Shopping CartOregon Scientific WMR100N Professional Wireless Weather Station, Silver
date : October 15th, 2011Weather Station
Review : 3 Reviews
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List Price : $ 250.00
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Tags : Oregon, Professional, Scientific, Silver, Station, Weather, Wireless, WMR100N
Features For Oregon Scientific WMR100N Professional Wireless Weather Station, Silver
- Rotary dial controls for easy console navigation.
- Includes five sensors for comprehensive weather information. Forecast the weather 12 to 24 hours in advance using graphic icons. Displays temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, wind, rainfall, dew point, wind-chill, and heat index data.
- Wind sensor provides information on wind speed, gust, and direction.
- Displays three levels of temperature and humidity trends: Rising, Steady, or Falling. Minimum/maximum temperature and humidity memory with time/date stamp.
- Wireless sensors transmit data from up to 300 feet from main unit.
Description For Oregon Scientific WMR100N Professional Wireless Weather Station, Silver
Capturing weather data has never been easier with our Professional Wireless Weather Station. Featuring a rotary dial for easy information access, the WMR100 monitors six different weather measurements and includes a clock with alarm that automatically sets itself to the U.S. Atomic Clock and adjusts for Daylight Saving Time. An all-in-one sensor pole offers easy set-up, and you can even expand the sensors for additional weather monitoring.
List Price: $ 250.00
Price: $ 250.00
Surprise! SURPISE! Surprise!,
Was in the market for a basic wireless WX station and after reading the many reviews for both WMR100 (1st gen) and WMR100N (2nd gen) here and elsewhere, I pulled the trigger. For a buck fiddie, I figured it was worth the gamble.
I like to keep my expectation bar low so based on the reviews squared with law of averages multiplied by Murphy’s I figured the station would:
1. Show up in a week to 10 days
2. Have at least 2 dead sensors
3. Be extremely frustrating to set up
4. Not interface with Weather Display
5. Be impossible to remedy with OS customer service
Boy was I surprised. First the station shows up a mere day and a half after the cha-ching mouse click. I open it up and confirm all the parts and pieces are there and begin to install the batteries in the sensors per the very easy to follow ‘Quick Start Guide’. Plug in the console and it’s reading wind and rain. No joy on the temp/humidity though so I go through the steps of verifying good battery, reset buttons etc but still no joy. So OK, the temp/humidity sensor is DOA. But I’m batting .666 at this point so not really that bummed.
Plug in USB cable and switch Weather Display from my old Davis unit to the new OS WMR100N and boom, it’s got it. That was easy.
Now it’s time to verify data. I stick the anemometer out the window and console registers 34.9 MPH. Dang, way high I think. So I check a NOAA station a couple miles down my beach (same fetch – the Pacific ocean!) and sure enough it’s 28-37. Ok, cool.
Test the rain gauge and it reports dead on.
So now to deal with the temp/humidity. I could care less about humidity but temp is important. I figure I’ll just pony up for a new sensor given the customer support horror stories but decide to give them a call for giggles.
Call the 1-800 number listed in another review and after navigating the one menu option (Press 9) I get the ubiquitous ‘All representatives are busy now…’ Here we go I think and put the phone on speaker while I head off to do some laundry. Take one step and I hear, “Hi, my name is Michelle, how can I help you?” Another WOW, ok, I ‘splain the problem and expect the usual did you do this? did you do that? rube goldberg reply but she asks a couple basic questions then promptly issues an RNA and says a new unit will be sent out as soon as I email her the receipt. Dang! That was too easy.
Alright, so we will see how long it takes to receive the replacement but so far, I’m impressed especially vis a vis all the negative feedback on this station. Interesting the previous gen (WMR100 not ‘N’) received much better reviews when the ‘N’ actually uses redesigned sensors to correct some of the first gen bugs. So that is not squaring. Nor is the ‘customer service’ complaints. Just saying.
Ok, on to the review. Instructions + manual were very easy to follow, well written and accurate. Console is very easy to use, mostly intuitive and smart looking. My clock didn’t sync but then I’m prolly violating the no-interference rule by having my base station too close to other ‘electrical appliances’.
Installed wind sensor this morning on my roof. Fit perfect on an old windsurfing mast. It’s approximately 25′ directly above the base unit sending / receiving fine. Ditto for the rain gauge.
Bottom line: SURPRISE. Surprised about the quality given cost is 1/4 a Davis station with similar features. Surprised customer service was so responsive and accommodating. Surprised the thing showed up 36 hours after I pulled the sale trigger. Surprised how easy it was to get operational. Surprised how easy it interfaced with Weather Display software. And surprised that for the most part, experience DID NOT conform to the average negative review.
That said, fingers crossed on sensor replacement I’ll post an update when temp sensor arrives or if something anomalous occurs.
Update October 2, 2009, 9:32 AM:
Another surprise > Just got a call from Michelle at OS with tracking number and ETA! New sensor should be hear early next week. Now THAT is customer service! BTW, station is online here:[...]
Update October 5, 2009:
Replacement temp/humidity sensor arrived this morning as promised and works fine. Kudos OS for the excellent and expedited service.
Note: I found the base unit will not receive a signal if it is within close proximity (a few inches) of my laptops transformer. Similarly you could probably extrapolate to similar electron sinks.
You can monitor this station on Weather Underground. Enter KCASANFR99 in the search bar.
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|frustrating,
I received one of these for a xmas gift, and it has been a solid week of frustration. The temperature/humidity sender will not communicate with the console. I’ve had several conversations with Oregon Scientific tech support (don’t bother to email them, call) and they decided that the sensor was bad. I returned the sensor to Oregon Scientific headquarters (for some reason tech support sent me there) and we got the new sensor to talk to the console, but when I got it home and moved it more than 10 feet away from the console it stopped working again and that’s it.
The idea of having 100% wireless communication throughout the system is very good, but the execution is poor. Looking at the reviews for the similar WMR100 show that this is a common issue with these units. Moreover, navigating the display and and menus of the base unit is not a great experience, and the constant shrill beeping with each keytouch is annoying. Also, the instructions that come with the unit are very basic. On the plus side, USB communications from the base unit to a computer seem to work quite well.
I was hoping to use the weather station to gather data for Weather Underground. As I am running Mac OS, the only option for the WMR100N is Weather Display, which is a Windows port and not satisfactory. Lightsource Weather Center is a much nicer looking software package for Mac OS (for the same cost as Weather Display) but doesn’t support the WMR100/N/NA.
I’m hoping to return this unit and purchase a LaCrosse unit instead. A solid week of pounding my head against the desk is enough.
Update: Oregon Scientific was very good about taking the unit back for a refund, and the tech support people emailed me and apologized for not getting back to me sooner. Thumbs up to Oregon Scientific for that.
In retrospect: this has potential, as it is fully wireless and the external sensors appear to be well made, and the kit includes a mast and other mount options. I’m not keen on the design of the console/base unit, and the downside to wireless only communication is obvious once the sensors stop cooperating with the console. Also, this is not a good choice for those running Mac OS who hope to do computerized weather tracking and reporting. Oregon Scientific did do a good job of standing behind the product.
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|Not for the layman,
Oregon Scientific WMR100N Professional Wireless Weather Station, Silver This product is very likely to frustrate a beginning weather buff. I bought it to replace a similar Oregon Scientific weather station I bought several years ago, and which worked well for me. Like the previous reviewer, I had trouble getting the remote temperature-humudity sensor to communicate with the console. This was partly because the instructions for setup are ambiguous. In one place, the instructions say to put the batteries in the console before putting them in the remote sensor. In another place, the batteries are to be put in the remote sensor first. The latter is the correct procedure. Otherwise, if you have several remote sensors and the batteries die in one, when you replace them you would have to reinstall the batteries in all units to get the system to work right. Even when the batteries are correctly installed, communication between the remote sensors and the console is iffy. Everything works fine if all components are in the same room, but if there is a wall between the remote sensors and the console, the distance between them should be less than 50 feet, rather than the 100 meters advertised. I bought this unit also because the remote temperature/humidity sensor is mounted in a casing on the wind sensor mast, and presumably does not have to be put in the shade. Unfortunately, that is not the case. With this setup, the temperature readings during the day are as much as ten degrees higher than those in the shade in winter. The difference may be much greater summer in Arizona. I am going to try to remedy this by coating the casing with a highly reflective white paint, but I doubt that this will work. Oregon Scientific is known for its quality products, but lately that does not seem to be the case.
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