Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2 Weather Station (Wireless)

The Davis Instruments Vantage Pro 2 Wireless Weather Station is for us a way of doing personal meteorology at our home. Some of the things in my review may not sound like a glowing endorsement so right up front let me say this is a wonderful device that is very accurate and easy to use. However, it is not for everyone. As I write this I have had it up and running for about 3 weeks here in southeastern, MI. The operation of the device is simple and straight forward and the installation and assembly instructions are clear, concise and easy to follow. However the actual site selection and installation may be more challenging for some and in the end may not be worthwhile when you so many sources of weather information is available. Before buying this I urge you to visit the Davis Instruments website and download the ISS manual and read it carefully to make sure you are willing to follow the instructions, doing so will help with the accuracy of the readings Ours is mounted on a cedar post I put in and it sits on a part of our yard away from the driveway, the road and the tree line so it is minimally affected by them. In an ideal scenario you want the device located in a way that the temp, rainfall, wind and wind speed are minimally affected by other conditions such as a hot driveway in the summer or a tree line blocking rain or wind. Mounting the device takes time and energy, so it s not something you take out of the box, put a battery in and set it on your deck, you can do that if you wish but then it is not a good investment as the accuracy will suffer. Accuracy, choosing the location carefully aids in obtaining accurate readings. We live not too far from a NOAA weather station so it is not to hard to get a baseline so you at least have a way to check the conditions against an accurate source and so far it is very close, although of course there are differences but I ascribe that to sight differences in climate and instrumentation, after all, professional weather instruments are at least an order of magnitude more expensive. I feel we have a very accurate read of our local weather conditions. The console is easy to set up and the wireless reception is excellent. Our console is about 250 feet (~76 meters)from the station and it reads the signals just fine. The signal has to pass through multiple walls to be read and so far so good. Many have this device attached to a computer and also upload the information to many sites such as the Weather Underground, The Weather Underground site is a very good resource on weather stations and the installation and the software necessary. You will have to purchase additional equipment and software to do this. If anyone wants some tips I will respond to questions about this review, let it suffice to say I have a fully functioning node on the weather underground that the information is uploaded to on a regular basis, that is even more fun and apps are available to read your personal information at will- that is fun. All in all a very nice unit, good accuracy and a lot of capabilities - as a hobbyist it is a great little tool and as an engineer a nice piece of work.

January 2016 update: This station is still rocking as it did the day it was new. Yes, I have replaced the battery, which wasn't low yet, but did so anyway. I have also replaced the OEM rain collector with the new and very improved one. But, and this is a huge but, this is a really accurate and dependable weather station. I have reported my station to Weather Underground since I purchased it, and without bragging, it has been the most visited PWS in my area since I put it up... and I contribute that to it's accuracy and name brand. There are lots of lesser brand PWS in my area but they often fail and report erroneous data. If you care to check out it's data, the station ID is KNCHICKO15. Bottom line: if you are serious about real weather data, then this is the unit for you. ----------- February 14/2014 update: A hidden feature, or at least it was for me. The HUGE rain collector also acts as a snow collector. Let me expand. While I would not recommend you climbing up a pole/your roof to measure snowfall, you can have the best of both worlds. Build a "snowboard", instructions can be found on google; then use the rain fall measure when the snow melts in your gage to determine exactly how much rain is equal to how much snow. The recent winter storm here on the east coast of the US, (check my profile to find out exactly where) left 5.5 inches of total snowfall and sleet accumulation on the ground, (in my area, yours may vary) has measured 0.77 inches of rain as it melts in my gauge. So, the old wives tale that one inch of rain equals 12 inches of snow is not correct. This has been proven by me and Davis, so I know it's true. :) ----------- As soon as I unpacked this baby, I knew it was of "higher" quality over the unit it was replacing. Yes, the cost was 4x, but the quality is equal to the increase in cost. The wind speed/directional part is very sturdy. The rain gauge is really sturdy compared to my previous unit. Also, the collector for the rain gauge is huge compared to the standard rain gauge. It has to be more accurate. Also, the entire unit is more "weather proof" over the unit it is replacing. With that said, the unit alone deserves ten stars. But, and a huge BUT; What brings this down to a five star rating is: Software. A joke at best. Looks like something I wrote in QuickBasic back in 1990. Also, it is a resource hog which means it is a dinosaur. Yes, It very SLOW! Documentation: This is also a joke. I've seen fifth graders write better instructions. Way too much is assumed that it makes this a total waste of paper. Yes, if you have owned Davis' products from day one, and have evolved along with them, then you are up to speed, but if you are like most, you are totally in the dark. Support: this also is a joke. I spent over two hours today (90 percent of the time was being on hold) talking to support to find out I knew more than they did. My biggest problem was connecting my station to Weather Underground. Seems that the latest version of their software "left out" this option. You have to download the module that allows you to send data to Wunderground.com . Also, you have to tac on to the price of this unit $150 bucks just to connect it to your computer... What they don't tell you is that you don't need the "weatherlink" account to upload to weather underground. This alone tacs on an additional $30 per year. So, this $485 PWS turns into a $700 PWS really fast, and the cost keep adding up. Bottom line, this is a TOP KNOTCH product. But, all the EXTRAs needed to utilize it, are for a lack of words, extortion. Would I recommend this to another? Yes and no. If they want quality and DON'T want to share their data via the internet, then this is the unit for them. If they want to share the data, then perhaps they can find a MUCH cheaper method. Davis, don't get me wrong, this is a great product but your poor documentation/crappy software/extra costs really are negative points. If anyone that has this unit is having problems, comment to me and I will help you set up your system and software. It's a huge learning curve but it can be achieved without running up a huge long distance telephone bill.

I have the Davis Vantage Pro 2, and this is a wonderful weather station. It is easy to install, accurate and packed with many features. I got WeatherLink IP with the station, and I broadcast my weather data to the internet. I installed the Davis Weather App on my smartphone, and now I can see the weather conditions at my house from any location, and I can also link in any Davis Weather Station that is hooked to the internet. Using these other stations, I can see weather conditions within a mile or so of my kids in Louisiana and Canada. Davis has really done a great job with this station. Some of the other reviewers complain about customer service at Davis. The company that manufactures the weather stations is based in Hayward, California with a web address of www.davisnet.com. I found out that the name Davis is also used by a second company in the Midwest, and this company is also a vendor that sells the Davis weather station. The web address of the second company is www.davis.com. If you call the Davis company in California, you will get wonderful technical support. I have called numerous times and never been disappointed The second Davis company also has a tech support group that is not knowledgeable concerning the weather station. I know because I called them before I realized that they were not the manufacturing company. One final thought. When hooking up the WeatherLink IP to your router, the instructions say you have to hardwire the weather readout console unit to your router. My router is upstairs in my house and my readout console is downstairs. Using a hardwire connection was not possible. I do, however, use a WiFi extender to make sure I get a good signal strength throughout the house. I simply put my WiFi extender next to my readout console and plugged the console into the extender. It works like a champ. I highly recommend the Davis Weather Station Vantage Pro 2.

This is my third weather station, I started off with an accurite from Lowe's that my wife bought me as a present. After it quit working, I decided to try an Ambient Weather station. I really liked it but it quit after about 2 years (it quit charging and the outside unit wouldn't report information). I bought the Square Trade warranty for the weather station but decided to go with a new station (I am going to have the station repaired and keep it as a back up). So that all led me to the Davis Instruments station... I installed it on a pole on a fence about 10 feet off of the ground until I construct a taller tower out of 4x4's. I also got the Weatherlink IP software (this was part of the purchase I wasn't pleased with, this is an added cost but if you want to see info on the internet you have to purchase this as well). So far the Davis weather station has been awesome! This is the no-frills model (I plan on upgrading with the fan and UV index sensor later) but it gives me the info I want. The Weatherlink software is good to go, and I also have it on Weather Underground. It seems to measure everything accurately, the rain sensor matches a separate rain gauge, the other sensor seem accurate as well. It is fun tracking the weather (call me a nerd but I don't care) and this station delivers! It was a little expensive but if you like to know what the weather is, this is the station for you. The Weatherlink network allows me to see weather and makes it easy to track other areas easily. This is a versatile station with plenty of upgrade ability, but a little on the expensive side. I recommend this for anyone who is serious about tracking weather.

After trying several different brands of weather stations - and putting up with their unreliability and premature failures, I decided to sink a bit more money than I had previously in hopes of a more reliable weather station. Also the slow response and reporting times of the other ones I tried created an exercise in frustration in that they missed wind peaks 90% of the time as they seemed to only report the wind speed at the moment of reporting. I had an Acu-rite that lost contact with the transmitter every time the wind was above a stiff breeze. The transmitter was 25 feet away from the receiver and in direct line of sight. Plus its humidity sensor failed at just over a year old. Installation took just under an hour as I already had a support set up for an older weather station so I just had to mount the ISS and anemometer. I elevated the anemometer to about 20 feet and this is included in my installation time. You can get your latitude and longitude from a number of sources. I used the National Weather Service page to get the position of my local airport and then mapped my elevation with Google Maps (the 25 foot difference did make a difference with the barometer, so I got as close as I could). Davis seems to have taken a different route with their weather stations and provide what I consider excellent value for the money. My Vantage Pro II has performed without flaw for over a month (I could NOT say that about the Acu-rite unit). Update times of 2 1/2 seconds is a major plus tracking wind speeds (it updates the outside temperature every 10 seconds). The Acu-rite weather station I retired reported every 18 seconds and frequently missed an update so I had to wait 36 seconds. Taking the receiver around the land, I was able to keep reliable contact for a bit over 1000 feet...and through a thick stand of trees and a dirt berm. Using the diagnostic screen, I called it quits at about 1400 feet when packet corruption reached about 50% (it reports reliability, but I did mental calculations with reported lost packets) of packets received. Here inside, it registers 99% reliability and only has to resync now and then. It has registered wind speeds way in excess of what the Acu-rite reported as the top recorded speed without even a hiccup. This station is ideal for people with large plots of land, and if you need to monitor weather (or use any additional temperature, leaf or ground moisture sensors) outside the range where it is reliable, there are also two different types of repeaters available, and you have a lot of flexibility with the repeaters. Also, the receiver which comes with the station also serves as a repeater if you purchase other receivers for around the house, office, etc. which can't receive the transmitter. I set the barometer for my elevation and it is in agreement with the one at the airport less than 10 miles away almost all the time. The only time the barometers didn't agree was with a fast moving front coming through the area which is understandable. The moon phase icon takes a little getting used to as it is backwards to all the other ones I have here. Full moon is reported by the moon segments being empty while the rest of my clocks, etc darken the segments to show light (no big deal; just have to remember how they designed it!). The onboard clock keeps time better than the other weather stations or thermometers I have tried, plus Daylight Saving Time does work! Graphing is a nice touch and it does take a bit of time to play around with to get the most out of....it is worth taking the time if you are into trends over time. I cannot speak about the computer linking software, UV or solar detectors. Others have mentioned the forecast feature. It may be more accurate than many of the others, but it still does not beat the good old weatherman! Having said that, I do not use it for forecasting the next 24 hours. One gripe I have read from others is that many weather stations don't report or record rainfall for a while after it starts to rain. A heavy dew could cause false rainfall readings. Davis programmed their stations to not report until they get two bucket tips within a 15 minute period. This is documented in the instruction manual. If I had a feature request: I would love to have two backlight brightness settings, but that is a personal thought and in no way detracts from how I feel about the Vantage Pro II station. The backup battery for the transmitter is readily available at Walmart, Walgreens, or just about any other location which sells batteries for general electronics like cameras, etc, so it is not some odd battery with limited options for purchase. Bottom line: If you want a reliable weather station with a lot of installation flexibility, it is worth the extra money. UPDATE April 10, 2014: Now that a month has passed since my review, I stick with my review. There have been no nasty surprises or even any unpleasant ones. One concern from my bad experiences with Acu-rite and the others I have tried, the clock has kept time very nicely. I also still trust my Davis to not miss wind peaks in gusty weather...also unlike the others. On a light note, the ticker tape often gives a bit of whimsy telling me it is good kite flying weather or it is raining cats and dogs! I am still glad I purchased the Vantage Pro 2.

The Davis Wireless Vantage Pro 2 is an excellent unit. I had the older generation Vantage pro and it has worked fine since 2004 but lately was losing the signal so I replaced it with the Pro 2. I have the unit installed on my house roof an an aluminum pole about 10ft high, held to the chimney which I no longer use. Setup is a few hours to do nicely. Works great. The only problem I ever had with my older unit was the rain gauge getting clogged. The birds sit on it and poop into the collector clogging the hole. There is a small plastic grate that goes over the hole, but the birds stole mine! About twice a year i go back up on the roof and clean out the hole. The backup battery for the unit is on the roof also and needs to be replaced every 3 years or so. The inside unit will warn you. The inside unit runs on 3 C-batteries and will run for over a year without the AC adapter. i don't like wires so I run the inside unit strictly on batteries. I just change the batteries every January 1. All-in-all a great unit....expensive yes but worth it if you are into weather. I love the inside console when it really starts to rain hard...a message pops up that says: "It's raining cats and dogs". No wires...a few batteries...easy installation...durable. For a weather station you can't go wrong.

This is a premium unit at a primium price. This is actually my second VantagePro. My original one lasted for about 12 years and the only part that stopped working was the Aneometer. Pretty impressive for an instrument that sits out in the weather 24/7, rain or shine. To me the styling of the indoor unit is a bit retro, but the data is solid and accurate. There are many ways you can configure the display. The info has always been accurate and lines up pretty well with the local airport. you do need to change the backup battery every few years. The "C" backup batteries in the indoor unit seem to last forever. Mine lasted the entire life of the unit, though my annual maintainance program includes looking inside the compartment for battery leaks. All in all, I have been so satisfied with this unit that I purchased a new one. It does command a premium price, but as with many things, you get what you pay for

I began searching for a new weather station after several of the functions on my 10+ year old Lacrosse Technology unit died. Unfortunately, a similar unit did not appear to be available from them. I began looking at the Davis units after seeing that the Weather Channel meteorologists used them on their remote broadcasts. This unit seemed to suit my needs perfectly. It has been in operation now for about six months, and I am very happy with it. The entire system is well made, particularly the base unit. The sensor unit could be a little more heavy duty in my opinion, but I unfortunately tend to expect things of this type to be built like a tank. The system is extremely accurate and so far, very reliable. It provides all the information needed for an avid weather watcher. My only complaint at this point is that a couple of readings I check regularly have to be accessed thru a 2cd function button plus another key. Long term reliability remains to be determined, but at this point, this seems to be a very good instrument and I highly recommend it.