Customer Reviews

La Crosse Technology Weather Channel WS-9031TWC Projection Weather Station

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

 

 

This is definitely a novelty item, but overall it's a good one with some inscrutable flaws.

Pros:
* Atomic clock, once you get it working.
* Outdoor temp/rel. humidity, and indoor temp/rel. humidity (I didn't realize how dry my bedroom is).
* Projected time/temp works very well, very legible without my glasses on a ceiling that is well higher than the recommended range. Very pleased with this.
* Two alarms, configurable snoozes etc.
* Battery backup.
* Most of the features you'd expect out of a $25 alarm clock, basically.

Cons:
* Frustrating interface for setup/changes (to set the sensitivity of the forecast feature, for example, you have to scroll through all of the other features, many of which only give you a number to choose, with no indication of what feature it applies to; you have to refer to the poorly written manual--which tells you to set it to 1, 2, or 3, with little explanation of what that does.)
* Flimsy construction.
* "Forecast" is based on real time data of the remote sensor, which is good, but kind of misleading. It can be raining cats and dogs, and the forecast will indicate it's cloudy. You'd think a real time device would be able to tell what I'm seeing outside my window. (I know, it's all technicalities, but I'm addressing the basic real user expectations.)
* Atomic clock ONLY works once you set the time manually to something close to the actual time. Why? Because (I'm making a best guess here) the device only polls the atomic clock frequency between midnight and 6am, when conditions are better for it (according to the manual). I made the mistake of just leaving it at 12:00 to start when it was actually 7pm or so. So when it tried to poll the atomic clock service, it was not within that midnight-6am window. Once I set it close to the real time, the "connected to the atomic clock service" icon showed the next morning.
* The manual. Uses acronyms like WWVB without ever defining them. Has no table of contents, so figuring out something as simple as setting the alarm requires a lot of page flipping.
* No "backlight for the LCD always on" option I've been able to find, and when the backlight is on briefly after hitting display, it buzzes.

The biggest reason I like this Weather Station is that I can read the time and outdoor temp. without my glasses. So when I wake up in the middle of the night I just look at the ceiling. With other digital clocks I must put my glasses on. Because the time is transmitted to my clock and it has a batter backup I am never without the correct time and never have to worry about missing my morning alarm due to a power outage.

I like this product, particularly the projection of the correct time and outside temperature on the ceiling. I found the Barometric Pressure Tendency Arrow Forecast not to be very accurate (predictive) many times. At $45 it is worth it but not at list price. The radio-controlled clock is accurate and a very useful feature, as are the indoor and outdoor humidity and temperature readings. There are many functions that, at present, I don't make use of such as the dual zone and snooze alarm functions. Also, I don't pay much attention to the moon phases and tide displays but others may find this useful and/or novel. I'll be very interested in the useful life of the 5 batteries necessary for operation but not included. It also took me 3 attempts to get it working correctly although I feel that I used the correct method each time. Presently the outdoor sensor is mounted at about 40 feet from the base unit and I've had no transmission problems. Overall, I am very satisfied with the purchase at the sale price.

I really like this product. It's nice to be able to see the time and outdoor temp. on the ceiling at night. The only thing I'd change is the fact that it tells you the main outdoor temp. but not the 10nths. That is if it's 10.8 degrees it will only show 10 degrees. Not a major problem, just a small irritant.

Tech Support response: "Yeah they run hot if you plug the power supply in. Just run it on the batteries. "
If you don't plug it in, it doesn't project.

I've had this unit for several years, can do some things effective -- outside/inside temp -- humidity, but have no way of verifying accuracy.

Now the temp and humidity for outdoors and indoors have gone blank. I've replaced batteries still to no avail. There is no place in the manual to instruct where to remedy. There is no service telephone and their website has no contact option for issues such as mine.

Unless I find a reasonable answer, this weather toy will go on the electronic trash heap.

The Wireless Projection Forecaster was expensive but I was willing to overlook that. We only used it for 3 wks. before the humidity and inside temp. stopped working. I am not happy because that gives me one more thing to do that I do not have time for. I plan to call the day time phone number of the company since there is a 1 yr. warranty. My husband is an instrument tech. with yrs. of experience and it is not our misunderstanding of how the equipment should work.

I bought this for right next to my bed. I can hit the backlight and see how cold it is out there, and the backlight is not too bright for when it's still dark. I like it too for humidity during the winter. And for the phases of the moon. Not so much for a weather predictor tho, but all in all very useful. I refer it to many times in a day. Also, it runs on battery, so I don't have evil electric current running right next to me on my bedside table.

The weather features and projection worked as expected. I wanted to use it as a replacement for my bedside alarm clock. The display is only visible with the backlight on so it was useless as a clock during the daytime. I prefer a visible clock.

To get straight to the point - it does everything I wanted out of a weather station.
It tells you the outside and inside temperature and humidity, has a clock, shows the day/date, shows the moon phases, and the weather trend.
There are other features that I don't use but some people may: projects time/temp on the ceiling at night, has an alarm built in, has the ability to take temperature/humidity from multiple remote sensors, and keeps track of max/min temperature and the date/time it was recorded.