Home > Consumer Reviews > Bushnell 950005 WeatherFX 5 Day Weather Forecaster

I really wanted to love this unit and from an electronic standpoint its pretty cool. One other reviewer said that he liked the fact that you could place it on your frig because of its magnetic back and he also liked that its display changes colors for the different temps (different color for every 10 degrees) but these two features really couldnt be used together properly. The unit will only do colored back-lighting with the AC adapter hooded up. When using batteries the display's multi color back-lighting is disabled. So I really cant see how you could have this unit sticking on the front of your refrigerator with an AC adapter hooked to it. Maybe he meant on the side with the wire routed to who knows where. The weather information that the FX5 gives is where it takes a nose dive though. It seems terribly inaccurate and is almost never correct about the realtime temperature not to mention the forecast info. I have a thermometer outside my home and also call a local time/temp toll free # which gives the downtown temp for my city and the FX5's temp readings can differ from the readings of my thermometer and even the downtown temp via weather service as much as 15+ degrees. Many times I have seen where it will show the approx high and low temp for the day on the left side and then the current temp displayed in the right will be well (15 or so degrees) below the forecasted low for the day. An error of a few degrees is ok but 15? Thats goes beyond inaccurate weather info. I'm thinking maybe it just doesnt update very often or something. It should download at least several times a day but from the info it shows I have to wonder. I have tried multiple models (other FX5s and even an FX7) and in many different places. Even placed one at my mothers home to see if mine was having problems downloading info. Current weather and forecast info was just as inaccurate on the other units and locations as well. In closing I will say that a little bit of inaccuracy in weather info is a given as weather forecasting is not and never will be perfect but the Bushnell FX5 had it way off almost all of the time. Way off! If I cant look at it and get an idea of what the weather is going to do or even trust it to give me and accurate current temp within 10 degrees outside what is the point in having it? Quite expensive to be so inaccurate! Two Stars for cosmetics!

A big problem with this product is your location. I am 80 miles from Miami, but that is the weather I am given. Check your location before purchasing versus the cities avaiable. I plan to give it to a friend in Miami.

I have purchased different models of this similar product for family and friends. It works out of the box and really tells you what's probably going to happen weather wise. The color backround that changes is a nice touch and makes putting this magnetized gizmo on your refrigerator a seamless exercise. Bottom line, getting this makes the need to watch the news or go on the net for a forecast, something of the past. I would highly recommend this product.

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The Bushnell Weather FX5 is a neat gadget. I bought it to put in my office, and I have had several coworkers comment on it. The forecast comes from Accuweather. The thing that puzzles me is why there is a discrpancy in the forecast between the unit and their website. Let me say it is a very small discrepancy, but I tend to notice little things like that. For example, I work in Washington, D.C., which is one of the cities for which the unit receives forecast data. The unit indicates the current temperature as 81-degrees and holding steady. However, the Accuweather website indicates it is currently 84-degrees. (Before I finished my review, the current temperature on the unit changed to 84-degrees. Obviously, there is a delay in receiving current data, but I am not sure how much of a delay, because the owner's manual, website, etc. does not mention how often data is updated.) The unit indicates the high/low temperature for the day as 88/70 and the website as 87/69. The forecast for the other 4-days matches almost exactly 90/70 vs. 90/70, 93/73 vs 93/73, 93/73 vs. 93/72, and 90/73 vs. 90/73 (unit vs. website respectively).

The backlight color changing depending in which 10-degree range the forecast high falls is neat. The message is limited to 25-characters, so it is not as detailed as the website. For example, the unit indicates "A STRAY AFTERNOON T--STORM" and the website indicates "Intervals of clouds and sunshine with widely separated thunderstorms; humid." Forecast data is limited to 150 cities. I live in Hanover, PA, and the closest city to me for which the unit receives data is Harrisburg, PA, which is about a one-hour drive. Had it given me the forecast for even York, PA, I might have considered one for my house. The size of the LCD screen is a good size for my office. It also indicates the current time. There are signal strength bars to show how good of a reception the unit is receiving.
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this is the only weatherstation to buy,i have4 different makes and brands,buschnell fx5 is the BEST.the wost is brookstone it looks very good but that is it.