Customer Reviews

Oregon Scientific BAR888RA Multi-Channel Weather Forecaster with 2 Remote Sensors and Atomic Clock

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

 

 

In this part of the world weather forecasts are either scarce or highly inaccurate. So far this product has worked great. Its forecasts are quite accurate so you can plan on taking an umbrella with you in the car if it predicts rain, or if you need to wear your bermudas to enjoy the sunshine. I had an indoor/outdoor thermometer manufactured by radio shack, and this unit can actually read that outdoor sensor so the addition of the two sensors that come with this unit allowed me to know the temperature indoors and in my patio, garage and the kid's bedrooms.

This unit worked well once you got it set up. The numerals are a bit small and the screen is "busy" with all the data on it. It was a value buy at $30, but I wouldn't have paid much more for it (other retailers were offering it at $80+).

The weather forcast feature doesn't seem to work properly and consistently. Sometimes it shows rain when it's in the high 70's in Northern California. The thermostats are accurate. I really like the scroll feature on the additional zones. I can see the temp in the room the main unit is in and the two remote sensors scroll continuously. My unit doesn't have a backlight either, so I cannot see the display from the couch. I have to go look at it to actually see the tempuratures.

I bought this unit 4 years ago. It has performed flawlessly. I'm still amazed at how often the rain prediction turns out to be correct. It's hitting about 90% accuracy on rain within 36 hours. Better than the Weather Dude on television.

The unit I received is up and running. I have 2 remote sensors, one outside and one upstairs and both receive signals from the base just fine. A couple of problems, my unit does not have the lcd backlight feature and the atomic clock has never received a signal (in the middle of the burbs in FLA).

The internal sensor works splendidly, and I like the moon phase indicator. The forecast thingy seems to be right more often than not, which makes it just as good as the professionals for short-term (say, 12-hour) forecasts.

The external sensors aren't so hot. Occasionally when it's very cold (like, 20s F) the sensor shuts down. If this goes on long enough, the base loses track of the sensor and you have to manually make it go search again. I don't believe that this is due to the battery - a new alkaline battery shouldn't have trouble at this temperature, they certainly work OK in other devices I own.

Their web site has a FAQ that indicates this might be due to a defect in the sensor unit, and that I should call their customer service. I called their support phone line, and the support person claimed to know nothing about this.

This device comes with 2 sensors, but there's really little value to the second one. Perhaps if I could place them both outside and the base would consolidate the readings to compensate for outages like I described, or artificially heating a sensor by sunlight, then they would be useful. But that's not how it works. Maybe if you want to monitor your garage...

Sitting on my desk next to a window in an office building in New Jersey, it's not able to receive the synchronization signal from the atomic clock. I've got to bring it outside to synchronize itself.

Addendum: through the course of the winter, the outside sensor has been unavailable more often than not. Also, the device adjusts to daylight savings time automatically, but it does so according to the old rules (thanks, Congress!) and there doesn't seem to offer any way to force it. So I'm stuck with it showing one hour slow for the next bunch of weeks.

Don't buy this (I'd lower my score if I could)

Great product as i know what to wear before I go out with this little instrument telling me the temperature.

I've had many of their receivers and sensors for years, and they work well for monitoring your local environment: I use them for the local (outside) temperature/humidity, the temp of the freezer in the garage, the temperature of the hot tub, etc. But I've never had one of these work for 'atomic time synchronization'. Perhaps it's something about the topography here in Northern Virginia, but I've tried in several locations within ten miles, and no go (with several models, several manufacturers, so perhaps it is the location...). As long as you get them for local information, you shouldn't be disappointed

Having said that, unless a receiver is actually receiving weather forecast radio transmissions from NOAA, I can't see much use in one that says it will 'forecast' anything, since all it is doing is saying 'because the pressure is dropping, it's going to rain', etc. People have been using barometers to 'say' that for hundreds of years. :-) Besides all that, and as other reviewers have said, you might have to replace a transmitter unit every couple of years (after two or three years outside, I'd expect that), and that's pretty good. Oh yeah, mine don't do so well at 10 or 20 degrees F, either. Contrary to the other reports, I think that is the battery. Alkalines don't like 10 degree F weather, and the Oregon Scientific website recommends Lithium batteries for cold temperatures. I'm not sure where that mention of the 'FAQ' about bad hardware came from. From what I can see, it's definitely the battery slowing down in the cold.

I have had the unit for a few years and would not reccomend it. I purchased it primarily for the remote temprature capability. I have a pumphouse that I wanted to monitor the temerature in as well as outside temp. The temperature from the remotes worked pretty good when new but now doesn't at all and the weather forcasting capability has gone down the tubes as well. It will show sun on a rainy day and rain on a sunny day. The atomic clock is nice though and that still works.

I've had mine for severa months now and it works just fine. I don't know why the pictures show it lights up - mine doesn't either (like the other commenters). One thing - set the altitude (elevation) for better forecasting.[...]. The display kept forecasting rain and I set the elevation and it went to partly cloudy in minutes (it wasn't raining) so setting the elevation so barometric pressure is read more accurately.