La Crosse Technology 4 Day Talking Internet Powered Wireless Forecaster - Choose Finish

by La Crosse Technology

Product Description

Get all the weather information you need when you listen to the La Crosse Technology® Weather Direct® 4-day internet-powered talking WA-1140U weather station. You can create your own message using the I TALK feature that will play before the selected forecast for your location, plus news, headlines, sports, entertainment and more. A scrolling LCD display displays accurate weather information for over 60,000 locations.

Product Details

• Shipping Information: View shipping rates and policies
• ASIN: B004VXUIGS
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not all it seems........, May 22, 2009

By 

Joan D. "Serenebeader" (Eugene, Oregon) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: La Crosse Technology WA-1140U Weather Direct 4-Day Talking Internet-Powered Wireless Forecaster (Kitchen)

This sounded like something my 91 yr old father who is a weather buff would enjoy. I am used to "Talking" items being user friendly for people with severe vision imparement. This is not. Some of the information scrolls across the screen and is not spoken. The entire signing up process was done online, so if a person is not comfortable with a computer, someone else must assist.

Also, you get 1 location to monitor that is free (you must fill out quite a form on the computer), but there is a yearly fee for any of the additional 4 locations it can monitor. I felt that the description was not clear on that.

There have also been a number of times the recording seems "broken" for lack of a better word. It will repeat several words of the greeting, then stop completely; never giving the weather. Sometimes nothing happens when you press the button and you assume it is broken. But the next day it is working fine!

It is basically impossible to speak with anyone at the website, although a number is given. I have sent a message asking for a call back and never received it. Very poor customer support.

Someone who has lots of time to "fiddle" with it and can see would probably do okay.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Weather direct to you, April 15, 2009

By 

Charles A. Foy "Chuckls" (Glendale, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: La Crosse Technology WA-1140U Weather Direct 4-Day Talking Internet-Powered Wireless Forecaster (Kitchen)

The Weather Direct WA-1140U arrived at 4:00 p.m. By 5:00 p.m. the same day, I was seeing local weather forcast (including the temp at my home). The hardest part of the entire setup was picking a spot for the unit to sit on my desk and where to place the remote sensor. Everything else was pretty bulletproof.

Since the installation, I have subscribed to some of the additional services offered by Weather Direct (alerts and warnings) which have proven to be quite accurate and timely. And I always know when an alert has been triggered as the annoying beep accompanying the alert makes our family dog nervous (so go check the Weather Direct).

The news feeds are also a plus as I can do a quick review in the morning and not have to go the television or computer for news headlines.

For a weather geek like me who wants to know the current, the future, and for locations around the country, this is a great unit.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's not bad, and it works, but it's unpolished, October 22, 2009

By 

SirWired (Raleigh, NC United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: La Crosse Technology WA-1140U Weather Direct 4-Day Talking Internet-Powered Wireless Forecaster (Kitchen)

There are now three different types of home weather stations:

1) The kind that comes with its own sensors and attempts to develop a forecast based on their readings. The drawback of this type is that inexpensive models come with flimsy and inaccurate sensors, and no matter how pricey the unit, the forecast really isn't that great.

2) MSN-Direct models. These models have you select a location, and they use the MSN-Direct wireless service to obtain a forecast. This involves pretty much zero setup, but many users have reported problems with reception.

3) The Weather Direct units. Instead of relying on the MSN-Direct unit, you plug a small transmitter into your home network, and it obtains the forecast information over the internet. This enables the unit to pull down a wide range of information, and it gives you a lot more flexibility as to where in the house the unit can be placed.

Following the included directions, I had little trouble setting up the unit. It worked exactly as advertised on the first try, and the website was pretty self-explanatory. For the price I paid (about 1/3rd of list), it is worth it. The list of available forecast locations is large, there are many options as to how you want the forecast set up, and since almost all the configuration is done from the website, you don't have to wade through piles of obscure button presses to get anything done.

Some things I would change about the unit if I were LaCrosse:

1) The spoken forecast is too short if you choose the basic forecast, and too long if you choose the detailed. The detailed has the right amount of detail, but instead of "flowing" from one part of the day to another, it breaks them up which takes too much time.

2) More customization of the scrolling forecast. It displays the sunrise and sunset every time, and leaves off the wind speed, which is only available in the detailed spoken forecast. You can't get the temperature forecast over time via the scrolling display.

3) Re-configure the picture forecast. I would like to vary the pictured forecast between the 4-day, and the next four 6-hour forecast sections. Right now, if you hit some buttons, you can get the precipitation forecast for the rest of the day, but you can't get the temperature forecast. (That's only available in the spoken detailed forecast.)

4) The warnings setup needs some work. I need to set it up so that during the night when I'm sleeping, the unit will only wake me up for tornados. Otherwise, I don't want it to even beep. During the day, I DO want the unit to gently let me know of other severe weather conditions. Right now, all you can do is pick what action you want for each kind of warning, but it won't change that during the night. (For instance, I want to know about a flood warning during the day, but at night I don't care, as I live on high ground.)

In summary: If you can get this for a good price, go ahead, but I wouldn't pay anywhere near list for this device until they clean it up some.

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