Sainlogic SA3 Review – The Best Portable Weather Station?

The folks at Sainlogic have provided me their Sainlogic Weather Station SA3 ($29.99) to review.  My readers can get 20% off at checkout by using the following:

Code: John’sTechBlog (no spaces).  Thanks Sainlogic!

I previously reviewed their SA1 which I thought was pretty cool, but lacking a wind sensor.  Their response to that was to send me their SA7 Weather Station which I’ll be reviewing soon.

And while I obviously have a good relationship with Sainlogic never at any time have they tried to influence or to have editorial control over what I write.  Neither do I receive any money from them.  I’m a 60 something guy who isn’t motivated by money, believe it or not.  I will never accept money for a review, and I’m not a fan of providing affiliate links although sometimes I do it.

First Impressions

My first impression actually wasn’t that great.  It is easy to set up, easy to connect to WiFi, and easy to use with the WeatherSeed IOS app.  There is also an Android app.  Here is a great setup video:

As soon as I got it all set up, I turned to my wife and said, “This is cool, but this is also information that I can get dozens of other places for free. And I have to connect it to my WiFi”.  That’s not a problem because I have a segregated VLAN and Router that doesn’t touch my home network via Firewall Rules.

Then It Hits Me

Like I said, then it hits me.  This is almost the perfect device for monitoring some things my mind can dream up.

• Use it in your hothouse or greenhouse for your garden.
• Use it to monitor humidity for storage conditions for valuables such as paintings, coin collections, etc. Museums frequently monitor humidity to preserve their exhibits.
• Use it in the garage. If my garage gets too hot I open the door.  And it does get too hot in there and the heat radiates inside somewhat.
• When camping or hiking in the middle of nowhere you can monitor pressure, humidity, and temperature to plan your rest or hydration breaks.
• Any other application you can imagine.

Anyway, I think it is a waste to just use this for what the conditions are outside your home.  But if that is valuable to you, then by all means buy one for that.

In The Box

Not too much.  Don’t you hate it when you buy something and the box has adapters, and all manner of hardware or whatever?  Sainlogic has kept it simple here. Just the SA3, a wrist strap or hanging strap, and paperwork.

You’ll need to supply your own AAA batteries (3 required).  I’m torn between the fact that there are no batteries in here and supplying my own.  One thing I’m pretty sure of is that by not shipping batteries the shipping rules relax in favor of the manufacturer and that is a good thing.

If it had some goofy proprietary battery that would be a different story.

Funny story:  I was a civilian Tech Rep for DOD embedded with Marines.  They bought a portable lighting system for marking landing zones in combat areas.  They used 123 Batteries which are abundant in the good old US.  We found out real quick in a remote province in the Philippines during a humanitarian mission (back to back to back typhoons and a massive mudslide) that there were not 123 batteries available anywhere nearby.  Your tax dollars at work.

WeatherSeed Integration

Here is a quick overview of the WeatherSeed app integrated with the Sainlogic SA3.

Dream Feature

The ability to tie the sensor data into HomeAssistant home automation.  I did an integration search for Sainlogic and Weatherseed in my up to date HomeAssistant services with no results.

Hey, this is my dream feature.  Yours may be something else.

Sainlogic SA3 Weather Station Key Features

There is a pretty long list of key features in the product literature I was provided by Sainlogic.  I’m just going to mention a few that are big for me.

First is that the SA3 can integrate with Weather Underground via their API. It also has 24/7 email and application alerts.  You are sleeping and bad weather is around and you get an alert that there is a massive drop in pressure.  Might be time to go stand in the doorway.

It also tracks the moon phases.  I can’t explain why but I’ve always been fascinated by moon phases.  Additionally, who doesn’t like looking at the blood moon, or harvest moon, etc.

Also, the SA3 stores two years of data and it is exportable.  That is pretty cool.  Did your wife ever ask you if you remember the weather on your wedding, or trip, or anniversary.  Mine does.

Is The Sainlogic SA3 Portable Weather Station The Best?

Yes and No.  No if you just want to know the temp and humidity.  The local news guy and a thousand web pages will tell you that info.  Yes if you have a SPECIFIC need as I mentioned above. This SA3 is going in my shed with alarms set.  I have a wood shop out there and it also has a window A/C and heater.  There is stuff out there I don’t want to corrode.  Right now I’m winging it.  If it gets super hot, I walk out and run the air a while to knock the humidity down.  Likewise for super cold weather.

Now I know how to more properly maintain my very expensive equipment in a more controlled environment.

So to summarize:  Heck yeah (in your best Napoleon Dynamite voice).  It’s a bargain and an investment in equipment maintenance for me.

JOHN’S TECH BLOG SAYS TO BUY IT IF YOU HAVE A SPECIFIC REQUIREMENT FOR TEMP, PRESSURE, OR HUMIDITY MONITORING