Davis vantage pro 2 - where to buy etc

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terraalta
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Davis vantage pro 2 - where to buy etc

Unread post by terraalta »

Hello all,

First of all, thanks very much for running such a brilliant Forum. Lot's of really useful information which has already helped me a lot.
I've been running a La Crosse 3600 for a couple of years. After having replaced literally all but the base stations at least once and now that the outside temp/humidity sensor has died AGAIN I am now fed up with it and have decided to buy something hopefully more reliable.
From what I have seen (in this forum and elsewhere) the Davis Vantage Pro 2 seems to deliver in this respect. Am I correct?

Only disadvantage with the Vantage Pro 2 is that they are quite expensive here in NZ compared to the US where one can buy the wireless version (the cabled one does not do the trick for me) plus weatherlink for around USD670 incl of freight (scientificsales.com). Even inclusive of GST it beats the best price I have found in NZ (scientificsales.co.nz) by at least NZD350. Davis owners would you mind sharing where you bought your equipment?

Should I go for importing it from the US, I understand there may be a bit of an issue with the spectrum overlap of the US version and Vodafone. We are in a rural area and rely on Vodafone even for our "landline". Anybody any experience (interference etc) with that - or has anybody changed the firmware to meet NZ standards?

Sorry for all these questions - I hope you guys don't mind - thanks very much in advance for any help.
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David
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Re: Davis vantage pro 2 - where to buy etc

Unread post by David »

I got mine from Hamilton NZ (weatherdata.co.nz) mainly because I live in a populated area and who knows where vodafone cell towers might be located - I didn't want to risk them picking up my signal (then I would have had to pay for a frequency conversion on the Davis station).

The website of the place I got it from says
"We are happy for you to send your weather station in for repair regardless of whether you bought it from us or not. Refer to the terms and conditions above for further information on initial inspection costs and our required RMA Form etc. However please be aware that wireless weather stations not purchased from us may have the wrong frequency setup for New Zealand. Such stations will not be returned until made compliant at your expense. It is important to note that some stations can not be made compliant."

Many people in rural areas use the US version with no worries though :smile:
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Tornado Tim
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Re: Davis vantage pro 2 - where to buy etc

Unread post by Tornado Tim »

I brought my Vp2 from scientific sales US and the purchase was flawless :).
I got regular updates when it was in transit :D.

In regards to spectrum management, it should be fine provided you dont have a signal tower nearby (since your rural even better).

To be quite honest the power emitted by the wireless ISS is is very low and causes no interference with cellular communication where I am.

If your are thinking of buying WeatherLink with it try and go for the Serial version if you can......
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iomkiwi
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Re: Davis vantage pro 2 - where to buy etc

Unread post by iomkiwi »

Tornado Tim wrote:I brought my Vp2 from scientific sales US and the purchase was flawless :).
Ditto
terraalta
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Re: Davis vantage pro 2 - where to buy etc

Unread post by terraalta »

Just a quick thank you to all posters to my initial post. Ended up buying a Vantage Pro 2 from the local Davis suppliers (weatherdata.co.nz) as we are living literally next to the Vodafone tower. The guys gave me a 10% discount which brought the price closer to importing it from the States. Also good service - the station arrived 2 days after ordering it. :-)
Got the station up and running yesterday. First impression: Very solidly built (e.g. I like the foam block to keep bugs out of the outdoor transmitter unit) - with my LaCrosse I had generations of spiders living on the motherboard (and I have a sneaky suspicion that they had a lot to do with the fact that the outdoor unit perished twice).

Anyway - thanks to wview I have the thing now on the net - should you be interested http://weather.terraalta.co.nz would be a good place to start.

Cheers and thanks again.
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Re: Davis vantage pro 2 - where to buy etc

Unread post by Shepherds Valley WX »

Glad you got a good deal on the VP2 Terraalta.... having has my VP2+ for 18 months or so, it has proven to be very reliable in some extreme WX. Interestingly, I must be just up the road from you in Carterton so will be good to see how our two VP2's go for comparison data :)

Cheers,
Macca
Four Oaks Farm - West Taratahi AWS
RD1 Carterton (Wairarapa), Amateur Weather Observation Station
Davis VP2+ with Solar, UV and 24hr FARS and complete 1-Wire WX System
http://www.cartertonweather.org.nz
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