weather info in my pocket!

I first spotted the Oregon Scientific Handheld Weather Forecaster on the company's web site in early January. I wanted it! But I had some questions about it...

Repeated email enquiries to head office went unanswered. During the numerous phone calls, I got disconnected on one attempt and then lost in their complex telephone menu system so had to voluntarily break the connection. An email reply finally came back but they clearly had not read my question... Sorry, getting distracted here. My advice? Buy from a reseller!

I sourced an Oregon vendor in the Greater Toronto Area, called Radioworld, and they were very helpful! They set up an account for me, immediately ordered the product, created a priority back order, let me know when the product had arrived, and put it aside for me! Went to the store: Hello Mecca!
So, today, I finally have the Handheld Weather Forecaster (model eb313hg)!


The unit has some features very useful for backyard astronomers...

• displays a 12 to 24 hour weather forecast with animated sun and cloud icons
• severe weather alert indicator (hope I don't see that)
• displays temperature (in °C or °F) and humidity (and tracks minimum and maximum values in memory)
• clock with day-of-week or seconds
• crescendo alarm and snooze function
• date display (m/d)
• moon phase indicator
• barometric pressure trend indicator (rising, steady, falling)
• HiGlo™ electro-luminescent backlight
• operating range: -4.0 to +144.0°F (-20.0 to +60.0°C)

The package included the needed two CR2032 batteries.

The moon phase indicator is interesting. They use 8 icons to show the phase. It supports "previewing." That is you can force the calendar ahead or back to see what the phase will be on that day! Slick.

I was a little concerned about the backlight, that it would be bright, possibly upsetting dark-adapted vision. But the glow is very soft. It stays lit for 7 seconds.

They're pitching that it can be used for hiking and camping. But it will prove handy for bike and car trips too, jaunts to the cottage, etc. Heck, I'll take it to the car race track for driving schools or when I'm crewing.

The unit is small and light. It's smaller than a deck of cards. It can easily fit in your pocket. Be careful though: the lens or "jewel" covering the main display is easily scratched. I've already added a protective sheet. I didn't know the unit would include a belt clip which can also be attached in such a way that the unit stands on a flat surface. And there's also a spot (on the top left corner) to attach a neck strap or lanyard.

Finally—and I didn't see this noted anywhere—there's an excellent key lock feature.