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Decent device, measures temp inside and out, sometimes loses signal

The weather around here has gotten colder, and out of curiosity I’ve always wanted to know how cold it was outside at any given moment. It helps especially when I’m getting dressed so I know how much I have to bundle (in the winter).

I got the TE242 as a gift. After looking at the picture on the packaging, the device is deceptively larger than I would imagine. With nothing to compare it to, I imagined it to be very compact and small. It’s larger, about the height and thickness of a paperback book. The styling is nice, and the readout is decently-sized and very legible.

The device shows the outside temperature, the inside temperature, the time, and the date. It comes with a smaller remote temperature probe about the size of an altoids tin that you put outside. I hung mine up by the outside door. It receives this signal wirelessly, and also syncs the time up with the US atomic clock for accurate time. I had to set the timezone on mine (press mode until the date abbreviation is next to the time, hold up till the timezone changes).

The only problem I’ve had is that the unit sometimes loses the signal from the remote temp sensor, which means the outside temperature is blank. Holding up for a few seconds makes the unit search and find the signal again. A minor inconvenience, but annoying. However, it may have been due to interference since I haven’t had any signal loss since moving. The remote temp sensor may have a channel selector that would help, I haven’t looked at it in a while.

The main Honeywell site is hard to navigate, but finally I found the site for these devices: [...] I was able to find the manual there.

I do wish it had a humidity feature and that it didn’t lose signal, but overall I’m pleased with the device. I might shop around next time, but I like this one.

Update (5/19/2012): This item is currently on sale here for the lowest price I’ve seen. I also found some auctions for this item here.

The featured review for this product, Honeywell TE242ELW Personal Weather Station with Atomic Clock and Dual Alarm Kitchen Jun 1, 2007, was written by James Yoneda.

The average rating for this item is 3.7 out of 5 stars, according to 3 reviews.