When I made the decision to purchase a personal weather station, and began to research my options, I was taken aback by the wide range of solutions that were available to choose from. Of course, by virtue of price alone, some solutions made that decision for me. I narrowed my list of possible solutions to hardware from Ambient, Davis, La Crosse, and Oregon Scientific. Considering quality, price, and the popularity of these solutions within the weather station community, I settled on the Davis Wireless Vantage Pro 2. At the time, I could not afford all of the bells and whistles for this station, but I was able to get the basic station that provides barometric pressure, humidity, precipitation, temperature, and wind data. The software to extract this data also presented a plethora of choices, but I ultimately chose WeatherLink.
That was early 2008. It's now been over 8 years of constant operation, with little to no problems. The battery used to operate the station at night, when solar is not available, is the only component that has required replacement. The image of my weather station used on this page was taken just days after it's initial installation, it looks a little different today. After more than 8 years of enduring Indiana's cold and hot weather extremes, the station is beginning to show some wear. I plan to replace this station later this year, and I can guarantee you that its replacement will be another Davis station.