical and easy to follow. I have absolutely no problem navigating around after two days. The readings on the device are incredibly accurate (yes, I confirmed it with two other weather stations at the same location), and the reception signal between the console and the ISS is super strong, even through UV protected windows.I haven't tried Davis' technical support yet since I have no need to, but from what I have experienced for the past two weeks, the unit has been working great. Better yet, the console, and the ISS unit are made in U.S. A.!I have purchased the WeatherlinkIP which is supposed to be delivered this week, so I can track the weather condition from the internet after all hooked up. I've spent so much more than other weather stations, but I still think it's a good investment and I highly recommend it. :)James, Santa Clara, California.