Setup was simple enough, just follow the directions. One caution - as the instructions state, you MUST install the batteries in all of the sensors first and have them close to the base station, then power up the base station. Otherwise, the base station may not associate with the devices and you are in for some hassles.
A USB cable is provided for connection to the PC. Many weather stations are still using serial ports. My PC doesn't even have a serial port, so this saved me buying an adapter.
The included software is a bit primitive, both graphically and user controls. You can see the current conditions, or a historical graph for one reading. This product is relatively new, so there isn't a lot of support in third party software. WUHU, software for uploading data to wunderground.com, just added support in early January 2009. Weather View 32 also claims support for the TE8321W.
I appreciated the fact that all of the measurement units are separate, giving me the ability to place them where they are convenient for me. The price you pay is installing 10 AA batteries. I placed the rain gauge in the middle of the yard where I can easily access it to remove debris.
The TE831W comes with two temperature sensors. Unfortunately, they are not as accurate as I would like. My two sensors had a 0.8 degree Fahrenheit difference when placed side by side. The specifications do say the temperature is only accurate to within 2 degrees. Normally, that wont be a big issue for me, but we just had freezing weather and the difference between 32 and 33 degrees is important in those conditions. I chose what appeared to be the most accurate of the two units for my outside temperature.
The rain gauge is reading reliably at 50 feet through one exterior wall. The annonometer was originally at about 75 feet, but was reading intermittently. I moved it near the rain gauge and it is fine now. I will move it to the roof when the weather improves.
The temperature sensors needed to be closer, unfortunately. When mounted next to the rain gauge at 50 feet, the temperature sensor was not readable by the base station whenever my PC was on. I moved it to a spot 20 feet away, and it would still occasionally loose connectivity when the PC was on. Finally, I positioned it just a few feet away from the wall and it is always connected. The "less accurate" sensor is in the garage where it also has intermittent connectivity, but that is 75 feet and a bunch of walls away, so I can't complain.
The included PC software, WeatherCapture 1.4.2, looks like something from the early 90's, and user control is limited. My plan is to upload data from my weather station to wunderground.com, and I will typically view my data from there, or use the base station.
The device is new, so 3rd party software support isn't as good as other, more popular weather stations. WUHU very recently added support for the TE831W for uploading data to wunderground.com, and I have read that Weather View 32 also supports it.
In summary, for the price, this is a good value. To get significantly better performance, you'd have to spend a lot more on weather station like the Davis Vantage Pro-2 Wireless 6152.
- G. Peek (Oregon)
Let me start this review by saying I like this weather station. I can not believe I said that since I bought and sold the 924 model. That is the one with the weather radio. With that unit I had nothing but problems. I kept losing reception, the weather radio was too loud even at its lowest volume and you had to guess on what button to press since they were all on the back of the unit and then hope you did it right. Very frustrating indeed.
Even though I think that the TE831W-2 was made before the 924 model, I have had none of these problems so far that I experienced with the other model and it was a great price for what you get. Just a word on ordering from ANT Online, even though I bought it new it appears that while everything looked new it came with old batteries in every instrument where there should not have been any batteries at all. The CD came broken for the weather capture software. Of course a quick trip to the Honeywell site took care of this problem as I just downloaded the newest version of the software. A word about the software is that it is very simplistic, but it works.
The base station picked up all the instruments in about 5 minutes so I mounted everything outside and so far so good. The biggest problem I had was with the installation of the anemometer and lining up the screw, but eventually I got it.
Lets see what you get here. A barometer with a 12 hour weather forecast and a graph that is on the top left corner of the base unit. On the bottom left you get a clock and date or phases of the moon. On the right corner of the unit you can see the outside temperature and humidity and the indoor temperature with humidity readings as well as view the dew point. The next window is the current wind with gusts and history with wind chill and on the bottom right you have your rain gauge readings. All buttons are lined up on the bottom of the unit so you can see what you are pressing in each window to change your data. On the back of the unit there is a light sensor that works so this can be set to on, off or auto. The light when turned on in the base unit is blue. There is the ability to set the weather station for several different weather alarms.
This is all great, but it would be nothing if the readings were not accurate. After testing the readings that the weather instruments were giving out my findings were that the barometer was spot on, the temperatures and humidity readings were on the mark and the rain gauge seems to give precise readings. The anemometer was probably the weakest link for the weather station, but even this was working up to a certain point. It just wasn't as accurate as the other weather instruments as I suspected. There is also at times a confusing, but complete weather station manual to look at if you need help.
Still for the money compared to more expensive units these weather instruments seem sturdy and everything works on the weather station. I will edit this review if this Honeywell weather station shows that it does not hold up or problems should arise, but for the time being I like this weather station enough to fully recommend it.
- Jeffrey Green
I am giving this product 5 stars - not because it is perfect, but because it is really well built and works well, for the money. Sure, you can buy a Davis, etc for $500, but this is about 1/4 of that price, and it is working great. I read the other reviews, and most are accurate, but some do not fully recognize this value issue.
My experience:
1) I bought 8 Lithium batteries - two for each of the 4 outside units. Cost is about $20, but a) they will give a bit more range, b) they are recommended for operation below about 0C (32F), and c) they may last a bit longer.
2) I read the manual, which is quite good, and followed the directions. Make sure you do the battery installs in the sensors first, as it says, before the main unit ! Then verify everything is being received before installing the sensors outside. (NOTE - don't forget to check/set the channel numbers on the temp/humidity sensor units before installing their batteries)
3) Build quality is really nice for all the pieces. Gaskets on the battery cases, brass inserts for the screws to keep them from stripping, etc. The designers and manufacturer of the unit did some really excellent work on all these parts.
4) Temp sensors all agreed within less than one degree. There are actually FOUR of them. Two in the temp/humidity units, one in the anemometer, and one in the inside base unit. Nice.
5) Rain gauge seems to work well. Have not tested accuracy yet though. Again - very nice construction for the price. Anemometer build is great too. Amazing when you consider how much you're getting for the money.
6) When using the anemometer - be sure to set it to read "Gust". Other settings appear to be doing some averaging, and probably are partly the cause of problems experienced by other reviewers. I got a peak gust of 13.6 mph when mounted on a pole at a height slightly below the roof peak, and below the trees (but still reasonably high up and in the clear). By comparison, the local airport was reporting peak-gust at 20 mph. This seems reasonable given my obstructions.
7) The barometer also seems pretty accurate. I adjusted to match the airport (which is at a density altitude of 1200 ft), and the corresponding altitude on the base unit read 1352 ft - only 150 ft off. Like I said, pretty good.
8) I did have one sensor lose signal when I moved the unit to a location which required the signal to go through several walls in my house - but that's what radio does.....
All in all, this unit gets (and deserves) 5 stars from me. Hope you have similar experiences. I am very happy with the value the company has provided !
- Optimist (Kansas)
I bought this item a weak ago and its an amazing units.
Setup
Relatively easy to setup except for so many screws but they are actually there for a reason since the units will be outdoors mainly, they act as a protective mechanism. The anemometer was the hardest to setup while the thermohydrometers were the easiest.
Build
Most of the units are well built and seem sturdy. Both range gauge and anemomters are about 16 m away and are still communicating with the receiver. The thermohydromter is nearer ( about a meter away).
Accuracy
A very accurate unit indeed and for those who say the anemomter is inaccurate try setting the wind reading to gust and you'll see. If the anemometer is set to wind speed it will record the wind speed over a 10 minute average. The rain gauge is also accurate, the thermohydromters are extremely accurate.
PC Interface
Premature program but I don't really care since the data is being uploaded to weather underground.
Overall a great unit for the price and I give this 5 stars.
- Charles W.
