Ambient Weather WS-2801A Advanced Wireless Color Forecast Station

Been using it for about 2 weeks so far and it's been very good. I checked the barometer readings a few times with what Intellicast was showing for my town and each time I looked it was either exactly the same or within 0.01 of the Intellicast reading, so pretty accurate from what I've seen. I had no problems getting the outside sending unit to link up with the inside unit. Started communicating right away. I have this unit plugged in to an AC outlet all the time so the display is continuously on. There are some negative reviews on here stating that some buyers claim they didn't know ahead of time that you needed to keep it plugged in for continuous illumination of the display but I saw this clearly disclosed on the product's Amazon description and also in the manual that came with it. I don't know why you'd want this continuously illuminated on battery power anyway. You'd be cranking through batteries every other day. As soon as I plugged in the unit and got it running and communicating with the outside transmitter, I set the time, date, time zone, etc, all manually because it was the middle of the day and I knew it wasn't going to get the radio controlled clock (RCC) signal ("atomic clock" is actually a misnomer) until at least that night or longer. The manual that came with the unit says it can take at least a couple days before the radio signal gets successfully received for the first time. In the meantime I wanted the readings to at least be as correct as possible manually. This was a Wednesday around noon, and I did not see the little radio antenna symbol illuminate on the display for the first time signifying that it successfully linked up with the radio signal until I woke up that Saturday morning. I was starting to get a little concerned that something was wrong but don't lose hope if you don't see it right away. One thing I also noticed is that the little antenna symbol will appear and disappear over the course of a week, so it's not getting the signal every single day of the week constantly, but enough to keep the time and other data plenty accurate for anyone's needs I would think. For example, the antenna symbol will be there Mon, Tue, Fri, Sun, but missing on Wed, Thu, Sat. It comes and goes. I live in Connecticut so maybe I'm in a fringe area and the signal has good days and bad days in my area? Who knows. The display is plenty bright for us to read anywhere in the room day or night. The viewing angle is very good left to right, but the viewing angle up or down is not that good when it's propped by its rear leg on a flat surface. I had to wrap a little bit of bubble wrap around the prop-leg behind the unit to make it stand more upright rather than angled back and after doing that the viewing from greater distances improved noticeably. I like the minimum/maximum readings on it that reset every midnight more than I thought. Nice feature. It's nice that the outside transmitter also displays the temp and RH% out there too so it's like having another thermometer outside too. I did not put Lithium batteries in the outside transmitter yet since I was out of them at the time but I plan to before the next winter season gets here. Lithiums will last longer and will operate in a broader range of high/low temps than regular alkalines. I found this out from prior units I've had in past years. To summarize, I know it's only been a couple weeks but so far I'm very pleased with the purchase and am hoping that it continues to work well. Right now I can definitely recommend it.

I just received this last week. I based my purchase off reviews since I don't know the brand and so far I'm happy about it. Some other models had terrible reviews so hopefully this one will last and provide accurate readings for years to come. 3 zones is perfect for me (it's actually 4)... I'm in NJ. I have a remote outside, 1 in the attic and 1 in the basement. The basement tends to get humid in the summer and I have a dehumidifier set to 55% humidity on the other end of the basement and want to know the temp /humidity on the other side to see if I need another dehumidifier. In the attic I noticed on the summer it's 20 degrees more than outside and our summers lately have been 95-100 for about a month. I have to install an attic fan and then I'll be able to see if the fan really moves that much air. The display is pretty, informative and I'm yet to understand how to use the pressure reading. The light/snooze button offers 3 shades of brightness when plugged in. With batteries I believe it uses the lighter 2 shades only and defaults to dark after a few seconds. I placed rechargeable batteries but the manual states not to use them since they are only 1.2v but it's what I had around and only have them in the event the power goes out so nothing resets. The radio frequency clock setting auto set the clock by next morning. Just like the manual states, it took about a half hour for all the remotes to show same temp /humidity but might be off be 2 degrees. Mine were all the same. A few other models didn't have a peg hole to hang them up. This one does and had a stand. I like that a cable route was designed to the back do it can lay flat against the wall.

Easy to set up, but pay attention to the simple instructions & do everything in exactly the right order. Base and outdoors sensor found each other instantly, and didn't lose touch when I carried the sensor outside to hang it up. Takes some time for sensor to adjust to outside temperature. Be sure to use lithium batteries if you have cold winters. Also took a couple of hours for the radio clock to get the correct time (instructions warned of this). After that, no problem. Display panel is small but well-designed. As usual on these weather stations, pretty picture showing current weather is a waste of space. As I write, it's showing that the weather is partly cloudy and dry, but in fact outside it's heavily overcast and we're having a snow shower. Also, the moon phase indicator is too small to be much use (a small disappointment). Otherwise, an excellent, easily readable display of time, inside & outside temperature & humidity (with max/min shown for all these readings) and barometric pressure (the last not always offered on these small weather stations). 4 large buttons at bottom of display for settings & to display info not always shown on readout (such as dew point) are a great mercy compared to usual tiny buttons on back of these weather stations. Don't recommend hanging display panel on wall. Seen from straight on or from slightly below, display is too dim to read easily. Best placed somewhere slightly below your usual line of sight when looking at it: seen from above it's plenty bright enough. And it has a small footprint. Temperature & humidity readings seem plenty accurate enough for everyday use, and barometric pressure reading always matches nearest official weather station. Have been using it for 3 full months, and no problems so far. Very satisfied.

This is a great weather station. It has held up well over the couple years I've had it. I had Oregon Scientific ones before this one, and they didn't hold up as well. I had outdoor receivers fail with their setups, but these have held up better. The one downside to this base station is that it has to be plugged in, but I'll take that over the battery powered Oregon ones. This one looks a little better for my eyes. I love the adjustable brightness settings. It's a great unit. I like it so much, I gave one as a gift to a family member. I don't have my outdoor sensors very far from the base, but I've never had any signal strength issues. Recommended.

I'm a bit of a weather nerd, and I use this weather station to track temperature, humidity, etc each day. I use the Ambient Wireless Station along with three remote sensors. Each sensor is placed strategically around my house, and allows me to open or close windows based on which side of the house is warmest or coolest. I chose this particular model because it has a feature that allows me to scroll through the three readings continuously without pushing any buttons. It shows the information from each station for a few seconds, then moves on to the next, so that at any time, with just a glance, I can get an idea of what is going on outside. Negatives? Not much. I like the colorful display and the concise way that data is presented. It would help these old eyes if the whole package were a little larger, but I am very happy with it just as it is.

This is about the 20th weather station I've had, I can't stand virtually everything about this. I understand the challenges in the humidity being inaccurate, but that's just the start. First off, the temperatures between the sensor and the display unit can be off by as much as 3-4 degrees, which is inexplicable. The remote sensors are somehow not weather tight and constantly fail after getting wet. Even when dry they lose connection at least 3-4 times a month and the only way to get them to reconnect is to bring it inside and pull power/batteries from both and wait for them to sync. Eventually that doesn't work and now its done. Also the range is horrendous, it almost has to have complete line of sight and be within 100 feet of the remote or you will get nothing, and once it loses sync you are starting over as mentioned above. I would easily pay several hundred dollars for a weather station that wasn't a total piece of junk, and you CAN NOT FIND ANY. I've had it with this cheap crap, I don't understand who these engineers are who take absolutely no pride in their work and release a product like this on the market. Stay away from all of these unless you want a second job troubleshooting them and constantly replacing them. I would estimate manufacturing cost at around one fifth of what is being charged for this.

Bottom line first: We really like this weather station. It provides all the local data we need. This particular item replaces the WS-2800 we bought back in 2017. That model performed flawlessly until late 2025 when the outdoor sensor/transmitter stopped working. 8 1/2 years seems like a reasonable lifespan for an outdoor electronic sensor, so we bought a new one, set it up with 3 sensors and, at the moment it is working fine. We have placed one sensor outside, one in the basement, one on the 2nd floor. The base station itself is also a sensor. So, really, the whole kit gives us 4 sets of data. 8 1/2 years from now, if the outdoor sensor fails, we’ll replace it with one of the indoor sensors. I calculate 25+ years worth of sensor service! I will revisit this review in 2050.

I am normally up and out by 3.30 a.m.and need to know prior to leaving the house what the conditions outside are to properly prepare and dress for the next several hours. Having recently replaced a years old and dependable unit with a new weather station (it was made in China), I was disheartened to find that the 48 degree temperature outside as recorded on the new unit was actually 16 degrees. There was two inches of ice on the pond to support the freezing temperature later broadcast on the radio and I was not dressed for that temperature. Virtually all other weather station units available on Amazon are made in China and look similar to the now discredited one I had just purchased. Wishing to avoid another China product I was delighted to find that on its website, Ambient claims that their product is made in Arizona U.S.A. The product sounded good and I try to support U.S.businesses. While Amazon's delivery was very prompt and precisely when the predicted it would be, I nearly sent the box back unopened. Clearly marked on the side of the merchandiser's packaging was 'Made in China'. I was very peeved! However, being desperate for accurate reporting I proceeded to set it up and program it. That process was extremely simple. It came with two outside sensors which is a huge plus. The Station has only been in operation for two days now and the temperature has not dipped below 35 degrees but I am satisfied. Right now the screen shows it is raining and it is. All the data is clearly displayed and as it is not battery operated it remains lite and readable from a distance. So despite its source I plan to keep it and hope for the best.

This Product was sent with the wrong power adaptor and does not run correctly on battery. A lot of money for a failed product. I assumed the power adaptor was suitable for Australia but the adaptor failed and blew the circuitry of the device. Now i have an expensive paperweight and will need to spend more money on the disposal of the electronic item.

Excellent produit

Display is beautiful but keeping the outdoor sensor synced up and working is a true PITA. At this stage of wireless technology there is no excuse for this device giving as much trouble as it has given me. When it works it works well but when it loses sync, good luck getting it to sync back up.

It did not work

Bought in March 2021. The weather station freeze after a month and I had to do a hard reset. November 2021 is dead. Two set of batteries were used in that period.