La Crosse Technology 308-1451 Atomic Forecast Station with Fisherman Icon, In/Out Temperature, Humidity, Barometer, Sunrise/Sunset, Dual Alarms

Four stars for giftability only because the fisherman’s changing clothing display may not appeal to everyone as a way of showing the temperature. We wanted to replace a unit that had more information than this, but almost no smart clocks have sunrise and sunset times which are one of the things we most rely on our smart clock to provide. Glad to have found this and may be gifting it to others as well.

I looked at over a dozen clock/weather stations, for over 2 months. Some looked good, but each seemed to be lacking in one or two areas. So I held off on my purchase. When I happened upon this La Crosse, I bought it the next day.It had the features I wanted: atomic time; in/outdoor temp & humidity; barometric pressure; Date (displayed as "10/21", not "10.21"); day of week; and back lighting (although listed as "LED", it has a nice even amount of lighting, seems as good as an "EL" back lighting); AND all of these items are always being displayed(no extra buttons to push to see the day of week..).It also has some of what I call "nice to haves": time of sunrise/sunset; and phase of the moon (not important to me). Although watching the sunset get about 3 minutes earlier each of these October nights, is sad.The item was much simpler to set up than some older versions from La Crosse, and it found the atomic signal w/i an hour (even in the afternoon). The only nuisance with the set up was selecting my city (for the sunrise/sunset times). Maybe I didn't follow the directions, but I had to cycle through a long list before I got to mine. The cities were organized first by state, then by city w/i state. A pain, but I eventually got to New Jersey, and then my closest city.Given the amount of information that is being displayed on a 5x5" screen, the layout is reasonable, but I think it could be improved by making the displayed time larger, and a layout to let you more quickly realize whether you're looking at a temperature or a humidity reading(maybe changing their relative sizes or positions would help).Points of Note: - The manual says the batteries for the inside unit (3 of them) will last "over 12 months". That may be a clue that this clock may consume batteries. - The "manual", all 4 sides of two 7x11" pages, is brief, and opens on the left side (instead of the right side, as a book). Not a problem, but reminds you that this was probably not "made in America". - The display is very dark with good contrast against the background, if you are looking slightly down at it. If you are looking straight on, some of the display will be slightly faded. If you are slightly below horizontal, there is increased fading, and characters look a little fuzzy. Yet it is still easily readable a foot away. At 6' away, you may not be able to read it at that angle. Hence, this would not be a good "wall clock". - On initial setup, the temperature reading read about 5-7 degrees higher than my other thermometers. This seemed to take over an hour or two, to come back to w/i a degree of the others. (which seems longer than I would expect for it to temperature-equilibrate)- The snooze/backlight button is the only button on the outer edges (so you can easily pick it up w/o accidentally changing a setting). The other buttons (6) are recessed, on the back.I took off a star because of1)the image of the fisherman. As another commented, the interpretation of "his" clothing is not easily visually-grasped (e.g.; short sleeves vs. sleeveless). There is a smallish cloud/ sun/ rain picture that is much more readable/useful for seeing the weather prediction than the fisherman's attire.2) The picture of the fisherman takes up space that could have been better used to increase the size of some of the items, and improve the overall layout.So far, I would definitely buy it again. The only reason to not buy this would be if you didn't want all the extra items on the display, and prefer a simpler, less cluttered display.11/3/13 UpdateThe "daylight savings" to normal time change happened last night, but the clock did NOT update itself. I checked the time zone setting, it was correctly set to EST (I live in NJ), "day light savings" mode was on, and initiated a WWVB search (for the time). The time would not adjust (but did for an older LaCrosse clock). If I changed the time zone to CST (which has an eastern edge of Indiana or Illinois) the clock displayed the correct time. Hence, it appears to be software problem in the unit, and likely a problem for all of the units.11/4/13 UpdateToday, the unit shows the correct time. It now appears that the problem was not "firmware", but that the system lost contact with the time signal, so the clock might have never saw that the time was changed. I don't know why the signal is being lost; it used to always show the signal tower icon, now it is not.

I was replacing an old atomic clock/weather station that I left when I sold my house. Didn't realize I couldn't go out and buy the exact same thing.I did not need or want to be able to read it from across the room. If you want that, there are lots of models like that. It’s much harder to find a small, unobtrusive device. Mostly I want to check the weather outside to decide how to dress. If I'm off work, it helps to find out what day it is.I don't care at all about the fisherman aspect. I even had plans to cover him up but I got used to him being part of the display. I was pleased to gain humidity readings, both indoor and outdoor. I don’t pay any attention to the barometric pressure, so can’t speak to that.I put both the home station and the sensor side by side to check the accuracy and the in/out temps were close but not exact. I think it says somewhere that the margin of error is 2 degrees, so don't expect NASA accuracy. When I first bought this, I was temporarily in an apartment with an ancient thermostat and was glad to have a way to check the setting.All in all this unit has features you would usually have to pay much more to get. When I first got it I thought the display quality was horrible. Then I discovered that it is designed to be sitting on a shelf or table and viewed in a downward direction, so placement definitely affects readability. I would have preferred a unit that could hang on the wall, but I didn't find anything that came near this one concerning price, appearance, size, and features. The snooze light-up function works good enough for me; my last one didn't light up at all so this is an improvement and not a dealbreaker for me.My only complaint is that the daylight savings time setting does not function properly. It does not change automatically when the time changes, or it does so belatedly, so that I change it manually then a week later my time is off again and I have to change it back. I have now turned the DST setting to “off” because it’s just easier to change it myself.All in all, I am happy enough with this unit that I bought a second one to keep on a different floor of my home. I have moved several times in the last few years and sometimes I have used 2 base units with a single outdoor sensor. Other times I have used each pair separately with sensors in different locations to get around the effect of direct sun.I bought the first one in Oct. 2018 and the second in March 2019, and I made some edits to my review in Nov. 2021, so this is all accurate after having owned these for 2 1/2 and 3 years. I would probably rate them 4 1/2 if I could.

The good:The "atomic" radio clock syncs well (as long as you manually set the time when you set up the unit, so that it will know when it is night, which is when it syncs).A plus is that it displays seconds, which too many "atomic" radio clocks don't. (What's the point of being super accurate if you don't display time down to the second?)The internal and remote temperature and humidity readings match very closely, so it's probably pretty accurate weather information.The barometric pressure trend animation is useful for getting a feel for what's next, weather-wise.The bad:When the clock has not been able to sync (generally due to bad weather), the sunrise/sunset times often revert to standard time instead of daylight savings time, making them an hour earlyCompared to my other "atomic" radio clicks, this one seems to run one second slow.The barometric pressure is not altitude adjusted - which they point out in their manual.Opinion:I would have preferred not having the fisherman and his changing wardrobe in order to have a larger weather forecast icon. As is, the forecast icon is a bit hard to see unless you are close to the unit.In summary, it's a good idea that could have been implemented a bit better.

nice unit...just got it today...fairly easy to set up, i bought 2 extra sensors from LaCrosse since Amazon didn't carry that one. I have one outside, and the other 2 in each of my greenhouses. I set the temp alarms to go off at 55 and 90 degrees. It appears as tho the sensors are pretty accurate, they match up fairly well with the 3 reg. thermometers in those 3 spots. the unit is pretty small, i have to get pretty close to it to see which sensor is showing. could do without the fisherman if they made everything else a little bigger. I thought I read in the description that you could hang this on a wall, but no, it has a big knobby plastic thing on the bottom back that makes it impossible, also the screen disappears in spots if you look at it straight on. I'll just have to make a little shelf for it on the wall where I was going to hang it. I'll update after I've used it some more.***update***I've had this for a couple of weeks now. I put brand new batteries (yes, I went down to the store and bought them as soon as the unit arrived) in it before I set it up. Of the 3 sensors I have set up, 2 are constantly dropping signal. Sensor one is on the back porch, 10-12 feet away between glass and wood doors and a couple of small poured concrete walls, have never lost the signal. The other 2 are in greenhouses approximately 65-70 feet away (remember this thing has a range of 200 feet max), I'm well within the range. In between is glass, a couple of 10" poured concrete walls, 6 mm plastic and thin aluminum uprights. These two are dropping all the time. I have no electronics in my kitchen except the stuff on small appliances, I do have a microwave but that's about 10 feet away. (And I've checked...microwave use does not correspond to dropped signal) I had the unit sitting on the table in the breakfast nook, but now i have it in the window directly facing the greenhouses and that seems to be better. So beware that the sensor range is not all it's cracked up to be and may be dependent on several factors, you'll just have to try it at your place.Also when I got the unit I set the temp alarms. On Thanksgiving when we were absorbed in eating and having a good time, I forgot to go out and turn up the heat in the greenhouses. Beep, beep, beep! Thanks temp alarm! Works like a charm! (although it scares the dog)