Specifications

22 Davis Instruments


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 tem-
peratureandhumidity,andafewevengiveyou
extra outside temperatures and rain rate. Only
VantagePro2givesyouallthese,plus:
• AdditionalRainfallInformation:15-minute,
hourly,andmonthlyrainfall,andrainfall
amountsforeachofthelast24storms.
• AdditionalWindSpeedInformation:10-minute
averagespeed,directionofhighspeed,and
10-minutedominantwinddirection.
• ApparentTemperature:Heatindexand,witha
solarradiationsensor,temperature-humidity-
sun-wind index.
• OptionalSolarandUVRadiationSensorsfor
greater awareness of the dangers of excessive
exposure to the sun.
• Foragriculturalusers,optionalevapotrans-
piration,leafwetness,soilmoisture,andsoil
temperature.

Withmostcompetingstations,youneedto
installeachsensorseparately,whichaddscom-
plicationandtakestimeandeffort.VantagePro2
is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 sensor suite. Mount the two sides
togetherusingouroptionaltripod,ordetach
the anemometer to mount it separately. Flexible
mountingoptionsmakeiteasy,eitherway.


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willalmostalwaysout
perform the competition. And we offer wireless
repeaters should you wish to extend the range
even further.


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givesyouthehighsandlows(and/or
totalsoraverages)forjustaboutallweather
conditions,withtimeand/ordateforthelast
24days,months,oryears.Nootherstationon
themarketevencomesclose.And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transmittersendsdatato
theconsoleevery2½seconds.Highlyvariable
conditions(suchaswindspeedanddirection)
areupdatedwitheachpacket,whilelessvari-
ableconditionsareupdatedevery10seconds.
With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window,seesomethinghappen
weather-wise,andnotseeitreflectedonthe
console right away.

The competition generally bases their forecast
onbarometricpressurealone,whichresultsin
nonetooaccurateaprediction.VantagePro2
uses 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forecast.Not
perfect,buteventheguyswiththesatellite
picturesdon’talwaysgetitright!

Competingstationsuseiconstoshowthefore-
cast.VantagePro2hassimilaricons,plusover
80differentforecastmessagesthatscrollacross
thebottomofthedisplay.Noneoftheother
stationshavethis.Thetickertapealsogives
additional information depending on which
keyyoupress.PressWINDtodisplaywind
speed,andyou’llgetamessageshowingthe
10minuteaveragewindspeed.Ifit’sraining,
pressRAINYRtoseethelast15minutesofrain,
orRAINDAYtoseethelast24hoursofrain.
Andthesearejustafewexamples!Noneofthe
competingstationshaveanythinglikethis.


WithVantagePro2,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
competition typically graphs just one vari-
able—barometricpressure—andtypically
justforthelast24hours.Withallthegraphson
VantagePro2,youcandotonsofanalysis,even
withoutpurchasingasoftware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comparetothelast
wind storm? How much rain did we get this
month,ascomparedtolastmonth?


Ourstationscanbeusedupto15,000feetin
elevation. Many competing stations are limited
to6,000feetorbelow.Ifyou’reluckyenough
toliveandwork—orperhapsenjoyavacation
home—inthemountains,you’llfindthatour
VantagePro2weatherstationworksjustfine,no
matter what the elevation.

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com-
puter on to have it transfer automatically
everyday.Forsomecompetingstations,no
softwarepackage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.

WithVantagePro2,alarmscanbesetforjust
abouteveryweathervariable,forjustabout
anyreasonimaginable—upto70alarmsinall.
The alarms found on competing stations are
generallyquitelimited.


VantagePro2generallybeatsthecompeti-
tion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,
optimistic.Weareproudtopublishourspecs
inourcatalogandonourwebsite,andstand
behindthem100%.


Therearemany,manythousandsofhappy
Davis weather station users around the
countryandaroundtheworld.Checkout
“WeatherWorld’Round”onourwebsite
(www.davisnet.com/links),andyou’llseea
listingforNorman,Oklahoma.Clickonthe
link,andyou’llgotothewebsiteforthe
NationalWeatherService’sStormPrediction
Center.They’reusingourWeatherMonitor
IItoupdatethelocal“unofficial”weather
conditions to their website. 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.


Inbusinesssince1963,DavisInstruments
openedupthehomeweatherstationmarket
backin1989.Ourweatherstationsaremanu-
facturedrighthereinHayward,California,and
we have a full customer service and support
staff. Most competing stations are made
overseas,anditcanbedifficult(ifnotimpos-
sible)togetanykindofcustomerserviceor
aftermarketsupport.
In Antarctica, researchers from
Stanford University installed
two Davis weather stations: one
at Dronning Maud Land, and
a second at Patriot Hills a few
years later. To view the weather
reported by these stations, see
http://thistle.org/ALE/.
Things to consider when purchasing an electronic weather station.
VANTAGE PRO2