Honeywell TM005X Wireless Indoor/Outdoor Thermo-Hygrometer
by Honeywell
|
List Price: Category: CE See more product details |
|---|
(Click here)
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Honeywell TM005X Wireless Indoor/Outdoor Thermo-Hygrometer
Customer Review: I'm happy!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have a need to humidify in my home during the winter months when the electric heat is on. It's bad for my skin and my lungs. I had a really cheap "hygrometer", made I suspect to look good mounted on the wall. Humidity is really kind of an odd thing to measure. As someone mentioned relative humidity is best measured with a sling hygrometer, and even then I'd guess making the measurement can be bungled. So I did a little research and found the most likely to work well is the mechanical type (I believe a got a Conan(?)) that I knew I could trust, and also picked up this Honeywell kit because I couldn't resist the price. I've not had any problem with syncing mentioned by others. I finally replaced the batteries on general principles after about 18 months and the only difference I noticed was that the big display was easier to read from across the room. Anyway, when I first go the pair I checked them side by side for several hours. Temperature readings were within 0.3 or 0.4 degrees. Humidity read 2% different (and about 4 to 6% lower than the mechanical unit). The difference seems to be about the same at 30% and 60%. I have used the remote unit in my garage (unheated and uninsulated) where it reads 30% to 75% depending on the weather and season. I've also used it in both the fridge and the freezer where both the temperature and humidity readings seem to make sense.
Overall, I'm very pleased with the units, especially for the super low price! I ended up getting a Kenmore 5 gal humidifier, which by the way is a great unit, mainly because of the low fan noise. It also has a built in hygrometer which seems to read fairly close to the other units and is probably adequate for humidifying needs, in retrospect. But I use the Honeywell all the time to satisfy my curiosity. I've considered getting another 1 or 2 remote sensors, but for $4 more than the price of 1 remote, you can get a spare base unit. The high/low memory is useful if you're a curious sort too. I'm happy - would do it again.
Customer Review: Very easy to monitor remote locations - Nice big numbers on display
Summary: 5 Stars
I got this unit to monitor humidity in my crawlspace following work I did to keep it dry. It has worked flawlessly since installation 2 weeks ago and saves me having to enter the crawlspace to read an analog hygrometer I had installed previously.
I also need to keep up with changes in conditions outside which helps me understand any changes in the crawlspace. So I decided to buy two extra sensors to monitor conditions elsewhere. When I went to purchase the sensors I noticed that the sensors were $2 more expensive than the original unit which comes with one sensor, so It was cheaper to buy the combination package. Each of the base stations does receive the signal from the three remote sensors, so now I can monitor conditions from more than one location in the home.
The remote sensors claim to be weather resistant, I installed the external sensor under the eaves on a north facing elevation of my home, hopefully it wont get too wet there.
One handy feature of the base station is that it records maximum and minimum temperature and RH.
If you get one of these units, purchase lithium batteries if you expect the sensor to be subjected to freezing temperatures, the instructions suggest lithium batteries for cold environments, alkaline batteries fair poorly in cold conditions. I found using lithium batteries made all the sensors read the same relative humidity, with alkaline batteries I originally installed there were small variations between units.
I am very happy with this unit and have found no faults saving I'd like to see a back-light and/or external power supply for the base station.
JP
Customer Review: Accurate!
Summary: 5 Stars
I was most interested in the humidity measurement. I conducted a calibration****(See update at end of review) with a sling psychrometer. A sling psychrometer measures wet bulb/dry bulb temperature and is the least expensive (albeit a bit tedious to use) and most accurate way to determine relative humidity (RH).
I needed to know relative humidity for curiosity indoors and for a chamber in my basement used to dry cure sausage (I needed a 70%RH environment). The Honeywell unit was spot on with the sling psychrometer (and temp. was accurate as well).
The unit is new; I need to check it over time for accuracy. However, it's running very well so far and the price is right. I'll be buying more remote sensors [...] I found the remote sensor part no. is TS33C, can find them on Amazon with that search).
The majority of complaints say the humidity is "off." However, I didn't see a single valid calibration conducted.
Update 01-March-2009
I just took the main unit, the sensor and sling psychrometer. The conditions in my home at time of testing were 68F and 30% relative humidity.
Main unit read 68.4F/30% RH
The Sensor: 68.0F/30% RH
Sling Psychrometer: 68F/31% RH
The sling psychrometer consists of two sealed thermometers and will never need a calibration, it is an accurate standard. This Honeywell Unit is pretty darn good.
Update 13-Dec-2009
Someone contacted me and corrected a big point. I did not calibrate the unit by adjusting it to a known standard, I simply compared the values. My apologies for this rather serious error.
Customer Review: Excellent Product
Summary: 5 Stars
As an engineer, I am particular about accuracy. Some others have complained about differences between the temperatures and humidity reported by the base and remote when left adjacent to each other. I recognize that the base and remote can have different response time and under varying conditions could be expected to report different numbers even when next to each other. So I decided to perform an informal test. I placed the base and remote in a large picnic cooler with a gallon jug of water (for its thermal mass) and waited about 24 hours for everything to come to equilibrium. The temperatures were then identical between the base and remote and the humidity readings were an indicated 5% different. To take the readings I had to open the cooler. A better test would be done by cutting a window in the cooler and taking readings over time without disturbing the sealed environment surrounding the base and remote.
The temperature readings were accurate to about 0.5 degrees of a bulb thermometer that I trust to be accurate. The humidity readings made sense and a difference of only an indicated 5% I think is very good for an inexpensive instrument.
I like that the display can be set to alternate between the base and remote readings. I like the large numerals. I am able to leave the remote out on a screen porch and read the data upstairs. For home use, I don't think this product could get any better.
Customer Review: Right now it's 72 inside and 57 outside
Summary: 5 Stars
I wanted an inside/outside thermometer. After reading numerous reviews I settled on this one in spite of several negative comments. When I set it up, I did not exactly follow the directions, but just put the batteries in. The main unit immediately picked up the outside unit which was probably about 30 feet from the main unit. The remote unit is on the front porch out of the Sun and wind. The main unit sits on my desk and is way from the wall.
It does just what I want. I want to know what the outside temperature is when I am ready to go out. Official weather readings can be somewhat different, so I prefer a local reading. Inside, it matches fairly closely to my central air thermostat (which is probably really inadequate) and outside closely to the Weather Channel reports.
About every five seconds it changes readings. The outside readings are marked by a wireless symbol and a channel number. I don't pay much attention to the minimum and maximum, so I can't comment as to what time period they refer to. Mainly, here in south Texas I don't have to worry about minimum temperatures below freezing.