La Crosse Technology WS-8035U-IT-SAL Wireless Weather Station with Remote Temperature and Humidity Gauge

The La Crosse Technology WS-8035U-IT-SAL Wireless Weather Station is certainly more attractive than other units I have purchased from La Cross. The problem is that the functionality is not nearly equivalent to the high price of this unit. Some of the lower end units by the same maker offer most of the benefits of the 8035 for a third of the cost. In addition, the build quality did not inspire confidence that this product will last very long. There are certain things that worked better than others, but overall this product is lacking.

THE ALTERNATIVES

So if you love La Crosse you will not be giving up too much to purchase the WS-9611U, WS-9013U or the WS-7014CH instead of this. All of them retail for a fraction of this unit. There are tons of others too. This unit's performance is nowhere near where it needs to be relative to the cost.

If you are just looking for quick temperature and humidity readings, many wall clocks that run on 2 AA batteries will give you indoor readings. And several outdoor kits are available. There is additional information this will give you, but many people may not need or want that extra info. And for most people it may not be worth the added cost.

Some may want to step up to the pro units for more real data and flexibility than this and lower end models. But the high cost of those units will keep them far from most people's budgets, including mine.

THE LOOKS AND THE BUILD QUALITY

Many La Crosse weather stations are made from a drab grey plastic. The center portion of this unit is also constructed from that material, but along the sides are two brushed metal wings. I was surprised by how much visual appeal those metal wings added. They make this unit appear much sturdier. Unfortunately, looks can be deceiving.

There are actually two parts to this product: the weather station, which is pictured, and the remote sensor, to obtain outdoor temperatures. First of all, this sensor unit does not look durable enough to be outdoors. There is no kind of insulation over the battery cover. So if you live in colder climates or places with tons of temperature change, you can expect a short life for the remote sensor.

The back of the unit itself has a hole near the top so it can be hung from a screw. But right next to the battery compartment are two plastic feet that can be pulled out to stand this unit up on a table. The plastic backing is not solid, and you can see it flex when you pull the feet out. Just moving the unit made it tip over and knocked the batteries out. And when the batteries fall out, you have to reinstall them and restart the setup all over again. More on this later. The bottom line is that those feet are not sturdy enough to provide a stable base for this unit, and the build quality as a whole could be improved. So you either have to hang this from a screw or have it propped up close to a wall for support.

SETUP AND EXPANSION

The booklet includes a "quick guide" list and a longer set of installation instructions.

1.) Install batteries in the sensor and the weather station and leave them to communicate for 15 minutes. The sensor unit is like a small remote with a screen alternately displaying temperature and humidity data. The readings from the sensor are reflected on the weather station as the *outdoor* readings at the bottom of the screen. So during the set-up you would expect the indoor and outdoor readings to match if both units are accurate. I found they were off by a few degrees at first, but seemed to slowly approach one another.

Both take AA batteries (3 in the weather station, 2 in the sensor). But the booklet warns against using re-chargeable batteries. Huh? There is no place for a power adapter to plug into the weather station. Using regular batteries doesn't seem very efficient to me, but for the sake of testing I did use regular Duracell batteries and not rechargeable ones.

2.) When you are done *syncing* you can place the sensor unit outside. The sensor slowly adjusted its readings to the outdoors, which means you have to give it time before the readings will be accurate. There is an included wall mounting bracket that can be adhered or screwed to a wall.

You need a place where it will stay relatively protected from the elements, so it can't be too far away from your house. You will most likely place it under an awning or over-hang. This unit just hangs in the holster and can easily be taken out. So your ideal location may be outside of a second story window. Then again, if the sensor falls, it's toast. So you have to find a place outside to hang it where it can't fall too far, won't easily be taken by neighborhood kids and won't be too exposed to the elements even though it's outdoors. Anybody who doesn't have such a place, prepare to scratch your head about where to install this.

And if that wasn't frustrating enough, then comes the tricky language about sensor range. The booklet claims a range of 330 feet with *no obstructions*, but the sensor is designed to be put outside which already cuts the range down to 175 feet. For each additional wall, cut the range in half again. Then you factor in the distance from the wall, and ... you get the point. Metal, stucco and even glass can cut down reception further. This basically means this unit must be placed relatively close to an outside wall near the sensor. Placing multiple sensors around a larger property will be limited by your home's size and materials. Most people won't read this fine print, but if you want an accurate outdoor reading you have no choice.

The model of sensor that is included with this unit is the T29UD. While the product page and included booklet would seem to imply that any La Crosse sensor would work, so far I have not been convinced of that. The TX28U and TX21U are both listed as compatible, and transmit on a 915 Mhz range which is one of the three frequency ranges listed in the product booklet. However, the TX6U may or may not work. It's not explicitly listed as compatible and some posts on the other product's pages give the impression that they won't work.

3.) Plan on manually setting the time. The batteries coming out so easily makes this even more annoying. I know it says that this is an atomic clock that should sync, but it may take days of waiting for the syncing icon to show up. In many cases this thing will not sync on its own. This alone is a deal breaker for this item. If I wanted a clock I was going to set myself, I would not be spending this much money for it. The instructions indicate it may not get a signal during the day, but I tried doing it at all hours. It will also tell you to keep it away from any *electrical source* which is basically anything within the modern home. That means the internals are not properly shielded, which is not the sign of quality electronics. This thing took forever to sync, and I mean several days. And when the batteries die, you have to play the waiting game all over again.

FORECASTS

The forecast icons are VERY MISLEADING. In fact, I get the impression that many people may not know what the forecast icons are telling them, primarily because they are so over-simplified as to not be very useful. Basically this unit will give you one of three forecasts: The weather is going to improve, the weather is going to be fair, or the weather is going to get worse.

Wait a second. You might be wondering, "When I look at the screen (and the product images for that matter) I see a sun with clouds or raining. Wouldn't a sun logically mean that it's going to be sunny out? Wouldn't a cloud mean that it's going to be cloudy? And wouldn't you expect a rainy cloud to mean ... RAIN???" Nope on all counts. The *sun* icon means "the weather will improve." The *cloudy sun* means "the weather is expected to stay fair." And the *rainy cloud* means "the weather is going to get worse."

Even this language is somewhat confusing. If it was hailing yesterday and is going to rain today, will the forecast have a *sun* because *technically* the weather is going to be improving from yesterday? Or will it have a *rain cloud* because it's still bad? These are the kinds of questions that you shouldn't have to ask yourself about simple pictures that anybody should be able to understand.

I understand that La Crosse couldn't have included icons for every possible weather condition, from hurricanes and tornadoes to rain and hazy sunshine. But if they were going to provide such basic weather information (good, bad, the same) why didn't they use some other type of symbol or even words? That way, the forecast wouldn't be so misunderstood? It's going to be pretty annoying to grab that umbrella and go outside into the dry hazy conditions that this thing has interpreted as "the weather is going to get worse."

To be fair, it seems like this is common on other units I have seen, such as ones branded by "The Weather Channel." Those may be produced by La Crosse and re-branded anyway, but I still don't like this design. To me, if I want information this basic I can look out my window. I thought I was going to find out whether it was going to rain or snow. Not even close.

See section "F" on page 13 of your instruction booklet for information on the forecast icons.

MOON PHASE AND BAROMETRIC PRESSURE

The moon phase data seemed a little more accurate. It came up when I manually set the time and date. According to the manual it's pre-programmed into the unit up to 2029. Still, I think this info is included on many calendars, and I'm not sure how many people really need this feature

The barometric pressure is more immediately useful, yet is included in many analog gauges included on battery operated wall clocks. It seemed to be accurate enough, but the "air-pressure history" read-out seemed to continually cycle through for several days before it normalized. Still, once it shows differences over the previous 24 hours, you only get enough info to know that it has gone down or up. Reading prior values is not something you can do visually.

Pressing IN or OUT will give you max and minimum readings for temperature and humidity for indoors and outdoors respectively. Of course, that is until you have to change the batteries. Did I mention that it's annoying to have to do all this every time you change the batteries?


PROS:
+ Attractive unit compared to others
+ Nice wall mounting or stand options
+ Fairly accurate indoor temperature, humidity, and pressure readings
+ Will eventually sync data with WWVB atomic clock signal from Fort Collins, CO
+ Good max and min memory per each battery charge
+ 24 hour pressure change histogram
+ Included moon-phase read-out
+ Default settings will meet the needs of novice users without adjustments
+ System is motion activated, saving storage space
+ Video recordings are easily backed, copied, or erased
+ Video can be accessed via live feed over the internet
+ Firmware updates are readily available, with caveats

CONS:
- Installation is time-consuming
- No backlighting so you can't see the screen without turning on the lights
- Using multiple sensor units is not easy and requires a whole new setup process
- You will have to manually set the time and date ... because (see below)
- It takes TOO LONG (days or up to a week) to sync up with the WWVB signal!
- The plastic backing and feet feel weak and too thin for the size of the unit
- Outdoor sensor does not seem durable enough for outdoor use
- Placement of outdoor sensor is difficult based upon range and placement requirements
- Batteries come out easily requiring you to restart the setup process
- No setup info is retained when you change batteries
- No way to power the unit with a plug rather than batteries
- Forecast data is too over-simplified
- The cost is very high considering functionality

CONCLUSION

Don't get me wrong, this unit feels more solid than most entry level units. Many of the more advanced features just didn't perform well enough to justify the additional expense. Much of the read-out information did not feel more functional. This is after using this for a few weeks with decidedly underwhelming results.

This is still an attractive unit if what you really need is a stylish wall clock with a temperature and humidity read-out. I'm not married to the digital read-out, and I have a number of standard wall clocks that already give me that information. This was not my first La Crosse weather station purchase, but given the higher price tag I expected much more. What I got was on par with the lower priced units they sell, which is simply not good enough to justify keeping this unit at this price. Check out the alternatives and hopefully you will either save money for similar features or find an alternative unit with a better feature set.

Happy shopping.

This item was easy to set up. Make sure you use fresh battiers otherwise it will affect the signal strength to the remote. Also before you mount the remote make sure you can get a signal to the station.I just set the remote on the fence near the desired location and if the signal worked then I mounted it. Only things that is strange is that the outside temperture reading somethings is way off; but it soon correct it self. It does what I needed it to do!

I'm a La Crosse weather station fan. This unit is by far the best of the three I've bought (for myself and for family members) with its easy-to-read display, moon phases, barometric pressure graph, forecaster, and atomic clock in addition to both indoor and outdoor temperatures and humidity. It even displays a frowning face if the humidity, inside or out, is too low for comfort.

Set up is easy and takes mere minutes. The only tricky part is paying attention to the order in which you install the batteries. You install the remote sensor outside (screws included for mounting), and the indoor receiver wherever you choose, although the directions recommend placing it near a window. The range is about 300 feet, but, of course, walls and other obstacles can decrease it. Once set to the proper time zone, the atomic clock automatically sets the time and date overnight, provided that you've located it in an area that gets good reception. Check the alarm before you walk away! It arrives set to go off, which can scare the heck out of you!

I've mounted my display on the wall (screw/nail NOT included), although it can sit on a desk or shelf with its two fold-out feet. The display is an LCD black on gray which can be difficult to see at times, although the brightness can be set using the controls. The indoor unit is fairly large -- about 10" high and about 7" wide.

This makes a wonderful gift for anyone who likes to know more than the basic information about weather.

-- Debbie Lee Wesselmann

I bought this yesterday on a Gold Box half price sale and WOW what a deal!Then it arrived today via FS USPS!! I currently own The Weather Channel La Crosse WS-9055TWC and La Crosse Technology WS-9611U and still use and enjoy both of them, particularly the latter since it has the cute clothing icon. This attractive big boy really outshines both in design and features (okay, this one does retail for 2-3 times their price point in all fairness). This is a great weather station that has real metal wings although the body is metal colored plastic the same as the other two are made. It can be hung or sit on your desk. As the description accurately denotes all of the features, I confirm they work and are easy to set up manually. Due to "busy atmospheric signal/noise," I will have to wait until tonight for the automatic updating to take place. It is fun to glance at its screen for changes. I'm hoping it will give better accuracy for the micro climate I live in (often it rains around my neighborhood) than I obtain from The Weather Channel or the local Doppler weather news. I'm already so impressed with the features and styling, but if my opinion changes I will gladly update so you will be aware of any issues.

I can only think of one reason not to. Lacrosse makes the professional models with wind speed, wind chill, rainfall amounts that can be transferred to your computer via their software for about 20 bucks more at least at the time of my purchase. Was the best seller on amazon.com.

This is an excellent device though. I frequently check the outdoor temp with computer and almost always are exact or within a degree. Humidity readings are also very close. I wouldn't bet my family fortune on the barometric pressure forcaster but it is quite accurate. Syncs real easy which is nice. (The whole setup process is really easy). The negative is I wish I would have spent the extra 20 bucks for wind and rainfall amounts.