Davis Instruments6357 Vantage Vue Wireless Sensor Suite

Great Product

Davis Instruments is the premier consumer weather station brand. If you are serious about accurate weather conditions, but cannot afford the Vantage Pro2, this is the next-best thing. My previous station was a LaCrosse 2813 model. For an $80 station, it put out very good numbers, but I did the best I could to make it as accurate as possible. With three separate sensors, you could site accordingly (wind on the roof, temperature in a radiation shield on the north part of the property, and rain bucket on the fence). You do not have this luxury with the Vantage Vue, as it is an all-in-one unit, but since installing, I have noticed that the numbers are very good. In fact, there is a Vantage Pro2 station within a mile from my home, and I am always comparing my numbers to that station. The temperature is always within a degree. The rain data is usually exact or within .01-02." The wind is usually within 2-3 MPH (usually less), but it is subjective to where you are able to mount your instrument. I have mine on a mast, attached to my wood-framed chimney. My neighbor has a two-story home, so wind from the northwest may not be as accurate as it could because of this. In a tract neighborhood, you will have to make some compromises. The National Weather Service states that an anemometer should be 33 feet above ground in open space, but a temperature gauge should be 4-6 feet above ground, with grass below or another natural landscape. So, you have to pick and choose here.You do not need a console to stream your data online, but you will need to purchase the Wireless Weather Envoy 6316 separately to make this happen. I just happened to find a vendor who was trying to get rid of their consoles for a deeply discounted price, which is why I bought this separately. I do not own a wireless data device, so I cannot speak from experience. I am looking forward to years of reliability and accuracy from this station.

I've had Davis and other stations over the years and always come back to Davis. This unit is very well made, easy to set up, easy to maintain like cleaning the rain sensor etc. The wireless connectivity is excellent and the update frequency is 3-4 seconds which I love for wind speed and direction. I paired this station with the VantagePro2 base for larger display plus added web access. This gives me access to all that I need from anywhere, very happy.My only suggestion for improvement is bird perching prevention. I checked the station after 4 weeks up on the roof, the rain collector bucket was about 1/2 full of bird droppings! Fortunately the unit is easy to clean. After cleaning up, I made up a "Crown of thorns" for the rain collector bucket. I purchased a stainless steel band hose clamp 5-7" size from Home Depot, I cut 2" lengths if 1/16" carbon fiber rods and hot glued them at 1" spacing around the inside the band. I used a dremmel tool to trim off the excess band (the bucket is about 5 1/2" dia with the rods in place), and cut a notch in the band to allow it to slip over the bucket lip. Once tightened, the band holds the rods nicely and should weather for many years outdoors. The higher end Davis station has this type protection and now mine is bird proof as well. Davis should make a slip-on crown as a standard feature as this station is a natural bird perch.Edit, after many weeks a quick check shows zero debris in the rain cup, the anti-bird prongs are working perfectly!

I bought this Davis Vantage Vue ISS to replace my original Vantage Vue ISS that I have had for about seven years and which recently quit functioning correctly. Amazon shipped the ISS ahead of schedule which was a pleasant surprise. After unboxing and assembling the ISS, I linked it to my exisiting Vantage Vue Console, verified its operation, and then installed it on a 10 ft tall furniture grade PVC pole behind my house. The new ISS worked well for two days, then began to quit transmitting after the sun went down. Since I had registered the new ISS with Davis to get the one year warranty coverage I called Davis Technical Support which was very responsive. They then walked me though some troubleshooting steps that determined that the super capacitor, which is charged by the solar cell and powers the ISS during a 24 hour cycle, was defective. Per their excellent warranty Davis is shipping me a new ISS and when received I will ship the defective ISS back to them. I am giving Davis four stars because of their excellent customer service and warranty even though my ISS was virtually defective right out of the box.Update:The replacement Davis ISS took one week to arrive after being shipped by Davis. I assembled the replacement ISS and mounted it on my outdoor pole. It has been running a week and a half now without issues. If you do have to send an ISS back to Davis under warranty you will be responsible for the shipping the defective ISS back to them once you have received the replacement ISS. It was unfortunate that the ISS fulfilled by Amazon failed virtually right out of the box, but the quick Davis replacement response turned a downer experience into an upper experience!

Typical Davis quality highly accurate and easy to setup after my older station stopped responding with some weather conditions. Not cheap although sometimes you pay for accuracy and dependability.