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Reviews For: Oregon Scientific WM-918

Category: Weather Stations

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Review Summary For : Oregon Scientific WM-918
Reviews: 13MSRP: 299.95
Description:
Budget wired weather station.
Sensors for temp, humidity, rainfall, wind, pressure.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.oregonscientific.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00133.8
N0FPE Rating: 2008-07-08
works fine Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have been using the same unit for 8 years now. Never a hitch. Used for 33 years in Missouri and now 5 years in Arizona. For the money it has been great. I even bought a 2nd unit for spare but have never had to use it. The software is a nice handy item also. If i see another one in used working condition i will buy it just to keep mine running!

Dan


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Earlier 3-star review posted by N0FPE on 2005-02-06

I have had a wm-918 for abt 4 years. Had the wind direction vane fail once and now the temp/humidity sensor has crapped out. It works good when I can keep it working!

Dan
VK4CWA Rating: 2007-06-24
Operational for 5+years Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had this station operational now for just over 5 years, (and in several different locations i might add) and never once had a problem with it.
Its a very good weather station for the price and would recommend it to anyone with an interest in there local climate.
Interfacing it to the PC and uploading the results to a web page can be fun for your family & friends also.
GORT Rating: 2005-02-06
Excellent Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Didn't have to pay for this (gift) and didn't expect much (reviews) but this is awesome. Works well, no faults, no probs, much better than expected. Anybody know where I can get another one (for a different site)? If yes then email me scaleojustice AT hotmail DOT com (replace the AT and DOT with the usual).
KC9AAG Rating: 2004-11-08
A good, low cost unit Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My 918 has been up and running, here in Wisconsin, for more then a year now with only one problem and that was mother natures fault. The wind speed sensor froze up last fall after a cold and hard rain during the day and freezing temperatures at night. All I could do was wait for a sunny warm spell for it to thaw out. After that I have had no problems with this unit at all. The 918 keeps on ticking to this day.

Jim
KC9AAG
321CBA Rating: 2004-10-23
Good for what it is. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Hey guys this is not some state-of-the-art, uber-expensive scientific device. It's a cheap little weather station which works really well for a lot of people, including me!
I've had mine for nearly 5 years without a hitch, plus a bunch of my friends have these too and only one has ever had problems, and that was due to a faulty cable to the temp sensor. I'm in Canada so I guess it's NOT just a North American thing! :-)
Like the other guy said, if you want top of the range, buy an expensive station. If you can't afford to and don't need research level accuracy then the Wx200/WM-918 works just fine for a lot of us.
Recommended. I wish I could buy another one (they don't make 'em anymore) :(
VK6CB Rating: 2004-09-08
A cheap and good weather station Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I can only agree with our New Zealand Neighbor ...
Maybe they send all the good ones dowm under ... Who knows!!!...
My WM-918 has been up and running on the South Coast of Western Australia for over a year and apart from the odd occasion when a bit of RF from my Amateur station gets into the outside sensor reading it has been performing great.
We don't get cold weather extremes here, so no ice or snow, but do experience very hot summer months and it has worked faultlessly during this time.
Hope that is a help for any one contemplating purchasing down-under.
SHTURMOVIK Rating: 2004-07-14
Maybe it's a North American thing... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Did you guys get a bad batch of them up there or what? I've purchased and installed six Oregon Scientific WM-918 stations around New Zealand since 1998. Two of them are at the summit of a high mountain, and regularly experience extreme conditions. Not one of these stations or their sensors has ever failed. Friends with these stations in Australia also report no problems with them.

The WM-918 is not marketed as a research-grade instrument. If you want that then pay five times as much for a Davis Vantage Pro Plus. As it happens we use one of those as well on our observatory site, and I'd be hard-pressed to say it was really worth the money. It's undeniably a good station, but the Davis does nothing for us that the little WM-918 can't do.

The WM-918 cost us between US$130-300, depending on where and when we purchased them. The Davis cost us over US$1,300. We consider the Oregon Scientific station to be a cost-effective solution for general purpose usage.

Gary
www.observatory.org.nz
THOMASRIVER Rating: 2003-11-13
not recommended Time Owned: more than 12 months.
outdoor temperature reading range is absolutely not sufficient when you are living north of 60.
Had to renew the outdoor temp. and humidity sensor (No warranty-had to pay for it) and still does not work reliable. Lots of +40 °C readings at freezing temperatures.
Got back to the old barometer and thermometer.
Stay away from this piece of crap.
W0JOG Rating: 2002-10-13
Shop for better Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had the WM-918 for about a year and a half. Purchased on eBay from Ryan Electronics in California. Problems from the get-go and no help from either seller or Oregon Scientfic. Have replaced outdoor temperature-humidity sensor and display unit. Replacements worked no better than original with flakey display and inaccurate readings. Sometimes RF interference when transmitting. Also found the barometer not corrected to sea level in display annoying. One phone call to Oregon Scientfic for help produced a response that clearly showed I knew more about humidity and dew point readings than the "technician."

All-in-all, disappointing and I wouldn't do business with either Ryan or Oregon Scientific again.

W0JOG
DT593 Rating: 2002-10-13
Worth The Money Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had mine for over a year and am happy with what I got for money spent.
The one thing I dont like about it is when I set the barometric pressure to the sea level setting I cant monitor the sea level pressure here at my home. It converts the sea level pressure to "actual" pressure which is NOT the format used by anyone. All weather agency and airport pressure readings are given as "sea level". Actual pressure need to be converted for comparison.Maybe I'm doing something wrong and there is a way to monitor my sea level pressure and I just havnt figured it out.
The Annenometer froze during a major freezing rain storm (So did the annenometer at the airport)
The thing EATS batteries when power fails.
All In all it seems very accurate and has not failed me in over a year
DT-593 (Roger "Bear" Yurek)