Our friends from “Oz” have supported us from the beginning: Australia is one of the top five locations where TWSE readers visit us. While some of the stations we recommend to readers here in the States are locally available, they’re expensive. So, we researched and came up with this list of the best home weather stations in Australia at various price points.
More options are available in Australia than ever, and below you’ll find our exclusive recommendations.
The HP2553 is Ecowitt's top-of-the-line weather station, and it shows.
This Tempest look-alike doesn't have all its features, but is significantly cheaper.
If the WS-5000 is too expensive for you, consider the WS-2000 instead, which features the same higher-end console, but with the WS-2902's sensor suite.
Best Home Weather Stations in Australia
After much research, here are our picks for Australia’s best home weather stations. We’ll keep this list regularly updated.
ECOWITT HP2553 Wi-Fi Weather Station
The HP2553 is Ecowitt's top-of-the-line weather station, and it shows.
The Ecowitt HP2553 is the company’s high-end weather station (and sold as the Ambient Weather WS-5000 in the US). Our tests of the American version of this weather station were stellar. With practically nothing different — save for the lack of smart home support — we had no reservations about making this our top pick.
The HP2553 features a redesigned sensor suite from previous models and an ultrasonic anemometer, drastically reducing the number of moving parts. This should extend its useable life as the traditional anemometer requires ongoing maintenance to ensure trouble-free use. The sensors are more accurate in our tests than in previous Ecowitt stations, and you can add additional sensors, including air quality, soil moisture, water temperature, and lightning. The brilliant colour, easy-to-read LCD console looks great just about anywhere.
The company’s made it easy to share your data publicly through Weather Underground, Ecowitt.net, and many other networks, which is a nice touch and view station data from the Ecowitt app.
Ecowitt Wittboy Weather Station
This Tempest look-alike doesn't have all its features, but is significantly cheaper.
The Wittboy is Ecowitt's latest Wi-Fi weather station, and it's aimed at those outside of the U.S. who might not want to pay the extra duties to import in the WeatherFlow Tempest. It doesn't have lightning detection or smart home capabilities (that we can tell), but it does pretty much everything else the Tempest does.
The outdoor sensor contains a haptic rainfall sensor, light and UV sensors, an ultrasonic wind speed sensor, and temperature and humidity sensors. Ecowitt also includes its Wi-Fi hub, which allows you to send your data to Weather Underground. The Wittboy is new, so we're hesitant to give it our full-throated endorsement, but it's worth considering.
If the WS-5000 is too expensive for you, consider the WS-2000 instead, which features the same higher-end console, but with the WS-2902's sensor suite.
The Ambient Weather WS-2000 is a combination of two wireless home weather stations. The sensor array from the WS-2902 is combined with the TFT LCD console from the WS-5000, allowing for a cheaper alternative to the now $449 (MSRP) WS-5000. While this combination comes at the cost of accuracy, it adds some important functionality over the budget-minded WS-2902.
With Ambient Weather internet-connected stations, the communications are handled by the console. The cheaper color LCD console in the Ambient Weather WS-2902 package only supports the sensor suite. However, the TFT LCD console supports any accessory sensor Ambient Weather makes. It's not like the sensor suite is that inaccurate either: as we noted in our review, readings were often not far from our Davis Vantage Vue weather station.
We'd opt for the Ambient Weather WS-5000, as the sensor accuracy is better and requires little maintenance. But we'd understand why somebody would go for the WS-2000, given its much lower price.
- The expandability of the WS-5000 without the price
- Color display
- Competitively priced
- Uses a lower-quality sensor suite
- Console interface isn't the best
ECOWITT HP2551 Wi-Fi Weather Station
If the HP2553 is too expensive, consider the HP2551 instead.
The Ecowitt HP2551 isn’t sold in the US under the Ambient Weather brand, but its feature set is similar to the Ambient Weather WS-2000. While you won’t get the accuracy of the HP2553, it is significantly cheaper and measures everything its more expensive sibling does. The nice console you get with the HP2553 is paired with Ecowitt’s base instrument suite.
Ecowitt WS3901 Wi-Fi Weather Station
The WS3900 is very similar to the AcuRite Notos, but with a much better console.
The Ecowitt WS3901 is similar to the AcuRite Notos in the feature set (measuring only temperature and wind). This is one way to save if you don't need rainfall readings. The console is also bright and readable, which we rarely see on weather stations this cheap.
Another bonus? It connects to Wi-Fi and ecowitt.net to enable the sharing of your data just about anywhere.
- Inexpensive
- No rainfall readings
We were surprised with how accurate the Ambient Weather WS-2902 weather station was, given its price. We wholeheartedly recommend this to weather watchers on a budget.
The Ambient Weather WS-2902 is surprisingly feature-packed and accurate, given its price. Many of the cheap wireless home weather stations we've tested had issues that prevented us from genuinely recommending them. The WS-2902 does not.
The WS-2902 isn't as accurate as the WS-5000 or Davis weather stations, but it's also less than half the price. The connectivity is a standout feature at its price point, with full smart-home capabilities thanks to IFTTT, Google Assistant, and Amazon Alexa support. Like the WS-5000, connecting the station to AmbientWeather.net allows you to share data with Weather Underground and access weather station data through the app or a web-based portal.
If you can't justify the price of other weather stations on our list, the Ambient Weather WS-2902 is the best budget model available. The LCD display console in the WS-2902 is much improved over previous models. When we tested the WS-2902A, the console suffered from readability problems beyond a 30-degree angle, which is far less of a problem now.
The WS-2902 weather station has all the features you'd expect including indoor and outdoor temperature and humidity, rainfall, wind speed and direction, and barometric pressure. A nice surprise is the inclusion of a fairly accurate UV/light sensor, something you typically don't see on other home weather stations even in this price range.
- Best value in terms of capabilities
- Best-in-class smart home connectivity
- Great accuracy for the price
- Solid construction
- Console readings update less frequently than other models
Ecowitt WS2910 Wi-Fi Weather Station
Save a little bit of money with the WS2910.
If you prefer an "all-in-one" sensor suite (especially with limited space), opt for the Ecowitt WS2910. It includes the same sensor suite as the HP2551, but has a more basic console. You also lose the capability to expand. However, the WS2910 still features the Wi-Fi connectivity of more expensive Ecowitt weather stations.
Ecowitt HP3500 Wi-Fi Weather Station
The HP3500B is Ecowitt's entry level Wi-Fi compatible weather station, but it isn't expandable.
The Ecowitt HP3500B is the company’s cheapest weather station that doesn’t require PC software to share your weather data online. The console isn’t as flashy as the HP2551 but is still readable from a reasonable distance and can display graphs on its screen, something the cheaper WS2320 cannot do.
You do lose the capability to add additional sensors, which may be a reason to opt for any of the above three models if expandability is a concern. But the savings make the HP3500B a contender if you want to save money.
On the cheaper side of things is the WS2320. We'd recommend this particular model if you're looking for a large display - the WS2320 has one of the largest we've seen in a home weather station.
- Large display
- Display isn't the greatest
The Ecowitt GW1203 weather station combo includes GW1200 Wi-Fi IoT Gateway, WS85 Outdoor Sensor, and WN32 Outdoor Single-Channel Thermometer and Hygrometer Sensor. The nice thing about this package is the sonic anemometer, even though it is missing a rain gauge.
Wrapping Up
Australia has many great options for home weather stations, and we think the Ecowitt HP2553 is by far the best buy. However, if you’re looking for top-tier performance, you can’t beat the Davis Vantage Vue or Vantage Pro2. Have questions? Feel free to ask them in the comments below.
