Customer Reviews

La Crosse Technology Weather Channel WS-1611TWC-IT Professional Weather Center

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

Pros:
Price less than $100.
Fewer batteries, 5 - AA's
Battery only, no wall wart required
Long Battery Life, ~2 Years
Detailed, illustrated manual
Altitude adjustment for the barometer
Impressive wireless range
* Rain gauge more useful than expected

Cons:
Mixed reviews
No radio receiver for WWV's Atomic Clock
Temp sensor not weather proof
No inside temp reading
No PC Connection
*Painful Max/Min reset procedure

Looking at the product picture, one sees The Weather Channel logo, yet if you go to their store, nothing approaching this product exists. My conclusion is that after six-months at the TWC, they wanted no part of the headaches and shipped their inventory back to Lacrosse for sale on Amazon. So this price disappears with that inventory.
* I no longer believe the above, I've seen this exact model for sale at Wal-Mart.

In researching the triple sensor (temp, wind, rain) market I was primarily interested in temp and wind. Since its always windy in the winter, now I'll know how windy. It rains so seldom that why bother measuring, besides it won't measure snow, and humidity is always so low it's at the fringe of dry sensor measurement. I'm not a weather hobbiest, so PC connection was unimportant, besides being impractical in my solar-electric home. I'll just do the same as the last 10-years, write down the daily min and max in the monthly wall calendar, how crude, pen and paper.

I considered Oregon Scientific, better reviews, more features, but much more expensive and it needed 10 batteries and a wall wart. Also Zephyr and Davis, the first had no reviews or downloadable manual and the latter was out of my price range. I read many positive and negative reviews for the 1611/1612 and I downloaded several manuals. In the end, I decided on the "devil I knew", my $20 La Cross wireless thermometer, 9013, had been reliable for many years. I'll keep it around for its atomic clock.

Like all La Crosse weather instruments, the top line of the display is the time and date, on a weather station? Then the date field is so tight, mine now reads 11209, unlike the time field there are no spaces or delimiters. The single most important reading, the outdoor temp, is buried in the fourth group, duh. Since you can get an atomic clock on $15 units, one has to wonder why its not included on the 1611? Having all that in mind, I was price driven, so the 1611 is it.

A clever feature of the 1611 is one pair of AA's inside the temp sensor powers it and both the rain and wind sensors, all wired together. Now it gets strange, if all these sensors are outside and wirelessly connected to the base station, why is the temp sensor not weather proof? It has to be protected from rain and sun, Duh? So I made a "bird house" to protect the "outdoor" sensor from the weather.

I have the sensors roughly 200-feet from the base, the signal has to pass through a 12" solid wood wall and the base is sitting on a table with a wireless b/g router and a wireless mouse, no problems. I'm impressed.

I've attached two photos, may help to visualize setup. *Added three more pics.

Edit (*)July 10, 2009
After the wind blew over my original mast and smashed the wind sensor into too many pieces to count, I bought a second used unit. I guyed the mast with four steel cables, see pic. I now have two working base stations and a few spare parts.

I have two more complaints about the user interface:
1) Resetting the max/min readings. Press Max/Min to scroll through all the possible values > press Set, then press + for every value you wish to reset. Theirs no master reset.
2) The Beaufort wind speed scale is meaningless unless you live on the ocean and own a boat. I'd much prefer the MPH value be inside the wind rose.

Edit: 2-Year Update, Feb 2011
Reliability and battery life (a least one year) have been excellent, even worked at -26F. The new battery install is no problem, I simply carry both base units outside, remove all batteries, insert the sender then the base batteries . . . done! All my previous comments about the display organization and resetting max/min values is still true, much room for improvement. Overall very satisfied features vs. price.

Having purchased a LaCrosse WS-1611-IT assuming positive evaluations were accurate, I was let down with La Crosse product value. Within the first year the wind paddle fell off of the mounting. La Crosse replaced this. Later the wind speed, direction and chill factor failed to register. Contact by internet and telephone have resulted in no return communication as noted in their listed phone number answering message. Three months have passed and still no e-mail or return calls from product support as their call center phone states. DO NOT PURCHASE IS MY RECOMMENDATION

Product works as advertised but after a while the wind chill, speed and temp stop working and the batteries need to be pulled out of both the transmitter and receiver in order to fix the problem. Not a big deal but it does reset the history which is a nice to have. Overall I'm pretty happy with it but I wish I had something I didn't have to run out and reset every week.

I bought this unit from Weather Shack in January. everything worked good after set up. about 2 weeks later the total rainfall amount showed 70" total rain and the 24 hour rain showed 1.2", this was the first rain, and obviously the reading is wrong. I waited weeks for a response from La Crosse. Then, after going through all the suggested battery replacements and restarts, they asked me to send it back for repair (AT MY EXPENSE). They returned the unit in far worse condition. Now nothing except the indoor temp works. Again, battery replacements, and restart, still doesn't work. They Want me to send it back again (AT MY EXPENSE). I guess they think I should pay for their mistakes! Not going to happen. Weather shack said they would take it back for store credit, if I shipped it back to them in the original packaging, and of course at my EXPENSE ! Why would I have the original packaging 6 months later. I guess it will be going in the trash can instead. Stick with Amazon. The prices are cheaper. Don't even consider La Crosse.. The product is wothless, and their service department is even worse. What a waste of money.
I will be buying the next weather station from Davis. Made in the USA (not CHINA = Junk)

After 6 months No Temp Readings... yes the wind paddles are so weak a mosquito could probably break it.. the temp sensor and the wind gauge are connected by a telephone wire but you cannot take it off the wind gauge so you can mount this highly delicate piece of ??? It does took like a nice thing to buy... but since lacrosse takes about 1-2 months to answer an email and you cannot get anything replaced or even a (yes the wind gauge should have been built in a manner that would make it easier to mount and not break as mine did when it got hit by the wind or some tiny piece of debris... then the thermostat does not work after 4 months ... I will be more than willing to sell mine for 50 dollars to someone who wants to see what the 70 dollar product will look like and how it will operate after a few weeks and months!

The transmitter on this weather station fails in about 8 months or as long as your batteries last. Once the batteries go dead the base station will never pick up the signal again. La Crosse replaced the first transmitter. The second transmitter also died in about 8 months. La Crosse says the problem is caused by bad batteries. Well, duh! Batteries do go bad after a period of time. Shouldn't the weather station be built so it can withstand battery replacement? I love the info when the thing works but I won't bother with this model again.

We like our weather station (WS-1611TWC-IT Professional), received for a Christmas gift, but we are having problems with the windspeed readout. The digits are segmented, and a trouble call to the customer service line required 3 contacts to get a callback. We were told to use ONLY namebrand batteries, even though the drugstore brand are alkaline and work well in other parts of our house. The install directions should state to use ONLY namebrand batteries, so that we do not need to go out in zero degree weather and dismantle the sensors and replace all the batteries. We still have to do that, now that the daytime temp is above zero. If that does not resolve the problem, then it must be sent back to the company for a resolution.

E.D.M., Morgantown WV

We have used this product about 6 months. When we changed the batteries the unit would not reset. We have called and emailed the company repeatedly and have received no acknowledgement except the canned email you get. We have tried to call several times in the last 2 weeks, where you can only leave a message. The call has not been returned.

Amazon can not help us. The warranty is through LaCrosse.

I definitely would not tell any one about this product due to the lack of customer service.

Melody

I must share with you my irritation with the PROFESSIONAL WEATHER CENTER WS-1510-IT Weather Channel unit. Had I purchased the unit myself it would now be on some retailer's return shelf. But, it was a Christmas present and I feel obligated to get the thing working. I have invested two or three hours trying to mount, set-up and understand the unit. So far I can read barometric pressure and that is it. Some dissatisfaction details:

Instructions printed way too small; 1-2 mm!

Mounting precautions [wood vs metal vs plastic; protect from sunlight and rain buried in the back of the instruction books

Button descriptors on the main unit hinder set up.

Your directions restarting a non working unit appear to be taken from a Three Stooges script. "Remove batteries from the Thermo-hygro (outdoor) sensor, Rain sensor and the Base station. With the batteries out of the Base station, press any button 20 times. Let everything sit without
batteries for 10 minutes. Verify that the Base station is completely
blank before proceeding.
2. Then disconnect and reconnect the Wind sensor cable (be sure it
clicks into place). Reinsert the batteries into the Thermo-hygro
sensor and the Rain sensor. Be sure to use a new, quality alkaline
battery (heavy duty and rechargeable types should be avoided)
3. Reinstall batteries in the Base station and do not press any other
buttons for AT LEAST 10 minutes while the station completes its
startup sequence. "


I have a couple of hours into this thing. As soon as it warms up a little I'll attack it again. So far unit is nowhere worth the money or my effort.

I was going to write a big review, but after reading what 21st Century Hermit said, I would have written the same exact thing. It's identically the same experiences I've had and feel. I added a picture of my setup on the customer images, and it works very well, I had to modify the Bracket a bit, but thats it. And I've got the temp sensor under the eave of the barn. About 100 feet away, and works great.

A+ from me, I think alot of people might have complications setting it up, but when setup correctly, it works well. People give it a bad review because it has no inside temp, Well then buy the more expensive one that reads inside temp!?