Oregon Scientific WMR180

Oregon Scientific WMR180
Price: £199
Type of product: Wireless weather station
Reviewer: Brian Gaze
Date of review: 15th October 2011

The Oregon Scientific WMR180 is a wireless weather station that provides a wide range of data and flexibility, but at the same time is easy to set up and install. It comes bundled with ambient weather’s Virtual Weather State Base Edition software which enables you to view and log data from the WMR180 to your PC via a wireless connection.

Overview
The wireless WMR180 package includes the base station, anemometer, temperature and humidity sensor, rain gauge and a solar panel. Additional sensors can be bought separately, e.g. to measure UV readings. The sensors are powered by a combination of batteries and a solar panel, apart from the rain gauge which is fully batter powered. Unlike some weather stations, all of the sensors can be mounted independently meaning they can be installed in different locations. I decided to mount the temperature probe, anemometer and solar panel together on a 2m pole, and the gauge separately on a flat wooden railway sleeper bordering a flower bed. At £199 my view is that on paper the WMR180 very keenly priced considering what is included. So what is the build quality like and how well does it perform?

Build and installation
The Oregon Scientific WMR180 is arrives in a neat package, with all the components being adequately protected in transit. A concise and to the point instruction booklet is provided, and all the components look to be of good build quality, especially when considering the price this weather station sells at. Setting up the weather station is straightforward, although you’ll need a small Phillips screwdriver, and a pair of pliers will be handy. Obviously you’ll also need to find suitable outdoor locations to mount the sensors, according to Oregon Scientific this can be up to about 100m away from your base station. My advice is to buy a 2m long spiked round wooden pole from your local garden centre, dig well into the ground, and then attach the anemometer and temperature and humidity sensors to it. The temperature sensor and humidity sensor is mounted inside a radiation shield meaning that you can in theory place it where you want, but I would recommend a shaded location to maximize the accuracy of the temperature. Finding a good open location for an anemometer is always challenging in my experience unless you have a huge garden. The best advice I was given on this matter was to remember that you are recording the wind speed in your immediate location. In my case this means measured wind speeds will often be lower than in surrounding areas because much of my garden is sheltered. Once the sensors are assembled you just need to set up the base station. This couldn’t be easier, as you just need to insert the batteries, press Reset, and then you’ll be good to go. A mains adapter is provided for the base station, but it is handy to be able to run off batteries so you can unplug the base station and move around. The base station should automatically detect the sensors, and start displaying readings from them, and the clock on the base station is designed to set itself by synchronising with a radio signal, although Oregon Scientific say if the signal is weak it can take up 24 hours to do this. In my case it took a couple of minutes. The final part of the set-up is the Virtual Weather Station computer software. This is optional and only required if you want to view and store weather data on your PC, but I’d definitely recommend giving it a go. Installation is again easy, and a wireless USB connector is provided. This plugs into a USB port on your PC, and then communicates wirelessly with the base station, so they don’t need to be kept together.

Using the Oregon Scientific WMR180
Once up and running the outdoor sensors can be left to their own devices, and will transmit data to the base station on a regular basis. According to Oregon Scientific the anemometer wind speed signal is transmitted approximately every 56 seconds, and the outdoor temperature and humidity signal every 102 seconds.  I think this is frequent enough for most people, although more expensive weather stations will transmit data more frequently. The base unit is very well designed, with a clear black and white LCD display, and 6 buttons on the front providing access to all its functions. In terms of ease of use I think it beats some of the more expensive weather stations hands down. It’s really difficult to fault this aspect of it. For example, to change units from Celsius to Fahrenheit you just navigate to the temperature area on the LCD display, and then press the Units button. Max and minimum values for the previous 24 hours are readily available for most of the variables, such as temperature and wind speed. There are also some nice touches, such as trend line next to the temperature and humidity readings which at a glance show you whether they are rising, falling or steady.
 
The readings provided do seem to be pretty accurate on the whole, although as I mentioned earlier, finding an ideal location to host the system is difficult. To maximize the accuracy of the temperature readings I would suggest mounting the sensor in a shaded location because although it is enclosed in a radiation shield, the readings do seem to climb too quickly when placed in bright sunlight. Pressure readings seem accurate, as do wind speed readings. Unfortunately (for the benefit of testing) no rain fell during the period I tested the system for, so to check that the rain gauge was working I had to tip some water in. All seemed fine, and although I didn’t measure amounts I don’t see any reason why the rain gauge shouldn’t provide decently accurate readings. The WMR180 base station provides a weather forecast for the local area based on the data it is receiving. Many people will like this, and I’d say it’s comparable to what other electronic weather stations offer, but I prefer to look at the raw data myself and then derive a forecast from it. Remember the weather in Britain can vary enormously over short distances and is very changeable, so don’t set your expectations too high on this. This isn’t a criticism specifically of the WMR180, as I would make exactly the same point about much more expensive weather stations from other manufacturers. The weather station should be used a tool to help you make a forecast! The WMR180 doesn’t log data other than the max and minimum values for the previous 24 hours, so if you do want to keep records for your location the Virtual Weather Station software provided will prove very useful.  Configuring Virtual Weather Station is relatively easy, the key thing is to ensure communication between the Oregon Scientific USB connector and the WMR180 base station is made. If you read and follow the USB hub section in the instruction manual you should find it easy. The software shows the current data being reported by the WMR180, as well as plotting on going graphs of variables such as pressure, temperature, wind speed etc. It also builds a data archive, so you can recall daily, monthly and yearly summaries as the amount of data you have recorded grows. The software provides a lot of functionality, and its inclusion is a big plus, although I do think the user interface could do with some polishing up. Nonetheless, if you make the effort to set it up, and dig into the menus to see what is on offer, your time will be well spent.

Summary
This is an excellent weather station for the price. Some aspects of it, such as ease of use and assembly, are better than what I’ve found on some much more expensive weather stations. The build quality is also good, and I expect that if well looked after the WMR180 should provide years of service. If you are looking for an automated weather station and don’t want to spend over £500 on one of the more expensive brands, the Oregon Scientific WMR180 would be an excellent choice. The Oregon Scientific WMR180 has a recommended retail price of £199 including VAT.

Buy the Oregon Scientific WMR180
The WMR180 is available to buy from the TWO Store.