The Future of the Weather Forecast? WeatherFlow's Tempest Review

[@oldcolonial85]

I bought one of the earliest units as part of an indiegogo campaign and have been through a succession of them since then. It is my impression that they are quite accurate for such a reasonably priced unit. Unfortunately, with the reasonable price also seems to come a lack of robustness with regard to holding up to weather. Kind of ironic that a company that does weather for a living can't get this right. I am on my 4th unit in 5 years and am about to install a replacement unit ( # 5 provided to me as a warrantee replacement) when I get the opportunity. Unit # 4 has stopped reporting temperature and its solar irradiation has been stuck at the same reading for months. Put your unit someplace where it is easy to replace, you will probably need to. Mine is on a 3 meter pole attached to the peak of my roof. Not optimal for replacement but pretty good for getting clean wind readings.

[@dennislyons3095]

Really well edited. Just installed our Tempest in time for last storm. Under measured the rain. The rain was blowing hard. That may have been a factor. I like that I can check weather at home from anywhere.

[@harryhirsch8019]

Habe meins heute erhalten und installiert (kinderleicht),...ein super Teil..!! Kaufen und Spass haben am Wetter und der Vorhersage

[@SolarSolar-uh6op]

I've had one for a bit over a year now. I like it, with two exceptions, doesn't measure snow fall and it literally misses half the rainfall in my area. I live in the NorCal Sierra, a literal moderate rainforest. The problem with Tempest is, it measures droplet strikes, it completely misses constant drizzle.. So if you buy one, don't toss your rain gauge, Tempests' is literally a waste of time. My area averages 60" of rain a year, last year we broke 100 inches again, but Tempest only recorded about 37 inches of that mess.

[@OurKiteLife]

Good to know! Thanks for sharing

[@ralphcramden9775]

Thank you for the great review, and your discount code worked!

[@sshady7272]

Ty for the review, your code saved me 10 %!!! Ty

[@kite666G]

This thing would be nice to have since they took our weather station down a few weeks ago.Great video.

[@OurKiteLife]

what we did at our kite beach was asked everyone to pitch in $20 to split the cost

[@WillBrokhof]

Nice production. Informative and no BS.

[@leafyleafyleaf]

Classic Canadian approach.

[@hichrisbell]

Curious to know how the Tempest registers in the colder weather, including snowfall and wind chill.

[@djbside1965]

Thanks for the superb presentation and for the discount code. Just ordered my Tempest weather station today. :-)

[@OurKiteLife]

Awesome, thank you!

[@jonbassett8023]

Nicely done...just bought one!

[@narutolis1]

Hi! Could you do a video explaining the various ways to fold a kite? With an emphasis on how to fold it without ruining it?

[@OurKiteLife]

sure

[@1sailfast]

Updated 11/12 - Weather flow finally contacted me a few days after I called and left a voice message. Not only were they responsive to my RMA request, they emailed a prepaid label. Very much appreciated. They said they hadn't received my prior emails. They responded to email after that (to the same email address). Ultimately, it was a very good customer service experience, but it didn't start that way. Original Post: I bought one and I tried to return it under their 60-day satisfaction guarantee but they have gone dark. I tried to get the RMA FOR WEEKS but NO RESPONSE.

[@OurKiteLife]

That’s weird, everyone we know who bought things from weatherflow never had any issues with customer support. It has been excellent in our experience. For those who don't know, weatherflow is also the company behind ikitesurf, windalert, etc...

[@yr199]

Adding it to my new house in obx, thx

[@ramosel]

Is there a full time dedicated display available for this device or is it purely app accessible via smartphone and/or tablet?

[@jayjacobs1504]

What I love about it is you can see data from any tempest station with public access . Want to know the weather in Russia , China anywhere

[@michiel2797]

Hi There Thanks for the informative video. Does the tempest meanwhile have gust readings? cause i've seen some IOT pages mention that.

[@OurKiteLife]

Yes, the Tempest has gust readings

[@thomasjones-yc8lf]

Thanks for the promo code!

[@cue03]

Where did you find the bird landing deterrent that you place on the top of the weather station? Thx

[@OurKiteLife]

It’s also from Weatherflow: help.weatherflow.com/hc/en-us/articles/360052510633-Bird-Deterrent-Accessory

[@spiritzweispirit1st638]

Very Cool Product! Greatly Presented' Professional Vernacular and Cadence! An Extreme Rareity on YT these days! Thank You!😶🌦🌈🏞

[@KL-ju2co]

Hmm, I haven’t been checking the Tempest forecast recently. Addicted to the wind graph and the station helps me coordinate my kiting efforts which is anything from getting the right gear to travelling to the right spot. Data interpretation improvements FTW :)

[@irajonah3108]

Dont know if anyone gives a damn but if you are stoned like me atm you can watch pretty much all of the latest movies and series on instaflixxer. Have been streaming with my brother for the last couple of months xD

[@jamiecarmelo2791]

@Ira Jonah yea, I've been using InstaFlixxer for since november myself :)

[@CatalinMilos]

Can you share more info on the directional antenna you use to connect to Tempest sensor from 2km away, and how it's connected? Looking to a similar setup in Seattle area

[@OurKiteLife]

basically we just put hub in front of the dish, thats all we did, and it boosted the signal from -98 to about -89, but it was sufficient. We bought antenna for about 150$ CAD. Also, we are in direct line of sight, and over water, that probably makes a difference. From what we know the positioning of hub makes a difference, but we didnt really experiment as when we put it in front of the antenta dish it just worked. Let me know if you have any questions. Here's amazon link (but its too expensive as we paid half) www.amazon.com/Extended-Repeater-Extends-Coverage-Location/dp/B076KRTXQ6/ref=sr_1_21?dchild=1&keywords=wifi+outdoor+antenna&qid=1605185046&sr=8-21

[@patricks1251]

@@OurKiteLife I have a location in mind 413 meters as measured line of site from a window... does the window reduce signal? Might need to use your antenna idea... however what are the chances this will work out of the box 413 meters ?

[@andrewcarey6378]

I am also interested in learning more about this!

[@cpufrost]

LOCATION is EXTREMELY important! The vast majority of HOME users will NOT have their instrument packs in ideal location for wind speed measurement. Ultrasonic anemometers are capable of reading temperature too without daytime insolation interference. I wonder if this unit takes advantage of this capability and compares it with the onboard thermistor that's inside the radiation shield for even more accurate daytime temperature readings? Heavy rain, mist, drizzle (and of course) snow and ice will cause missing or erroneous wind/direction and (ultrasonic temperature) readings. It's the nature of the technology. And haptic precipitation sensing is still very much in its infancy and requires LOTS of ancillary processing to produce a reading that's somewhat in the range of an actual rain gauge! The biggest benefit here would be localized notification of instant detection of rain drops which is useful for convertible owners that forget their top is down! :-D The tech looks good/promising at this entry point. For truly autonomous/remote location use they should have a cellular modem enabled unit that requires no hub and can be used anywhere a cell signal is available! Putting the hub in the middle of the parabolic dish is a great idea however I have to wonder how long the hub will last exposed to the elements. Was it sealed up with RTV sealant, etc?

[@OurKiteLife]

Wow thanks for ur very detailed comment. and yes location is everywhere and we definitely have two sensors in most accurate locations possible. 10 m above ground on poles on piers, we sealed our hub with marine glue and had no issues with it. Even if it breaks down, we would happily buy another one as the benefits for wind sports community outweighs the costs or and imperfections

[@bbossman45]

Almost bought one. Upgrade to gust values for the unit and we can talk.

[@terrydanks]

No gust values? No dedicated console display? Too bad. Not appropriate for my application. Back to Ambient I guess. Was "this close" to getting one of these.

[@davidgundrum6839]

I never heard of these before, thanks for the thorough review guys, it sounds like a really cool technology. I'm just thinking that if the promise of the technology is delivered over longer-term, if thousands of these are deployed within a region on a continuous basis whether it will render traditional weather-monitoring systems obsolete? I'm thinking what if half the sailboats out there had one of these on-board, of course not much good if the boats are tied up in the marina over half the time ;)

[@OurKiteLife]

I think traditional weather monitoring systems will still be used, like weather balloons, aircrafts etc... but this small weather station will play a bigger role in producing weather forecasts

[@maysrg]

Anybody have an idea on how to keep ants out of the unit? Ours was basically destroyed by invading ants that destroyed the wires of the charging system. The company was not interested in this problem, suggested we just buy a new one, as they can't be repaired.

[@穩贏綠]

How to order? Tks

[@OurKiteLife]

shop.weatherflow.com - The coupon code OURKITELIFE will save you 10%

[@dimitardonchev4121]

Hi, Laurie! I am about to buy flysurfer soul 15m. But I am wondering if I could kite on a twin tip when the wind is 10-11knots? I am 80 kg. My current kites are slingshot RPM 9 and 12. With the 12 meter I can kite on 14-16 knots at least. Can you share your experience? Can you kite the 15m soul at 10 - 11 knots

[@OurKiteLife]

if the wind is steady at 10-11 knots, the answer is yes. If the windy is gusty/empty, the answer is no unless you use a big board. hope this helps

[@dimitardonchev4121]

@@OurKiteLife thank you very much! That was very helpful 🙂!

[@tomtom8764]

Would you still recommend this one year later or alternatives you like better? Thanks

[@OurKiteLife]

A year later and we are still using and very happy with the Tempest. Haven’t needed to try another alternative, but if we do in the future we will make a video about it!

[@ignaciosernacampillo9527]

so where is urs placed? Someone has to have a private plot at the beachfront or is it that in canada ppl are too nice to take it? Also I love how windguru lies consistantlly telling m there is more wind at my spot. Much better sleep thinking Im gonna send it tomorrow

[@OurKiteLife]

the scenes from the beach were temporary, we didn't include the actual locations of our sensors in the video as people in Canada just might take it. Given the wireless nature of the device, the possibilities of placement are endless

[@weatherwatcher39]

Just curious what part of the forecast is most accurate compared to other weather vendors? Tired of them being wrong under 24 hrs. in advance. Thanks

[@OurKiteLife]

Temperature reading for our area is usually calculated at the airport 10 kilometers in land. By the lake it's always colder in summer and warmer in winter, as compared to theweathernetwork, tempest appears to be more accurate. So that's the most accurate part, personally as kiteboarders we only care about temperature in winter, when 2 degrees can make a difference between -1 and +1. So far we had no issues with that part of the forecast in the short term. Wind wise, on easterlies it seems to be more accurate than NAM3, and even WRF. Rain wise, despite false readings, it appears as accurate if not more than weather network, especially during thunderstorm season. Is it 100% accurate? No. Is it better than any single alternative? We believe so. Does this mean you can only rely on it and forget about other weather services? Probably not, but if you are in a rush, it’s our go to.

[@hamop78]

How does it handle snow

[@OurKiteLife]

It handles snow fine. It doesn’t tell you how much snow has fallen but we had no issues with the Tempest’s performance with snow

[@hamop78]

@@OurKiteLife thanks. I’ll continue to use my Peet Brothers rain gauge with a heater that gives you melted equivalent and my snow stick to tell me how deep it is😀

[@1erSeries]

Is their a way to get in touch with the kite community from the GTA area? Best regards from Germany!

[@OurKiteLife]

Hey, whom would you like to contact, we know a lot of various kiting crews here in the GTA

[@1erSeries]

@@OurKiteLife Hey ho! Just wanna get in touch with some Canadian kiters. I'll visit my relatives in Newmarket next summer. Kiting in front of Toronto looks pretty nice to me and why not connecting that with some locals on the water? tl;dr: German stranger is looking for other local strangers via a platform (forum?) he doesn't know (yet). =)

[@OurKiteLife]

@@1erSeries just show up to cherry beach, marie curtis park or ashbridges on windy days, and u will find kiters :)

[@1erSeries]

@@OurKiteLife I'll do so - thanks for your advice :)

[@joaquinzurita7721]

Can you do a website to help the kite comunity? We can put all of the spots we know to help each other. I know get high with mike did it too but it would be nice to not put "big air spots" as he said. But instead good locations that dont necesarelly are to crouded, this way your subscribers can show you the hidden gems. (im sorry for my english, Im learnin :))

[@OurKiteLife]

as far as we know there are a couple of sites that show spots, one example is localkitespots.com. Also, a lot of really good spots are not shared by the locals - just mainstream spots. Good idea on paper, but hard to execute as locals usually don't want to share the hidden gems :(

[@russelllieser4226]

Wind shadow? Explain please.

[@OurKiteLife]

When there’s a building or a tree blocking the wind, the area behind it is called a wind shadow

[@russelllieser4226]

That is what I thought. Thanks. Great video all the info I was looking for.

[@maximrogov7667]

Can you go upwind better on a hydrofoil, if yes why?

[@OurKiteLife]

yes you can because there is less friction against the water, so your angle upwind can be higher

[@maximrogov7667]

One more question, why isn't speed record for kitesurfing set on hydrofoil?

[@bfgskittles4247]

I still can't buy this in Australia

[@Skaescueladekite]

Wow! Give me 10! :)

[@youdrhnews]

Got mine thru KS and is already broken. Doesn't charge anymore. Can't be fixed so needs to be fully replaced. Out of waranty of course. Not a good product!

[@feritall]

3 people live in wind shadows.

[@OurKiteLife]

What do you mean?

[@cpufrost]

@@OurKiteLife Presumably the three that have disliked this video! ;-)

[@олеггончаров-д8р]

That device is not for Russian strong kite guys!!

[@LotetaCartel]

They dont ship to europe 🤷🏽‍♂️

[@OurKiteLife]

I think they will soon, and definitely eventually

[@dvaello]

Sorry, this is not an objective comparison or review. I have had my Tempest for over 6 months and find the rainfall reporting to be very optimistic by a factor of 2 or 3. Often it will report that it is raining at my location when in fact it is not. I have reported this to WeathrFlow and all they end up asking for is a comparison to my NOAA NWS Instruments that are located directly next to my Tempest and automatically update to the NWS. Nothing is ever offered to correct the problem. Look around and you will find many serious users having the same issues.

[@OurKiteLife]

Hey Sandy, yes rainfall can be deceiving indeed, especially due to birds, the focus of our review was more focused on wind, and yes we had numerous times tempest report false rain readings, for that reason something like a bird accessory is needed

[@dvaello]

@@OurKiteLife Sorry but this has nothing to do with birds. The Tempest rain reporting system simply is just not up to the task of reporting rainfall correctly.

[@OurKiteLife]

@@dvaello can't really agree or disagree as we haven't really paid the most attention to the rain readings, with that said said, yes tempest is not perfect, but for what it is, we have not found anything else on the market with similar capabilities, again we mostly care about wind, what are your thoughts? Are there better alternatives?

[@weatherwatcher39]

Just curious what NWS gear you have on property that uploads to NWS instantly? I'm a coop observer the rain data is only sent every 24hrs.

[@pavelgolin2421]

how come it doesn't have a GSM module? it's a huge disadvantage IMO

[@OurKiteLife]

it will have it, it got delayed due to pandemic

[@dougtaylor7724]

Nice instrument but it has no stand alone display. Automatic deal breaker.

[@OurKiteLife]

Curious why that’s a deal breaker?

[@dougtaylor7724]

Don’t want to use my phone when I want to see the wind speed. Just prefer a stand alone display. Not a 24-7-365 phone guy.

[@CaptainRon1913]

what a scam. I don't need to buy that to know what the weather is outside, when I can just walk outside. Government's forcast combined with a free radar app is good enough

[@patricklage5972]

Too bad. Not available currently outside the US. Trump veto ?????????????? 😥

[@OurKiteLife]

it will be available soon, they don't ship to Canada currently too unfortunately

[@patricklage5972]

@@OurKiteLife 💗