Customer Reviews

Honeywell TE653ELW Portable Barometric Weather Forecaster

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I agree with the previous customers who stated that the product is a bit hard to set up.

I followed the "Quick Start Guide" and I ran into a couple issues...

First off, I had to get my altitude from my GPS unit, but I am sure there is some info off the internet that should get you close.

Secondly the dang Time Zone issue. I tried and tried and tried, and finally after several attempts I got it. The key to changing your time zone is make sure the Day is displayed next the time SA for example. Then holding the ^ UP button allows you to change your time zone. Intially I had the seconds next to the time and it would not allow me to change the time zone.

Hope this helps someone out there and saves them the 30 minutes of my life I wont get back ;)

The bad part first: the user interface is bad enough that you MUST use the manual to set it up - - and the manual is poorly-written and organized.

The good: It's cheap, and all the functions I use work perfectly. The display is clear and well-organized. The data seems pretty accurate, and the forecasting function is right more often than not.

I've had (and returned) several inexpensive weather stations now, and while all their user interfaces have been horrible, this Honeywell is the first one I've had which actually worked as promised.

The "User Manual" does not clearly cover how to set the time zone. Setting the applicable time zone is imperative. If it is not properly set, the atomic feature will automatically set the clock to the Pacific time zone. Unfortunately, the "User Manual" is poorly written and not all inclusive of the procedures involved in setting the unit up. They did, however, include another insert which details the process a little better.

The back light stays on for 3-4 seconds. Which is not enough time to view the readings.

The unit has a barometer which will only be accurate if you set the proper altitude. The "User Manual" is, again, not super-clear on how to accomplish this. The insert does clear things up a bit. The altitude must be set within seconds of inserting the batteries.

The unit is made of cheap plastic and the buttons are difficult to depress.

Once the weekly alarm is set, there is no way to turn it off. Additionally, once the weekly alarm is set, the unit sounds the alarm at midnight and again at the set time. There is no way to turn off the midnight alarm.

In short, the product could be improved by simply providing a better "User Manual".

EDIT: Nov '11

Unit replaced by the Meade Weathertime TE653ELW-M when ordered from Triplenet Pricing in Nov '11 (the only seller), see review in comments, below. Meade unit is same guts, slightly different layout of the Honeywell pictured above.

________

I used (...) and came up with (...) to arrive at my approximate elevation.

with that number in hand, I:

1)inserted the batteries into the remote, then pressed the reset button on the back and waited 3 minutes for the remote to get its bearings.

2) located the UNITS & PRESSURE/ALTITUDE buttons on the back of the unit.

3) Inserted the batteries and turned unit over to hold UP/DOWN under one finger, UNITS & PRESSURE/ALTITUDE under the other, and pressed UP/DOWN to change the barometer readout at the lower left of the complete screen (flashing) to bars.

4) pressed the UNITS button to switch the feet/meters (flashing) accepted meters

5) pressed the UNITS button to switch to the elevation, which begins flashing. Press and hold UP button to set the elevation in meters.

6) pressed the PRESSURE/ALTITUDE button to accept the elevation and give my -local- pressure. Then pressed PRESSURE/ALTITUDE button two more times to switch to sea-level readout to match the reading on the National Weather Service website.

NOTE: I'm kinda' picky, so I did this several times, changing my elevation up several meters until the seal-level pressure reading matched that on the web-site -- It has continued to match that number ever since.

7) Using the mode key on the front left side, pressed button to switch time display window to Day-of-the-Week from its default of seconds.

8) Press and hold the UP button on the FRONT right until the tiny time-zone icon in the upper-right of the time window switched to Mountain time, then again to switch to Central time.

and finally,

9) Press and hold the MODE key to set the time etc.

If this sounds confusing, it is not bad, I just write funny. I did not receive the insert that several have referred to.

Excellent unit, priced right and easy to read - just what we all wanted.

The picture shown here makes it look bigger than it really is. The entire unit measures only about 7 inches wide by 5 inches tall. The LCD display is even smaller, only about 4" by 3". That is really small to display all the information you get from it. Yes, it's just a clock and people think you don't have to read a manual to use it. Well, it's not just a clock. This is some high tech stuff. Atomic clock, altimeter, barometer, weather forecaster, thermometer, moon phase display, etc. With a bigger LCD display, this would get a 5 star rating from me. For now it's just a 3 because of the small display. But everything does work as advertised.

Why is it that there aren't any reliable weather instruments in this price range? This is yet another of those exasperating devices that issue continuously from the Orient (oops -- Asia) with inscrutable instructions, erratic behavior, and maddening complexity.

Yes, it works -- sort of and sometimes. The outside temp & humidity displays on mine -- or not -- seems to be entirely on how it feels at the moment. The barometric pressure depends on altitude, of course, but I gave up trying to set that -- I just compensate mentally. Even changing from millibars to inches mercury is a puzzle.

Ok, so it does a few things well. And it works most of the time. Not bad enough to return, not good enough to be happy. As Casey Stengal said of the first NY Mets: "Can't ANYONE play this game?"

<sigh>

I just received my Honeywell Weather time barometric weather forecaster. A big 'Thank You' to all the previous buyers who had advice on set-up. That helped until I discovered the unit will not register altitude above 3999'. That means I will never have an accurate reading on this unit. I live at 5240' above sea level. Honeywell TE653ELW Portable Barometric Weather Forecaster

Once I got the time zone set, and also the altitude, this digital barometer worked great. The backlight maybe should stay on a little longer though.

Thanks so much to the other people here who wrote reviews about setting the time zone and the altitude. Without their help I don't know if I would have EVER gotten these two things set correctly! The documentation that came with this item is absolutely horrible. How could they have left out instructions on setting such important data as the time zone and altitude? Mine did not come with any insert telling how to do this. So thanks again to those who took the time to post how to set these -- you were a great big help to me!

Weather instruments have always been a hobby of mine. This is a nice little digital barometer. I only hope that the manufacturer will start including better instructions with their units. It would certainly save a lot of people a lot of irritation.

I got the Honeywell Weather station to replace the one that did not function after 3-4 moves and 4-5 years. The Honeywell instruction manual does not have the info for changing the time zone. Make sure that the day is by the time and press the up button (several seconds each time). I learned that from another review for this station. The Station is working well and am having no problems with it.

Works extremely well, predictions are better than anything I've used before.Humidity and barometric pressure readings are very accurate.

One weak point is programming the altitude, get assistance on line for this. Simply GOOGLE the model number followed by "programming" and you will find lots of help. Be sure you know your altitude before you begin, this can also be found on line.

A second weak point is the small display nomenclature, I can live with that once I've learned where everything is on the display...the actual numbers are large enough.

For the price, I really like this product.