Ambient Weather WS-2000 Review

Ambient Weather WS-2902 Review

Connectivity

Weather Instruments

Accuracy / Freqeuncy

Affordability

Overall Rating

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Quick Review

PROS

As you’ll see in our Ambient Weather WS-2000 review, this new weather station has a lot going for it. It includes 10 weather sensors, numerous connectivity options, and a new HD display tablet. In addition, the weather sensors are solar-powered so the batteries don’t need to be replaced all the time.

CONS

It’s not a big deal to most, but the WI-FI connectivity only works on the 2.4 GHz band. Also, there is an added cost for the new display. We recommend that you check the current price with the button above.

SUMMARY

This is a great weather station with so many options. If you like the tablet-style display or you need additional indoor temp/humidity sensors (possible with the WS-2000), then this is the best option for you. Grab one today with the link below!

BUY IT NOW AT AMAZON

Welcome to our Ambient Weather WS-2000 review. This is a great weather station that utilizes a weather sensor with proven track record, but an updated high definition display tablet. If it looks familiar, it uses the same 7-in-1 Ambient Weather Osprey weather sensor as some of their other weather stations. In addition, the display provides 3 additional sensors. Indeed, a full ten instruments providing the user weather data in a single weather station! We’ll talk more about the new tablet display in a minute. It’s quite the upgrade.

Connectivity

The Ambient Weather WS-2000 is a WI-FI weather station with lots of capabilities. Unlike some other stations, this WI-FI is built in and does not require any additional modules. This makes everything less complicated and less costly. The WS-2000 weather station uses 915 MHz wireless transmission with up to 300ft line of sight range. This is more like 100ft in most actual conditions.

AmbientWeather.net

As you’ll begin to see, the WS-2000 weather station is NOT lacking in connectivity options. The first, any maybe easiest way to get your weather data somewhere other than the display is through AmbientWeather.net. This is Ambient’s own network for uploading your weather station data to the web. Here, you can view it on your PC, phone, or tablet from anywhere an internet connection is available. Here, you can view all sorts of graphs and trends from your backyard weather.

Ambient Weather Dashboard

Ambient has released a smartphone application for both IOS and Andorid, called the Ambient Weather Dashboard. To use it, you must own a weather station that reports data to AmbientWeather.net. It allows for streaming live data to the internet, along with charts & graphs of historical data. Information like temperature, humidity, rainfall, and more is then available directly from your mobile device.

Weather Underground

Until now, I have not mentioned Weather Underground, but yes, the Ambient WS-2000 weather station does connect to it as well. Like many other Ambient weather stations, you can upload your weather data and share and compare it with friends, family, and neighbors. It is possible to connect to both AmbientWeather.net and Weather Underground at the same time. This has become a must-have feature and is something to keep an eye out for, even if you don’t plan on connecting right away. You never know when you might want to join in the future.

Smart Home Features

I’m not sure how many folks are using this feature. It’s not something I’ve tried to date, but the WS-2000 is capable of connecting to smart home devices. These include those using Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. With this, you can connect the weather station to the network, then make a request for a weather report using your own hyper-local weather data.

Besides the pre-configured devices, it can also use IFTTT to connect and control other devices based on some event. IFTTT means “if this, then that” and sets up conditional functions. An example might be something like, if the temperature is over 80 degrees, turn on the A/C. It’s a pretty cool feature that other stations don’t necessarily have.

Weather Display

Ok, here it is. This is the major upgrade on the Ambient Weather WS-2000…the display. The new display is a tablet-style with a high-definition, TFT, LCD display that measures 7.75” x 5.75” x 0.75” overall (6.25” x 3.5” LCD screen). As you can see in the images below, it can be configured with a light or dark background. In a word…it’s awesome! When compared to the previous display, there is no question that it’s an upgrade.

Now, for the nuts and bolts. It does support WI-FI 802.11b/g/n and has line of site WI-FI RF transmission of 80ft (in open air). Like previous models, the display tablet of the WS-2000 only uses the 2.4GHz frequency. It can be set on a desk top, or wall-mounted and comes with a wall charger included.

Ok, so what???

Prior to this display, Ambient has already offered this same weather station, but with a lower-end color-film LCD display. It’s called the Ambient Weather WS-2902 (read our review), and it’s actually a very popular weather station. Both are great, the WS-2000 has the better display, but you pay a little extra for it. You’ll have to decide if the price difference is worth it for you. Check below for the current price on both models or see our WS-2000 vs WS-2902 Comparison.

Check Current Price for WS-2000

Check Current Price for WS-2902

Important to realize, unlike the WS-2902, the WS-2000 display DOES NOT have a temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure sensor in it. Instead, rather, there is a separate device for these measurements. More on that below in the Weather Instruments” section.Now, for the nuts and bolts. It does support WI-FI 802.11b/g/n and has line of site WI-FI RF transmission of 80ft (in open air). Like previous models, the display tablet of the WS-2000 only uses the 2.4GHz frequency. It can be set on a desk top, or wall-mounted and comes with a wall charger included.

Here are a couple of examples…

Example 1 – If you wanted to measure the temperature of the baby’s room for instance, you wouldn’t want to put the weather station display in there. You more than likely want that in a community room like the kitchen, living room, or office. In this case, it’s a good thing that the sensor is separate from the display.

Example 2 – If you wanted the temperature readings to come from the same area as the display, now it will require you find a place for both the display and the additional sensor. It’s not too big of deal, but there is now two components.

Let’s look at a 3rd example now. In either case above, let’s also say you wanted a 2nd temperature sensor. How would you do that? Well, with the new WS-2000, it’s easy! You can add up to EIGHT additional thermo-hygrometer sensors (model no. WH31B) like the one shown here. Note, the WH31B looks the same as the sensor shown above that’s included with the weather station, but only has temperature and humidity sensors, not a barometer.

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Back to the outdoor weather sensor, there is a bubble level to ensure a good, accurate mount. In addition, there is a solar collector for powering the instruments on the outdoor sensor array. Yes, solar power is the primary power source on this weather station. A battery backup ensures power during times of little sunlight (2pcs AA batteries). Ambient expects these to last about 2 years since they are not the main power source.

Ambient WS-2000 Mounting

Unfortunately, the WS-2000 does not come with any mounting solutions included. In general though, it does adapt to several options commercially available. It includes a U-bolt kit that allows mounting to any 1”-2” diameter pole (not included). Ambient does offer many mounts, with the two below being the most popular. Here’s a link to additional Ambient mounting options.

EZ-30-12 Mounting Kit

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EZ-48 Tripod

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Accuracy

The WS-2000’s accuracy is good. It’s better than some, but less than most professional-style weather stations. This should be expected at this price point. Here are the specs:

· Temperature: ± 2° F

· Humidity: ± 5%

· Barometric Pressure: ±0.08 inHG

· Rain: ± 10%

· Wind Direction: ± 1°

· Wind Speed: 2.2 mph

· UV ± 1

· Solar Radiation: ± 15%

Update Frequency

Although weather stations say they upload real-time data, it’s actually not accurate. They update with a certain frequency that is not immediate. In the case of the Ambient WS-2000, sensors update on the display every 16 seconds and over the internet every 60 seconds. This is pretty common for home weather stations. Some professional models update more frequently, but often you much more for this feature.

Affordability

Everything eventually comes down to money. The WS-2000 does have a beautiful LCD display tablet and one of the most popular sensor arrays included. It also includes WI-FI and many other connectivity options. If you like the upgraded display or the ability to connect up to 8 additional temperature/humidity sensors, we think the WS-2000 is a great buy. If you’d rather save a couple bucks and don’t care about the display or additional sensor capability, check out the WS-2902 (Our WS-2902 Review / Current WS-2902 Price).

CHECK WS-2000 PRICE AT AMAZON

What Actual Users are Saying

We could tell customers love this weather station as we were doing our research for the WS-2000 review. The main topic at hand was the display tablet. Customers LOVE it. We actually ran across several users that had upgraded from the WS-2902 model, which surprised us quite a bit. Most seemed to really like it and thought the setup was easy.

Ambient WS-2000 Weather Station Review Pros & Cons

PROS

Great looking display

Many weather instruments

Solar-powered

WIFI included

CONS

No battery backup in disply

Only works on 2.4 GHz WIIF frequency, not 5.0 GHz