Pardon my sneaking in here ahead of John.
Not to preempt John, but he's probably asleep by this hour, as he gets up at the ungodly hour of 4:00AM or thereabouts.
In any event, I strongly encourage you visit the
AmbientWeather web site, and study the weather instruments available there. These folks know the weather instrument business. (Although they are located in Chandler, AZ, they sell only via their web site. Be sure to click where indicated on their web site for instant discount pricing and ordering capability by email!)
For quite a while the Davis Instruments Vantage Series Weather Stations (wired, wireless, normal or fan aspirated, with or without optional solar radiation, UV, soil moisture, soil temperature, and leaf wetness sensors) have been recognized as some of the best, although a full implementation with
all the bells & whistles plus mounting and rigging gear, PC interface and software could easily cost over $1000.00 - $1500.00. Omit several of the optional sensors for a better price.
The Vantage Pro2 series is the successor to the earlier Vantage Pro series; the wireless version of the Pro2 was the first weather station in its class to use frequency hopping spread spectrum radio technology to transmit weather data wirelessly
"up to 1000' (300 m)", thus resolving a range limitation in the earlier model. (A Wireless fan aspirated Vantage Pro2 has been on my wish list for quite a while.)
I see recent Davis Vantage Pro2 enhancements (that I have not investigated) include models with Internet Protocol (IP) and WiFi connectivity as well. (More $$$.)
However, the recently introduced
Davis Vantage Vue product (Made in the USA!) shows promise as an affordable alternative (
list price: $355.95). (I'm leaning in that direction!)
