Ambient Weather WS-2902 WiFi Smart Weather Station

Does exactly everything as advertised and easy to put together. I was suprised that after a couple weeks it was more accurate at predicting the weather here then the forcast my phone gives me. I have had for a month so fat and has given me 24 hour forcast accuracy. The display kinda lacks but I have it set at an angle in which it is nice and clear from my view. I did have trouble with a screw that holds the wind cuts on metal "stem" but worked through it. I love the fact the info is available online and that I can read other people's weather station info as well, I was pleasantly suprised so many are out there but mine is the only one located in this small town but the closest one to mine is like 5 miles away. I'm 49, interested in my immediate areas weather and this makes a great hobby for the price starting out. Very happy.

I'm comparing this the the Accurite 5 in 1 weather station. I've owned both. I chose these because I wanted to support Weather Underground PWS network. They both do this well. The WS-2902 was significantly more difficult to set up than the Accurite. I had to call their customer support to get help. After I got it working, it's been working flawlessly and non-stop for the two months I've had it. The quality is higher too. The WS-2902 has the solar radiation data that the Accurite was missing. The wind data is more accurate and has higher resolution. I used metal conduit for the pole (1"x10' EMT). Very pleased with the purchase.

I had been looking for a home weather station for years and finally decided to pull the trigger. Mainly because I had the perfect poll for it that had been sitting under out carport for years and my wife threated to get rid of it with the next bulk trash pickup. Use it or lose it, so I put it to use.If you are looking for a great weather station at great price this is the perfect unit. This station has all the basics you would want and more. Rain gage that measures not only the amount of rain but hourly rain fall as well as 24 hour rain fall, weekly, monthly and rain event totals. The unit has a wind vain and anemometer for wind direction and speed, of course. It also has temperature with heat index and wind chill. We have a pool so I love that the unit measures UV index and Solar Radiation.Assembly: Not too difficult. Everything goes together pretty easy if you have a basic knowledge of putting things together. If you don't then call your kids or grandkids to come do it for you. Directions are rather long and wordy and at times seem out of order. It also has a few steps for optional equipment that does not some with this particular unit. Dug through the box looking for those things before realizing they were optional. The wind vain and anemometer cups slip on and you just need a small screw driver to tighten them down. Rain gauge twist into place and the wire filter pushes right in. The unit runs on solar power but uses two AA batteries as a backup. Took me a minute to figure out how to get the cover to slide off, I never want to push too hard and break something.The biggest issue you will have is how and where to mount the unit. I have a large yard and a garden framed with rail road ties out around 100 feet away from the house. I also had an old pipe with tripod feet that use to be on our roof with our internet dish that I was able to mount the unit too. I was able to bold the stand to the railroad ties so it is not going anywhere. The u-joints that came with the unit securely mounted the unit to the pole I had and was fairly simple. The thing to remember is mouth it facing north, which I was easily able to do using the compass on my iPhone and the arrow on top of the unit. And do not forget to check the level of the unit. It has a level dot on top. I thought I was done, but then noticed that and spend another 30 minutes trying to adjust the base and the u-joint and pole screws to try and get it perfect… then just got mad and bent the pole and BAM… unit level.It took the unit a few minutes to find the indoor unit. I had to then move it around to find the best spot for reception. I have tried moving it all over the house and the base has a tough time reading the station if you move it too far away or there are too many walls between the station and the base. I have it setting on one of my wife’s tables by a back window within eyesight of the weather station. It gets five bars there and is working great, however my wife thinks it clashes with the aesthetic of the table… can’t win them all.Pros: Within a few hours of setting the unit up we had a big rain event. Unit worked great. We got over 3 inches of rain over night. With wind and rain unit held firmly in place. Display is easy to read. Also easy to setup and create accounts on Ambientweather.net and other weather apps that let me check out the weather conditions at my home wherever I am.Cons: Not many major ones. Set unit DST (Daylight savings time) thinking it would automatically spring forward and fall back with time change, but instead it would randomly spring forward an hour. Once I turned DST off the clock has kept the correct time.I could see if you have a small yard, or are in an area where the house are close together, or have a lot of trees, you may have a hard time finding a clear, unobstructed, spot to mount the unit. Also, if you do not have an existing pole to mount the unit to you could spend as much on the poll and hardware as you spend on the station itself.As for the unit itself the wind gauge does not look to read over 99.9 mph. I live on the Texas coast, took a direct hit from Hurricane Harvey in 2017, so that is a possibility where I live. While the unit might not display wind speed that high it may still read that and post it on the Ambientweather.net site.Lastly, If you are not computer or tech savvy then have your kids, grandkids, or someone under the age of 25 come over and help you with that part of the set up. I had an issue connecting it to our WiFi trying to follow the directions, and my son took it and without even looking at the directions had it connected in about 30 seconds.Overall great weather station for a great price.

UPDATE JAN 22, 2023: STILL WORKING GREAT.....THE PIC WAS TAKEN BEFORE I RAISED IT TO THE MAX HEIGHT POSSIBLE...ALKALINE BATTERY LIFE STILL APPEARS TO BE CLOSE TO 100%, NEXT TIME I WILL USE LITHIUMS, VERY ACCURATE, AND EVERYTHING WORKS....I AGREE SOMEWHAT WITH THE COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE VIEWING ANGLE OF THE DISPLAY, BUT I USE IT IN MY OFFICE AND POINT IT DIRECTLY AT MY CHAIR, SO IT ALWAYS LOOKS GOOD......FOR THE BEST RESULT PUT IT IN THE LITTLE CLIP-ON STAND AND LET IT SIT AT EXACTLY 90 DEGREES STRAIGHT UP (NORMAL TO THE MOUNTING SURFACE)....IT'S QUITE NICE FROM WHERE I SIT MOUNTED THIS WAY. WARNING: THE DISPLAY WILL NOT UPDATE THE IPHONE APP IF THE AC POWER SUPPLY IS TURNED OFF...AND SOMETIMES MY HOUSE CLEANER TURNS THE WALL SWITCH OFF THAT THIS IS CONNECTED TO...BUT AFTER SWITCHING IT BACK ON, 5 MINUTES LATER THE APP WILL UPDATE CORRECTLY. HAVE NOT YET SEEN ANY BIRD PROBLEMS.ORIGINAL COMMENTS, 11-12-2022:Since I am a weather geek, I looked at several units and bought this one. Easy to assemble, but be careful as it is a bit fragile so care should be taken. I installed a third-party pole mount bracket on my barn shed and brought a 2" wood dowel rod and raised it up above the roof line. So far, very nice performance. Seems to be really accurate and setting it up on the web was easy. The wind direction seems to move a lot, but honestly, when I am in my yard working I notice variable wind direction all the time. The wind speed is usually lower than reported by Weather Underground....the pressure measurements coincide with expected drops and increases. I have not calibrated the pressure yet, might need tech support for that. In three months' time I have noticed only one anomaly, and that was no rain was reported during one recent rain event, and I thought maybe a leaf clogged something......but two days later it was back to working perfectly. So, I'll leave it alone for now. I like the idea of looking at other people's weather systems, and mine correlates well with those. The outdoor unit communicates seamlessly with the indoor display at a distance of at least 75 yards, maybe a bit more (???). I should have installed Lithium batteries, as you should too.......but I could not find them at the time I needed them, so I used Alkaline. The iPhone GUI reports the battery level and it's still full after three months. 3 AA's required. All in all, great unit. My only concern is how long will it last. Time will tell. If I could add something to the GUI, I would ask for a report over time, stored data for perhaps up to a year that can be presented logically. For example, when I cover my pool I'd like to know how much rain we got in a 1-2-3 month time frame to know when/if it needs to be pumped to keep the water line below wall tiles. Minor point. Have not required Tech Support, so no rating is possible.