Accessories

Don't bother!!!
I have had this unit for over a year. I am very displeased with it and have told the company so. The fan is the wind anemometer driving unit. During winter storms the fan freezes up from snow or ice. You can take it down and clean it, or wait for it to thaw out, which usually takes days. The wind vane, on top of the fan anemometer, whips the fan around so much you don't get accurate readings. (I wish I'd purchased a unit with cups and not a fan). Don't put the thermo sensor in the sun. It has to be out of direct sunlight to give accurate readings. The computer part of the system, I've found, is only compatible with Windows 98. I've used XP and ME and get really wierd wind and rain readings. The unit is better than nothing but more thought should have went into designing it. The connection for the computer is a serial connector. It should have been a USB connector. I love being able to use both the display unit and computer for checking weather readings. And resetting everything is a breeze on the computer. The history data is very useful too. You can set the unit to take reading every two minutes if you like. Your history file would get pretty full though. Being a SKYWARN spotter and Amateur Radio Operator I enjoy weather, and this unit is fair for doing the job.

Great Value and Functionality!
I found this item at a substantial discount at H******** A****** (a specialist in closeouts), and am delighted with it in all respects. I made a cruciform mast out of 3/4" PVC and mounted the anemometer to the top upright, and rain gauge on one of the arms with "U" bolts fashioned out of threaded rod. All the wires are threaded down through the upright and out the bottom and back under the eaves of my garage, at the roof peak of which the mast is fastened. It helps to have a telephone wire RJ-11 plug kit and pliers to shorten the cable lengths appropriately.

Everything worked great out of the box! The instructions are deficient in that they lack illustrations showing how all this goes together, and one has to read them closely to discover that the rain gauge must be partially disassembled for mounting!

It is hard to believe...
I pondered this purchase for quite some time. It seemed to offer the same features as the $500+ Davis and Peet Bros. stations for a whole bunch less and even included the software for free. Finally bought it and am quite pleased. My ham transmitter may screw up the rain gauge "inches in the last hour" recording, but I am not even sure about that.

I sure cannot see anything the expensive stations have that this one doesn't have except for its "non-hackability". As a gadget geek, I'd like to know more about the interfaces and the software construction.

Avoid this product
LaCrosse technical support is abysmal. 9 times out of 10 when you call you will have to leave a voice mail. These units ship with cheap telephone cable that easily pick up interference. You can use the wireless mode to help combat this, but you will only get updates once every 2 minutes. For wind information (gusts) this is unacceptable. Just be warned, you get what you pay for.

Handy
Delighted with the weather station; good design and enjoy knowing wind, rain, temperature, humidity etc.