Ambient Weather WS-1200 Observer Solar Powered Wireless Weather Station w/ Solar Radiation & UV

We've had our WS-1200 up for about a month, so far we're very happy with it. It was easy to set up, instruction manual was easy to read and follow, everything worked correctly right out of the box. This replaces an inexpensive Oregon Scientific unit that just supplied outdoor temp/humidity, so this is quite a step up for us. So far I've had no reason to contact Ambient, so I can't comment on their customer service. I constructed my own mounting system, but I did use the supplied U-bolts to mount the unit to my pole. Because the unit needs to be taken down for periodic maintenance I used all brass nuts/bolts for anything that needs to be removed to get the unit down, I also replaced the supplied U-bolt nuts with brass nuts, they're 5/16"-18 thread. We live in Southern Wisconsin, any steel fasteners would quickly rust, which would cause a lot of cussing when the unit needs to come down. No matter where you live, do yourself a favor, spend the few extra dollars to buy brass fasteners.Signal strength has been excellent, the outdoor unit is about 85' from the receiver, it travels through one exterior and two interior walls.

I live in the northern part of the country and when it snow even just 3 or 4 inches the wind speed and direction become inoperable. I emailed the company and they told me to spray the unit with non-stick snow spray but that did not work. The unit works very well and the readings are accurate but there is no wind information if it snows. very disappointed

This one was to replace a defective unit. The wind direction stopped working properly on the first one I bought. Everything else stilled worked it just indicated the wind from a wrong direction.. The new one is up and working properly.

I really enjoy this station. It has a huge amount of information for both inside and outside the house. It was very easy to install and seems to be well built to last many years. No issues and I would recommend with no hesitation.

I bought two of these WS-1200s a little over a year ago for about $500.They both were a couple of months out of their one year warranty. Both have failed due to durability issues and cannot be repaired. I was told by reps. of Ambient Weather that as a newer model they are making durability improvements to these units. So I am out the money, and cannot give this particular unit any thing but one star. They should have ironed out the bugs before putting them out on the market.

It's an easy to install and use weather station and all the sensors work well, except one. I used separate sensors to check its accuracy and I'm pleased with the results, even the temperature gauge was reasonably accurate in the sun. The one major flaw is inherent on its design and all stations built the same way will have it. Wind affects rain measurements considerably. You have the choice of setting the device up high to get decent wind readings and crummy rain readings or down low and reverse the outcome. At 20mph winds or over the rain results can be up to 50% off as measured by a physical water collecting gauge. As soon as the wind drops, you get decent results. This is due to the vortex created above the collecting opening which prevents the rain from going into the station. There's lots of discussions about this on the web, I wish I had read them before I purchased 10 months ago. You are far better off buying a station where the rain gauge can be placed in a separate location to the anemometer, you want to read the rainfall down low close to the ground where there's less wind and the anemometer up high where it is free from obstructions. I ended up adjusting the rain calibration (easy to do) up to make up for the low readings during windy conditions, it improves the overall results but it's not perfect.

Very easy to install. I like its features. Its 5 v dc power is from a small wall cube. I made an emergency power supply using the DROK LM2596 DC to DC Step down converter to obtain power from my 12 vdc deep cycle storage battery. I can switch between these two 5 vdc power sources in case of house power loss.

This is the best weather station that I have owned to date. This weather station is everything they say and more. The display is good sized and easy to read. The different features make this a very versatile weather observer. The only thing that I would add to it is to give the chart more options such as rainfall, wind speed and wind-chill readings. Otherwise a terrific device that I would recommend to anyone looking to get a very accurate and great looking device.