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374 of 378 found the following review helpful:
 Do your homeworkMay 25, 2004
By Mark A. Pearson
The Oregon Scientific WMR968 is a very inexpensive but complex weather instrument. I have been researching home weather stations for over a year now, and just purchased the WMR968 from Amazon.com when the price dropped by half. At the current price it is worth the extra trouble to get it to do what it should do. At this price, you have to expect to do some extra fiddling to get it to perform. If you really want a weather station that is going to perform perfectly, time after time, right out of the box, keep looking. This isn't the one for you. But, on the other hand, for those of you who like me have very little cash to spend on a home weather station, this is a good buy.Only beware! As is noted in these reviews, and on many other consumer review web sites, the manual that comes in the box is trash! Do not use that manual to set up and tune your WMR968. Please, please, please, go to the Radio Shack website and download the manual for the Radio Shack Cable Free Weather Station with AccuWeather, and use that one, it is excellent! The Radio Shack weather station is identical in all respects to the one sold under the Oregon Scientific brand name, except that, for some reason, it has a real manual written by a real American, and it has all the information you need. Note, that the manual that comes with the Oregon Scientific weather station has 9 pages. The Radio Shack manual has 36 pages. My advice: if you decide to take the risk and purchase the Oregon Scientific WMR968 from Amazon.com, like I did, read all the consumer reviews, even the nasty ones. You should know what might happen to you. Gather up as much information as you can. I have found several exellent tips on setting up and tuning the WMR968 on this and other web sites. Another suggestion: join and contribute to a weather station bulletin board, such as WeatherMatrix.net. Share your knowledge and experience with others. Finally, don't be tempted to cut corners when setting up your weather station. The sensitive electronics are not tolerant of abuse. Do your best to make sure everything outdoors is weather-tight.
108 of 116 found the following review helpful:
Your Personal Weather StationMar 11, 2002
By Natalie Kilpatrick
The Oregon Scientific WMR968 is certainly the top of the line weather station next to Davis. Although it may seem that the display is only updating every 30 seconds or so, it probably is. Buying third party software for this station works well if you want a more up-to-date update (certain software can update every 5 seconds or so). One problem that I'm having with my weather station is the rain gauge. With 4 inches of snow, the rain gauge never budged. This kind of ticks me off, since precipitation totals are essential to me. Other than the rain gauge, there seems to be nothing wrong with the weather station. The barometer isn't something that gets calculated on its own, you have to actually set that up to what the barometric pressure is at the closest NWS office to you; otherwise the pressure's WAY off. Other information you can gather from this weather station is indoor/outdoor temperature/humidity, indoor pressure, wind speed, wind gust, rain totals, wind direction (plus min/max/avg for the past 24 hours). There is a setting for an alarm (however, I haven't used this feature so I don't know what alarms can be set). If using a third party software, you cannot have batteries installed in the monitor, it must be plugged into a AC outlet. So, it is best that you also go out and get a good cheap Universal Power Supply (UPS) for your computer in which to hook up the monitor, tower and weather station if you have quick little power surges. You will also *need* a serial port cable for use in COM1 or COM2. The Oregon Scientific WMR968 does not come with a serial port cable, you will need to order one or pick one up with the purchase of your weather station.
97 of 104 found the following review helpful:
Beginners only! Serious weather bugs buy a DAVIS!Nov 02, 2004
By Red Tractor Driver
Purchased unit in july 2004. Has worked good since then. It required 4-6 hours to set up unit and another hour to build a stand to hang weather sensors on(look at buying a weather sensor stand but that was way overbudget on this project)
First the hygrometer both indoor and outdoor sensors work within printed parameters.In my arid climate even during a rain storm do I rarely seem more than 80% only a heavy fog or dew can it hit 95-100% The temperature sensors are within a degree or 2 (found frost one morning when the sensor only reported 34 degrees not 32 or lower).
The rain gauge is pitiful. A small amount of precip will not register on display. Also main unit will tell how much rain fell yesterday but not currently. It keeps a resetable running total but if you get a massive downpour it will say how fast it is raining but not how much until the next day. Also wish it kept a daily total like it rain .25 on Mon and .33 on Tues so on.
The barometer is good as soon as you get your correct reading for your altitude. However I have not been able to find a way to adjust the display on the sensing unit it reads like 22.04 and the the main unit is adjusted to say 29.11 . One good thing is, it is an excellent tool for weather chasing. When the pressure drops rapidly it usally rains. A rain event can be tracked on the bar graph!
The wind gauge may not be working quite right on my system . A very windy day will only be about 17-20mph. However it might be in a bad area where the wind is being blocked somewhat. I will probably move the instrument to a more open spot and see if it will get a more realistic reading.
Finally the clock . A person must manually set the time and date and the unit doesnt adjust for daylight savings. I wish this was an "atomic clock". That never needed adjusted.
Oh yeah two more items "the manual" stinks . Get the RADIO SHACK manual the other reviewers talk about. Print it off and read before your unit arrives. This will save alot of frustration. KEEP the box the unit came with for one year. I read the warranty and they will only accept a warranty repair if it is sent only in the ORIGINAL BOX!
**UPDATE** 1-20-2010 I bought this in 2004 and I still have it in 2010. I have had to replace a couple of parts and a few batteries. I added a mast to this in 2008. I ordered parts from a*bient weather and have some software to record data. I also added an extra console off E*ay. With the extra console in my basement office, I had to have a repeater to get the signals in my basement.I am now, able to keep track of the tempature of my spa, freezer and walk in cooler(storage for our small orchard). This whole unit will go till 2012 or 2014(maybe longer).
Now about the DAVIS comments I am talking about the units costing around 1000 dollars. Not the cheap ones.
39 of 39 found the following review helpful:
You get what you pay for (3 stars)Mar 24, 2005
By 39ejhsosjdovnhbd-[-=wicncdp[-w9cdjh
I haven't installed a Davis unit, but this product is now selling for less than 1/2 the price of a Davis unit. Also check out Peet Bros units, which are more expensive but not wireless.
Advantages: Inexpensive compared to other full-featured stations, least expensive unit with RS-232 output. Solar panel/power units have both NimH and Alkaline backup batteries and can install up to about 3 m from the sensor. 3 sensors can be deployed in different locations to optimize placement individually. Power units are reasonably well waterproofed with silicone gaskets; nevertheless, my wind unit solar panel leaked, and I had it replaced under warranty, wait was about 1 month. (Be sure to install cables with drip loops and install the gaskets for the RJ connectors.) Lots of gizmos - opening the WMR968 is like Christmas!
Disadvantages: You may not like the appearance or convenience of having three different outdoor sensors all connected with cables to their power units; my wife didn't at first but we came to an agreement :-) Sensors are not particularly sensitive - rain gauge cannot resolve rainfall rates less than 1 mm /.04 in, rainfall rate is wildly inaccurate but total seem correct, anemometer doesn't "kick in" below about 3 mph, other accuracy is pretty good. Cannot display dew points below 0 C / 32 F, although humidity seems accurate. Outdoor temp/RH sensor seems sensitive to rain and definitely cannot be placed in direct sun. Manual is terrible - as previous posters have pointed out, search for and download the Radio Shack WX200 manual. Oregon Scientific support is a black hole.
In summary this model gives you a good bang for the buck, but the much more expensive Davis models may be better. You get what you pay for.
Dec 2009 Update: After 6 years outside, the temp/humidity unit (THGR968) failed.
45 of 46 found the following review helpful:
Good for the priceMay 17, 2005
By Andrew Clegg
I own two of these systems, one for my main home and one for my weekend home. I'm about to buy a third for another house. It's not that I think the system is fantastic, but it's that I'd never be able to justify buying three Davis units that cost 2 or 3 times as much as this one. The system does take a while to set up (you have to remove and replace lots of tiny screws to put all the batteries in). But for the price, you get a decently accurate system that is ready to connect to a computer via a standard serial cable. I recommend using a computer interface, as the display unit supplied with this station does have some deficiencies, as noted by others. I use Ambient's weather software to record the data and automatically update my Weather Underground sites with current conditions (KNCHAYES2 and KVAARL3). Overall, I'd say that this is a decent unit for the money, but do be prepared to do a little fiddling to get the most out of it. By the way, I have not had any of my units fail in either of the two systems I own. One more note--the batteries in the outdoor units seem to last forever. The first time I got a low-battery indication on any of my outdoor sensors was after two years of continuous use. The indoor thermometer/barometer (with no solar cell) doesn't last as long--I'm getting about 9 months on one set of batteries in that unit. Sorry, yet another note--I like that you can add on additional sensors. I have three additional sensors in my weekend house--one in the crawlspace to warn me of conditions leading to frozen pipes; one in my hot tub; and one in the fridge to warn me if the power went out inbetween visits so that I can judge if the food could be spoiled. All of these data are sent to my web site, so I can monitor all of these conditions during the week from anywhere that I can access the web. Pretty neat. Overall, I'm having fun with this station.
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