WATSON W-8681 " WEATHER STATION- WIRELESS"

The positives: Packaging was all cardboard and recyclable/biodegradeable. All pieces fitted together with no problems. When the batteries were put in the station and the tablet screen it communicated successfully within a couple of minutes and was immediately functioning. The touchscreen takes a little getting used to but its LCD display is necessary to conserve battery life. It lights up when you touch it and becomes very clear for changing parameters and setting maximum/minimum/alarms. If you set it to read data for the minimum interval of every 5 minutes the monitor will hold over two weeks of data before it starts overwriting data. The EasyWeather software is simple and works without issue. As soon as you connect the monitor to the PC it sends the data to the PC and no setting up is required. The tables and graphs are self forming and no input is required. The data can also be downloaded as a .csv file and imported into MSExcel or OpenOffice if you want to further analyse it or produce your own charts. The negatives: Instructions are basic with pictures and no words on how to put it together. This could be a lot better. It remains to be seen how long the batteries last as they are not rechargeable but the instructions indicate they should last at least a year. Altogether a simple yet fully functioning bit of kit. We'll have to wait and see how it stands up to Cornish gales now !. Additional Note: Now i've had time to investigate I can confirm that this weather Station will work with CumulusMX weather software. You have to name it as a "Fine Offset" station in the settings menu. It runs in a browser window and is very comprehensive but has more functionality than the Easyweather sofware that comes with the station, if that is what you would like.

I got this to replace a Watson WH-1080 model which looked identical to the picture. However the outdoor equipment is of a different design to the picture. It comes as an all in one sensor unit, and no pole, while the picture of the WH-1080 shows a design with separate sensors mounted on a pole. In addition, the console assumes the older hardware, and expects a tip of the rainfall bucket to measure 0.3mm, while it is actually 0.2mm. This can be corrected if you use Cumulus software to store and upload data. On the plus side, the equipment has so far proven reliable, and the temperature accurate as long as the unit is in shade. Rainfall seems OK but as this is now an all-in-one unit, it would be very hard to optimise temperature and rainfall simultaneously. I attached the unit to the pole from my older weather station, and move it closer to the north wall of my house in summer and will push it further out into the garden in winter when it is in shade and to improve rain catch in windy situations.

I've owned one of these for 5 years and have just replaced when sadly the stable roof it was attached too vanished in high winds taking the weather station with you Display is clear and easy to read giving a range of measurements Assembly is straightforward - just be patient when first pairing the transmitter and display screen. Best tip is put batteries in transmitter, then quickly put batteries in display and just leave. It can take a couple of hours to sort itself out Once paired operation is trouble free. Lithium AA batteries recommended for the transmitter, a tv aerial stand off bracket works well for mounting the pole and spraying the connectors with silicon spray is a good idea when assembling Also suggest downloading the free sandysoft software (just google) if you want to download data to pc - it's much better than the supplied easy weather software If any parts break over time ( I damaged the wind speed unit moving house) parts are currently readily available from maplins or cpc

I purchased this to replace the previous model which had lasted approx 3 years. As others have pointed out, the sensor mast has changed design which is more compact and easier to install. Unfortunately after around 48 hours the wind speed, direction and rain gauge all stopped working. No amount of battery swapping or reboots would get them to work. The base unit functioned well and connected to my wunderground site with no issues. I was issued a refund.

Being a bit of a amateur weather geek i decided to upgrade my old weather station and opted for the watson.Very easy to set up, wireless connection no problem, comprehensive data stored accessed by pc, all settings can also be changed, ive heard many problems experienced using the software that comes with it, however no problems with windows 7, quad core cpu and 6 gb of ram, however it does stretch the cpu a bit, which may be a problem on an older pc, the screen is covered by a thin membrane which is the touchscreen , i thought the inner screen would be plastic but it isnt, so dont drop it as it will shatter, as i have found out to my cost when i accidently knocked it off the wall with my ladder!. I have ordered a replacement as it is a reliable piece of kit,the generous amount of cable is an understatement, and spray the terminals once you have set up with corrosion inhibitor or wd 40, to keep out the damp.

Good, but wireless doesn't reach as far as advertised, struggles at 100 ft and ours won't work at 50ft with 2 walls. Elsewise, good unit.

Solidly built weather station and relatively easy to assemble. Instructions and set-up were 3/10, translated poorly from original language. Wind and rain gauge are excellent, temperature gauges are off by 2-3 degrees. Even on the highest contrast setting, the screen is hard to read in daylight.

I have had the weather station one month today. I am very pleased with it. I was not very happy with the clock reading being one hour out. The literature does not explain about zones very well. I did experiment with selecting a zone change and by selecting a -1 the clock did finally read the correct time. I am assuming that when the clocks go back I will have to reselect the zone to zero. I have other outside temperature and pressure gauges and they record the same as the diplayed readings on the touch screen weather station which gave me confidence to accept the screen readings. I am really satisfied with being able to down load (export) the graphs to my documents on my laptop. Initially the instructions for setting up were confusing especially the number of times you had to touch the screen to reach the "item" you wanted to change but it all came together in the end. In conclusion let me say that if a 78yr.old wrinkly can set up the station then any body can.