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write your own review of the Watson W-8681 Wireless Weather Station.
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MW0ATK
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Rating: 4/5
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May 16, 2009 03:33
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Excellent
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Bought on offer from Maplin in UK for £77.
Mounted sender units on top of pole around 10 metres above ground. Original idea was to link with UI-View32 for APRS packet radio communications on 2 metre band.
Did not install supplied Easyweather software, instead running Weather Display V10.37N. Need to select WH1081 from list of supported weather stations and enable direct connection. This creates an APRS file at desired interval which UI-View32 is able to read.
I had no problem with display contrast, adjustable by touching the clock and adjusting from default LCD-5 to LCD-8.
The DCF atomic clock synchronises well on my unit, although this does seem to depend on weather conditions - mine is locked on most of the time. I positioned my sender unit in South East position on pole as suggested in other posts.
The barometer on my unit reads lower than XCweather but i do live at almost 200 metres above sea level.
Not too concerned about battery life - running 5 x 2500mAh NiMH batteries.
All in all very impressed, do not doubt problems other people have experienced (read previous reviews and problem resolutions carefully) but unit works very well for me. Inspected the unit after a few heavy rain showers but no hint of water ingress to battery box or connectors as yet, i sprayed sender connectors with car ignition dispersal fluid (forms a plastic film).
Would have given a 5 but need to decide how unit copes in extreme and cold weather!!
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M0MGF
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Rating: 3/5
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May 9, 2009 12:36
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Does exactly what its supposed to do
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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This is for the W-8682. The reason I got this one and not the W-8681 was because of the offer that the RSGB was doing at the time.
Well this was simple to put together and was operational within no time at all. The outside equipment is mounted immediately above the tribander at 40ft, and the controller in the first floor shack. I did have some reservations about the position that I have it mounted, and the amount of RF that would be flying about, but its still work after a couple months of good DX operations.
The Anneometer when spinning around in the windy location that I live is a little loud, even at 40ft in the air. But hey, when im operation the radio, then I am indoors and so oblivious to this noise.
The controller display is well laid out, and during the daytime, clearly visible. During the time of darkness though, then the screen is unviewable, and the facility of the back light is weak and not for a prolonged period - so be quick in getting your information before the light dimms again.
The specifications for the units are that the batteries in controller will last for a minimum of 12months. Erm, no way. Since installing the unit 8 months ago, I am now on my 4th set of AA (3of) Duracell batteries.
Overall, the unit works well, and does what I want. But, due to the battery problem, and the lame backlight, I can not give the unit a 5/5.
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G4TRA
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Rating: 2/5
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Apr 23, 2009 10:46
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2
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Mine is the W-8682 model, but the same comments are applicable as most others have said already.
The build quality is poor with no discernable water protection to the outside unit, it eats batteries for a pastime, looses contact, needs resetting regularly and the clock has never given the right time.
Apart from that it’s OK.
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G0HIK
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Rating: 3/5
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Dec 5, 2008 09:18
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Just about worth the money
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I've not had this long and most of the previous reviews say it all.
Good points:-
Easy to set-up and install, lot's of features for the money especially when using the P.C.
Seems pretty accurate, go to XCweather.co.uk to find your local airport to compare.
I adjusted the Relative air pressure to the one for my local airport and it follows it within 1 mbar.
Bad Points :-
Build quality poor, I can't see the RJ11 connectors lasting long outside, I have put Vasaline over the connectors and the battery cover, also took transmitter off the pole and have mounted it under the eaves to get the "Weather" of it.
Mine will not lock to DCF even though two other clocks in the shack will.
The LCD does not have a contrast adjustment and is extremely difficult to see.
I did not read any reviews before hand, it was an impulse buy while in Maplin, at £70 with a £5 voucher making it only £65 pounds you get a lot for your money, but comparing it to the Heathkit unit I have the quality is very poor, I probally would not of bought it if I had seen it before hand.
I dought it will last 12 months.
By the way, mine came with Easy Weather Ver 2, the latest is Ver 5, but I did not notice any difference.
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WEATHERMAN07
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Rating: 2/5
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Oct 1, 2008 21:58
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well rubbish
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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well its been 2 weeks now and my 2rd station yes.
my 2rd station watsons 8681. same faults same everytime . the resets were not working at all.
i was really angry .now gone!! i took it back for another but same faults. i phoned up watson they were helpful .but didnt know there products are faulty...
everything eles worked fine but the resets temp hum dew etc etc.the pc worked ok. readings were great.
but when not on computer hangin up it was useless.
i had my money back .back to square ONE!!
just my oregon wireles sets.how well!
pity it watson 8681 worked i would have lived with it but .im going to buy a ventus hopfully this will work for me.on a budget.
shame really. watson 8681. watson sort it out.
tj
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M0SAY
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Rating: 1/5
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Sep 7, 2008 01:54
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rubbish
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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well who ever makes these they want to get some rubber feet on them as they slide about all over and for the out side sensors there is no water proofing its a joke even the battey case is not water proofed dont buy this put your tv on and get the weather report in stead
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2M0XDS
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Rating: 4/5
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Jun 22, 2008 08:39
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Not So bad after all
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Ok I thought some of the reviews were a little harsh on this weather station, so I thought I would type up a short review.
After a recent price drop from W&S the Watson Weather Station W-8681, now retails at £69, which was a tempting price for me.
Before purchase, I checked the contents of the box, and was initially impressed by what was inside.
This was my second weather satation, and my last effort was wired, and only had tempature, wind direction, and wind speed.
After an easy installiation,which required a assembled weather station, a 90 degree clamp and a new TV `U` pole ,all this mounted on my existing 2m vertical setup, which is an aluminium scaffold pole, with no problems at all.
I was originally sceptical about the range over which the unit would work, but checked this first, before a final tighten was made, and range far than meets my expectations.
The base unit I find due to the membrane for the touch screen, not the easiest thing to read, and the `touch` can be fiddly at times.
With the unit in place and a couple of rough weather nights under its belt, I am pleased to say, I have no real issues with the unit for the money.
The supplied software, also has no real issues for myself Easy weather v2 (running XP Home, with Service pack 3)
I did check the reading taken so far with the local Met office, readings, and there is about a 3-5% error with the unit (which I can live with), and I doubt they will be using an all singing all dancing unit at £69 to get their readings.
As this unit is quite new to myself only time will tell if this will be a good long term investment, but in the mean time, if you are looking for a cheap, easy to set up unit, which (for me) is giving good performance, and readings, this is the one for you.
Donald Suttie
2M0XDS
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2E1BZU
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Rating: 0/5
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Dec 28, 2007 11:09
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Not worth the bother
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I bought this for £89.99. And you know what they say, you get what you pay for. For some reason the usual alarm bells did not go off, maybe it was because of the respectable name, Watson. One can only assume it's simply re badged and if thats so it's a mighty shame that they would put there name to this awful rubbish.
To start with the transmitter has 2 main glaring faults. The first being as was previously mentioned in the other review by G6KIZ, the plugs used to connect the sensors to each other and finally back to the transmitter are just normal RJ11 Phone jacks and sockets, no weather protection (albeit the transmitter has the fluted shield but that wont be any good to protect it during a howling gale). The second issue again is the battery cover on the transmitter. It's laughable, how this ever got past the design stage and into production is a mystery. It never fitted properly and falls off, and has no weather proof seal around it. It should have had brass thumb screws to secure it, and if this is why it was so cheap and was used to cut costs it was totally pointless as it is in my opinion a waist of time releasing it into the market as the amount that will be sent back due to water damage will simply put people off buying similar products by Watson again, which is a great shame.
The second problem: It was working OK, for approx' 1 week, when for some reason it started saying the dew point was -175, I reset the receiver, but still the same. I put up with it for a day or 2 but during the night the receiver stopped receiving anything, it just had dashes instead of the out side information. I reset both the transmitter and base, still no luck, installed new batteries into transmitter, still nothing. So I left it, then a while later I looked at the receiver and it had picked up the transmitter, but would intermittently drop the wind direction data, show constantly 99% humidity outside and would not display any wind speed data at all . Then after a while longer it stopped recieving data totally (again)
The software as stated by G6KIZ, does indeed crash (probably out of shame) when left on.
Look, dont even think about buying this, it's just false ecconomy. The build quality is awfull, and one good hard winter would certinally see the end of the transmitter.I Should also say that when I took the sensors down to try resetting it all, it had been slightly frosty night and the wind direction sensor had frozen up. Rather defeats the point of having a weather station I think.
Anyway, mine is going back for a refund and will spend the money on some seaweed (and a beer).
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G6KIZ
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Rating: 1/5
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Dec 10, 2007 01:57
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Mixed bag
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have rated this unit as poor based on the unit I received. Conversely my son M0XDK only had a flickering LED in the display. Both units do show that there are quality control issues.
I am just doing a cut'n'paste from the review I've put on my own website - I think eham.net will get a bigger audience and fellow hams deserve to know what to expect from probably the most well known UK ham dealer.
G6KIZ Weather station
I'd been considering adding weather data to the G6KIZ Igate for some time but really couldn't justify the cost. Then M0XDK drew my attention to the Watson weather station which W&S had announced in their newsletter and were selling on eBay at £95.95 delivered. The features on offer would normally cost at least 3 times more. Obviously there would be some corner cutting but I decided to get one anyway - an interesting gadget regardless of whether or not the data could be pushed into UIVIEW. It arrived by courier next day which was excellent.
The W-8681 sensors.
The sensors have to be assembled on the short two section stub mast that is included. This is very easy. Unfortunately two of the leads are much longer than necessary (which probably explains the "There is a generous amount of cable to interconnect the sensors to each other" in the advert. I used zip ties to make as tidy a job of the wiring as possible.
I have some concerns on just how weatherproof the push in modular connectors and battery bay will be. The specs say waterproof to IPX3 which may or may not prove to be good enough.
Two AA batteries need to be fitted and these should last at least two years according to the specs.
Once the sensors were assembled on the stub mast I just zip tied the mast to an 8 foot length of rough cut timber and screwed it to a fence post. The mounting position is a bit of a compromise as it is probably a bit too close to a large conifer for wind direction measurements to be spot on but I doubt that the unit would ever be especially accurate anyway as the vane is very lightweight and completely undamped so the slightest gust sets it swinging.
The W-8681 display unit.
Attention now shifted to the quite large display. It transpired that what I thought was a loose protective covering was in fact a faulty membrane that covers the screen to provide the touch screen facility. The unit was returned to W&S for replacement which took over a week to arrive which was far from good and rather took the gloss off the original fast delivery.
It requires three AA batteries which are supposed to last a year. I found that the contrast and backlighting (green LEDs) were both rather poor. M0XDK's had a flickering led - caused by poor quality soldering and OK now he has fixed it. This unit is probably where the inevitable cost cutting is most immediately obvious.
Radio Link.
This operates at 868MHz and I was originally concerned that this may be a problem as DigitalHam Towers is an old stone building with walls over two feet thick. It seems so far that I need not have worried as with the new display it has maintained sync.
The unit also has a radio controlled clock. This took an age to sync and when it did showed an hour fast despite the time zone being set correctly. I can only assume that this is a bug and it has added an hour DST despite it being December. I adjusted this manually.
Software.
The supplied software automatically adds to an ever growing file with each record being a comma seperated list of values. To get this data into a format acceptable to UIVIEW requires some detective work on what is what and scripting to reformat it. As it happens I have a text editor which can run REXX which I've used for this purpose. Unfortunately I doubt that this is mainstream enough to be of any use to other hams so I will investigate producing something more useful later.
The software itself has some problems with long term running. I have seen it hang once with an out of resources error. It regularly loses parts of the window furniture and wind direction display. Simply closing it and restarting clears these problems up but it does take a little while to get started again - this delay will probably increase as the internal data buffer fills because the documentation mentions that reading this data from the unit can take a couple of minutes. Changes to the various settings only seem to affect the display and the output data is fixed units - something to be aware of when converting for use in UIVIEW.
Conclusion
So is it worth the money? I'd give that a reserved yes. That may turn to a definite yes providing water ingress or other weather damage doesn't put paid to the sensors. If I hadn't been able to use the data for UIVIEW and was judging the unit just on the display and software I would find it hard to recommend. If your main aim is use as an online weather station and you cannot do the necessary coding you would be advised to avoid this unit until someone has done the work and posted it on the web. I am rather surprised that Waters and Stanton have not produced software for this purpose as it would surely make the unit much more attractive to radio amateurs.
Update
After a very wet weekend it is now obvious that the rain guage isn't working. My unit has been an absolute nightmare. Meanwhile M0XDK hasn't had any trouble with his at all. It seems that quality control is not high on Watson's (aka Waters and Stanton) list of priorities.
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