Top pick
One of the easiest weather stations to use and install, the Netatmo also has affordable add-on modules to give you a reliable and accurate overview of your local weather trends.
Unlike most wind gauges, this Netatmo add-on relies on ultrasonic sensors to detect both wind speed and direction.
Small enough to be installed pretty much anywhere, this rain gauge can be calibrated to provide more-accurate rainfall measurements—a rare feature in this price range.
Of the models we tested, the Netatmo Weather Station, with its add-on Wind Gauge and Rain Gauge, proved to be the simplest to configure and install, and combined with its app it provides a reliable and accurate big-picture overview of local weather trends. It’s also unique among the weather stations we tested due to its modular design, which lets you place components in the best location for each and easily expand the system with additional sensors.
Instead of one big integrated sensor suite, the Netatmo system is composed of separate wireless modules, each of which is small enough to be held in one hand. (The main Weather Station has two components, one indoor and one outdoor; each of the Wind Gauge and Rain Gauge is a separate unit.) Since the modules don’t have to be located in one spot, you can (and should) place the outdoor module sensor for temperature, humidity, and dew point under an eave or shaded patio cover; the wind gauge on the mast of your rooftop antenna if you have one; and the rain gauge near the ground in an open area. In other words, it’s easy to site each sensor in the spot where it will collect its respective data most accurately.
Netatmo’s big-picture measurements proved to be more accurate than we expected—high and low temperature data were right on the mark, as were sustained wind measurements.
In terms of setup, the compact Weather Station doesn’t really even need the simple paper instructions it comes with, since installation is driven entirely by its app. Pairing the included indoor module, which measures barometric pressure, indoor temperature, humidity, and CO2 levels, with its outdoor modules involves little more than a few button taps in the Netatmo app and on the modules themselves. The main outdoor module needs to be protected from the elements, but that’s the only significant caveat. Adding the sold-separately Wind Gauge and Rain Gauge to the app is also a snap, and since both are compact and battery-operated, mounting them is a breeze. (Heh.)
The Wind Gauge and Rain Gauge mount by way of a standard ¼”-20 threaded camera screw, and although Netatmo sells its own mounts, we found that a couple of clamping GoPro mounts did the job better, and for a bit less money. Although we left the modules near our other stations on rainy days and windy days to keep testing conditions analogous, the clamping mounts allowed us to tinker with placement at other times, and at no point during our testing did the wireless signal strength of either’s connection to the main unit drop below three out of five bars.
The Netatmo app has the most modern and intuitive interface of all the apps for weather stations we tested. You can access current indoor and outdoor conditions via the simple swipe of a finger, as well as your local seven-day forecast. Switching from a current snapshot of local conditions to a historical overview is as simple as rotating your mobile device from portrait to landscape orientation.
Generally speaking, the Netatmo just has a cool, smart-home vibe about it that the other stations lack, thanks to its more-modern user interface and intuitive navigation. And although it won’t natively integrate with actual smart-home hubs like SmartThings, it does pair with Alexa and is supported by a pretty robust IFTTT channel.
Weather geek that I am, I found that the app and Netatmo Web portal don’t easily allow for the sorts of data deep dives that interest me, but most guests and family members that tested the system for us reported it to be exactly the sort of big-picture overview they’re most interested in. The smartphone app also makes it easier to connect the system to Weather Underground’s Personal Weather Station Network than any other system we tested: Simply tap a switch in the app labeled Contribute to WeatherMap, and you’re done. And while we didn’t run into any issues during testing, we did contact Netatmo customer support with an invented networking problem, and it was resolved quickly. Most questions you have about the system will likely be answered in the help section of the company’s website, and the hardware is covered by a one-year limited warranty.
