New up and coming weather station, 'Weather Flow'

they are looking for feedback on the design before goes into production
and you can even pre order

http://got.wf/sws

It’s very interesting. High tech with a sonic anemometer and haptic rain sensor, and smart to have the temp/hum in a separate unit so it can be in the shade :slight_smile: Certainly not as dumb as certain other trendy wx stations…

I would guess this will only fly well where it never freezes or snows.

I have had all my wind heads, RMYoung, Texas Weather Instruments, Davis, Rainwise, Heathkit, Peet Bro, fill with wet heavy snowflakes during relatively low wind speed and basically make a snow cone out of the anemometer. I would guess it wouldn’t take long for the same thing to happen and fill the gap that the wind has to blow through.

I know Vaisala has a super expensive type that has a similar problem.

Just my two cents worth, but I sure would like an ultrasonic sensor someday.

For the low pre-order price it’s worth playing around with.

I guess I’ll see what it’s like later this year. :slight_smile:

Hi folks. David with WeatherFlow here. Looking forward to working with Brian to integrate our stations into WD. And would love to get any and all feedback from this group of experienced weather station owners!

Regarding the snow question, Dale, our stations can handle low temperatures (the electronics and lithium batteries will work down to about -40

Oh, one more thing to add: we sold out of our two-sets-for-less-than-the-price-of-one “field tester” perk early on in our Indiegogo campaign, but if anyone on this forum wants to get early access to our hardware in exchange for your unadulterated, candid feedback, please send me a direct message - we are trying to create a few more spots on the field trial.

David

If you are not a smartphone user, how would you be able to access the data?

Does not look bad, but I just dont really see what is the unique selling point.

Comparing it to for example NetAtmo, a product targeted at same customer category, with more or less similar sensors (even more accurate), also a sonic wind sensor, smartphone app etc. Im not saying this is bad, just dont see what makes it special and again, for a real weather enthusiast, Im not sure the accuracy and overall build will be enough. I would especially be cautious about the outdoor temperature, I dont see any proper shielding

@Jachym: The big advantage I see over the Netamo is that the temp/hum unit is separated from the solar/rain/wind unit so that it can be (as they suggest) installed in the shade.

On their website (Indiegogo page) they do recommend that the temperature sensor be located in the shade (just like the NetAtmo). Consider that the WeatherFlow is less expensive and has both Light and UV sensors included that NetAtmo doesn’t even have available as an option. WeatherFlow also has a lightning detector and WiFi and BlueTooth.

What will be interesting is just how good the haptic and sonic sensors are. If done properly the haptic rain sensor could be better than the Davis tipping bucket which we all know is bad in heavy rain. Also to look closely at would be how well the sun and UV sensors are. From experience with the trade-offs with the Bloomsky setup I wonder if it can be done right at that low of a price. At least they can be in full sun unlike the Bloomsky.

My main concern is that we don’t have to count on WeatherFlow for data collection. It appears they are working with Brian and Weather Display which means we should be able to collect and display the data the way we want and not have to go through some 3rd party server.

My hope would be it is close to as the Davis units. Someone needs to give Davis some competition so they go off their duffs and do some modernizing that it seems only competition would force them to do.

I have to disagree Niko, my dad (unfortunately) purchased NetAtmo and he has both the rain gauge and the wind sensor, both totally separated (and even sold separately).

You’re right! I forgot that the Netamo outdoor unit only has temp/hum, I was recalling their brochure pictures of it out in the open and at ground level :roll:

Yes, so it is going to be very hard for them to actually succeed, because it is for the exact same customer - one that is not so crazy about accuracy, but also cares about the design, ease of use, smartphone app etc. And in this perspective, the NetAtmo does just that, based on specs, it is more accurate, IMHO looks better and most importantly - already has substantial market share. To be able to succeed you must bring some added value, something unique, and in this case, unfortunately, I dont see it.

OK maybe the lightning detector, but… I would not trust that very much to be quite honest and the NetAtmo has CO2 and noise detector instead and in addition, there are also many other accessories for smart home that you can connect NetAtmo to.

You are saying that any company that wants to introduce a new product to compete with other products on the market are doomed for failure? Don’t tell Samsung, Vizio, Apple, Google or 1000s of other companies that. Didn’t Bloomsky start after NetAtmo? :slight_smile:

You mean “normal” people aren’t interested in how high the solar radiation or the UV is? We don’t know how well the lightning detector will work but if it as good as the 1-wire HobbyBoard detector was, that would be very useful.

OK, so the NetAtmo has a noise detector, for whatever that is worth. The WeatherFlow indoor sensor will have VOC, CO2, Dust, Temp & Humidity sensors. You will be able to connect the WeatherFlow to 1000s of devices already on the market. Just like the NetAtmo, if a device can be access via ITFFF it can be used with the WeatherFlow.

From what I could see on the NetAtmo site, you can only get updates every 5 minutes via their “cloud” services. The WeatherFlow will update (interval user configured) as frequent as once per minute (working on getting more frequent updates).

It does appear that the rated accuracy of some of the NetAtmo sensors are slightly better. 0.1C better on temp and 1% better on Humidity. Does the target customer really care if it is 25.1C instead of 25C or 55% humidity rather than 56%? I would have to question NetAtmo’s stated 1 mm/h / 0.04 in/h tipping bucket accuracy. What that is telling me is that each bucket tip is equal to 1mm/0.04" per tip, IMHO that is way too course of a measurement. Even the cheapest Chinese import weather station is better than that!

Anyways, we’ll see in the fall when I get mine. I’ll make sure I do updates on how it’s going. Hopefully it’s leaps and bounds better then Bloomsky.

You are saying that any company that wants to introduce a new product to compete with other products on the market are doomed for failure?

Definitely not, all Im saying is that it is going to be difficult for them and they must make sure they have some sort of a unique feature that will make people consider it - be it price, functionality, design etc.

Unique Functionality Notes: Lightning detector, solar radiation sensor, UV sensor, VOC sensor, dust sensor, instant notice as soon as rain starts (not after 1mm of rain falls), inside display, more frequent weather updates. :slight_smile:

Thanks, guys, this is exactly the kind of discussion we’re looking to stimulate! We have a lot of brilliant weather experts working here, but your input is huge to this process!

@niko: Regarding use without a smartphone, you only need one for the initial configuration step. Once connected to your WiFi network, you can view the data on our web app, through Weather Underground, or within Weather Display. Borrow your friend’s phone or tablet for 2 minutes and you’re all set!

Regarding Netatmo, they’ve done a lot right. Most importantly, they’ve started to change the paradigm of what a weather station can be. Before Netatmo, weather station tech was stuck in the '80s. Netatmo have blazed a trail, taking the first step toward bringing the industry up to speed. But there’s plenty of room for competition. And without going into specifics… we think there’s plenty of room for improvement.

Jachym is partly right: we’d love to sell weather stations to the same group Netatmo targets: people who want weather data from their home without spending a ton of money and without the hassle of setting up and maintaining a traditional weather station. But we want to sell weather stations to a more discriminating customer as well, a group we think Netatmo has largely neglected: weather people like us and like you.

At WeatherFlow, we are weather people. Weather is all we do. Accurate data is crucial to us. In addition to adding some things you won’t find in Netatmo (outdoor air pressure, sunlight, lightning), we’ve also sourced the best sensors we can find within our price target. And make no mistake, thanks to cellphones and ubiquitous electronics in general, the quality of surface-mount sensor tech has gone WAY UP, while the price has come WAY DOWN, since Davis spec’d their sensor suite 25 years ago. We’ve looked at every existing sensor we can get our hands on and made selections based on extensive tests and evaluation.

And, because not all sensor tech has benefited from cellphone proliferation, we’ve spent two years developing the haptic rain and sonic wind sensors in SKY. We’ve gone through dozens of design iterations on the physical device and the electronics. And we’re putting tons of effort into the software - including our back-end enterprise (cloud) systems, the firmware embedded in the devices, as well as the user-facing apps. As weather people, we also have lots of experience with siting and meta-data collection - and we’re trying to infuse that expertise into the user experience. Our goal is something as good or better than the Davis Vantage Vue (speaking of competition!) in terms of hardware quality, but at a half the cost and at least five times the simplicity of installation and maintenance. Our goal is BETTER DATA.

And now we’re asking for critical feedback from you, before we go to production. We are inviting you to point out where we could we do better in our sensor selection or overall design. Thanks!

David

I think that as an upgrade or option you could have an outdoor “Air” sensor suite that would include an active radiation shield. This would allow for more flexible siting. At the least a daytime FARS powered by a solar panel since daytime is the most important time to have FARS. If sized right the solar panel could charge the batteries enough to allow for longer times before battery replacement.

looking forward to working with your guys on a backend cloud api (e.g REST type integration ?)