People often check the weather before they leave for their day. After all, staying updated with the latest forecasts can help you avoid some unexpected trouble. While you’re home, you can check the forecast via your smartphone or your computer within a few taps and you’re set to go.
However, what will you do when you are in a remote area with phone reception nowhere to be found? In such cases, it’s essential for you to have an alternative and this is where the WMR86 scientific weather station by Oregon comes in.
Over the year’s weather stations have become much more popular and nowadays, you are almost going to see them everywhere. While some people may say that they do not need it for their everyday lives, for people with an adventurous soul, they are essential. The weather is unpredictable and when you’re heading out, you never know what may be in store for you.
If you stay updated with the tech world, then this isn’t probably the first time you’re hearing about Oregon Scientific. They’re one of the leading names when it comes to manufacturing scientific weather stations.
With that said, does the WMR86 meet the mark? It is a new addition to their range of scientific weather stations so if you’re thinking about purchasing it, then don’t worry as we will talk about all its ins and outs.
Pros
- Easy to monitor the temperature.
- Large display
- Atomic clock
- More affordable than most weather stations.
- 7-day data storage.
- Features a desktop console view.
- Large display
Cons
- Reading small text on display might be difficult.
- No internet connectivity.
- The humidity sensor may be 5-15% inaccurate.
Inside the Box
The kit of WMR86 comes packed with just about everything you would need namely:
- Base station
- Batteries
- Instruction manual
- Humidity and temperature sensor
- Rain Gauge
- Wind sensor
Note that, all the necessary mounting hardware is also included in the packaging.
Overall Build
All the contents that come in the packaging of this weather station are also extremely durable. Not only can you use those outside your home, but also, if you are trying to operate it under harsh weather conditions it won’t disappoint you. Most of the time, Oregon does a decent job with the build quality. So this time, it isn’t anything lesser and its durability and build quality are going to be the least of your worries.
Installation of the Sensors
1) Humidity and Temperature Sensor
You can also find a pair of AAA batteries to power the humidity and temperature sensor. You’ll find the necessary bolts and screws in the packaging to mount it on the wall or outside your house. On top of the sensor, you’ll see a small LED that tells the temperature in both Fahrenheit and Celsius.
2) Wind Sensor
Wind power also comes with two AA batteries. Moreover, you’re also going to find a plastic bracket along with the hardware needed to conveniently mount it. However, the sensor might initially be pointing in the wrong direction so do not forget to fix that.
Pro tip: While recording the wind speed, place the sensor in an open area that has minimum obstructions.
3) Rain Gauge
It’s advised that the rain gauge be mounted at least 3 feet above the ground. You can also take an unused bench from your house and simply place it there. However, make sure that no one sits on it. The rain gauge also has a cup to collect water from rainfall. The best part is that the cup self-empties every time it’s full.
Display
The display is perhaps one of the most important factors whenever someone is buying a device. In comparison to other weather stations, you will normally find, fortunately, WMR86 has a much larger display with a backlight button included. You’ll find four sections on the screen with the topmost telling the weather status and below that, there’s a humidity and temperature sensor display.
Under the humidity and temperature section comes the wind sensor. It will notify you of the current wind speed, direction, and all other important details you need to know. The min/max button can even help you toggle the highest and lowest readings along with their times.
After that, the rain sensor comes rain gauge. It will provide you with a complete insight into the recent rain data that includes a 24-hour report of rainfall and much more that you can experiment on all day long. However, reading the graphs for the section might be a bit difficult to read for some people due to its small font size. Nonetheless, it is a pretty useful feature to include.
The last section on the LCD is for the calendar, a clock and other daily use features that you might need. An added benefit is that the weather station uses an atomic clock so the time is as accurate as it can be. After all, the time told by atomic clocks is followed worldwide.
Overall, we do not have any complaints with the overall setup of the LED and it’s managed quite well. However, there’s one thing that may have made things much better and that’s a full-color display. But we understand the reason it isn’t there is how quickly it would drain the batteries.
The Batteries
All the batteries as we mentioned, come inside the packaging, so overall there are no complaints about that. Moreover, since the batteries used are regular alkaline, they can also be found easily regardless of where you are.
Some weather radio stations have non-removable chargeable batteries, which in our opinion makes WMR86 much better than them. You can easily purchase a stack of batteries before you are going camping or any other outdoor activity.
The Software
Oregon Scientific has made some of the best weather instruments out there, so it’s safe to say that they know what they’re doing. The WMR86 weekly stores all the data and updates it every hour. You can view and access this data through the console. However, if you want to delete it then you would need the WMR86 windows software update.
But don’t worry because this software is also free of cost. All you need is a USB cable to connect the computer for updates. The cable also comes in the box.
With that said, most users find the software a bit clunky as it’s not particularly known for its user-friendly UI. Although it does graphically represent all the data, if you aren’t tech-savvy, you might be scratching your head on how to operate it. There’s not much instruction either that you could follow to learn more about it. Moreover, WMR86 isn’t compatible with third-party apps, so in short, the data cannot be used anywhere other than your weather station. This is actually a step backward because the previous models offered compatibility with third-party software at least, if not the internet.
Perhaps that’s one of the biggest flaws of this otherwise amazing weather station. If Oregon Scientific finds a way to work around it, then WMR86 might become one of the best in the market.
WMR86: What Needs to Be Improved?
Overall, WMR86 is a decent weather station, and while, there’s plenty of room for improvement, it easily does the job it promises. Whether you want to keep a track of rain, cyclones, or simply track the temperature, this scientific weather station will easily get the job done.
With that said, we believe that if the makers improved their software and paid more attention to it, then this weather station would’ve been much better than it is. One of the biggest things that drives the customers away is the inability to connect with other devices and apps. If you want to save your data or access it from somewhere else, then you do not have an app either to connect your weather station too.
Even if the makers had included internet connectivity to this weather station, it would’ve been much better.
Although we particularly don’t have any problems with the display, we believe that there is is some room for improvement in that as well. For starters, the font size in some places is quite small. Even if that may be a small problem for some people, it can be annoying for others. All in all, when you consider that this is one of the most affordable weather stations out there, we can’t help but say that it’s worth the money.
Conclusion
Whether you’re preparing for your regular day, or plan to go on camping. The weather can unarguably be very unpredictable and you never know what’s coming next. Therefore, it’s better that you make a habit of checking the weather radio before you head out for your day. It would make a huge difference in keeping you safe from natural disasters.
Thus, keeping everything in mind if you are wondering whether the WMR86 is worth it or not, then we recommend it. Only a handful of weather stations out there are completely perfect. And even if they’re perfect, then they are also much costlier. Therefore, you can pick the Oregon WMR86 scientific weather station without any hesitations.
It will provide you with all the information that you need to stay updated with the weather at all-times. We hope this detailed review of the WMR86 helped you and now, you will be able to decide that if this weather station by Oregon Scientific is worth your money.