If you are a weather junkie like me than I may have found an interesting new gadget you just may need to have. When golfers hear Bushnell they often think Rangefinders. In fact they are the number one Rangefinder on the PGA tour. What I don’t think of when I hear their name is the weather, that is until now. Bushnell has come out with a new weather device called the Weather Fxi Wireless Forecaster. This is a great product for the at home meteorologists like myself.
This hand held weather device is connected with your PC to offer real-time, up-to-date, weather information anytime you want it. This is a three piece product. First you have the CD that installs the software onto your computer. Next you have the USB Transmitter that connects right into your home computer and that will give out a signal to the third piece which is the portable receiver. Below is a list of all the functions of the Weather Fxi:
– Current temperature with RealFeel®
– High & low temperature
– GolfCast Rating
– Chance of rain
– Maximum UV index
– Average wind speed & direction
– Lightning Alert
– Auto-synchronized (Internet) clock
– Alarm function with snooze
– Backlight – color indicates current temperature range
There are a ton of positives to this great little gadget and a few negatives as well. First let’s focus on the positives. For me the feature with the greatest ‘cool’ factor would be the different colored backlights. It has eight different color indicators ranging from Cold, which is anything below 30 degrees Fahrenheit, 30-80 degrees broken up into 10 degree increments, all the way to anything over 80 degrees which is just considered Hot. Being that I live in Florida and it’s July I have only seen two colors, the Orange for the 80s and the red for Hot.
Since I live in such a warm weather climate I really liked the UV index indicator. I always wear sunscreen on the course but this will tell me if I should pack some extra in my bag when the index is really high that day. I also love that you can choose up to 5 courses to check on at one time. For golfers I think one of the most useful features would be the function that shows the average wind speed and direction. That can be very useful when out on the course.
The different weather updates are great, but what sets this apart from anything else I have ever seen is that fact that it can take the place of your current alarm clock. Who doesn’t want to wake up to a pretty colored light telling you how hot or cold it is outside and if today is going to be a good day for golf? This could, however, be bad for employers if their employees are suddenly feeling “sick†that day because their new Weather FXi told them the skies will be clearing up around noon.
As mentioned above this little machine has a ton of really wonderful components, but with the good always comes some bad and there were a few negatives that I found with this device. The first being it is not compatible with Apple computers, so if you are not a PC user you may need to get one to use the Weather FXi. The second concern I had was that this cannot be removed from the house, or at least it cannot go further than 300 ft from the transmitter. If it does, the signal will no longer get picked up and you won’t be able to receive information on the receiver. You can still view it on your computer but that will not help you if you wanted to take the receiver with you to the course. Another issue I had with the transmitter was if you are working with a laptop you still have to keep that piece connected to your computer, so if you wanted to move your laptop to your lap rather than a desk the transmitter can kind of get in the way.
With a library of only 16,000 courses some might not be able to find their home course on here. Don’t get me wrong 16,000 courses is a lot, but for those who live in a more obscure area you might not find the exact course you are looking for, but you should be able to find one relatively close by. Even with the few negatives that were mentioned I still think this is a great gadget and it definitely worth checking out at your local golf store.
When we showed this device to a group of golfers at a local course almost everyone thought this was the greatest and most useful tool they had ever seen. However, a few thought it was the lazy mans way of getting a weather update. Personally, I side with the majority, I think this is a great gadget that has so many helpful features. I am also a weather nerd and love to keep up with the daily conditions, both for playing and just my own personal knowledge (maybe I should have been a meteorologist) so I really loved all the different functions this can do. You can pick up a Weather FXi in stores now for right around $100 USD. For more information on this and other great Bushnell products check out their website here.
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