DAVIS Solar Power Kit Specifications download pdf (Page 28)

28 Davis Instruments

Things to consider when purchasing a weather station.

1. WHAT WEATHER VARIABLES ARE

MEASURED AND RECORDED?

Most other stations offer barometric pressure,

outside humidity and dew point, daily and yearly

rainfall, wind speed and direction, wind chill, and

outside temperature. Some also offer inside temper-

ature and humidity, and a few even give you extra

outside temperatures and rain rate. Only Vantage

Pro2 or Vantage Vue give you those features, plus:

• AdditionalRainfallInformation:15-minute,

hourly, monthly, and yearly rainfall, and rainfall

amounts for each of the last 24 storms.

• AdditionalWindSpeedInformation:10-minute

average wind speed and dominant wind direc-

tion. In addition, with Vantage Vue, you get

2-minute average speed, high speed and direc-

tion in the last ten minutes.

• ApparentTemperature:Heatindex,andwith

Vantage Pro2's optional solar radiation sensor,

the temperature-humidity-sun-wind index.

• VantagePro2optionalSolarandUVRadiation

Sensors: Greater awareness of the dangers of

excessive exposure to the sun.

• Foragriculturalusers:Evapotranspiration,leaf

wetness, soil moisture, and soil temperature with

Vantage Pro2 optional sensors.

2. HOW EASY IS IT TO SET UP?

With most competing stations, you need to install

each sensor separately, which adds complication

and takes time and effort. Vantage Pro2 and Vantage

Vue are factory-assembled to make setup as easy as

possible. Just complete a few minor assembly steps,

insert the battery, and you’re ready to mount the sen-

sor suite. Mounting is further simplified by using our

optional tripod. On Vantage Pro2, gain further accu-

racy by detaching the anemometer from the sensor

suite and mounting it separately.

3. WHAT IS THE MAXIMUM

TRANSMISSION DISTANCE?

The wireless transmission range for most competing

stations is generally quite limited. Although range is

highly variable (depending not only on the physical

features of the land and structure but also on RF

interference in the area), Vantage Pro2 and Vantage

Vue will almost always outperform the competition.

And we offer wireless repeaters and Vantage Connect

should you wish to extend the range even further.

4. HOW MANY HIGHS AND LOWS ARE

MEASURED AND RECORDED?

Most other stations simply give you the current

readings. If highs and lows are available at all, they

are usually quite limited. Only Vantage Pro2 and

Vantage Vue give you the highs and lows (and/or

totals or averages) for just about all weather condi-

tions, with time and/or date for the last 24 days,

months, or years for Vantage Pro2, and current and

last 25 days, months, or years for Vantage Vue. No

other stations on the market even come close. And

REASONS TO BUY

not only can you view the data numerically, you can

also view on-screen graphs, for instant visual repre-

sentations of long-term trends.



The Vantage Pro2 and Vantage Vue transmitters

send data to the console every 2½ seconds. Highly

variable conditions (such as wind speed and direc-

tion) are updated with each packet, while less vari-

able conditions are updated every 10 seconds. With

most competing stations, the update interval is

much longer: 30 seconds, or even up to 3 minutes.

This may not seem important, but try watching

the wind gust, or the rain suddenly come pouring

down. It’s very disconcerting to look out the win-

dow, see something happen weather-wise, and not

see it reflected on the console right away.

6. HOW IS THE FORECAST GENERATED?

The competition generally bases their forecast on

barometric pressure alone, which results in none too

accurate a prediction. Vantage Pro2 and Vantage Vue

use a sophisticated forecasting algorithm which takes

into account not only barometric pressure, but also

wind, rainfall, temperature, humidity, and longitude

and latitude. The result? A much more accurate fore-

cast. Not perfect, but even the guys with the satellite

pictures don’t always get it right!

7. HOW IS THE FORECAST DISPLAYED?

Competing stations use icons to show the forecast.

Vantage Pro2 and Vantage Vue have similar icons, plus

Vantage Pro2 has over 80 different forecast messages

that scroll across the bottom of the display. None of the

other stations have this. The Vantage Pro2’s ticker tape

also gives additional information depending on which

key you press. Both Vantage Pro2 and Vantage Vue

are able to display 10-minute average wind speed, the

last 15 minutes and last 24 hours of rain. These are

only a few examples of Davis stations’ unique features.

Competing stations don't have anything like this.

8. HOW MUCH DATA CAN YOU GRAPH

ON THE SCREEN?

With Vantage Pro2 and Vantage Vue, you can graph

just about every weather variable, with averages

and highs and lows for most, and go back in time

for minutes, days, months, and years. The competi-

tion typically graphs just one variable—barometric

pressure—and typically just for the last 24 hours.

With all the graphs on Vantage Pro2, and with the

Weather Center feature on Vantage Vue, you can do

tons of analysis, even without purchasing a soft-

ware package. You’ll find that the more dramatic

the weather is, the more fun it is to look at the

graphs. Just how windy is it, and how does it com-

pare to the last wind storm? How much rain did we

get this month as compared to last month?

9. CAN YOU USE THE STATION AT

HIGHER ELEVATIONS?

Our stations can be used up to 15,000 feet (4570 m)

in elevation. Many competing stations are limited

to 6,000 feet (1829 m) or below. If you’re lucky

enough to live and work—or perhaps enjoy a vaca-

tion home—in the mountains, you’ll find that our

Vantage Pro2 and Vantage Vue weather stations

work just fine, no matter what the elevation.

10. IS THERE A COMPUTER INTERFACE?

If you’d like to do even more analysis, add our

WeatherLink data logger and software package. The

data logger stores data at the interval you choose

(from one minute to two hours) for up to six months.

Transfer the data whenever you like, or leave your

computer on to have it transfer automatically every

day. For some competing stations, no software pack-

age is available. Other stations do offer software, but

don’t include a data logger—so your PC must be on

and the software running at all times.

11. HOW MANY ALARMS ARE THERE?

With Vantage Pro2 and Vantage Vue, alarms

can be set for just about every weather variable,

for just about any reason imaginable—up to 70

alarms for Vantage Pro2 and 22 for Vantage Vue.

The alarms found on competing stations are gener-

ally quite limited.

12. WHAT IS THE ACCURACY, RESOLUTION,

AND RANGE?

Vantage Pro2 and Vantage Vue generally beat their

similarly-priced competition in accuracy, resolution,

and range. It can be difficult to find the specs for

competing stations. When we do find them, our test-

ing shows that they are a bit, shall we say, optimis-

tic. We are proud to publish our specs in our catalog

and on our website, and stand behind them 100%.

13. HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE USING

THE STATIONS?

There are many, many thousands of happy Davis

weather station users around the country and around

the world. Check out “Weather World ’Round” in the

weather section of www.davisnet.com under “Cool

Stuff” and click on links to visit websites of Davis

weather station owners around the world. You’ll

find that many other Davis weather station owners

participate as volunteer observers for the National

Weather Service, the National Hurricane Center, and

numerous local TV and radio stations. You can also

visit www.weatherlink.com and see a worldwide

map of Davis weather station owners who use our

WeatherLinkIP software, which along with other

features, creates its own weather website for your

weather station.

14. HOW LONG HAS THE COMPANY BEEN IN

BUSINESS?

Established in 1963, Davis Instruments opened up

the home weather station market back in 1989. Our

weather stations are assembled and tested right here

in Hayward, California, where we have a full staff giv-

ing the best customer service and aftermarket support

in the business. In addition, Davis Instruments Quality

Management System is ISO 9001 certified.

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