VUCATIMES W1 Weather Station review

REVIEW – I’m a bit of a weather nerd. I have at least 5 weather apps on my iPhone, I created an automatic updating weather radar widget on my macOS desktop using Geektool, and I have a WeatherFlow Tempest home weather station collecting data outside. If you’re not quite as nerdy as me but would like an easy way to know the temperature and humidity levels inside and outside of your home along with local weather trends, the VUCATIMES W1 Weather Station is one solution. Let’s find out if it’s a good one.

What is it?

The VUCATIMES W1 is a weather station with a color display and the ability to report temperature, humidity, moon phase, and weather trends.

What’s in the box?

• VUCATIMES W1 Weather Station
• Remote temperature / humidity sensor
• USB charging cable
• Manual

Design and features

The VUCATTIMES W1 Weather Station has two parts. The main part is the weather station itself which is a 6.4″x4.4″ color LCD display with its own built-in temperature and humidity sensor.

On the back of the unit is the power port, and battery compartment along with a built-in hook if you want to hang it on the wall.

There’s also a built-in stand that you can unfold to set the station on a flat surface.

The controls for the VUCATIMES W1 Weather Station are located on the top of the unit.

You can power the VUCATIMES W1 Weather Station one of two ways. Either feed it 3 AAA batteries (not included) or use the included proprietary USB cable. Note that the cable does NOT come with an AC adapter so you’re on your own for that.

The VUCATIMES W1 Weather Station also comes with one outdoor temperature and humidity sensor. This small sensor is powered by 2 AAA batteries, which are also not included. Surprisingly, this outdoor sensor is not waterproof so you’ll need to put it under a covered porch, or eave to ensure that it stays out of the weather.

With the weather station and the outdoor sensor powered on, you have to set the time, date, and year. I was a little disappointed that the VUCATIMES W1 Weather Station doesn’t have a built-in atomic clock.

If you’re using the outdoor sensor, you have to set the channel so it will then be displayed on the screen. Speaking of the outdoors sensor, it has its own built-in display that shows the temperature and humidity. By default, the temperature is displayed in Celsius on the outdoor sensor even if you set the weather station to Fahrenheit. I later learned that there’s a small button in the battery compartment of the outdoor sensor that toggles between C and F.

The weather station also shows the moon phase and weather trends.

One thing to keep in mind is that if the Weather Station loses power, it also loses all the settings. I was surprised that putting batteries in the weather station does not save the settings if you leave the station plugged in using the USB cable and the power goes out. That seems like a huge fail to me. So I contacted someone at VUCATIMES and asked about this. They told me that it should save the settings if the batteries are installed and the USB cable is used and the power goes out. I tested this a few times and did not find that to be true. With batteries installed and the USB cable attached, I unplugged the USB cable and everything would be fine for a few seconds. Then the weather station would beep and the settings would go back to defaults. The time would zero out and the temperature would go to Celcius.

It’s also important to know that if you only want to run the VUCATIMES W1 Weather Station on batteries, that the backlight only stays on for about 20 seconds before it turns off. You’ll then need to press the snooze/light button on top of the unit. You can still see the information on the screen when the backlight is off (see above) but it’s pretty dim until you press the button to turn on the backlight.

What I like

• Simple to use
• Bright colorful display

What I’d change

• Include batteries for the weather station and sensor
• Allow the batteries to backup settings in case of power failure while plugged in
• Make the remote outdoor sensor waterproof

Final thoughts

I like the VUCATIMES W1 Weather Station’s price and its bright display, but I don’t like that the settings aren’t saved if it loses power, batteries aren’t included, and it doesn’t have an atomic clock built-in to automatically set the time. If those things don’t bother you, then this is an easy to use weather station for a good price.

Price: $32.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Vucatimes.