I have a Davis Vantage 2 pro weather station that has been up on a pole in the field for decades. I have had to perform maintenance on it, I have replaced the wind speed sensor and tipping bucket assembly, as well as a solar cell and many lithium backup batteries. I’m not sure how old it is, but the data interface is a DB9 RS232 serial connection.
When the Tempest was first announced as a crowd funded venture, I bought one because I was intrigued by the technology of the wind and rain sensors having no moving parts. I think that I am on at least my 4th Tempest, as they’re not serviceable, each one had a different failure. The good news was that they were all no charge replacements, they extended my warranty, perhaps because I was an early adopter.
However…. The pressure sensor failed in my present one, it reads 23 inches, which is obviously wrong. My warranty is up, and I’m not interested in buying another.
The trusty Davis is still out there on the same pole as the tempest, and has served as a good comparison to verify the Tempest readings.
The Tempest temperature is spot on, its winds are pretty close to the Davis, but the precipitation is spotty, sometimes accurate, sometimes off by a mile. The lightning detection is a nice feature and reliable.
But at the end of the day, the Davis gets my vote. If they both failed completely, there would be a new Davis out on the pole.
