Hawkeye Weather

The display is unraedable - VERY poor contrast

Customer Rating:
Just about everything about this unit is good, EXCEPT for the display which has such poor contrast that it is unreadable. The backlight is even worse and is dark blue.... useless. DO NOT BELIEVE th pictures you see of this unit with the fake plastic overlay on the screen... that's the last time you will be able to read the screen clearly.

There is no contrast adjustment (at least none documented).

DO NOT BUY THIS unit if being able to read the display is the reason for the purchase (why else would you be buying it). Of course Oregon Scientific basically has no customer support. Save your money and buy something else.

Shame, an otherwise good unit.

I like it better every day.

Customer Rating:
I spent a lot of time debating about purchasing this system. After having the station for almost weeks now, I am glad I bought it. As I'll outline below, I would recommend this system with a few warnings.

First off, using Amazon Prime, the package arrived via FedEx in two days, and was shipped very appropriately from Oregon. Included in the box were:
1. Main Unit - compatible with sensors bearing 3.0 logo. Supports 1 indoor and 10 wireless outdoor temperature and humidity sensors, though due to the limited range I can't imagine anyone using more than 2 outdoor sensors. Measurements on the main unit include temperature, heat index, humidity, dew point, wind speed, wind direction, wind chill, UV index (UV sensor not included), barometric pressure and rainfall. Also included are the date and atomic time, as well as moon phases.
2. Remote Wind Sensor WGR800. The wind sensor can connect to the solar panel. RF transmission for all of the sensors is 433MHz. Requires 2 AA batteries.
3. Remote Rain Sensor PCR 800, self emptying rain collector. The rain sensor can NOT connect to the solar panel. Requires 2 AA batteries.
4. Remote Temperature/Humidity Sensor THGN801. Can connect to the solar panel. Requires 2 AAA batteries.
5. Solar Panel - can connect to a maximum of two items. Will not connect to the rain sensor.
6. Miscellaneous parts, include 6 foot pole that comes in three parts, lanyards to ground mount the station, wall plate, 2 software CD's that included the Weather OS software and Weather Display V10.37i Basic software, AA and AAA batteries for all sensors and the main unit, USB cable, and AC power cord.


I took another reviewers advice and set up all sensors at my dining room table following the directions. Really, it was quite easy, and the directions for setup were clear and concise. So, after two weeks, here is WHAT I LIKE about the WMR200:

1. All in one - Everything in one package. I love getting all of the information from the main unit. Previously I only had an accu-rite temperature sensor. Now I have access to a lot more weather information from my own station!
2. Mounting - Almost everything was included for mounting. I decided to mount the temperature and wind gauge on my roof. I used the included pole, but had to buy some brackets to attach to the roof. If you want to just plant it in the yard, you wouldn't need to buy anything. But for less than four dollars, I bought the extra hardware I needed. We have high winds at my house, and I think the pole and kit will stand up well to our 70mph+ wind speeds we see in front of thunderstorms.
3. Dew Point - I like having the dew point, and didn't realize this was included.
4. Touch screen - works well, and gives a number of different information options for each sensor.
5. The atomic time - works perfectly, and will be nice, especially on March 15th.
6. The main unit is both attractive and very functional. (See my one note below about dimness of the display). It is just the right size. There are also small "feet" on the back of the main unit, similar to those on a keyboard so that you can place it on the desktop, and have it at up at an angle.
7. Included software - there are two different programs included. The oregon scientific "weather os" is fairly basic, but graphically pleasing. I have really gotten to like the "weather display" program that was included.
8. Accuracy - So far it has been very accurate. I compared to another rain gauge, and it was very accurate, as well as correlating well in both temperature and humidity. The dew point has been off by a few degrees compared to the local tv station, but I am unsure if this is a problem, or just the difference in 10 miles.


Ok, so here are a few things I DON'T LIKE about it:
1. Price. Two hundred and thirty dollars is expensive.
2. Wireless range. It is not 300 feet as claimed. Try 50 feet or so. It might be 300' from one hilltop to another with no walls or obstructions in between. I had the rain gauge mounted on a fence about 50 feet from the main unit, and kept losing signal. The main unit had only one wall between it and the rain sensor, but couldn't maintain the signal. I wound up placing it on my roof, about 15 feet from the main unit, and that solved the problem, and now I haven't lost the signal in over 3 days.
3. Rain gauge. Ok, I thought some previous reviewers were whining quite a bit about all of the screws. It can't be that bad I thought. Well, it is that bad. Come on OS, do better than that. Also, when I needed to reset the rain gauge, guess where the reset button is? That's right, behind the battery door with the 10 tiny screws. I guess I am whining now, so I better quit it.
4. Display on the main unit - and this is my biggest complaint and disappointment. As one review stated, it seems dim. But after looking at it more, it seems that the face of the display is very reflective. Depending on the viewing angle, it will look darker or lighter. This is not a problem at all if you are close to the unit. But don't plan on reading it from more than 5 feet away, as the display washes out, and it just looks gray. I have few ideas on how to fix this problem, and will update if it is correctable.
5. Noise Factor - the beep can't be disabled on the main unit. Every time you touch the screen, you get a beep, and it gets a bit annoying after a while.

Overall, I am glad I purchased this unit. Just be prepared to spend time getting it initially set up, and also spending time adjusting positions of the sensors if there are any reception issues. If this station lasts for a few years, it will be worth the money.

oregon scientific WMR 200

Customer Rating:
I had a hard wire 918 I think it was, it was a really good station, then the sensors starting going bad, so I looked around, I tryed a LaCross, and that was a big mistake, what a piece of junk, then got one from the weather channel, and it was a LaCross, it works, but can't hook up to my computer.
So finley got smart and ordered the 200, it won't work with my old weather program so I lost all my data from the past four years.
I finley found a program so I could up load to the internet, I have people around her that check my station.
So all in all , its working ok, wish there was more software for the stations.
Oh well can't have everything :)
I have had it a couple months and seems to be doing fine.
GlennO

Buy a Davis or LaCrosse

Customer Rating:
Don't spend your money on this one. Save a little longer and get one that works and works consistently. There is no power storage capabilities, the power is supplied by a photo cell on sunny days, otherwise it runs on batteries. The sensors and main unit constantly lose their link and fails to record, which requires rebooting the system and loosing any data. And requiring you to reset the clock and configuration. The clock is suppose to self-set with a satellite link but even setting the unit outside it can not find a signal. The included software is very limited with three canned screen settings, even the choices for what to record are all the same and in some cases don't apply to the sensor being read. Customer support is a a joke since, 1. Oregon Scientific has know about the problems for several years and has not addressed any of them. (I received my unit as a Christmas gift and when I started to have problem, one week after setting it up, I found reviews from two years ago stating the same problems I have experienced. 2. Oregon Scientific's answer to the problems; remove the batteries and reinstall. Buy a Davis or even a LaCrosse.

WMR200A LCD Display is Dim

Customer Rating:
Just purchased a WMR200A directly from Oregon Scientific. The display on the base unit does not have enough contrast and the blue backlighting is lousy (blue on blue?!). I was about to return it thinking it was defective, but the few real photos I could find of the unit on the web look about the same. Most of the photos you see are with the unit turned off and the plastic protector sheet with fake data still over the screen, so the contrast looks great. In reality it isn't. You can tell the "fake" photos by the fact that they all have the barometer data at 12 hrs and 100.6 mbhPa, the rain is at 12 hr / 0.6 in/hr, the UV is at 12 hr and UVI = 3, the wind is always 13.6 mph and wind chill 70F, and the time is 12:38 Sun. If not for the poor readability I'd be happy with this unit so far, it is clearly better than the LaCrosse station I had (although that may not be saying much :-).