Ecowitt Wireless Wi-Fi Weather Station - Digital Weather Forecast with 7 Inch TFT Screen, Rain Gauge, Anemometer, Solar Radiation, Solar Powered, Gateway for Ecowitt Ecosystem, HP2551

I was fed up with my old weather station. It would eat batteries so that I had to replace them every 4-5 weeks. I decided it was time for an upgrade, if only to save on batteries - a solar powered version is what was needed. This is solar powered but still required batteries - I hope they last a long time as they shouldn't be needed most of the time. The station was easy to put together and set-up. The base station was pretty easy to set-up too, although the manual and the mnus on the device don't always match up. But a little hunting around usually found the setting I needed. Getting connected to the WiFi was straight forward and connecting the Android app means I can see the weather at home wherever I am - even if I'm in the next room and can't be bothered to go and look. I connected it to the MetOffice WOW service and that was also easy. The display is bright and vibrant and full of useful information. My wife doesn't like the backlight, but it can be turned down and also has a timer for auto-dimming between certain hours.Overall this is a great little weather station and comes packed with features for a reasonable price. I would recommend it.It did, however, seem a little stingy that there is no mounting pole supplied. I'm sure they could have included it for the price. Fortunately, I had the pole from my old station that I could use. I also wait to see just how good the solar panel is and how long before I need to replace the batteries. The details about how the solar panel works are non-existent (does it just provide power during daylight, does it charge an internal battery). If it disappoints in this department, I'll be sure to come back and update this review.

Lots of my old weather station was slowly failing, well known and expensive brand. Took the leap to replace fully and this Ecowitt is a revelation. Very nice colour display, if a bit busy. Super easy to set up, on line access via a faurly good app, and everything works out of the box. I've added multiple indoor TH sensors and the lightening sensor (not as sure on the later) and everything is easy to install and set up. The haptic sensor seem to work well too, certainly good enough for my use and it's one less moving part to fail. A big plus is the price, sensors are a fraction of the cost of my previous system and looks like everything modular is replaceable should the need arise. Would give it more stars if I could!!

Successfully installed this to replace an ageing Watson. Quite easy to set up but there is a warning, or rather a lack of them! The only alarm setting the WS3800 Receiver has is to wake you up in the morning, there is no provision to set warnings regarding min/max temperatures etc. This must be done through the Ecowitt app on your phone. You must set up an alert sound through your email app but I guess you might have to use a new email address exclusively for this action.

Overall, a versatile and cost-effective weather station system of modular design that looks well-made, has a really useful range of additional sensors available to purchase and as far as I can tell is almost as capable as the Davis weather stations – but at a fraction of the cost.For those wanting a more detailed review, please read on.As my old weather station of ten years was on its last legs, I decided to purchase this kit as a) it offered good value for money as far as functionality was concerned b) I like Ecowitt’s modular approach to sales i.e. although it works out more expensive, you can start with a simple online weather station using just one sensor and a wireless-to-WiFi gateway and add to it as you go along, knowing it will all work together and c) Ecowitt is a brand name of the Fine Offset company based in China who make weather stations and sensors for other companies and have gained a good reputation over the years.I also purchased the bird spike kit, (to stop the pigeons round here leaving deposits in the rain gauge) the rain gauge filter and the remote battery pack for the 7-in-1 sensor array as this saves having to take the mounting pole down every year or so to replace the backup batteries and possibly damaging the sensor array in the process.Mounting the array onto the pole was a little fiddly, but not difficult: more a case of wading through the job. Don't over-tighten the nuts or you may crack the plastic shoe. Just tighten the nuts enough to ensure the yoke sits firmly on top of the pole and does not move when you rock it gently on the pole. Allow plenty of time, read the instructions carefully, take it steady and you’ll be OK: if a 65+ year-old duffer like me can do the job successfully, anyone can! Mounting poles from 1 to 2 inches in diameter can be used, with suitable poles available from Amazon. I would advise against using a pole longer than 8 feet as it may sway too much in strong gusty winds and falsely activate the rain gauge bucket. I used a 6ft x 1.25 inch 16-gauge aluminium pole and the array barely moved at all during the recent storm Eunice where the sensor array’s anemometer recorded wind gusts exceeding 70mph.I was also impressed with the wide range of add-on wireless sensors and spares available, and I have purchased the lightning sensor, three extra temperature and humidity sensors and a 3-metre wired temperature sensor with external probe. Interestingly, all three temperature & humidity sensors register identical temperature and humidity readings when placed side-by-side, giving an indication of how well the devices are calibrated. Other sensors available include (among others) soil temperature, soil wetness, water leak detectors and air quality sensors.The equipment looks well made, seems much more accurate and sensitive than my old station and has some really useful options on the display console, such as being able to either manually or automatically turn the display off at night (you can set the off and on times as you wish) which is useful if you site the console by the bed, along with an automatic two-level brightness option, which is dependent on external light level.The data displayed on the console is really quite detailed and too much to record in detail here. Interestingly, hourly rain rate is also displayed along with ‘Event’, daily, weekly, monthly and yearly rainfall to date. Furthermore, all sensor readings logged can be adjusted or calibrated, which for me meant I could add onto the console the year’s recorded rainfall prior to setting up the station.The display console requires a +5V supply to work (mains adapter supplied), displays a lot of detail, yet is easy to read: however, the (up to 8) remote temperature and humidity sensor readings can either be ‘cycled’ with the supplied ‘Indoor’ temperature & humidity sensor, or any one of these can be displayed permanently.Data logging is good overall and includes the time on the max/min screen when say the maximum temperature etc. occurred: however, these times are not recorded in the internal or online history log.Other useful features include:+Micro SD card slot which accepts sizes up to and including 32gB (max) for either installing new firmware or backing up weather data logs for say analysis in a spreadsheet etc. Ten years of history data equates to less than 1gB.+WiFi facility (only 2.4gHz 802.11g band compatible) for uploading weather data to weather servers.+Partially pre-configured upload facility (only user/station i.d. and password needed) for uploading weather details to either Ecowitt’s web server, Weather Underground or Met Office WOW servers, with a configuration option to upload the readings to your own weather server as well, using software such as CumulusMX so that you can remotely view the weather info on say your smartphone via the Ecowitt web server or the Ecowitt and WSView apps (Android) or equivalent Apple iOS app. This is really useful for say keeping an eye on your house when you’re away in cold weather and help you to decide whether you need to turn the heating on remotely, using say Nest or Hive online systems etc.The user manual is fairly comprehensive and reasonably easy to follow – particularly in regard to siting the sensors and mounting the 7-in-1 sensor array onto a pole. However, one or two less important options shown in the manual have been replaced with others following various firmware updates since the manual was printed. One thing to be aware of: for some unknown reason, the manual explains how to set up data uploads to remote weather servers BEFORE explaning how to set up the console to access your WiFi, which is needed in order to access the remote servers!As for customer support, again, Ecowitt shine; as the supplied console kept intermittently locking up every few hours, necessitating a reset via the hidden button on the side. I contacted Ecowitt support via e-mail who, after verifying my purchase, sent me a new console (and mains adapter) free of charge from China and e-mailed me a tracking number that enabled me to track the parcel almost to my front door! This replacement console has performed perfectly so far.As for overall reliability, time will tell, but apart from the original console intermittently locking up (which can elude even the most stringent quality control checks) all is well so far.As for negative points, not much: perhaps the only missing facility for me would be the ability to directly transfer the history data directly to a PC via the mini (not micro) USB socket on the console instead of needing to remove the memory card every time. Apparently, this USB socket is only for firmware upgrades and how to do this using the socket is not mentioned anywhere in the manual. These updates are easiest done by copying the new firmware file onto an empty micro SD card and inserting it into the card socket on the console. Powering down the console and back up again starts the update process which takes around a minute.Also, the push buttons being at the bottom of the screen means two hands are needed to push any button (one to hold the console steady and the other to push the button) whereas if the buttons were sited along the top or down both sides, a pincer movement using the thumb and finger of one hand would suffice.Finally, if you decide to purchase sensors direct from the Ecowitt web site, make sure you order the correct wireless operating frequency, which is stamped on the back of the display console. 868mHz for the UK and Europe, 915mHz for the USA and 433mHz for Australia.Recommended!*Edit 11/08/22: Six months on from writing this review, all the equipment has worked flawlessly so far and I have updated both sets of firmware on the console (main and WiFi) several times. The WiFi firmware can only be updated via the Ecowitt app though, but it automatically notifies you of a WiFI firmware update being available. Installing the WiFi firmware update also takes around a minute.I did have a problem with the lightning detector not detecting any lightning when a storm was in progress close by, but I found this was due to me mis-reading the instructions: I had set the DIP switches inside the battery compartment cover to minimum sensitivity! Setting the switches as below corrected the problem and the sensor now accurately detects lightning flashes as far as 25 miles away with no false detections.I set the DIP switches thus: looking at the sensor with the switches just above the battery holder, from left-to-right the switches should read: UP-DOWN-UP-DOWN. Any changes made to the DIP switches are only recognised after removing the batteries, waiting ten seconds or so and then reinserting the batteries.Also, I would recommend any weatherproof housing used for the lightning sensor is not placed directly next to the metal mounting pole as this can impair detection by 'earthing' the RF signal given off by the lightning. I used this one: Amazon product code ASIN B017ILZF6C and mounted it on a stout wooden fence post.I see Ecowitt are now shipping a suitable housing with the lightning sensor which has an arm on to keep the sensor a short distance away from the pole.Would I buy Ecowitt eqipment again? From what I've experienced so far, most definitely!