I bought the AcuRite 01121M Weather Station to replace a 16-year old Oregon Scientific BAR888A with a malfunctioning external sensor. This AcuRite model was one of only two models I could find of any manufacturer that met my requirements. I'd rate it as OK, but there are downsides to be aware of: - The accuracy is only +/- 2 degrees F, which is pretty dismal, especially compared to the 0.2°F resolution of the BAR888A. It really is this inaccurate; with the external sensor sitting right next to the unit, they won't read the same temperature, and the separation changes. Sometimes they are 2 degrees apart, sometimes less, etc. The only factor in AcuRite's defense is that it appears that 2 degrees inaccuracy is typical now for these devices. Being able to report temperature accurately doesn't seem to be a desired selling point. - The unit can be calibrated by the user, which is almost a requirement because it doesn't come calibrated out of the box. We know this because pre-calibration, with the external sensor right next to the unit the external sensor reads about 2 degrees and 2 % humidity higher than the internal. One of those readings must be wrong, but which? The external sensor seems to be more accurate when compared to other devices; what would help is an option to calibrate the internal to be the same as the current external reading. - Unfortunately the user calibration doesn't work very well. The main problem is that while this model reads temperature to a 10th of a degree, the calibration can only be entered in whole degrees. Not that it would help much if you could enter in 10ths, as the sensor just doesn't seem to be very accurate. And the calibration is pretty flakey: if the current reading is 78° and you enter 76° for calibration, it should then display 76°, right? But it doesn't. There is a change, but not necessarily in the direction or magnitude that you expect. The only way to achieve the desired result is enter random up or down calibrations until it just happens to land on a value that is closer to correct (+/- 2 °F, of course). - The clock can't display seconds, which defeats the purpose of having an "atomic" radio-synchronized clock. It should be the most precise clock in the house, to be used as the time base for setting all other clocks. But you can only tell approximately what time it is, since in effect it is +/- 30 seconds. - It doesn't display day of the week. (On the BAR888A you could switch between displaying seconds or day of the week) - The manual doesn't document the all of the display's icons, such as the one for the clock radio signal level. - The manual doesn't document the meaning the various weather forecast icons & combinations. For this it directs to an AcuRite website, but the URL given is incorrect. The right page on the AcuRite site is not entirely correct: this model can and does display forecast icon combinations that are not documented on the web page. - AcuRite has a downloadable copy of the Instruction Manual, but it is out of date. The download is from 9/6/2017 but the paper copy included with the product is from 6/10/2019. It appears that the difference is in the support contact information. - It doesn't come with the required batteries for the remote sensor. - The display has user selectable backlight levels: off, 30%, 60%, 100%. There is an auto-dim option, but it dims on a fixed schedule (9 PM to 6 AM), which can not be changed. Nor can you adjust the auto-dim level: it only goes from 100% to 30%. That is, you can't set it to go 60% to 30%, or 100% to 60%. - As another reviewer noted, the display has a non-uniform background; it isn't all black. The display actually has different sections whose background is colored according to that section's backlight. The background is grey for the sections with white digits, darker for sections with blue digits, darker still for sections with red digits. The result is kind of a patchwork display. - The labels on the display (outdoor, humidity, forecast, etc.) are very dim -- almost illegible.
