AMBIENT WEATHER WS-2000 Weather Station Review

Everyone around us has been using meteorology applications at least once a day. We simply ask Google “Weather in X” to learn about the weather or we can even have weather apps on our phones or tablets or other mobile devices. This information comes from the weather stations that were built by companies or public services.

So, a weather station is essentially a gadget that monitors the current climate and forecasts the weather. These stations can be founded ashore or in the sea. A legitimate weather station has to have a thermometer to gauge temperature, a barometer to indicate atmospheric pressure, a hygrometer to check humidity levels, an anemometer to measure wind speed and a pyranometer to measure solar radiation and UV.

Alas, you do not need to own a large corporation in order to have a weather station at home. There are very many people that build it for different purposes. Some see it as a hobby, some as a support for their work and other reasons.

Why would you need an individual weather station?

At the point when you check your mobile application, you just check the information measured at the nearest weather station. You may be living in a metropolitan area or a village, it does not matter. You are probably looking at the measurements that are miles away from you. Thus, a personal weather station is a tool that can give you the best results for your exact location.

I basically started this as a hobby. I enjoy it a lot, I save the historical data and try to compare the input with 1-year old data and 5-year old data. I also share my data on different websites to see if people in different places have similar results.

In addition to that, my children enjoy this device while they are learning about meteorology. My 10-year old boy just checks the weather or precipitation level whenever he remembers. Once, he came home from school and said that his teacher praised him for knowing some terminology and I guess right now his favorite class is geography.

Anyway, if you want to learn more about personal weather stations, you had better keep on reading our review. Today, we are talking about the Ambient Weather WS-2000.

About The Ambient Weather WS-2000

AMBIENT WEATHER WS-2000

If you are interested in weather stations, you have probably heard of Ambient Weather. This Arizona-based company has been producing all types of units related to weather, forecasting, and weather measurements. They are notorious for their good customer service and ever-upgrading their devices.

To be more specific, the WS-2000 model is more for professional use. If you are just a starter and buy this, you may probably be using fewer features than the tool itself has. However, it does not mean that it is hard to use. The HD display tablet is quite easy to navigate. The user interface has all the information that you need to know.

I also like the simplicity of the buttons. They are very instructive and the manual gives explicit information. One last thing about the design is that it has a very elegant color choice. Let’s get to the HD display tablet!

High Definition Display Tablet

The size of the tablet is perfect for hands. The TFT (Thin-film transistor) display tablet connects to your Wi-Fi and shows wind speed, wind direction, rainfall, temperature, humidity, UV, and solar radiation with the connection to the outdoor sensor array and atmospheric pressure, humidity, and temperature from the indoor sensor.

One good thing about the tablet is it also measures the wind chill and heat index which is used for “Feels Like” temperature. It updates wind speed and direction every 16 seconds and takes the averages of them.

Another advantage is that you can add up to eight thermometers. For example, I placed a thermometer for my rooms and garage to keep track of them. You can easily connect it to the tablet and check humidity and temperature levels in each room separately.

When it comes to the connection, you directly connect to the Wi-Fi by entering your Wi-Fi password on the tablet.

In its settings, you can choose the imperial units or metric units. Along with that, you can set the alarm conditions. For instance, if you set the indoor temperature to 95° F, there will be a buzzing alarm if it reaches that point.

One great thing about that is I keep checking the moon phases before I go camping. All I need is to enter the location and it shows what the moon is going to look like that night.

Even though it backs up the data itself, I try to download and extract it to an SD Card for my analyses.

One bad thing about the device is that the AC adapter needs to be plugged into an electrical outlet because it consumes an amount of power that cannot be supported by regular batteries.

Pros

  • Its simplicity gives a good user experience.
  • Extra options like additional thermometers or different units are awesome.

Cons

  • The power consumption is high (500 mW) so that is a bummer.

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Connection to the Ambient Weather Network

Ambient Weather’s user-friendly design on the Ambient Weather Network makes it so easy to track your data. Use your phone or tablet to synchronize your data with a tap.

The Ambient Weather Network allows you to create your own server. You can reach your server with your laptop and one good thing is their website design that is phone-friendly.

Thanks to their network, you can share your own data in PWSWeather and Rachio. One other thing is that you can synchronize Alexa’s voice support with your weather station. “Alexa, ask Ambient Weather for a weather report” does the magic. It is also compatible with Google Assistant.

Pros

  • The user interface is easily understandable and adjustable.
  • It is compatible with other mobile devices and assistants.

Cons

  • It would be a good plus if it was connected more to the smart home applications.

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Technical Details

The Osprey Sensor Array comes preassembled and its components are easy to fine-tune. It has a triangle shape and it does not take up enormous spaces. Compared to its equivalents, it has a standard size. On the sensor array, there are seven components in total. The two edges of the triangle are devised for wind measuring. The first part is the wind vane and the second one is the wind speed cups. The wind vane is about the wind direction whilst the speed cups are for speed calculations.

The next part which is in the middle of the tool is the solar/UV light component. It measures UV light and solar light in your region. The fourth part is the thermo-hygrometer with a radiation shield. This calculates temperature and humidity while saving the component from possible radiation.

The final edge of the sensor array has the rain gauge. Rain gauges utilize rain to measure the precipitation amount. Hence, this shows you the rainfall in your area. The sixth part is the bubble level which helps you see that the sensor array is mounted straight.

The last part is the solar collector. This is your solar panel that powers up the sensors. However, some days in a year, you will not have enough solar energy so you had better 2 AA batteries as a substitute.

The other thing that you need to know about is for every extra thermometer, you need 2 AA batteries. They last for a long time. However, as we mentioned before, the WS-2000 tablet consumes power a lot.

Pros

  • The WS-2000 comes preassembled.
  • It uses solar power so we can call it is environment-friendly.

Cons

  • The rain gauge is open to birds. They keep landing on the rain gauges.
  • You need to buy your own tripod. The product comes without mounting gears or a tripod.

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To sum things up, we believe it is a product that is for above-average users. If you are a starter or on a lower budget, it may not be for your needs. However, the perk of weather stations is that they are straightforward and not so difficult to master.

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