Weatherguide Review
I couldn't wait to get my hands on the Weatherguide by Precision Navigation. It seemed to take forever. Now, this may not seem like a big deal, but at the time of this writing, Los Angeles, California is right in the middle of a very rare weather phenomena...that's right...rain! I figured this was a GREAT time to play with the Weatherguide...when we were actually having some weather!
The heart of the Weatherguide is the sensor module. Housed inside a case that is similar to a Palm modem, the module uses two AAA batteries (that last about 4-6 weeks) and some sophisticated sensors to continually track and store temperature and air pressure. The sensor stores the last 24 hours worth of data to provide forecasts. Before you can begin using the Weatherguide, you need to calibrate the sensore module. This is done by entering altitude in the calibration screen.
What's really neat about the Weatherguide is that it's constantly working, whether it's plugged into the Palm or not. Simply snap on the module and run the software, and you'll always know the weather! I found this to work better in theory than in practice however. Over the course of the week, we had on and off rain. Unfortunately, the Weatherguide predicted clear and sunny skies on a somewhat regular basis-even when it was pouring outside! The temperature and pressure readings where accurate but for some reason, the forecasting was way off.
I talked with Precision Navigation about this and they said that based on research they have found that forecasting with barometric pressure alone is approximately 65% accurate. If
they were able to include wind speed in the algorithm for weather forecasting, the accuracy increases to about 80%, but obviously, it wasn't possible with the Weatherguide.
Another downside is that the module itself is not weatherproof and is not really suitable to be left outside. I carried the Weatherguide with me while driving around town for work, and I noticed that the temperature registered a little bit higher than normal from being inside the truck all day. Another thing that I don't like is that all data is lost when the batteries are removed, and it takes another 24 hours to calibrate. I wonder if this is something that could be remedied by being built into the software or not. Being only an armchair meteorologist, I really don't know.
All in all, the Weatherguide is a pretty cool piece of hardware and definitely a must-have if you are a total weather junkie, however the performance doesn't quite measure up the price. You'd be better served buying a weather band radio for under $20. It's a quality product, and I had fun with it, but I can't justify the price. Also, I didn't see anywhere on the site where the accuracy was stated. I think this is an important piece of information to consider.
The Weatherguide retails for $79.95 and is available through Precision Navigation's web site.
Note: Weatherguide is NOT compatible with Palm V or Palm VII (unless you use Palmdock).
What I like:
Accurate Temperature and Pressure readings
Doesn't need to be plugged into the Palm to collect data
Simple user interface
Easily portable
What I don't like:
Weather predictions not accurate
Not weather proof
Some data lost on battery change
Flimsy label on bottom opening(same as navigator)
3 out of 5 Rating
I couldn't wait to get my hands on the Weatherguide by Precision Navigation. It seemed to take forever. Now, this may not seem like a big deal, but at the time of this writing, Los Angeles, California is right in the middle of a very rare weather phenomena...that's right...rain! I figured this was a GREAT time to play with the Weatherguide...when we were actually having some weather!
The heart of the Weatherguide is the sensor module. Housed inside a case that is similar to a Palm modem, the module uses two AAA batteries (that last about 4-6 weeks) and some sophisticated sensors to continually track and store temperature and air pressure. The sensor stores the last 24 hours worth of data to provide forecasts. Before you can begin using the Weatherguide, you need to calibrate the sensore module. This is done by entering altitude in the calibration screen.
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This is view of the main screen. The upper portion of the screen represents an animate graphic of the weather forecast and requires at least 24 hours of data. In the middle portion of the screen the bar graph represents the weather trend over the last 24 hours and can either show the change in temperature or barometric pressure. The current temperature and pressure are shown at the bottom of the screen along side the time and date. |
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This is a view of my Palm IIIx with the Weatherguide sensor module attached. Precision Navigation uses the same case as the Palm modem to house the module. What would normally be the hotsync button on the modem is a non-working button here. At the bottom of the module, where the phone line jack would be (on the modem) is a gray plastic label with the Precision Navigation logo on it. It is there to cover up the hole, but unfortunately it doesn't stick very well and looks like it is falling off. It looks very tacky and really detracts from the product. I should note that the Navigator module is housed in the same case and suffers the same problem. |
What's really neat about the Weatherguide is that it's constantly working, whether it's plugged into the Palm or not. Simply snap on the module and run the software, and you'll always know the weather! I found this to work better in theory than in practice however. Over the course of the week, we had on and off rain. Unfortunately, the Weatherguide predicted clear and sunny skies on a somewhat regular basis-even when it was pouring outside! The temperature and pressure readings where accurate but for some reason, the forecasting was way off.
I talked with Precision Navigation about this and they said that based on research they have found that forecasting with barometric pressure alone is approximately 65% accurate. If
they were able to include wind speed in the algorithm for weather forecasting, the accuracy increases to about 80%, but obviously, it wasn't possible with the Weatherguide.
Another downside is that the module itself is not weatherproof and is not really suitable to be left outside. I carried the Weatherguide with me while driving around town for work, and I noticed that the temperature registered a little bit higher than normal from being inside the truck all day. Another thing that I don't like is that all data is lost when the batteries are removed, and it takes another 24 hours to calibrate. I wonder if this is something that could be remedied by being built into the software or not. Being only an armchair meteorologist, I really don't know.
All in all, the Weatherguide is a pretty cool piece of hardware and definitely a must-have if you are a total weather junkie, however the performance doesn't quite measure up the price. You'd be better served buying a weather band radio for under $20. It's a quality product, and I had fun with it, but I can't justify the price. Also, I didn't see anywhere on the site where the accuracy was stated. I think this is an important piece of information to consider.
The Weatherguide retails for $79.95 and is available through Precision Navigation's web site.
Note: Weatherguide is NOT compatible with Palm V or Palm VII (unless you use Palmdock).
What I like:
Accurate Temperature and Pressure readings
Doesn't need to be plugged into the Palm to collect data
Simple user interface
Easily portable
What I don't like:
Weather predictions not accurate
Not weather proof
Some data lost on battery change
Flimsy label on bottom opening(same as navigator)
3 out of 5 Rating