Ambient Weather WS-14 Wireless 8-Channel Floating Pool and Spa Thermometer

I got this product instead of the 7$ pool thermo that I expected to buy because I love toys and because of the very high Amazon ratings. The instructions were a tad confusing/incomplete though (the large red o-ring looking thing is there for the key that keeps it locked together not for sealing the pool thermo, BTW.) I had some issues getting the receiver going and had to whack it on the table a few times to get the monitor to wake up. Once it did, I have had no issues with it since. The floating meter sends a signal to the receiver every minute with the latest update and if the receiver can get the signal it updates the reading. If it can't, it leaves the old reading. At first this was an issue when the floater in the pool reached the deep end of my pool (furthest point from the receiver) and I thought I was going to have to tether the floater to the stair railing to keep it close. But before I did that I tried changing the channel from 1 (default) to 3 and have not had the issue since then. I live in a concrete home and have tons of electronics and radio devices in the house so I am impressed with the range. Max distance from the receiver to the far end of the pool is about 80 feet. Although water does bounce radio signals so that may be the reason for the good range... The unit has a solar panel on it to power the floater radio when the sun is around, otherwise the floater has 6 batteries in it that power the radio. I haven't had it long enough to know how long the floater batteries will last though. Obviously the further north you live, your local weather trends, and the amount of daylight (time of year) will make this number a moving target in any case... Note: The solar panel does not charge the batteries, it just augments the power from the batteries. Other than the crummy directions my only real gripe is that they didn't capture the ambient temp outside. Instead the receiver tells me the pool temp and the indoor temp (which I already have a thermostat for so...) It gets along fine with my pool cleaner but kids might be able to trash it. While it is designed to be in water it is not designed to go deep under water, so if you have kids you might want to make them remove it from the pool when they go in. Overall a good product and I am going to buy a second floater for the Hot Tub.

Finally, finally, finally...I no longer have to go freeze my hind parts off to check the temp on the hot tub. My wife and I have a wood wired soaking tub which can take from 30-90 minutes to reach 104F...needless to say it is really annoying to a) constantly have to run out to check the temp, b) go out in a bathing suit and find it is too cold, c) go out in a bathing suit and find it is too hot. Now that is no longer a problem. Not only does this tell you the current temp, but it also shows you whether it is staying stable, rising, falling and how fast it is rising or falling (it has a small icon in the upper right with an arrow that points up, horizontal, or down) and if it is rising/falling fast the arrow points at a higher angle. Since our tub is wood fired it has no electronic flow, it uses thermal siphoning which usually leaves a very hot top layer of water and cold layer beneath. Solution was to buy a low end sump pump and leave it running when were firing it up. Obviously we pull it out before going near the water. This keeps the water stirred and even and helps give an accurate temp. This is also really helpful as you can track how fast the water is heating. For us that is critical so we can add wood accordingly. We don't want it too hot or have too much wood left and end up in 108F water. It also is great as you can see how much the water is cooling off and how quickly. Literally I could not have designed a more ideal product. This does everything I want it to do and eliminates a trip into the cold every 15-20 minutes to "check on things". One of the best products I have purchased in a long time.

I love this thermometer. In the Tucson heat, the glass tube types adhesive gets baked and the thermometer moves. No longer being able to get a reading. This allows me to get a reading from in the pool or while I'm in the house contemplating whether to swim. The only issue I had was that it suddenly stopped working after the grand babies were over and were diving and splashing. I took it apart (with tools that were included) and found that the battery case lid had popped open and a battery had come loose. After reinstalling everything, it works great. Maybe on a future model, use a battery box with a screw cover.

I initially really liked this product as it did what it advertised and worked well in our hot tub. After just under a year the sensor died and I had to replace it. This may have been due to our thermostat screwing up and the temp reaching 120F. The second one lasted also less than a year and I replaced it too. The third one lasted only 5 months. I wrote to the company but received no reply - I guess they really don't stand by their product. As others have noted, water can get in, although I carefully used sealant and tightened it quite tight. Also battery life is not great. Duracells only lasted me about 3-4 months usually. If battery life were better maybe it would rate 2 stars. Overall, I would have to recommend "do not buy". Now I have another brand and it's working perfectly but it's pretty new. I hate electronic products made with lots of plastic that die after only a few months. We're filling our landfills with this crap.

**UPDATE** It's now 2024, nine years since I bought this, and I'm finally retiring it. The LCD on the sensor that shows the temp has stopped working since my original review below, but other than that, everything is still working fine. I've added three new pics and you can see in them why I'm replacing it now - the plastic has gotten brittle and is starting to break off. I never expected this thing to last this long, and am definitely going to be replacing it with another one. **** I was looking back through my old orders for something else and saw this and realized I bought it in May 2015. I'd expected it to last one season, maybe two, so I'm really surprised it's still here working after four years and thought I should leave a good review. As you can see from the pics, the plastic has deteriorated from the sun, but it still works just fine. I use it in my pool in the summer and in my hot tub the rest of the year (so if the heater fails in the winter, I'll know and not end up with frozen/split pipes). One thing I have noticed is that when it stops working due to the batteries in the sensor unit wearing out, it is a little finicky getting it to reconnect once you put new batteries in. I wonder if that might explain some of the early failures reported in reviews here. I've found it best to remove then reinsert the batteries in the receiver, too, then set the two pieces a foot or two apart from each other until the display on the receiver shows it getting data from the sensor.

I'm very pleased with this system so far. You'll need a total of 7 AAA batteries to run this system. You'll also want some silicone O-ring lubricant and some 5 to 7 gram silica gel dessicant packets for the routine maintenance of it. You insert one dessicant packet in the thermometer when replacing batteries. The thermometer probe requires 4 AAA batteries to run the thermometer and the small display. Fortunately, the transmitter is run off solar power (there's a solar panel on the unit) so the batteries aren't drained overnight. A transmitter requires a bit of power and would devour batteries quickly. The batteries last awhile in this system because the hard work is done by solar power. Smart design! The base station receiver requires 3 AAA batteries to run the clock and display. The base will also display the inside temp of your home. It records and displays the water temp highs and lows for the day. It will also let you set high and low temp alarms if you need to perform certain maintenance tasks at certain temps (like protecting the system from freezing temperatures or whatever). You can calibrate the base station to your inside temp and calibrate it to the pool probe's temp allowing you to adjust it by 1/10ths of a degree. A couple nights ago, we had a very bad thunderstorm here with frequent lightening flashes. It lasted several hours (and dumped almost 10 inches if rain!). The next day, the system was off. The probe with the solar panel must have had an epileptic seizure. It was fading off and on and flashing and the base station was not displaying a temp. I brought the probe inside. Dried it off completely, removed the batteries and tested them (still reading like new), replaced them and the dessicant, applied a thin layer of silicone lube to the o-ring, and it was back online. No problem. I had just needed to remove and reinsert the batteries (basically reboot the thing). The probe floats but NO water can be allowed inside! Each time you change batteries, dry it, replace the dessicant, and reapply a thin layer of o-ring lube on the o-ring around the lid and you shouldn't have any problems with this system. It's the best pool thermometer I've found so far. UPDATE: After a little less than a year in my pool, the thermometer seems to be working as good as the day I bought it. I have added some photos to show some discoloration and blistering of the plastic cap. The top of the unit (where the sun directly hits) is not blistered so I don't think it's from heat. The side of the cap that bobs in the water is blistered so I'm guessing it's from chlorine or another chemical in the pool water. It has not effected the functionality or the water tight seal of the cap. After one year, I'm still very pleased with this thermometer! UPDATE: Hurricane Harvey finally killed it. It lasted 3 years without much of an issue but expecting it to sit outdoors through a hurricane and all the lightening that brings (for DAYS!) is a bit much. I’ve tried fresh batteries and resetting it. Unfortunately, it’s dead. Will I replace it? You bet! Immediately!

I went through three no-name floating pool thermometers before giving up and ordering from Ambient - who made the weather station I have had for four years. Not only is the floating unit built much better but they did a couple of things to improve the reliability. One big surprise was that they supplied a couple of "wrench" tools to make taking the top off the floating unit much easier (actually to make it even possible!). See attached photo. The big wrench fits over the blue top and has an arrow showing which direction is OPEN. There is a stop on it that rests against a tab in the top that lines up over a corresponding tab in the bottom portion. The smaller wrench fits into grooves in the bottom and also shows the OPEN direction. There is a tab in the bottom that lines up with the one in the top and there is a locking pin that goes through both. This makes it just about idiot proof to get the top off to insert the batteries and (optionally) set the channel to other than "1". When the tabs line back up when putting it back on you know you have properly torqued the two pieces together. The receiving unit handles up to 8 sensors and now is showing this from floating in the pool, a sensor with a probe in my hot tub and two additional room temperature sensors - one of which is outside.

It stopped working after a little over a year. When it worked, it was great, I could see what the temp of our pool was from the comfort of my family room. It was nice to be able to see the fluctuations in water temp over time. It was however spotty at times where it would lose signal here and there. Over time, it got worse and recently it just stopped working altogether. Its not the display, but the thermometer unit itself stopped registering the temperature. I contacted customer support and they walked me through the steps to reset the unit. It worked again for a short time and then it stopped again. After a couple of rounds back and forth with support, they were going to take the unit back. However, when I sent them my invoice, they told me it was after the 1 year mark. Sorry they said. I never heard back from them. So now I have a bad unit that is just floating uselessly in the pool. Not sure what I'm going to do now. Maybe just go back to an old school thermometer, at least it will continue to give me the temp. I want to buy another unit, but am hesitant given the lack of support from the company.

To power the transmitter you have to open the float, and of course its very important that it be reclosed very tightly to keep water out. Two specially formed wrenches are provided for this purpose for the benefit of thise of us whose hands are no longer as strong as they once were. A wonderful free bonus.

It's swirling in my above ground pool and I can see the temp from my kitchen.