The La Crosse Technology WS-1516U-IT Professional Weather Station monitors a wide range of weather information and is very easy to use. It transmits via a 915 MHz transmission with a wireless range up to 330 feet. Mounting hardware for the sensors is included. The weather station displays outdoor temperature and humidity wind rainfall and weather alarms with storm warnings. It also features forecast icon barometric pressure graph and 12-hour history graph. Also storage of 140 sets of history weather data recorded in 3-hour intervals. This is truly a wonderful professional weather station.

• Professional weather station provides instant detailed weather information 365 days a year


• Monitors temperatures humidity wind barometric pressure rainfall and much more


• Includes weather center wireless rain gauge wind sensor and thermo-hygro sensor


• Runs on 5 AA and 2 AAA batteries


• Wireless range up to 330 feet

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Melted snowfall is emptied into the measuring tube to measure the moisture content of snow/sleet
Opening diameter is 4 inches rain gauge height is 14 inches

Package Contents
Rain Gauge (including funnel and inner measuring tube)
Post Mounting Bracket and Hardware
Detailed Instructions
Daily Precipitation Log

• Heavy duty clear butyrate plastic gauge


• Measures a full 11 inches of precipitation


• Inner measuring tube has a capacity of 1 inch and is graduated to one hundredth of an inch


• Rainfall exceeding 1.00 inch flows into the outer cylinder


• Funnel and measuring tube are removed for collecting sleet and snow

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Good accuracy

I have the Oregon Scientific WMR100 which comes with a rain collector a combined wind/temperature/humidity sensor a display unit and various mounting hardware. I tested its accuracy in several ways including pouring carefully measured amounts of water (from a rain gauge) through the rain collector comparing the temperature readings with a very accurate thermometer and holding the wind sensor out the window of a car at 40 mph. The results were impressive. I had previously tried these tests on a LaCrosse weather station as well as one from Radio Shack neither of which was completely accurate. The Oregon Scientific WMR100 was right on the mark for measuring preciptiation and also for temperature. The temperature was down to minus 15F one night and lithium batteries still worked fine. The outdoor temperature sensor is slow to respond to rapidly rising or falling temperature but this is probably a good design feature to avoid over-reaction to direct sunlight if it's not in the shade. The wind speed readings for 40 mph on the odometer ranged from 40 to 45+ on the display unit but doing this out the window of a car may not be 100% reliable as a test! The display unit sits firmly on a table (well weighted in the bottom) yet is easy to use as a hand unit. It is a little inconvenient to have to scroll through the settings to see everything -- for example the readings for rainfall UV and barometric pressure do not display simultaneously and it is necessary to use the control buttons to change between these settings in order to see them all. The manual is good in explaining everything. The construction is very sturdy considering that it's made of plastic and the mounting pole is even metal. All in all I am very satisfied with it and certainly would recommend it over LaCrosse for a number of reasons. From what I would expect for something at this price I would give it 5 stars.



Update July 2 2008: After several months the temperature and humidity signals were no longer coming through to the display unit without constantly having to reset the sensor (on the roof!) so I returned the whole weather station under warranty as instructed by Oregon Scientific's Customer Service Department listed in the warranty. After more than 7 months and many inquiries they had not sent me the new unit yet saying that it was "back ordered" and would be sent when available.... in a few months! I then contacted the Oregon Scientific retail store where I had purchased the unit and with no hesitation they told me that they backed the product and would send a replacement. So if you buy buy from a retailer who will back the product or directly from the company's retail store. Don't depend on Oregon Scientific's Customer Service Department! The Oregon Scientific retail store in Tigard Oregon was very helpful in dealing with the problem because I had purchased it there in the first place and they still had a copy of my receipt on file. My only regret is not having called them first when the problem began.



Update July 24 2009: This weather station is still working wonderfully!More detail ...

Looks good but inaccurate and not supported

This product includes three weather instrument packages: anemometer/wind direction vane temperature/humidity and rainfall all wirelessly linked to a large LCD display. It shows those data on the display roughly in real time (seems to update every five/seven seconds or so) and keeps track not only of maxima and minima on most of those statistics but also when they occurred... very nice. Fairly easy to set up see my review on the National Geographic weather station on how to get their similar wind and temperature packages set up. That's the good news.



The bad news is that the system is grossly inaccurate. The wind speed data always reports wind speeds thirty to fifty percent below their actual values (when compared to a NOAA instrument package very near my house) and temperatures that vary wildly as the day goes on.



I gathered enough data on wind and temperature readings several times/day for several days to see that while the AVERAGE value of the temperature reported over the day is fairly close to the NOAA data the standard deviation is about 250 percent that of the NOAA data despite my locating the thermometer off the ground and in the shade. The wind speed data's always significantly under actual wind speed -- the cheaper National Geographic unit with its anemometer sitting within a few feet of the Lacrosse anemometer tracked with the NOAA data very well -- despite the fact that I actually purchased a replacement anemometer unit from Lacrosse. (Both units showed the same biases -- wind direction was correct wind speed under-reported.) Atmospheric pressure was however dead on... once calibrated. So I thought maybe there's a calibration procedure for the wind speed?



The true insult however was when I contacted Lacrosse looking for some guidance... could they recommend better infrared shielding for the temperature gauge? Was there a way to calibrate and adjust the package's interpretation of the wind speed information? Their Web site warned that they were very busy this time of year so I thought I'd be a nice guy and use their email. No answer for two weeks so I politely asked a second time; no answer. It's been four weeks and I'm still waiting.



This unit seems basically well-thought-out save for the lack of calibration opportunities. Without that calibration though it's completely worthless. Save your money.More detail ...

Triple Sensor Weather Station

Pros:

Price less than $100.

Fewer batteries 5 - AA's

Battery only no wall wart required

Long Battery Life ~2 Years

Detailed illustrated manual

Altitude adjustment for the barometer

Impressive wireless range

* Rain gauge more useful than expected



Cons:

Mixed reviews

No radio receiver for WWV's Atomic Clock

Temp sensor not weather proof

No inside temp reading

No PC Connection

*Painful Max/Min reset procedure



Looking at the product picture one sees The Weather Channel logo yet if you go to their store nothing approaching this product exists. My conclusion is that after six-months at the TWC they wanted no part of the headaches and shipped their inventory back to Lacrosse for sale on Amazon. So this price disappears with that inventory.

* I no longer believe the above I've seen this exact model for sale at Wal-Mart.



In researching the triple sensor (temp wind rain) market I was primarily interested in temp and wind. Since its always windy in the winter now I'll know how windy. It rains so seldom that why bother measuring besides it won't measure snow and humidity is always so low it's at the fringe of dry sensor measurement. I'm not a weather hobbiest so PC connection was unimportant besides being impractical in my solar-electric home. I'll just do the same as the last 10-years write down the daily min and max in the monthly wall calendar how crude pen and paper.



I considered Oregon Scientific better reviews more features but much more expensive and it needed 10 batteries and a wall wart. Also Zephyr and Davis the first had no reviews or downloadable manual and the latter was out of my price range. I read many positive and negative reviews for the 1611/1612 and I downloaded several manuals. In the end I decided on the "devil I knew" my $20 La Cross wireless thermometer 9013 had been reliable for many years. I'll keep it around for its atomic clock.



Like all La Crosse weather instruments the top line of the display is the time and date on a weather station? Then the date field is so tight mine now reads 11209 unlike the time field there are no spaces or delimiters. The single most important reading the outdoor temp is buried in the fourth group duh. Since you can get an atomic clock on $15 units one has to wonder why its not included on the 1611? Having all that in mind I was price driven so the 1611 is it.



A clever feature of the 1611 is one pair of AA's inside the temp sensor powers it and both the rain and wind sensors all wired together. Now it gets strange if all these sensors are outside and wirelessly connected to the base station why is the temp sensor not weather proof? It has to be protected from rain and sun Duh? So I made a "bird house" to protect the "outdoor" sensor from the weather.



I have the sensors roughly 200-feet from the base the signal has to pass through a 12" solid wood wall and the base is sitting on a table with a wireless b/g router and a wireless mouse no problems. I'm impressed.



I've attached two photos may help to visualize setup. *Added three more pics.



Edit (*)July 10 2009

After the wind blew over my original mast and smashed the wind sensor into too many pieces to count I bought a second used unit. I guyed the mast with four steel cables see pic. I now have two working base stations and a few spare parts.



I have two more complaints about the user interface:

1) Resetting the max/min readings. Press Max/Min to scroll through all the possible values > press Set then press + for every value you wish to reset. Theirs no master reset.

2) The Beaufort wind speed scale is meaningless unless you live on the ocean and own a boat. I'd much prefer the MPH value be inside the wind rose.More detail ...