Home > Consumer Reviews > Oregon Scientific Multi-Channel Weather Forecast Radio Controlled Clock BAR888 - 1 ea

This is way cool. (Why is it under housewares? Why am I looking under housewares? Oh well...)

This device receives radio signals from 2 sources: The remote temperature sensor which you mount outside out of direct sunlight. And, the short-wave radio broadcast from the National Institute of Standards Atomic Clock in Boulder Colorado. It has an indoor temperature sensor.

It has a built in solid state barometer which displays the forecast for the next 12-24 hours using weather "icons".

Set up is simple. Put in the batteries. Mount (or set) the outdoor temperature sensor (up to 100 feet from the indoor receiver). Set your time zone pushing a button that cycles through a map of the U.S. (sorry, this is biased towards Americans, but should work equally well in Canada/Mexico. Forget about Europe though, they have their own time signal which isn't compatible with this unit). And wait a few hours. During summer months when the reception of short-wave is worse, expect to have to wait overnight for the time signal to be received. During winter it may receive it immediately.

It comes with normal alkaline AA cells, but if you live in climates where the temperature drops below freezing much, you'll want to substitute lithium AA's for the outdoor unit. Alkaline cells stop working around 20F.

During normal operation it synchronizes its clock several times a day with the atomic clock in Boulder. In between it relies on its quartz "movement" to keep current time.

It has high/low temperature memory, 24/12 hour time mode, alarm clock function (though this is a little difficult to use). Displays day/date/month/seconds.

Both the indoor and outdoor units are well made. The outdoor unit is weatherproof (o-ring seal) but should be mounted out of direct sunlight, rain, snow. The indoor unit is wall mountable or has its own stand for counter/desktop use.

Before discovering Oregon Scientific, I purchased a radio remote thermometer from some other manufacturer. Paid almost as much as that one, and threw it out after 2 months. This one I've had for 6 months and it works perfectly.

My wife even lets it stay on the kitchen counter.

I have owned several Oregon Scientific products in the past, including 2 'wired' weather monitors. The unit provides fairly good forecasting, but I use it more for a 'heads-up' idea of the conditions. When in doubt I use the Weather Channel or the local paper. But it certainly helps to know before I open the front door in the morning if it is too cold to get the paper without shoes. Good buy when it is on sale, and the atomic clock updating is a real plus.

My father got this for Christmas last year. Let me start out by saying that it's an extremely sturdy piece of equipment. The digits are large, so you can see the temperature and the time from a good distance away. Also, it's amazingly accurate! However, all it does is give you the current temperature, the min/max temperature, and a (usually WRONG) forecast icon. It doesn't show you barometric pressure trends or the humidity. Barometric pressure is only important if your trying to predict the weather, but humidity is very useful. Conclusion: it's great for what it does, but a []cheaper model could do everything it does, except for recieving the signal from Atomic Clock in CO! Personally, I'm going with a []model from La Crosse Technology that gives you barometric pressure trends, storm warnings, snow alerts, humidity readings, memory for all of it, and a more accurate forecast. If you're interested, it's model WS-9018U.

I purchased this product only to find out
that the pressure sensor in this device only
goes to 795 mb. So, if you live at or above
about 6000 ft none of the pressure related measurements will
work. This limitation should be more presented clearly
along with the other specs. for this device.

I bought the BAR888 for myself at first. The convenience of being able to see the outside temperature from anywhere inside and without wiring is a huge plus, and it beats a conventional outdoor-only thermometer when you live in a townhouse or apartment where you might not have a window placement out of the sun. Plus, a conventional thermometer does not tell you the temperature in two places simultaneously, the minimum and maximum temps, nor does it predict the weather like the BAR888. I check it at least twice daily to see the min and max temps, but usually check it multiple times to see the current temperature and see what it thinks the forecast is.

I decided to get another BAR888 for my mother as a birthday gift. She has everything already anyway and I'm always at a loss what to get her, but I figured she'd enjoy this. Well, not only did she enjoy it, but after seeing my brother and his wife and then my sister and her boyfriend react to it, she got both couples their own for Christmas! Now what am I going to get them this year?

The only minor complaints I have about the unit is that the interface was clearly designed by engineers. But once it's set up the only button you need to know and use daily is the "Min/Max/Reset" button, which should be labeled as such but is instead called "Mode" or something else not very intuitive. Other than that you likely won't touch any other buttons again until you need to replace the batteries (unless you plan on using the alarm clock feature or adding add'l transceivers to monitor the temperature in up to three remote locations--but I'd wager 95% of users are like me and just want the outdoor temperature, thank you very much!) and re-do the setup.

I highly recommend this unit for yourself, and if you're looking for a good gift idea you can't go wrong with this. I guarantee you the recipient will look at it at least once every day--and when's the last time someone gave you something you used every day?