| K9VSK |
Rating:     |
2011-11-03 | |
| Happy customer |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Also had the problem with the short battery life - thanks to a report of similar issue on this site, found C34 10uF 2.7VDC to be leaky - ordered exact replacement from DigiKey. Other than that the station has endured IL weather for 5 years now - quite happy with features and performance!! |
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| WA9ZOH |
Rating:     |
2011-09-17 | |
| Great Station but battery issue occurred |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Had mine since June of 2006. Humidity sensor went bad in 2009, was a easy fix, just ordered a replacement. In 2010, I found the 3 volt battery in the ISS was depleting unusually fast. I would need to replace it about 2 months following the replacement of the previous battery. Note: This battery is non-rechargeable. The only thing the solar cell does is charge C34, which is a 10 Farad 2.7 volt lytic and when and if that depletes itself, due to the lack of sunlight, the battery then kicks in. Anyway, C34 went leaky showing white powder around the base of the cap and the positive lead and this was the cause of the backup 3 volt battery draining so quickly .Just ordered a replacement from Mouser as well as a 33 Farad. So long as I can fit it under the white enclosure, the more Farads the longer it will go without sunlight before it falls back on the backup battery. |
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| W5DGM |
Rating:      |
2011-08-15 | |
| Great for checking local conditions |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Assembly of the weather station was straight foward. I really like the direct link to the internet, allowing me to see conditions at my QTH anywhere, even on my smartphone. Compared accuracy to other equipment and results were very good. |
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| W0VIP |
Rating:      |
2011-01-30 | |
| One of the best units on the market. |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I've had the Vantage Pro 2 running since October of 2005 with no issues. Before, I was using a Peet Brothers, which is also a nice unit but I decided to pull the trigger on this Davis. Glad I did! I have a second console located over 300 feet away and have no problems with reception. I logged almost 5 year's worth of data until I had a catastrophic computer crash and lost it all! (Note to self...backup computer regularly.) |
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| N0YK |
Rating:      |
2011-01-19 | |
| Top Notch!!! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've used a Davis VP2 for the last 4 years at my QTH in the country. It's one of those items that you don't realize you need till you have one and then you can live without it! I can't say enough good about the customer support with Davis and the quality of their products. I had a few issues, but all were easily resolved. I run my station with WxSolutions Software which is also Top Notch and very easy to use, unlike some of the others including WeatherLinks that I found frustrating to configure. Right away I added my site to Weather Underground and let them keep a server running to maintain the data stream. I update with this station to Weather Underground every 2-3 seconds, 24x7x365. I run my station, computer and wireless internet on a UPS (battery backup), so during severe thunderstorms when we lose power briefly, I still have data updating to the internet. I’ve installed (10) VP2’s to date for local neighbors around the area with word of mouth advertising. Here is a link to the site I maintain that has all the WX Station reporting in: http://users.wbsnet.org/n0yk/swkswxstations.html Also here is some pictures of my installation at the house: http://users.wbsnet.org/n0yk/weatherstation.htm Recently we moved and the buyers of our house asked if we’d leave the whole setup of the weather station and computer, so for a quick price adjustment we did just that. Now living in the city I just placed an order for a Davis Vantage Vue, so I’m excited to see what this new station has to offer. So in summary, if you’re in the market for a Weather Station, take a looks at the VP2’s. It will be money well spent!
A note to anyone debating between the USB or Serial version of the data logger, go with the Serial! I’ve had zero success with the USB version; the serials are 100% reliable to date.
Cheers!
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| ZF2RN |
Rating:     |
2010-09-10 | |
| Tough keeping rain gauge clean |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have been running this station for two plus years in pretty tough tropical weather, including two close brushes with hurricanes. LOTS of rain. Rain gauge does like to collect stuff! Definitely keep it where you can reach it. Mine has been on-line with Davis's software without a glitch. Everything works well and is accurate. I have an extra indoor panel and that is really handy.
Anemometer is mounted at 10m, main collection is just above the roofline about 2m so I can step up on the first step of tower and clean the rain collector.
Had to replace my battery once in two years. But I have the 24 hour fan in the temp/humidity sensor.
I would definitely suggest this weather station to anyone that is looking for a decent station. I gave it a 4/5 just because of the rain collector propensity to collect junk and get plugged. |
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| K4MRR |
Rating:     |
2010-05-21 | |
| Very Good |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've had my wireless Vantage Pro 2 running and online for two years. It does all it's advertised to do, is reliable, yet I've had to replace the lithium batteries four times in two years with the solar panel in direct sunlight most of the daylight hours. I'm giving this unit a 4/5 because of the battery usage and also since the rain gauge occasionally reads 1/100 of an inch of rain on a sunny day... Oh well.
It's a very good system in most respects, but new owners would be wise to ensure the rain gauge is easily accessible. Don't mount it higher than you can reach. Bird feathers, insects, leaves, and other "stuff" tend to land in the rain gauge at the most inopportune times. Put it where you can clean it out in a few minutes. Mine is at 5 1/2 feet... :-).
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Earlier 5-star review posted by K4MRR on 2007-12-09
I have a Oregon Scientific WMR-968 which has served me well for a year with no problems, but wanted to upgrade to a more accurate personal weather station. I've had the wireless Vantage Pro2 for a month and can easily note that I have better accuracy than I had with the WMR-968. The Vantage Pro2 is simply a better personal weather station than the WMR-968.
One issue that has not been a factor, but does concern me, is that with the WMR-968, I'm dealing with three remote solar-powered electronic modules which don't look very sturdy. If one of the three stops working, I've lost either my rain, outside temp/humidity, or wind monitor which would really hurt the system's usefulness. I'm dealing with just one similar module with the Vantage Pro2, and it looks much more sturdy.
Although I think it's overpriced, I bought the USB Weatherlink set-up and it works just fine.
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| KL7AC |
Rating:      |
2010-05-17 | |
| Over 3 years later... |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
This thing is still working great despite the climate. Only changes made was moving the wind bird to the top of the tower to keep an eye on my wind loading.
Maintenance is very simple, keep the rain funnel clean and the batteries strong.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by KL7AC on 2007-03-16
Living in a place called North Pole you know you will be testing the limits of a weather station. I installed my wireless DVP2 in early November and have not looked back.
Operation has been flawless through the cold dark winter. Installed at the base of my tower it has made it through one of the harder winters, cold wise, on record. Global warming is not here this winter!
My only slight gripe is the unit will only record down to minus 39.3F. Not a problem in 99.9% of the world!
Barometer is dead on accurate, very important when tracking weather trends.
I had a problem with the display early on and the folks at Davis were very helpful and had another display in my hands within 2 days.
Great customer service and a solid product. Sure it costs a bit more but you certainly get what you pay for.
My real time weather can be viewed at:
http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KAKNORTH5 |
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| K6SGH |
Rating:      |
2010-01-10 | |
| Works Great! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I've put off buying a Davis Vantage Pro2 wireless unit for a few years, but I finally broke down and bought one. It assembled and installed very easily and I was collecting data within a hour of putting it up.
Thus far I have only found a small level of interference with my rigs. If I place the console very near the radio (ic-7800) and hook up the usb cable, I get some hash noise on all bands. The solution is to keep the console at least a few feet away...don't put it on top of the rig.
The software that comes the Davis isn't very good so i purchased the Ambient Virtual Weather Station Internet version. It's pretty good and has some much better graphics than the Davis software. There is also a wide variety of 3rd party software available that I have yet to explore. There must be at least a dozen other programs that will work with the Davis Pro2.
All in all I am very happy I purchased the Davis unit as I believe it's probably the best value for the money. See for yourself on my website: www.k6sgh.com/wx/wx.htm . I don't run the updating program all the time so don't be surprised if the time/date might be a little aged. |
|
| WX4GPS |
Rating:      |
2009-06-11 | |
| Accurate and reliable |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've owned this station now 3 1/2 years and have had zero problems. Great service by the way, as I had the USB weatherlink and it was not performing well (drivers), and they swapped mw out no cost to the serial and had zero problems since. The comments stating they would like to be able to see weather across the room, a great program is WxSolution running on a netbook on a bookshelf or something will give you great visibility and wonderful reports you can print out, plus you can upload reports to your website, or upload data to WeatherUndergroud or CWOP, and many others. What i like about Davis is that have many options to make your station just the way you want, (i.e. you want to put your wind sensor somewhere else, they have the wireless transmitter, want soil temperature, you can add that in..., etc.). If support is important to you no other will compare. my station can be viewed at http://www.wunderground.com/swf/Rapid_Fire.swf?units=english&station=KKYGEORG3
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Earlier 5-star review posted by WX4GPS on 2009-06-11
I've owned this station now 3 1/2 years and have had zero problems. Great service by the way, as I had the USB weatherlink and it was not performing well (drivers), and they swapped mw out no cost to the serial and had zero problems since. The comments stating they would like to be able to see weather across the room, a great program is WxSolution running on a netbook on a bookshelf or something will give you great visibility and wonderful reports you can print out, plus you can upload reports to your website, or upload data to WeatherUndergroud or CWOP, and many others. What i like about Davis is that have many options to make your station just the way you want, (i.e. you want to put your wind sensor somewhere else, they have the wireless transmitter, want soil temperature, you can add that in..., etc.). If support is important to you no other will compare. |
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