Vantage Pro EBay?

[Dr_G]

Hello,

Just a very long shot - what is the catch in buying a new Davis Vantage Pro from a US EBay seller? They appear to go for about £180 plus about £45 postage.

Presumably it's the import duty?

Anyone done this?

Cheers,

Garth.

[Paul]

Import duty and the fact that the US wireless versions operate on a frequency that is illegal in the UK.

[Dr_G]

Import duty and the fact that the US wireless versions operate on a frequency that is illegal in the UK.

Wired version would be o.k. I suppose, but import duty would kill it.

[Paul]

That would only work out at about 22% I think, so still much cheaper than in the UK

[Osbourne One-Nil]

If you could get a new one for that price - go for it! And considering what I have in my shed, I must be mad.

[muppetdodger]

If you could get a new one for that price - go for it! And considering what I have in my shed, I must be mad.

I'm ne w to this forum and having been interested in the weather all my life, I've been considering buying a Davis Vantage Pro. I too have seen these items on US ebay and considered them but what are the drawbacks? I know the wireless frequency is illegal in uk, but why are they illegal. If I bought one would people come knocking on my door and arresting me? Other than that I can tsee a difference and the price is about 1/3 what it is over here!

Also, If I bought one would a US version of weatherlink work in the uk? With weatherlink would I be able to add a live weather page to my farming website?

Thanks for any help in advance!

MD

[Roger J Smith]

I would recommend building a weather station from non-electronic gear such as a recording max-min thermometer and a rain guage. You can measure snow if you get any, with a ruler, and you could obtain a hygrometer and a barometer too. That just leaves the wind and other observations. You would have to estimate the wind but frankly, most home weather stations seem to be quite inaccurate on wind speeds as they depend mainly on their particular exposure which in most cases is less than the average wind speed.

This is how I observed the weather for about ten years in my teenage to young adult years, before I got all those concerns that spoiled my simple pleasure from recording the weather every day.

The total cost of such a weather station would probably be about the same as an electronic one, but the advantage is that they never break down or give faulty readings, as long as you situate the instruments properly and maintain them.

Just an idea, and I note that very few (if any) people nowadays are reading instruments rather than electronic sensors for their home weather stations. I even had my max-min thermometer in a Stevenson screen in a well ventilated part of the back garden and its readings were pretty close to an official site not far away. The rainfall amounts were similarly well correlated with official readings a few miles away, but there were interesting differences during thunderstorms. With a few years of practice I was able to estimate the wind speed within 5 mph of what it actually was, based on some tests I ran during a summer job at the weather bureau (obviously I made a rather bad impression), and my home barometer is still with me here today, made in some place called Birmingham. Ever heard of it?

[Dr_G]

I would recommend building a weather station from non-electronic gear such as a recording max-min thermometer and a rain guage. You can measure snow if you get any, with a ruler, and you could obtain a hygrometer and a barometer too. That just leaves the wind and other observations. You would have to estimate the wind but frankly, most home weather stations seem to be quite inaccurate on wind speeds as they depend mainly on their particular exposure which in most cases is less than the average wind speed.

This is how I observed the weather for about ten years in my teenage to young adult years, before I got all those concerns that spoiled my simple pleasure from recording the weather every day.

The total cost of such a weather station would probably be about the same as an electronic one, but the advantage is that they never break down or give faulty readings, as long as you situate the instruments properly and maintain them.

Just an idea, and I note that very few (if any) people nowadays are reading instruments rather than electronic sensors for their home weather stations. I even had my max-min thermometer in a Stevenson screen in a well ventilated part of the back garden and its readings were pretty close to an official site not far away. The rainfall amounts were similarly well correlated with official readings a few miles away, but there were interesting differences during thunderstorms. With a few years of practice I was able to estimate the wind speed within 5 mph of what it actually was, based on some tests I ran during a summer job at the weather bureau (obviously I made a rather bad impression), and my home barometer is still with me here today, made in some place called Birmingham. Ever heard of it?

Roger,

Of course there is nothing wrong or inherently inaccurate in using the older instruments. My Dad has got an old Baragraph, Mercury/Alcohol thermometers, and we even made a few anemometers in our time. We spend many hours recording the weather and drawing graphs and stuff like that. I've still got a wrought iron weather vane on my house, and it is useful - one of my hobbies is model glider flying and it is good to check wind direction before driving 13 miles to fly!

Personally, ever since I found out a couple of years ago that the electronic weather stations are within grasp in terms of price, I wanted one. It is just far more convenent to have all data presented on one screen in one place, and the data logging potential is almost limitless. I guess with your manual instruments, some days you miss recording data for whatever reason, but the electronic weather stations never miss recording data. These are just a couple of arguements for the electronic stations. What they cannot compete on is character - my Dads Negretti & Zambra baragraph is a work of art!

By the way, Birmingham is just down the road from me, it is also Englands second largest city.

Cheers,

Garth.