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Reviews For: Davis Vantage Pro (wireless)

Category: Weather Stations

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Review Summary For : Davis Vantage Pro (wireless)
Reviews: 36MSRP: 595
Description:
Vantage Pro weather stations for monitoring barometric pressure, temperature, humidity, rainfall, and wind speed and direction.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.davisnet.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00364.3
WY3X Rating: 2011-05-04
Working great so far Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
First, I note that some of these reviews here are for the Pro-2. This review thread is NOT for the Pro-2, but for the PLAIN Pro. The Pro-2 has it's own thread elsewhere! My review is for the Davis Vantage Pro unit itself, NOT for Davis the company!

I was given this device as a token of appreciation for helping move some antennas for a fellow ham. The circuit board on the ISS module was bad (would not send humidity readings). I contacted Davis to buy a replacement, and was told that they stopped supporting the Vantage Pro (NOT the Pro-2!) in December 2010. That' pretty sad, because this unit was NEW in 2003! So to reiterate- my review is based on the performance of the 6150 weather station, NOT on Davis (the company). If I were rating the company, I'd give them a zero, or at best a 1 based on a total abandonment of support for a fairly recent device. Davis did offer me $100 trade-in on a new $700 system, a pretty insulting offer for a $600 system (with only the outdoor humidity reading not working) in my opinion.

This left me with eBay to search for a replacement ISS circuit board from a (perhaps) used/donor unit. I contacted an eBay reseller who happened to support Davis products, and was informed that an update kit was available for my unit! (Davis part #6920). Why couldn't Davis provide me that information instead of giving me the brush-off? The new board arrived with a new housing and is much better protected from the weather than the old ISS board. It took me about 30 minutes to replace the old board, and all is functioning well (so far- today is just the first day). I still need to do some minor calibration, but all readings are "close" and within tolerance, NO THANKS to Davis, and thanks to Archer Trading Post (on eBay)! I'm hoping to locate the other module that will allow me to transfer data to my PC. (You'd think that would be present and included on a 2003 unit, wouldn't you???)
N0AZZ Rating: 2011-02-06
The Best IN IT'S CLASS Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned 5 different weather stations over the last 10 yrs and the longest any ever lasted was 16 mo and were poor preformers.
A little over 2 yrs ago I bought the Pro2 the sensor is mounted about 70' from the display everthing has worked fine. This one does more than (features out of the box) THAN ANY OTHERS owned so far. It worked from the time it was installed till this day with never a glitch. I do have the software for it also and use it often to check everything.

This is one thing I would not want to be without in my shack period I have several towers and numerous antennas that need to be turned to the wind. IMHO this is the best weather station for amature use.
WD8AJJ Rating: 2010-02-05
Davis pro 2 Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The unit is good other than they do admit there power supply is the pits. I was told to trash it. There software is unstable. running on muti diff computers stayed up maybe 5 days before loosing it's link and have to reboot.
N4IBG Rating: 2010-02-05
Gotta Love The Davis Pro2 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I had the WMR968 for about 9 years but got tired of replacing all the sensors, so I got the Davis Pro2 in January and Im very happy with it. It was a snap to set up. The instructions did not tell you to point the sensor SOUTH. So anyone purchasing the PRO2, please take note. I did purchase the WeatherLink data module and software after realizing i cannot send data or store readings without it. The software leaves alot to be desired. I am using VWS instead which is much much better. I am looking to buy the Daytime Fan Aspirated Shield kit but I am going to wait until the summer comes and see if I realy need it (i think in Florida I will need it. The 2.5 sec update on the wind direction and speed is sooooo cool. I wont miss those gusts readings which i missed with the WMR968. The anemometer is up about 30 feet. The rest of the sensor package is about down on the same mast. I may think about relocating it away and not so much in the direct sun. All in All, ya can't beat this work of art.
K6TGT Rating: 2009-04-11
Old but keeps on going! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have the Vantage Pro Plus Wireless 6161 which includes the UV and Solar sensors and Fan Aspirated Radiation Shield. I also have the wireless 6343 sender which I use for various temperatures around the yard, such as the pool and pond.

I purchased the 6161 almost a year before they started shipping (they were various delays in the actual release of the product) and thus likely have one of the oldest and first units in operation. My unit came online in 2001 and has been in continuous operation since, both locally and on the web at http://www.ghweather.org

The unit I received had what turned out to be a couple of bad engineering decisions in its design that caused problems after about a year of operation. The transmitter and sensor control board was mounted at the top of the FARS chamber and this caused corrosion problems. Likewise, the design of the temperature and humidity sensors in the FARS tunnel led to intermittently bad humidity readings for the same reason. Davis recognized these problems and redesigned the SIM (transmitter and sensor control board) and temp/hum sensor to rectify it. They subsequently also came out with a further modification called the extreme environment kit.

Even though my unit was out of warranty, Davis stood behind their product and furnished both kits to me free of charge. They even offered to do the work for me at their company for free but I elected to do the modifications myself (the two together - done about 6 months apart - only took about an hour) to minimize downtime.

Since installing those two modifications kits, the unit has performed flawlessly. I change the FARS battery and fan about every two years (I did remove the two FARS nicad C cells and replaced them with one NMHI C cell to improve performance), and clean it once a year or so. I replace the SIM backup lithium battery about every 3 years.

The wireless performance has always been excellent for me and I continuously see a VP reception rate of 97 percent or better. My console is about 50 feet from the transmitter.

I give it a rating of 5 because of the support that Davis gave me in resolving the initial design problems with the unit and because of how well it has performed long after the modifications. I don't believe that anyone else offers a unit that provides anywhere near its capabilities and functions at the price. Yes, it is more expensive than some other units but you definitely get what you pay for in this case.

Tom K6TGT
N2DY Rating: 2008-01-15
Update - Still Going Strong Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had my Vantage Pro for 6 years now. I had only one issue. The magnetic rain gauge switch went bad over time. I called Davis and they sent out some replacements even though the unit was out of warranty. It was easily replaced and has worked flawlessly since. Readings continue to be accurate and consistent with a local professional weather station. I have taken it down a few times over the years to clean it up a little. Other than that, it has not needed any other maintenance or repair. If it ever does go bad, I will certainly buy the latest Davis model to replace it.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by N2DY on 2002-02-01

I am thrilled with the performance of this weather station. It appears to be very accurate. Readings are very close to a nearby NOAA reporting station. The indoor base unit uses 900 mhz to receive data from the outside unit. The outside unit is powered by a lithium battery that is automatically recharged by a solar panel. Outstanding unit. Easy to set up and use. I recommend it highly.
W8SPM Rating: 2008-01-15
Bad Unit Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Bought this unit in 10-2001 and I had problems within 30 days and the motherboard had to be replaced ! Over the next 5 years I replaced the board about 4 more times and in 3-2006 I sent the entire unit to Davis to be re-built ! It didn't work but a few months when I started having more problems ! Long story short I think the parts in this unit are prone to fail and for $500 I expect a lot more from a weather station like this ! The Customer Service is terrible and I am very unhappy with Davis !
If I were considering a purchase of a weather station I would stay away from Davis Instruments !
9H1JJ Rating: 2007-06-09
almost perfect Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have the David weatherstation wireless 3 years now and I feel like ITZJUSTME down the log.
The reception to the logging device is sometimes good, sometimes unavailable. In short unreliable.
I also must state here that I disagree that a totally new non compatible version II has been set in the market so that initial users are forced to throw their other kid away in stead of a simple upgrade !
K4TBN Rating: 2005-08-15
Perfect Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
This install is now just over 6 months old. Everything works. Xmit range is 90 ft. Also using Weatherlink with zero problems, but my learning curve was very steep.
KL8DX Rating: 2005-06-04
Two Thumbs Up! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had my wireless station in operation for over a year now. It has not skipped a beat and it continues to work like the first day I opened it. Does not seem to be effected by any RF that I create transmittin on any of the ham bands. It works well below zero and I have seen winds near 70 mph at my location. Tons of features so keep the cheat sheet handy!