LinuxQuestions.org - Ambient Weather WS-1001-Wifi Observer Review

In the most recent episode of Bad Voltage, I reviewed the Ambient Weather WS-1001-Wifi Observer Personal Weather Station. Tune in to listen to the ensuing discussion and the rest of the show.

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Regular listeners will know I'm an avid runner and sports fan. Add in the fact that I live in a city where weather can change in an instant and a personal weather station was irresistible to the tech and data enthusiast inside me. After doing a bit of research, I decided on the Ambient Weather WS-1001-Wifi Observer. While it only needs to be performed once, I should note that setup is fairly involved. The product comes with three components: An outdoor sensor array which should be mounted on a pole, chimney or other suitable area, a small indoor sensor and an LCD control panel/display console. The first step is to mount the all-in-one outdoor sensor, which remains powered using a solar panel and rechargeable batteries. It measures and transmits outdoor temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, rainfall, and both UV and solar radiation. Next, mount the indoor sensor which measures and transmits indoor temperature, humidity and barometric pressure. Finally, plug in the control panel and complete the setup procedure which will walk you through configuring your wifi network, setting up NTP, syncing the two sensors and picking your units of measurement. Note that all three devices must be within 100-330 feet of each other, depending on layout and what materials are between them.

With everything setup, data will now start collecting on your display console and is updated every 14 seconds. In addition to showing all the data previously mentioned you will also see wind gusts, wind chill, sunrise, sunset, phases of the moon, dew point, rainfall rate and some historical graphs. There is a ton of data presented and while the sparse dense layout works for me, it has been described as unintuitive and overwhelming by some.

While seeing the data in real-time is interesting, you'll likely also want to see long term trends and historical data. While the device can export all data to an SD card in CSV format, it becomes much more compelling when you connect it with the Weather Underground personal weather station network. Once connected, the unit becomes a public weather station that also feeds data to the Wunderground prediction model. That means you'll be helping everyone get more accurate data for your specific area and better forecasts for your general area. You can even see how many people are using your PWS to get their weather report. There's also a very slick Wunderstation app that is a great replacement for the somewhat antiquated display console, although unfortunately it's currently only available for the iPad.

So, what's the Bad Voltage verdict? At $289 the Ambient Weather WS-1001-WIFI OBSERVER isn't cheap. In an era of touchscreens and sleek design, it's definitely not going to win any design awards. That said, it's a durable well built device that transmits and displays a huge amount of data. The Wunderground integration is seamless and knowing that you're improving the predictive model for your neighborhood is surprisingly satisfying. If you're a weather data junkie, this is a great device for you.

--jeremy