[UK-CONTEST] OT W-8681-MKII Wireless Weather Station from W&S

[Colin Wilson]

I have a Watson WX Station W-8681 which originally cost me around £75 I 
think, I have had it now for about 4 years but the wx here  cost me a little 
more recently as the actual TX on the mast got damaged in vy heavy rain and 
lightening storm and ceased to work. I replaced it for about £25 I think it 
was and all working just fine again. I am not convinced that the wind speed 
indicator is 100% accurate though as many is the time I can see the flags on 
the mast going hell for leather yet the meter showing a mere couple of 
knots! (I am a sailor so I know what a couple of knots feels like!)
Anyway it does the job I need it for mostly so not overly concerned.

Vy 73

Colin CT7ACG/G3VCQ


-----Original Message----- 
From: David Ferrington, M0XDF
Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2011 10:32 AM
To: John Lemay
Cc: uk-contest at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] OT W-8681-MKII Wireless Weather Station from W&S

I'm afraid not, only 3 replies, but 1 said magic, one said ok after you've 
ensured it's watertight, and the other hasn't had very good experiences with 
that and a similar model - but making it watertight may have helped there.

Seems they work ok for 12 - 18 months and then start playing up - refunds 
should be possible, even outside of the guarantee (the Sale of Goods Act 
says retailers must replace or repair FOC within a reasonable period of use, 
and 18 months is not a reasonable period of use for something like this - 
I'd say 5 years was min.)

Looks like the supplied software is rubbish and the consensus is to use some 
free s/w called Cumulas.

So I think it's a case of give it a try to see - these units are pretty low 
down on the scale of cost - I looked at some that were £1000+, thats way out 
of my league.

I think I might buy the one from Nevada, they supply a solar panel and 
rechargeables for the sensor, along with a touch screen control - 
http://tinyurl.com/c5xyqm6

73 de M0XDF


On 16 Dec 2011, at 19:02, John Lemay wrote:

> Did you get enough replies to form a conclusion ?

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