Customer Reviews

La Crosse Technology WS-9032U Wireless Weather Station

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I purchased this model because it is one of the few available which can measure both indoor and outdoor relative humidity (RH%) and indoor barometric pressure without too many other unecessary features. It also had a nice stainless steel/champagne color, matching well with our kitchen decor. Setup and initial programming was easy, however, batteries (3 AA in the main unit and 2 AA in the sensor) were not included. There is a similar model, WS-9035U, which has a wind meter--recommend you pass on it, because anemometer placement is tricky. Wind speeds are highly dependent on neighboring structures and trees. Basically, wind meters want to be on a pole in the middle of an empty field. There are also some other (more expensive) "Weather Channel" branded models which have Heat Index or Wind Chill capability. (I guess if you live in Arizona you'd choose the Heat Index model...) The only other model I would consider buying is WS-9018U, which has identical features as the WS-9032U, but has a disctinctive oval shape. Bear in mind that you will pay more for that shape, and the display items appear smaller. I found the TX4U remote unit to be accurate and well calibrated, revealing errors in my plain ol' outdoor temperature dial. The instructions don't say a whole lot about locating the TX4U, but you must keep it out of direct sunlight. Overall, I'm very pleased with my purchase and am spending hours and hours staring at it! (-:

Does everything beautifully and a great unit in styling. Very easy to set and read... picked up satellite and set time and date correctly within a half hour. Moon phase very nice feature. Tracks outdoor remote unit though three floors and outside wall with no problems. I love it and highly recommend it. Great bang for the buck.

Looked at several weather stations, both LaCrosse and Oregon Scientific. Prices ranged from $50 to $200. This unit is by far the best value for your money. Worked right out of the box; make sure you follow the instructions and power up the remote sensor before installing the batteries in the weather station. Found the date/time signal within five minutes. Main unit and outside sensor located approx 100 ft away communicate beautifully; I can move the main unit from floor to floor and room to room with no loss of signal. You get more bells and whistles on higher end units but for a good, all around weather sensor, this one will be hard to beat.

This weather station displays a great deal of information, including temp & humidity for inside and out. Unfortunately, the High and Low temps are not automatically reset daily (as my cheaper generic unit does), these require manual resets. It would be nice to have daily auto-reset as an option. This unit also displays current barometric pressure, and has a 24 hr. history graph of pressure. The user's manual, at first glance, seems to be straight forward; however, there are some glaring defects:

1) The "Overview of Programming Mode Sequence" table (page 8), is numbered 1-14, but the actual Modes are lettered B-Q?? Then we're told how many times to push the SET button to get to the desired Mode, and that's 1-13. So, for example, Table item number "5" is letter Item "F" (the sixth letter of the alphabet), is 4 pushes of the "set" button. Confused? So am I. It's difficult to decipher the sometimes inaccurate users manual.
2) Letter item "O" (page 11) "Forecast Sensitivity" refers you to the 12/24 hour clock setting. The values for "Sensitivity" are 2, 3 or 4, and they are not explained anywhere. Since the trend arrow pointed down, while the barometer was steady or rising for 24 hours, I thought the unit was broken. Eventually I set the "Sensitivity" to "2" and it looks like it's more responsive, however, an explanation of these values would be welcomed (the options are there for a reason) .
3) Illustrated Moon Phases (page 13) are exactly the opposite of what is displayed - the display is scientifically correct. The manual tries to explain this with double speak - they should just print the moon phase chart accurately.
4) Letter item "H" Barometric Air Pressure Reading (page 16), again refers us to the 12/24 hour clock setting. Although it's adjustable, there is no information about the adjustable Barometric Air Pressure Reading.

After 24 hours the clock had not set itself, I had to manually set it, and sometime within a day or two, it did set properly.

I sent 5 emails to La Crosse the first week (the same email 5 times), concerning the questions and problems I'd encountered. After 3 weeks I haven't received a reply.

Had the manual been accurate and complete I would have rated this unit 5 stars, and I wouldn't have had to send any emails. As it is, with information missing, and no response from La Crosse, it is impossible to fully exploit the features of this unit. I can understand the frustration of the people who rated it 1 star due to La Crosse's lack of customer service.

The good news is, if you like the features that can be used, and can figure out how to use (or ignore) the features missing documentation, and you don't need or expect any support from La Crosse, then it is a great unit. I've actually bought 2 more as gifts - for people I don't like (sic).

With its outside-mounted sensor that transmits humidity and temperature to the inside base station, the 9032U is one of the handiest of its kind. Most useful is the 24-hr. rolling bar graph of barometric pressure. Even the phases of the moon graphic is useful to predict moon tide highs and lows.

Installation is a somewhat prickly business. I had to try about 4-5 times to get the base station to receive all the data from the transmitter. This required taking the batteries in and out--so you're best off establishing the commo link before you mount the transmitter outside. I used lithium batteries outside, able to function in any terrestrial temperature. A nice gadget, a nice gift for the man who has almost everything.

I agree with many of the other reviews. I wouldn't recommend this unit to anyone. Have had it just over a year and in that time it was sent back to the factory to fix. Don't believe they did anything because within a short time it still didn't work. Doesn't read outside temp/humidity... just quits. Same thing has happened to the inside temp/humidity. Calls and e-mail to LaCrosse goes unanswered. All I wanted is a reading for inside & outside temp/humidity and all I've gotten is hassle. They even told me to get batteries with a 2013 date on them now in less than 5 months it has failed again. What a piece of junk.

Wow. What a hassle! This puppy works, then it doesn't, over and over. The first one I had petered out after a few months, after much explaining to the LaCrosse warranty jury, I finally got an RA. They 'fixed' it. NO! It came back worse, it just doesn't want to recognize my two remotes and sometimes the station itself doesn't read-out the temp and humidity. Then, they replaced it totally. The new one worked for a few days, then I moved it a little, then it didn't work again. I reset it and it is fine.

Too darn fickle, support is weak and unfriendly. I would never recommend this product or this company. I am not happy and am sure I will encounter more problems. I will not let them rest on this. I'll make them pay for their unfriendly ways of supporting, too many distrust issues on their part.. Who do they think they are dealing with, somone who is illiterate? Ha! I hate this system. But, I'll keep my fingers crossed, and they better keep their fingers crossed that they don't have to deal with me again. Stay away!

On the plus side the base unit worked quite well but the remote outdoor transmitter was faulty.

I emailed and left a phone message for Lacrosse support but after not hearing from them for 4 or 5 days I returned the station to Amazon (Amazon's return process is an excellent example of great customer service).

A couple of days after I returned the unit I got a call from Lacrosse. I told them I had returned the unit. A couple of days after that I got a replacement outdoor transmitter in the mail followed a day later by an email telling me to expect a transmitter.

I emailed them about returning the transmitter but was told that was unnecessary.

The unit had good features and would have been very good had it functioned properly

I've had this unit for about five years and am happy to find it still available. My Radio Shack unit died after about three years & I want to use the same sensor. A couple times the unit lost contact with the sensor (located outside, two rooms over and a floor below). It seems most likely due to weak batteries (which last about 15 months). I particularly like the indoor & outdoor humidity to determine when it makes sense to open the windows in the summer.

All the features on this instrument work great except the humidity.Advertised 1% to 99%,under normal conditions,Its range is from about 28% to 90%.I checked next to a professional weather station.It shouldnt be advertised if it wont do what they say.I also have the WS 9047twc-it but its sensor is one of the sensors that uses the 915 mhz -it and so far I have had it register 15% to 99% which is really good because those were the coditions at the time.