We’ve recently had the opportunity to test many weather stations and find the best of the best. Let’s find out which station could potentially become your own personal weatherman.

Why should you buy this: Ambient Weather has knocked it out of the park with this hyper-connected weather station.

Who’s it for: Smart home owners and those looking for functionality and value

Why we picked the Ambient Weather WS-2902 Osprey:

We’ll admit that we were super skeptical of Ambient Weather’s claims of accuracy, even though it’s long list of connectivity options bests any station on the market by a wide margin.

For the most part, those claims held up. In our tests, the WS-2902’s instrumentation performed generally well, save for the barometric pressure sensor – which did require recalibration regularly. Normally an issue like that would have been enough to continue to give the top spot to Davis’ Vantage Vue, however Ambient Weather blew us away with its connectivity options.

Although the Osprey does not have its own app – something we hope Ambient Weather addresses in the future – it can connect to your Amazon Echo, Google Assistant, and even IFTTT. With IFTTT, you can use your WS-2902 to intelligently control your smart devices, for example turning your Rachio sprinklers off when it’s raining or turning on the lights in your house on a cloudy day using measurements from its solar radiation sensor.

But that’s not all: you can also make use of Ambient Weather’s API to make applications of your own.

Why should you buy this: The granddaddy of weather station manufacturers has a version of its top-of-the-line weather station that is super-accurate.

Who’s it for: Weather watchers who need accuracy and long-term reliability

Why we picked the Davis Vantage Vue:

Davis Instruments dominates the personal weather station market because of its staying power: the company’s first digital personal weather stations were sold in the 1990s. That said, Davis’ weak point was always price.

Enter the Vantage Vue. The station is Davis’ attempt to bring its accuracy and reliability to a price point where it’s competitive with newer stations. The Vantage Vue’s accuracy is unrivaled in the category. All sensors are housed in a 5-in-1 unit, which measures temperature, humidity, rainfall, wind direction, and speed.

While all-in-one sensor units present some challenges — you’ll need to decide whether more accurate wind speed readings are more important than accurate temperature readings, and vice versa — our testers gave high marks to its accuracy and reliability.

The station has yet to give us a single issue other than needing a good regular cleaning in over two years of continuous use. One area which is a disappointment is its connectivity.

But for the accuracy alone, it’s hard to say no to the Vantage Vue.

Why should you buy this: AcuRite’s newest stations are internet connected with a best-in-class mobile and web-based app, with tons of sensors.

Who’s it for: Those who want to monitor more than just basic weather conditions

Why we picked the My AcuRite Weather Station:

Much of AcuRite’s business comes in the form of partnerships with brick and mortar retailers. In fact, it’s the exclusive in-store weather instrument provider for several large stores. Due to this, the company is often stereotyped as a “budget” brand. That’s not necessarily true.

The My AcuRite platform is an example of this. While it still produces tons of low-cost models, My AcuRite is intended to be a model to competitively go up against the Vantage Vue in terms of feature set and capability.

Its sheer breadth of sensor options puts the Vantage Vue to shame (there, you can’t add any). You can add additional temperature and humidity sensors, indoor sensors, a water detector sensor, liquid and soil temperature sensors, and a ‘spot check’ temperature humidity sensor.

My AcuRite’s web and mobile apps set the bar for what a weather station app should be. Readings are continuously updated, and you can set all the alerts you’d ever want to. The graphs the app produces are visually stunning, and the app is even better on a tablet. With the updated AcuRite Access (the connectivity unit for MyAcuRite), you’ll also gain Amazon Alexa support.

There are a few quirks. Temperature readings during sunny days regularly read high, as did barometric pressure. The station also has an installation process that isn’t always smooth, and the directions sometimes led us astray. Most of these accuracy issues (and integrated lightning detection) is addressed in the Atlas weather stations.

Why should you buy this: While AcuRite is moving towards less affordable and more accurate weather stations, this model is one budget friendly standout.

Who’s it for: Those on a tight budget, who don’t mind some accuracy loss.

Why we picked the 01604M Pro Color Digital Weather Station:

AcuRite gets a second mention on our list for its svelte Pro Color Digital Weather Station (Model 01604M). The station measures temperature, humidity, and wind speed, along with barometric pressure and trend.

Wind direction and rainfall measurements aren’t provided, although it does have a nice forecasting feature which attempts to learn your local weather patterns to make its forecasts more accurate. It can also store daily, monthly, and all-time high and low records, but there’s no way to transfer this information off the device because it has no internet connectivity.

Accuracy is okay, but noticeably poorer than the 5-in-1 sensor suite. Owners also report that placement is key with the sensors, the sun can throw temperatures off. Additionally, wind speed readings seem to run on the low side.

As with anything, you get what you pay for. But this is only if you’re looking for the most basic of functionality and more of a general idea of the weather outside.

Weather stations at Digital Trends go through a rigorous set of tests to even be considered for inclusion in our ‘best of’ list. We first gauge construction of the station as we’re assembling it, looking for any possible weak points or questionable design decisions. As we’re installing the station, we’re also looking at the install process itself. Is it easy to put together? Are the instructions clear? Does everything work out of the box, or are we struggling to get it to work?

Once the station is installed at our test site, the real work begins. At this point we’re looking for accuracy. Weather station readings are worthless, and no better than that app, if inaccurate. We compare our readings with a nearby official National Weather Service station and look for differences while accounting for normal variances in weather conditions. Few stations make it past this point, as our standards are high. In general, readings with more than two percent difference are deemed inaccurate.

Next, we look at reliability. These stations are up for several weeks — months if possible –  gathering data. We look for issues like data dropouts or failing sensors. Is the station holding up well? Do certain kinds of weather affect the station in negative ways? We make note of it, so you know what you’re getting into, and what you might have to deal with down the road.

Finally, we look at connectivity and feature set. This is Digital Trends, and we’re all about tech. We want to see easy connections to put your weather data online, a well-designed mobile or web app, and other ways to integrate its weather data into your digital life.  On the feature side, does it have all the weather readings a good station should have? Does it have a standout feature that other weather stations don’t?

If a station can pass these qualifications successfully, only then it is considered for inclusion in our list.