What's the difference between home and professional weather stations?

About Weather Stations

Not all weather stations are created equal. Today, weather stations can range from simple indoor/outdoor temperature/humidity monitors to increasingly feature-packed, reliable, and sophisticated products capable of obtaining professionally accurate measurements.

No matter what your application, there's a station that’s suitable for everyone. The question is, what differentiates them all?

Personal Home Use Stations

This category comprises basic devices that measure indoor/outdoor temperature and humidity, up to multisensor stations with all the bells and whistles, such as WIFI connectivity.

Wireless Weather Station 
Product Code: WS1151

The WS1151 Wireless Weather Station is an attractive, straightforward station for anyone interested in observing the weather. At a glance, users can view the current temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, and forecast.

Measures: Indoor/Outdoor Temperature, Indoor/Outdoor Humidity, Barometric Pressure

Range: 100 metres

Connectivity: N/A

5 Impressive Features:

1. Provides a forecast using barometric pressure so that you can predict what may occur and see how your day may be affected by the weather.
2. Shows sunrise, sunset times to help you plan your day.
3. The display console is LED-backlit, has a low battery indicator, and can free stand on a desk or hang on a wall.
4. The indoor console automatically records minimum and maximum temperature and humidity readings until reset.
5. Set high and low alarms for time, indoor and outdoor humidity, indoor and outdoor temperature, and pressure.

7 Inch Colour WiFi Wireless Weather Station 
Product Code: IC0370

The IC0370 transmits an assortment of weather parameters to the stylish, multicolour indoor display. The unit connects to WIFI along with a host of third party weather applications so that you can view your data online, from anywhere in the world!

Measures: Indoor/outdoor temperature, indoor/outdoor humidity, barometric pressure, rainfall, wind speed, wind direction, heat index, dew point, light levels, UV index.

Range: 100 metres

Connectivity: WIFI

5 Impressive Features:

1. View weather forecasts based on the collected information. Find out if it will be sunny, partly sunny, cloudy, rainy, stormy, or snow.
2. The ability to upload to Weather Underground via WiFi means you can track and view your data on the world's largest Weather Network.
3. Users can set up independent alerts for indoor/outdoor temperature and humidity.
4. View the current UV index and outdoor lux levels – an excellent feature if you own a rooftop solar array.
5. The heat index, wind chill, and dew point readings provide insight into comfort levels.

Advanced and Feature Rich Stations (Both Home users and Professionals!)

The following advanced and feature-rich stations sit between devices suitable only for home-use and professional models.

Vantage Vue Wireless Weather Station 
Product Code: IC6250AU

The Davis Vantage Vue is durable, accurate, and compact. Suitable for weather enthusiasts, farming, the education sector, and some industrial applications. The station measures ten different weather variables and employs impressive frequency hopping radio transmission technology so that the outdoor sensors communicate reliably with the indoor console (i.e., much more dependable than basic weather stations). 

Measures: Indoor/outdoor temperature, indoor/outdoor humidity, barometric pressure, dew point, heat index, rainfall, rain rate, will child, wind direction, and wind speed.

Range: 300 metres

Connectivity: Expandable options.

5 Impressive Features:

1. The Vantage Vue has 22 configurable audible and visual weather alarms.
2. On the indoor console, you can view weather forecast icons, moon phase, sunrise/sunset times as well as graphing of weather trends.
3. Weather variables are updated every 10 seconds, with weather changes tracked over 24-hours.
4. The outdoor sensor suite has a UV stabilised plastic casing that will retain its brilliant white finish for years to come.
5. Extensive optional add-ons and packages (such as Weatherlink Live) allow users to log data and connect the station to the Internet.

Vantage Pro 2 With Standard Radiation Shield 
Product Code: IC6152AU

Generally considered professional standard but priced well within reach of a weather enthusiast, the Vantage Pro 2 weather station transmits weather information by wireless signal to the display over a distance of up to 300 meters. Not far enough? Add wireless repeaters to increase the suite’s range up to 2.7km! The Vantage Pro 2 is highly flexible and expandable with options for add-on sensors plus data transfer options.

Measures:Temperature, Barometric Pressure, Dew Point, Heat Index, Humidity, Rainfall, Rain Rate, Wind Chill, Wind Direction, Wind Speed.

Range: 300m (extendable)

Connectivity: Wireless station to console. Expandable options.

5 Impressive Features:

1. With the Vantage Pro 2, you can add additional sensors such as UV or solar radiation, soil moisture, and leaf wetness sensors.
2. Other expansion choices include connectivity options, logging weather data, or uploading data to the Internet using the optional Weatherlink Packages.
3. The Vantage Pro 2 is highly accurate and reliable, meaning your local data will be highly repeatable.
4. Housing for all electronic components is within a rugged weather-resistant shelter, built to withstand the toughest Australian weather conditions.
5. Users can set alarms plus view forecasts, moon phases, rainfall totals, and some historical data on the extra-large indoor console.

Professional Weather Stations

Professional weather stations offer the highest degree of accuracy and construction quality for longevity, precision, data collection, and storage efficiency. Professional stations generally have advanced sensors not often required by the home weather buff and are constructed from the highest quality materials.

Orion Weather Station With MicroServer 
Product Code: Orion-Network

This fixed mount weather station is the perfect setup for professional applications. Contains no moving parts, making it practically maintenance-free, which is perfect for long-term deployments in remote or difficult to access places. The Orion weather station includes an all-in-one high-tech sensor module with ultrasonic wind direction and wind speed, a highly accurate impact rain sensor, along with capacitive relative humidity, temperature, and barometric pressure readings.

Measures: Temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed, wind direction, relative humidity, and rainfall.

Range: 15-metre sensor cable

Connectivity: The included
Weather MicroServer (200MHz ARM Processor, 512 MB Flash Memory) has the following:32 MB Datalogger, FTP output to the Internet, XML Webserver, Ethernet Network Connection, Modbus TCP/IP and Modbus RTU (RS-232) Communications, SNMP Interface, Dual RS-232 ports.

5 Impressive Features:

1. Compact and lightweight, this all-in-one station produces reliable, accurate, and stable measurements year-round.
2. A single cable is used for quick and easy installation, while the ultra-low power consumption improves reliability and longevity.
3. The colour LCD console connects directly to the weather station with a serial port or the Weather MicroServer utilising existing Ethernet.
4. The Weather MicroServer is a self-contained, proprietary computer utilising an embedded Linux operating system. It allows for a host of communication and monitoring interfaces, data logging, and collection and interfacing with additional peripheral devices.
5. The WeatherMaster software is professional-grade and acts to optimise the weather station's capabilities while providing real-time computer weather monitoring.

Choosing the Right Weather Station for You

There are three questions to ask yourself:

1. What weather parameters do you want to measure? Generally, the more parameters measured, the higher the cost.
2. What is your desired forecasting and measurement accuracy? Are you going to be making important decisions based on relayed weather information or simply using data as a helpful indicator or weather guide?
3. How much are you willing to spend (and do you need to spend it)? A professional weather station could be overkill in a suburban setting.

Conclusion

Selecting your ideal weather station is a personal choice, and ultimately depends on your requirements, budget, and desired accuracy.

Want more information on any of the products mentioned above or need a hand finding the best station for your needs? Share your requirements with an Instrument Choice Scientist! We're here to help! Call 1300 737 871 or email [email protected].