Acu-Rite Atlas PWS

[Voyager]

Does anyone have the new(?) Acu-Rite Atlas personal weather station, and if so, can you tell me about it. If you like it. If you'd recommend it. Etc...

https://www.acurite.com/atlas-weather-station.html

I'm in need of a new station, and while I'd love to have a Davis Pro, I can't afford the hefty price tag. Davis does have an "all in one" similar to the Acu-Rite models, but they only use a radiation panel to insulate the temperature sensor from the sun, while Acu-Rite uses a fan aspirated temp sensor. Not sure which is better, but my old Acu-Rite with the fan was pretty accurate during the mid-day hours with the sun beating on it.

The other thing I like about the Acu-Rite set up is that you can buy an extension and raise the anemometer 30 ft into the air to get a more accurate reading of wind speed. All this runs for about the same price as a Davis all in one.

[Stormfly]

I'm new here, been reading the site for years before finally joining.

My biggest issue with these wireless stations is the lack of refresh rate.  Understandably, due to the limits of battery capacity, this is necessary.  I wish there was a wired version which being powered (POE or Power Over Ethernet) is a good idea and allows up to 100 meters of cable between nodes, etc.

Of course this pushes into the realm of a professional product costing many times more than the home or hobbyist station.  I'm OK with that.

In the early 1980s, I had a shack with a wall of Heathkit instruments.  I loved that system!  A close strike on a tower took out the wind sensors (vane and cups) but this was in 1985 and Heath was still in business and I was able to get replacement parts and was back and running in a few days.  The bearings on those sensors were of extremely low friction (the sensor boom used on the ID-1890, ID-4000, and ID-5000 family) and was great for reading even the lightest breeze.

Of course today there's ultrasonic (but again) the cost is prohibitive for most.

Speaking of cost, my ID-4000 cost $399 back in 1982 (Kit) and the 5000 came out was $599.  Bargain compared to today if you can locate one in perfect shape!

I do miss seeing the display which was essentially like watching a speedometer while driving showing gusts in real time.

My wife got me an Accurite for Christmas and I did manage to get it set up a few weeks ago.  It seems to work (the rain gauge I'd say is the most convenient part) and the wind speeds just don't seem to reflect real winds and/or gusts.  I've been watching weather for nearly five decades and as a mariner in the past I'm pretty good with Beaufort estimating.  Of course we have trees and the location isn't optimal.  For gusts I just don't believe the recordings are accurate due to the very slow update rate.  It does not appear the device samples internally faster with a memory and reports the gust on the transmission to the base.  The lightning sensor is hilarious.  I was mounting it under the canopy of a large spruce tree and it started beeping because it was detecting the EMI from the DeWalt cordless screw gun I used to lash it to the trunk!  Not sure how it will work when we do get activity in the spring as a few weeks ago there were strikes <12 miles away and it was silent.

I did pull the trigger on an autonomous unit that is solar powered with a GPRS radio.  That one's going on a free standing tower at 10m in the pasture here.  The ultrasonic anemometer polls at 30Hz so I don't think instantaneous gust capture will be a problem.