Customer Reviews

Davis Instruments 6250 Vantage Vue Wireless Weather Station

5 star:		(76)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The Davis Vantage Vue Weather Station is a new model from this U.S. company that builds high-end stations. The Vantage Vue is the low end of their products, but is still far above the competition in quality and features. I bought this one to replace another weather station that, although I've had it for several years, had never been very satisfactory. When the wind gauge worked, the rain gauge wouldn't. The wireless transmitter wouldn't send signals through an exterior wall to the console, so I had to hard-wire them together. The software connection in my computer was a poor database.
When I got a new computer, I no longer had the required serial port for the old station, and since the anemometer, wind-direction and rain gauge had long since quit working, it was time to replace it with a better system.
The vantage Vue checks wind velocity and direction, temperature, rain-fall, humidity and barometric pressure like most weather stations. This one also calculates wind chill, heat index, heating and cooling degree-days, moon phase, 12-hour forecast, and several other functions, and displays them on an easy-to-read display. It works wirelessly so well, that I tested it by carrying the console 100 yards from the house and could still easily get transmissions from the sensor suite. The Station comes with well-written manuals that are easy to understand. Installation was pretty simple and without any complications. I highly recommend this unit for serious weather-watchers.

I have had many weather systems. Also many brands. This is the 1st one that gives you wind speed and direction every 2 1/2 sec. All the other systems I have had over the years gives you the wind gusts 2 mins. after you have heard and felt it. This is my first Davis unit and I find no other reason to go to the other brands. The old saying you get what you pay for is true. This unit is more than most units on the market but IT WORKS perfect. It is worth the extra money. All functions of this system work perfect. After all the weather stations that I have had over the years, this one I would rate a 6 star if they had that high of a rating.

This is everything it was supposed to be and a little more. We are windmill/wind generator retailers and installers. The system also comes with a program for determining the amount of wind passing over the system. Very useful for determining the feasibility of a wind project. The wireless setup program worked fine. The standard graph system is a bit simple as there are no numbers on the axis to figure our what the graphing represents but not bad for a simple system, all information is available on the computer program. Which by the way, I think should be included with the original purchase because of the nondescript graphing on the system. However, we have very definite needs that may not be applicable to other users.

While I have only had this a few days, it is clear the bar has been raised on home weather stations. It certainly costs more than the glut of other home units, but this is a case of getting what you pay for. The set up was easy, though picking the best location requires some thought. I did not want our unit on the roof, since we have no flat surface and the unit does require some periodic maintenance, cleaning the rain gauge trap, dusting off the spiders etc. Once we determined the best location, the top of a fence in our garden, it took about ten minutes to mount. The distance to the console is approximately 50 yards, with several walls between, and the reception is perfect. The console is easy to read and once you get into the well written manual, you have access to information previously only available to professional weather units. I have found all the gauges and sensors to work flawlessly and in a few days, the accumulation of information has been impressive, with trends emerging backed by data. For the home weather enthusiast, this is the best toy I've received. The console even informed me of the lunar eclipse tonight in the Eastern Hemisphere. I've also found the people at Davis to be friendly and helpful. They are justifiably proud of their products, but the new Vantage Vue is a major step toward a relatively affordable, yet comprehensive package for those of us who are weather enthusiasts. I live in a wilderness coastal environment with complex eco-systems, micro climates, and changes that can occur quickly. The Vantage Vue keeps me informed of any change, warns me of potential problems, tracks the evolution of an event with accuracy and then stores it for future reference. My only real complaint is the lack of an atomic clock, but those can be had for next to nothing these days, and the clock on the console has not changed one second from a nearby atomic clock since set up. Time will tell on durability and ease of maintenance, but the simple yet sturdy design make me believe this unit will hold up very well. I give the Vantage Vue the highest possible recommendation. And by the way, Happy New Year.

ONE YEAR UPDATE--I have now been using the Vantage Vue for a little less than one year. In that time, it has performed almost flawlessly. The wind sensor failed, and was promptly replaced by Davis, as it was still under warranty. They sent me the part, and instructions how to replace it. Problem solved.

I still give this five stars. I would give it more if possible.

I also wanted to advise Mac users that if they want to store weather data at home and/or upload it to weather sites, like Weather Underground, the software program to use is Lightsoft. Their program is designed for Mac only and from what I've seen, is better than any pc based program on the market. In any case, it is definitely the best Mac program for storing and transmitting weather. It is not available at amazon, so here is their website: [...]

I hope this helps for both potential Vue buyers and for Mac owners.

TWO YEAR UPDATE--The only thing I've had to do during the second full year of use was replace the lithium battery, and take the unit down for cleaning. The battery gave approximately a week of warning before needing to be changed, and could be done without removing the unit from the stand. It has streamed information to my computer and Wunderground the entire year. It continues to be the best weather toy I've received. Do not hesitate to purchase this unit if you want to track your weather.

I just finished setting up a new Vantage Vue weather station. It was easy to assemble and mount on an 8 foot pole atop my roof deck. However I am concerned with the units accuracy. Before mounting the ISS out doors I had both the indoor console and the outdoor ISS sitting next to each other on my kitchen table. The indoor and outdoor temp/humidity readings were different even though both devices were only inches apart. The temperature varied by as much as 2 degrees and the humidity by up to 6% !! This is in excess of the specs given for the unit. I also have an older Davis Weather Monitor 2 that reads a 12% difference in indoor humidity when compared to the Vue. Which reading, if any, is the correct one?

After checking the weather for my town on the computer, I found the outdoor temperature and humidity readouts on the Vue to be inaccurate while the barometric pressure and wind speed/direction matched the Vue's readings

About 2 years ago I had purchased a Davis Vantage Pro 2 which I returned because the temperature readings were way off. On this particular model the temp could be adjusted....now who ever heard of having to "adjust" what should be a given reading ? Even after "adjusting" the temperature to match other household thermometers, the setting would not hold and would again read differently as soon as the temperature changed.

We purchased one of these for our local elementary school. I have had a Davis VP Pro 2 for several years. This seemed like a great deal, simpler and significantly less money. After testing it for a couple of weeks I have to say I am disappointed with this product. The factory temperature calibration was off by some 1.3 degrees, both indoor and outdoor sensors. That can be adjusted but it's surprising for a brand new item to be that far off. However, that's not the biggest problem.

On a hot day in direct sunlight, the unit itself gets hot, and then re-radiates into the temperature sensor, causing the readings to be high by 4 degrees or more. I checked it carefully against both the VP Pro and a Fluke reference quality temperature probe. This does not happen with the larger VP Pro, but it's a real problem with the Vue.

I'm going to add a solar powered fan to see if that will help.

I purchased this weather "station" for my wife....every AM she insisted on watching the local TV stations to check the weather....horrible TV, thus I thought this my supplant the channel surf...ha ha.
It is beyond cool. I had visions of complex set up and calibration....far from it. Plug and play. Also had fears that the wireless would be impacted by stray RF (my ham radio hobby), no problems. It tells you the usual weather metrics, moon phases, eclipse, basically what you need. Sure there are lots of other metrics that would be interesting but this unit cut the channel surfing in half! Well worth it.

My 3 star rating has more to do with service that with the operations of the Vantage Vue. I enjoy the instrument. It shows a mass of information and is pretty user friendly. As in one of the other ratings, my unit sitting on the table with the sending unit inside in another room showed different outside and inside temperatures. This didn't bother me much because there is a way to calibrate it;but it would seem it should have come from the factory already calibrated. = My greater frustration happened when I realized that the wind direction pointer was showing just the opposite of how the wind was blowing. I called Davis; got routed to the tech's extension, which never answered but directed me to leave a voice mail. I left a voice mail but was never called back. So I tried their next option which was to "E" mail them. I sent an "E" mail. It was answered 5 days later. The answer was that I should call and talk to a tech. So now I'm back to ground zero again. I don't know if this is a really small company run by just a couple people or what, but they seem to be more interested is selling than in servicing their customers.

Lloyd in /West Virginia

So much for my 3 star review. We recently had 3 days of 30-40MPH sustained wind on the cape (according the the Nat Weather Service) and this thing never read above 17MPH. That was enough for me. I took this out of the yard so I could possibly return it and the wind vane just broke in two. I didnt even touch it. I just pulled the stake out of the ground and half of the vane fell on the ground. This unit is less than a year old. I can understand an occasional issue with electronics, but pieces shouldn't be falling off.


Old Review
I was very happy with the packaging, ease of set up and instructions/documentation. Took it out of the box and in 20-30 minutes it was ready to go.

I bought this set mainly to monitor wind speed for boating activities. The set is positioned in the middle of a treeless, level acre of land, on the ocean. There are no obstructions. The problem is it under reads the actual speeds. There are days when the wind is at least 20-25 mph and the indicator will read 7 or 8 mph.

While the other functions seem to be accurate (or accurate enough), the wind speed measurement is clearly off.

First weather station execpt for one of the atomic clock styles which have been a little flaky as far as temp and humidity go. We were wanting something that was fairly comprehensive (wind direction, wind speed, temp, humidity, etc..) and we have not been dissapointed. Takes a little time to put together but directions are clear, just take your time. We mounted it on a pole about 100' from house and it has to transmit through 2 walls and no problems recieving a signal. We have had some high temps and humidity and the station automatically reads out the heat index. Nice! During one of the rain storms we had the display read "Its raining cats and dogs!" hilarious! Can't wait to see what other messages 'appear'. We contacted customer service once already due to a 'low battery' message on the display (for the transmitter). The customer service was very friendly, helpful, and professional. The battery message was cleared and everything is currently good. Highly reccomended but didn't give it 5 stars because I have not had any other weather station before.