All plastic construction, certainly nothing to write home about, but if you need a small, relatively inexpensive protective shield for the La Crosse Technology weather station outdoors thermometer/humidity sensors, and not interested in investing the $$$ for a true Stevenson screen, this fits the bill nicely. Might fit other brand sensors, but I bought a couple of theLa Crosse Technology C84428 5-in-1 Professional Wireless Weather Station s at Costco to give as gifts this Christmas, and was disappointed to find the LTV-TH2 thermometer/humidity sensor was not protected for mounting outdoors, even though it is rated for outdoor use. This shield matches the similarly styled anemometer housing, but was not even noted as a suggested or available accessory in the C84428 kit. Fortunately, it is shown as a related product on La Crosse's website, once you find the relevant page, but that's another issue entirely... With the shield's part number in hand, I was able to locate it shield on Amazon for less than what La Crosse was charging direct. I have ordered one for each of the weather station recipients, Prime had them here in 3 days (whatever happened to free 2-day delivery for Prime members, Amazon??). So far, so good, mostly. These do hold the sensor relatively securely inside, out of direct sun and rain/snow, but back to the plastic aspect... Unmounted, the housing feels wobbly, like it will fall apart if you handle it too much. I think this is just a function of each ring section connecting only to the next, and not having a single pin or bolt running through all to hold them together as a whole. Once the assembly is slid into the mounting bracket, it feels much more solid and weather-worthy. However, it is also disappointing that there is no method designed into the product or mounting platform to keep unit securely seated when placed into the mounting bracket. Mounting bracket is made from same plastic, I hope everything is UV stable...La Crosse doesn't mark nor advertise it that way, time will tell. Screws are included for mounting to a flat surface, as are zip ties to strap it onto a pole. We used the pole method, but found the included zip ties were very brittle during application, not sure if they were old stock or just not cold weather friendly. This seems like a huge fail on La Crosse's part, with a very simple fix -- we substitutedGardner Bender Xtreme Temperature nylon zip ties for the included generic zip ties. Using the UV stable "extreme" zip ties rated for -40 to +185 degrees F, we had the base mounted in short order. (Pro tip: the exact same zip-tie product we used is available at most home improvement centers for under $2/pack versus $6+/pack here on Amazon...) Sensor mounting inside the shield is accomplished through use of included Velcro tape, making it easy to get everything up and tested before placing sensor into the housing. Instructions omit one *very* important detail: do not cover the sensor ID number and barcode with the Velcro, (this is specific to mounting La Crosse sensors, other brands may not have this specific issue,) as the number/barcode will be needed for linking your sensor to the weather station and La Crosse View app. Now, about finding the part number on the La Crosse website: not at all intuitive. La Crosse does not make things easy to find on their website, especially if you have a retired or discontinued model. As a limited-time promotional item through Costco, the C84428 Weather Station is...as of September, 2017...considered discontinued :( Guess that explains why such a great price at Costco in time for Christmas, but still... Unfortunately, La Crosse has their site configured such that you start with a specific weather station base model number and walk down the path to compatible sensors and accessories. They missed the mark on letting you look up a sensor and see what else it works with, or what else works with it...from a sales and marketing perspective, why would a company make it so difficult for someone to find/buy accessories or potentially upgrade to a newer/bigger/better/faster/whatever weather station compatible with that person's existing sensors??? Would I buy another shield? Sure. But I think the question is best tempered by my overall experience with this year's La Crosse weather station purchase as a greater whole. La Crosse Technology's focus seems to have changed over the last few years, their products have become more limited in function than I remember or want. (Hint, if I wanted to read the data stream from my closest weather service office, 50+ miles away, I can visit weather.gov for free, not buy a La Cross weather station to only get a couple local readings augmenting the 50-mile-away stuff...) *****Update (01/23/2018) I finally, successfully, made contact with La Crosse Technology's support department (they apparently only have one phone rep handling the La Crosse View/LTV product line, so getting a support call answered is a long hold time unless you like playing phone tag) to resolve a problem with their app that needed what they called "a back-end reset on the server". While on the phone, I asked about the C84428 being d/c; the package at Costco was their first retail push of the LTV-based platform, and was limited in quantity, but new LTV-based weather stations platform would be released soon, along with more LTV sensors to expand the capabilities of both the new weather stations and the La Crosse View app -- something I should think they'd want to heavily promote, rather than leave customers wondering if products they got for Christmas are orphans in the La Crosse lineup...especially when a new owner is trying to find/buy accessories such as this sensor shield.
