Davis Vantage Pro Weather Station Review

With the new transistorized miniature weather stations on the market, you can
predict tomorrow’s weather like a pro.

We all know what effect the weather has on doing anything outdoors, stuff like boating, fishing and hunting, camping, and even simple things like planning a picnic, so the more we know about what’s-to-come weather-wise, the better off we are. What will it be like tomorrow and how will it affect our plans? How about wind, rain, barometers jumping up and down, temperature drops, and other critical factors? When the outside temperature drops and the wind picks up, things can get real uncomfortable, so knowing what tomorrow might bring is certainly an advantage.

You can now be your own forecasters by using any one of a series of miniature
weather stations available and inexpensive (under-$20) weather radios that
monitor the conditions in local areas. These weather monitoring devices, jammed
with tiny transistors and digital readouts, let users know the barometric
pressure, speed and wind direction, the outside air temperature and windchill
factor, the altitude at your location, the interior temperature, the date and
time, and the high and low temperatures of the past 24-hours. At a cost of
$100-and-up for a good weather stations and under-$20 for the weather radios,
they’re neat accessories for anyone interested in knowing what’s going on
outside.

I’ve experimented with a variety of weather stations and choose the Vantage Pro
by Davis Instruments. Since
installing one in my house, I’ve been impressed with its unique capabilities and
I use it all time when we’re planning something outdoors like a trip to the
beach (I live on Florida’s Gulf Coast). My brother owns a 600-acre vineyard in
California and I gave him one for Christmas. He uses his to monitor the outside
temp and wind speeds which could, under certain conditions, have a drastic
effect on his crops. With the VP, the outside temperature is monitored
continuously and gives him ample warning when there might be a drastic change in
the weather. Not much bigger than a paperback book with quick view icons
flashing across the display, the unit shows conditions like sunny, partly sunny,
cloudy, rain and a moving ticker-tape display giving more details. The station
can be mounted almost anywhere and runs on batteries, DC external power, or
110-volt AC power with an adapter.

What’s unique about the Vantage Pro is its wireless outdoor sensor which
transmits to the base station up to 800-feet line of sight with a typical range
of up to 500-feet. That means no wires dangling out the window or holes drilled
in the wall to feed a cable through to an outdoor temperature probe or
anemometer. The remote sensor includes all that; an anemometer, temperature,
humidity sensors, and rain collector with self-emptying tipping bucket. The
sensor runs on solar power and functions with as little as one hour of sunlight
a day.

In addition to providing weather information, the VP contains a timer that
counts elapsed time up to 60 hours and an alarm that can be set to warn of low
or high temperatures, time, and wind speeds. I can set the outside temperature
alarm to sound if the temperature drops drastically so I can turn on the pool
pump (it froze one night). The wind alarm went off at 3 a.m. one morning when
the wind speed hit 35 miles an hour, so I jumped out of bed and cranked up the
awning.

I have two Vantage weather stations, one in the house, one on my boat, so I
wired the boat station right into the electrical system. The unit must be
installed out of the sun because the interior temperature sensor is inside the
unit and checks ambient cabin temperature. Once the station is in scan mode, it
can review any combinations of functions, thereby providing an ever-changing
digital display of weather conditions.

Installing the unit is simple. It can go anywhere, on the wall, on the kitchen
countertop, wherever. Once you’ve decided where to mount the unit, you plug it
in and attach to its power source and that’s it. The batteries are there for
backup in case of power failure. For additional weather updates on rain
possibilities, freeze warnings and everything from incoming hurricanes to
tornadoes, I have a Radio Shack battery-power weather station with built-in
alert (catalog no. 12-143). It continuously monitors the weather stations around
the country and when severe weather warnings are transmitted, the unit sounds an
alarm.

If you’re an outdoor person, knowing what’s to come weather-wise is nice
information to have if you’re into skiing, boating, hiking, hunting, and
fishing. If you have outdoor stuff that needs protection (like my brothers
vineyard or your plants and bushes), this is a great way to keep up on what’s
about to happen weather-wise. With the addition of a weather station like the
Vantage Pro and a weather radio, you can keep tabs on Mother Nature’s changing
moods. With the VP flashing weather updates and my Radio Shack $29.95 weather
radio monitoring the National Weather Service, I’m on top of the weather all of
the time.

You can get a free catalog of weather instruments from Davis Instruments (3465
Diablo Avenue, Hayward, CA 94545), by calling 800-678 3669, or by checking their
web page at
http://www.davisnet.com/weather. There’s information here for overseas
sources as well.

For the scientific-minded, here are the specifications on the Davis Vantage Pro
unit I use:

• Inside Temperature Range: 32F to 140F
• Outside Temperature Range: -40F to 140F
• Wind Direction Display: 16 points (22.5 degrees) on compass rose, 1 degree
  in digital display
• Wind Speed: 2 to 120 mph (to 175 mph with optional smaller wind cups)
• Rainfall: Daily 0 to 99.99"
• Accumulated: 0 to 199.99"
• Barometric Pressure: 26.00 to 32.00" Hg
• Outside Humidity: 0 to 100% RH
• Time Accuracy: 15 sec/month

Phil Philcox is a writer living in Panama City Beach, Florida (

http://philcox.homestead.com/writers.htm )
 

Price: $595.00

Pros:
Wireless sensor

Cons:
Price