Ambient Weather WS-2801-X2 Color Forecast Station

this station has every function we were looking for. high / lows temps & humidity . indoor temp & humidity. moon phases, forecasts . calibration modes....very nice case with folding support leg....good screen that can be see across the room. dims nicely and also a screen shut off. and an alarm clock with snooze! the manual is straight forward and in english. the only hic cup was making sure to follow start up sequence closely. bind the remote to the console while in the room at about five to ten feet away. this isn't stated in the manual so we installed the batteries in the remote sensor and walked at outside to hang sensor in place. we waited over nite for the console to recognize the remote. the desire to push buttons was there but the manual states DO NOT PUSH BUTTONS until remote has recognized console. we checked out the remote this morning and faintly remembered reading about other stations needing to be very near the console to bind. brought the remote into the room and presto! instant bind. we scoured the net for a station that had all the goodies...this one has rave reviews...and now we know why. this ambient product is well desiged and exudes quality had great reviews and the osprey station looks like our next upgrade. thanx Ambient!

Actually the non-color version (back lighted) of this unit is easier to read from a distance. The remotes that come with this unit will work well as the 1-3 remote sensors on older units too.; in my case the remotes connected to my much older Ambient WS-0265 station. Surprisingly, my older Ambient WS-0265 picked up the signals from the remotes at little farther distance than this new unit did. Very easy to set up, and the display is beautiful in colour. The remotes read accurately against each other. The minimum and maximum temperature / humidity readings are a must feature. Atomic Clock works perfect and barometer is a great feature and takes a shot at predicting the weather. This is all you really need to have without getting tangled up with an outdoor weather station and all those extra gadgets to maintain.

I know this is a long review but you may benefit from our experience after reading it. This is a terrific weather station for the price! I read through all the reviews before purchasing and noted all the negatives. Then, BEFORE BUYING, I thoroughly read the online PDF manual and found that many of the negatives I had noted were actually issues that other buyers encountered because they may have not read the manual in advance or post purchase. A few of the negatives turned out affect me as well: 1. The actual setup needs to be reviewed prior to doing so. It IS a bit finicky. I followed it exactly and did not encounter a problem but pre-reading the setup procedure helped me immensely. RTFM. 2. The sensor's orientation seems to affect the signal strength. I purchased a sensor shield into which I placed the sensor. That turned out to be good idea which allowed me to rotate the sensor within the shield. When first mounted, the base station had a weak signal from the sensor. I then rotated the sensor within the shield so the front of the sensor (with the display) faced in a direct line to the base station. The signal strength on the base station then reached the maximum. The manual does not mention sensor rotation vis-a-vis signal strength, but it may be worth a try if your signal is weak. 3. The display's orientation can, indeed, be an issue. We found best position for viewing is to orient it within about 30/35-degrees of its perpendicular center. This should be fairly easy with the stand as long as it is not high or low on a shelf. Ours is mounted at eye-level on the wall. A note on its accuracy. We live within a 25-mile radius of three Class C/D airports; each of which has an Automated Weather Observation System (AWOS). These systems generate periodic weather reports known as Meteorological Terminal Air Reports (METARs) and can be accessed over the internet. As a pilot, I routinely depend on METARs to report weather conditions. I can tell you that, in my location, what is reported by the WS-2801A is always within the range reported from the three local Class C/D airports. Also note that you can calibrate the outdoor (channel 1) temperature, humidity and relative barometric pressure as well as the temperature and humidity on the two additional sensor channels. We tracked the outdoor data and the averaged (same time) METAR from our local airports for a week before we made any calibrations. By comparing these data sources, we were able to determine the calibration offsets needed to bring our WS-2801A within the averaged data reported from the airports. It has been over 2-weeks since calibration and the data is still spot-on! As for the other problems reported here, I believe many of them stem from not carefully reading the manual and, thus, having expectations beyond that which the WS-2801A can support. For instance, the manual clearly states that the pictograph representing the forecast needs "at least one month for the weather station to learn the barometric pressure over time" (page29). Further, on page 30, the manual states "the reason the current conditions do not match the forecast icon is because the forecast is a prediction 24-48 hours in advance" and "in most locations, this (24-48 hour) prediction is only 70% accurate." It has not yet been a month since our final calibration so we are not yet expecting the forecast pictograph to be accurate. After the 1-month time frame, I will be using the pictograph for a very general forecast but will rely upon the National Weather Service for timely and sensitive data like determining if frost is likely overnight. Finally, there ave been several mentions that the automatic date and time (RCC) setting does not work. The manual states (page 12) that "in some locations RRC may take a couple of days to receive the signal." And, in fact, the RCC signal is actually received by the sensor and forwarded to the base station. When first installed, the sensor interrupts its weather-sending operation after the first 30-seconds to try to receive the RRC signal. If it fails, it will try every 2 hours until a signal is received. Please note that the time signal is actually an AM radio signal (from WWVB) and is usually fairly weak during the day. Therefore, signal establishment may occur at night in most locations. We installed ours on a Thursday and it wasn't until Saturday morning that I noticed the RCC icon on the base station. Since then, I've noticed that the sensor seems to wait 1-week (each Saturday in our case) before trying to reset the time and date. The manual does not mention this but it seems logical that the day and time of the successful RRC signal reception be remembered by the sensor for next time. It also seems plausible that there is a "hard-coded" update frequency of once a week. Please read the manual before buying so you understand the capabilities (and limitations) of this excellent home weather station!

I have had several different weather stations over the years. The Ambient weather station is by far the best! The user guide is 1st class. Love it. WIll be buying a 2nd one very soon.

Very impressed with this Ambient Weather Station and it’s a significant improvement over the model WS-1171 which I bought 8 years ago (and that one still works!). An improved display and interface, color LCD display and temperature/humidity settings both indoors and outdoors that are can be adjusted/calibrated. A better layout of the display as well. Easy to set up once you get the hang of it and the instructions are more than adequate. Some pointers...This model uses 2 AA batteries in the outdoor sensor/sender unit and you should buy long lasting “Lithium AA batteries” when you purchase this unit. ( In my older unit (which uses AAA batteries), the lithium last over two years outside.). The main display unit needs to be plugged in; the old one worked entirely on batteries. This seems to be a better solution and seems necessary to drive the newer LCD color display. (The main unit also need 3 AAA batteries as power failure backup) The only downside (compared to the older unit)- the outdoor sensor doesn’t look as rugged or water proof as the old one. The old outdoor sensor had a separate plastic mounting clip that screwed into the mounting surface. This outdoor unit comes with just two screws, no mounting clip.... and it seems flimsy to mount. Time will tell how long it lasts. Otherwise, a very good purchase!

This is a great weather station. It has held up well over the couple years I've had it. I had Oregon Scientific ones before this one, and they didn't hold up as well. I had outdoor receivers fail with their setups, but these have held up better. The one downside to this base station is that it has to be plugged in, but I'll take that over the battery powered Oregon ones. This one looks a little better for my eyes. I love the adjustable brightness settings. It's a great unit. I like it so much, I gave one as a gift to a family member. I don't have my outdoor sensors very far from the base, but I've never had any signal strength issues. Recommended.

This is about the 20th weather station I've had, I can't stand virtually everything about this. I understand the challenges in the humidity being inaccurate, but that's just the start. First off, the temperatures between the sensor and the display unit can be off by as much as 3-4 degrees, which is inexplicable. The remote sensors are somehow not weather tight and constantly fail after getting wet. Even when dry they lose connection at least 3-4 times a month and the only way to get them to reconnect is to bring it inside and pull power/batteries from both and wait for them to sync. Eventually that doesn't work and now its done. Also the range is horrendous, it almost has to have complete line of sight and be within 100 feet of the remote or you will get nothing, and once it loses sync you are starting over as mentioned above. I would easily pay several hundred dollars for a weather station that wasn't a total piece of junk, and you CAN NOT FIND ANY. I've had it with this cheap crap, I don't understand who these engineers are who take absolutely no pride in their work and release a product like this on the market. Stay away from all of these unless you want a second job troubleshooting them and constantly replacing them. I would estimate manufacturing cost at around one fifth of what is being charged for this.

I am normally up and out by 3.30 a.m.and need to know prior to leaving the house what the conditions outside are to properly prepare and dress for the next several hours. Having recently replaced a years old and dependable unit with a new weather station (it was made in China), I was disheartened to find that the 48 degree temperature outside as recorded on the new unit was actually 16 degrees. There was two inches of ice on the pond to support the freezing temperature later broadcast on the radio and I was not dressed for that temperature. Virtually all other weather station units available on Amazon are made in China and look similar to the now discredited one I had just purchased. Wishing to avoid another China product I was delighted to find that on its website, Ambient claims that their product is made in Arizona U.S.A. The product sounded good and I try to support U.S.businesses. While Amazon's delivery was very prompt and precisely when the predicted it would be, I nearly sent the box back unopened. Clearly marked on the side of the merchandiser's packaging was 'Made in China'. I was very peeved! However, being desperate for accurate reporting I proceeded to set it up and program it. That process was extremely simple. It came with two outside sensors which is a huge plus. The Station has only been in operation for two days now and the temperature has not dipped below 35 degrees but I am satisfied. Right now the screen shows it is raining and it is. All the data is clearly displayed and as it is not battery operated it remains lite and readable from a distance. So despite its source I plan to keep it and hope for the best.

This Product was sent with the wrong power adaptor and does not run correctly on battery. A lot of money for a failed product. I assumed the power adaptor was suitable for Australia but the adaptor failed and blew the circuitry of the device. Now i have an expensive paperweight and will need to spend more money on the disposal of the electronic item.

Excellent produit

Display is beautiful but keeping the outdoor sensor synced up and working is a true PITA. At this stage of wireless technology there is no excuse for this device giving as much trouble as it has given me. When it works it works well but when it loses sync, good luck getting it to sync back up.

It did not work

Bought in March 2021. The weather station freeze after a month and I had to do a hard reset. November 2021 is dead. Two set of batteries were used in that period.