Can the Ultimeter Survive in a Wireless Weather Station World?
For many years, Ultimeter Weather Stations were among the most popular in the home weather station market. But the arrival ofother manufacturers, often offering a wide variety of weatherand temperature stations and backed by strong marketingcampaigns, had a serious effect on Ultimeter sales
Three Ultimeter Weather Stations are now produced by Peet Brothers, and, compared to other home weather station manufacturers, they provide a somewhat different solution to recording weather information from around the home.
The flagship model is the
Ultimeter 2100
. Like all Ultimeter
models, it consists of a series of sensors connected by cable
to a keyboard/display unit purpose designed for the system.

On the keyboard are a group of icons which can call up
present, minimum and maximum values for a variety of
weather data. Values for today, yesterday, and one other
selected interval can all be displayed and saved.
The display unit includes ports for communication to
external locations by modem or radio, as well as
simultaneous connection to a computer or data logger
- Weather Outlook is recommended by the manufacturers.
A wide variety of alarms can be set, and the system
includes static electricity discharge facilities for
all external sensors, plus a grounded AC adapter,
providing good protection for all the equipment.
So the Ultimeter 2100 has a number of useful features
which set it aside from its competitors, and the
recommended price of $399.00 is also competitive.
There is not a lot of competition on price, and best
outlets are the manufacturer Peet Brothers and
Binoculars.com.
.
You may find that you will have to pay extra for
additional sensors to bring this unit up to the level
you want. In this case, neither rainfall or outdoor
humidity sensors are included, and you would need to
add on $90.00 and $110.00 respectively to bring the
Ultimeter 2100 up to the standard of a comprehensive
weather station. The total price would rise to $599.00
One nice touch, though, is the inclusion of a rain
rate, or flash flood alarm.
So all in all, quite a nice package which, fully
optioned, is certainly comparable to the better weather
stations from
Davis,
La Crosse
and
Oregon
. On the
negative side, the Ultimeter 2100 is cable only, and
while a properly set up cable unit is less likely to
suffer from transmission interference than a wireless
weather station, the greater flexibility of a wireless
unit may appeal to you more.
So in it's standard form, the Ultimeter will provide
indoor and outdoor temperature, wind speed and
direction, and air pressure.
If you only require temperature and wind information,
perhaps to monitor conditions in your garden, then the
Ultimeter 800 may be suitable. Excluding the barometer
brings its price down to $279.00. And if inside
temperature is also not a concern, The Ultimeter 100 at
$199.00 may be just what you need.
Overall then, the Ultimeter series presents a good, if
slightly different solution to the gathering of weather
information, if you are not set on wireless
communication.
Here's where to go for more information on
Home Weather Stations
, and
how to set them up.
Back to the Top, or return to the Home page.
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Last update 12/85/2011