HIPE weather station is not your typical weather station which has a probe that measures the weather conditions right outside your house. Instead it gets information from the internet and then broadcasts the information, using a USB wireless dongle, to the display unit somewhere in your house. The weather station can only operate when the wireless dongle is plugged into the computer and computer is turned on and connected to the internet. In the current version (6/6/2013) the information is updated and broadcast every 55 seconds.
To configure the unit you select a city for which information is available that is the closest to your location. I check two states that I am close to and each had 9 cities to select from. My closest choices were 10-15 miles away, so I noticed slight variation in the forecast and the conditions near my house. I have one of those old-fashioned weather stations with a temperature probe that I was comparing this unit with.
The weather station comes with software for Windows and Mac. I installed it on the Windows machine. The installation was very easy, the display immediately received the broadcast. However the install did not follow Windows standards and normal good software practices of (1) asking the user where to install the software and installed the package at root level on C: drive (2) asking the user whether he/she want to add an icon to the system tray (3) giving the user an option to suppress system tray pop-ups that are generated every 55 seconds when the software broadcasts the weather (which need to be dismissed manually).
I received this product for testing and review from the manufacture and the first unit I received had a problem with displaying the information: it showed the full forecast for the current day, but did not show high and low temperatures for next 4 days. The manufacture suggested trying fresh batteries and taking out batteries and then re-inserting them, but this did not correct the problem. He mailed me a second unit for testing and it worked perfectly. I am attaching an image of both units so you can see the difference between working and faulty unit.
I asked the manufacture about the warranty. I wanted to know if the display issue is covered and would a consumer need to return the unit to get the replacement or would supplying a photograph demonstrating the issue would enough. He told me that the display issue would be covered under 1 year warranty and the a photograph proof of the damage would sufficient, the broken unit does not have to be returned. This is a consumer friendly return policy that gets high marks in my book.
I am attaching a collage of 5 photos which can be located by following 'customer photos' link under the main photo.
✔ The first photo the display for two units, the top unit is the faulty one where you can see temperature shows up only for today.
✔ The second photo shows the back of the unit, including the stand that turns this unit into a table top unit. The other option is to hang the unit on the wall using the keyhole mount.
✔ The third photo shows the wireless dongle, the light is green when it is broadcasting. The dongle is fairly large and I had to use a USB hub to fit it comfortably into my computer.
✔ The fourth photo shows a nice forecast display that comes up if you click on the icon on the tray.
✔ The fifth photo shows a pop that is generated every time the software does a broadcast.
I found the pop-up that was generated every 55 seconds annoying, all it tells you is that weather forecast has been updated. By convention such intrusive pop-ups are only generated for critical issues not trivial information. I contacted the manufacture again regarding this software issue. He told me that the developers are working on an upgrade which reduces the frequency of pop-ups. He provided me with a download of this future version, which I liked better because it generated a pop up less frequently by getting updates less frequently. However, it still generates a pop-up that needs to be dismissed. It would have been better if the app operated in a silent mode and only gave the time of the last update if one were to click on the icon in the tray.
As I mentioned earlier the installation gave me no options. It did not give me an option to add or not add this app to my system tray. I guard that space very carefully and only allow some applications to be visible all the time, this app did not give a choice when it added itself to the system tray. And I would have liked an option which would allow me to select whether it generates any pop-ups or not. The application installation did not give me an option of selecting a directory where I wanted to install the app. The app installed its directory at the top level of c: drive, not under Program Files which is a Windows convention. Imagine if every application installed itself at the root level?
I really liked the concept of this device, I like seeing the forecast right on my night table. The screen display problem of the first unit was remedied by an excellent warranty which does not require the return of the unit. However the application itself, even the updated version I received from the manufacture, did not make the weather software a well behaved Windows application. I gave my feedback to the manufacture and I hope they will continue to improve this product because it has good potential.
You can find it on Amazon by following this link.
Ali Julia review ★★☆☆☆
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