What’s the best, budget friendly, accurate temperature sensor

I have an ecobee and a nest so I can just buy those sensors if nothing better for cheaper

I use the ST water leak sensor as a temp sensor. I can't speak to its accuracy but I do know if I have two of them close by they are within a degree of each other.

I'm using one Aqara temp Humidity sensor and this one as well.
Both not dropping off using @markus's drivers and not the Konke driver.

Driver for Tuya temperature and humidity zigbee sensor

I have a number of Sonoff SNZB-04’s which all read the same within half a degree, and within the same half a degree of a reference thermometer. Good enough for me. Paid less than £9 each when I bought five off eBay.

I bought a Sonoff SNZB-02 on a whim and liked it enough I bought a few more. Super cheap but ships internationally if you're in the US (I bought from ITEAD). One started giving wonky temperatures, but the rest have been fine. I'm using the drivers by Markus, whose Xiaomi drivers I have also used with success, though I'm trying to rid my network of Xiaomi devices (I don't think the Sonoff ones are subject to the same problems).

I have 8 Konke Temperature & Humidity sensors that I have used for about a year with @muxa's driver. They have never fallen off. And are internally consistent with each other.

Best & budget friendly don't necessarily go hand in hand :smiley:
Reliable ones I've been using with temperature based rules

  1. Fibaro motion sensor - has motion, lux, vibration & temperature - also shows temperature in the room by means of led color when motion is detected
  2. Fibaro Door/Window sensor - has open/close and temperature
  3. Dome Door/Window Pro - has open/close and temperature - can function across large gaps - upto an inch from the magnet
  4. Zooz ZSE40 - has motion, lux, humidity & temperature
  5. Qubino flush dimmer - sits inside the gang box, dims lights + you can connect an external temperature probe for accurate results - this has been doing double duty by monitoring temperature for an extra large freezer in a garage, plus dimming the lights for the garage

I've been pretty happy with the Iris V2 motion sensors if you can still get them. I bought a calibrated thermometer so that I could synchronize them but they were pretty close by default.

Those Ecowitt sensors are really nice. I have been buying the Acurite Temp/Humidity Sensors and working on a ESP8266-based gateway which I have to now write a driver for, but I would rather switch to the Ecowitt sensors at the same price plus with a display.

I also built 2 ESP-01 based sensors with a DHT22 and loaded Hubduino on them, and they work okay, but seem to fall of the network every two weeks or so.

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What is your budget?

I know this is an old thread, but I have a dumb question. Followed the amazon link, you have to buy the GW1000 wifi gateway as well right? I'm assuming you connect the sensors to the gateway and then the gateway connects to hubitat? Thanks!

Ancient thread I know, but I need a few new temperature and humidity sensors. Looking to see what folks like in the $40 and under range each. My Aquara sensors are flaky and unreliable so I'm not spending any more time and batteries on them, so looking for alternatives.

THANKS in advance

ZSE44 is nice and small, seems to work good in my garage. Takes CR2450 batteries which is sort of annoying and the voltage / percent is unreliable so I just run it until it stops reporting. Zooz Z-Wave Plus 700 Series XS Temperature | Humidity Sensor ZSE44 - The Smartest House

This Third Reality one also works great if you want a display on it. Takes regular AAA batteries and so far mine is still at 100% from Dec 2022 when I bought it. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BF9W3WMK

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For <$15 delivered in quantity, I really like the Sonoff SNZB-02P. It’s a touch quirky to setup (there’s a custom driver here that really helps,) but once you get it dialed in, it’s great.

I have 3 in use, and across all three, they appear to be precise, if not accurate. And, I think -based on informal measurements and comparisons- they are at least as accurate as any other temperature-measuring smart device I have. I just haven’t done the legwork necessary to vouch for them being accurate.

I like that the new P models have a large 2477 battery, which -to me- is a good tradeoff for a smaller device size than a CR123 or CR2 would allow.

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I tried one of these for my HVAC / thermostat control, and it only reports every 5 minutes which, for me, is too long.
Have you been able to get it to report more often?

Right now I am using the Zooz zen44x's and they work great.. just no display.
One of my zen44x's temp has gone out of cal on the humidity by over 10% and I cannot calibrate that out though....

This is the TR sensor over 6 hours. There are spots where it reports in less than 5 minutes. I think it triggers off of a 0.2 degree change. Most of these changes are 0.1 - 0.2, this thing is by far the chattiest sensor I have. I am surprised how well the batteries are lasting with how often it reports in.

I checked the Zooz docs and yes the firmware adjustment only goes to +/-10, but there could be a separate calibration on the driver side that allows infinite adjustment.

I've been very happy with my Ecowitt Sensors, about $15. The only draw back is you need a gateway or console. I've replaced all of my sonof temp/humidity sensors with them. I have two sensors left and I'll have the whole house monitored.

I did buy the GW2560 console and the WS90 sensor suite, but the thing I do not like about it is that it is cloud based.
I just wish it was all local without cloud dependency....
It is still a good station and I also have 5 of the WS31B temp/humidity sensor transmitters.
I might try using them for my HVAC control, but the Zooz's are good also.

Wanted to add that I have a Davis VP2 station and it works great and FAST update... 3 second wind speed and direction.
The ecowitt is only 6-8 seconds.
My Davis is about 15 years old though, so I don't know how accurate the outdoor temp//humidity sensor is and there is no way to integrate it with HE.

It isn't cloud-based. Your console picks up the data feed directly from the devices locally. The cloud connection is optional and only necessary if you want to use their app and portal to display on Ecowitt.net. Even then you are only sending data to the cloud to be displayed in the app. Not dissimilar to Wunderground or Weathercloud. It doesn't do anything to the function of the sensors. and the data on your console isn't coming from the cloud. As a matter of fact, one small drawback is if you happen to have another Ecowitt user in close enough proximity to you (like next door) your console could pick up their devices rather than yours. You definitely can have it locally. @sburke781 ecowitt drivers are for a local LAN connection and work very well and are well supported. Even to set up and adjust the settings for the GW2000 (gateway, but same functions as the console without the display) you don't even set a password unless you want it to feed to the ecowitt servers. But for setup and configuration, neither a user ID nor a password is required.

Here is a side-by-side comparison of what the apps do. looks like WS Videw Plus is the one you want to by-pass the cloud. I will say, however, the Ecowitt app makes it a bit easier to include new devices.
(Professional Weather Products | Smart Home Product – Ecowitt)

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AHHH yes!
I forgot about that integration.
I did have it installed but was having some problems with HE and the problems seemed to appear when I installed the Ecowitt app, so I removed it and haven't re-installed it.
I do have my console setup for local data to HE, but I have it disabled right now.

I am going to start it up again and use it for the temp/humidity sensors.
I do like the fact that the sensors have a display on them.... kinda convenient.

Thanks for "jogging" (kicking) my memory!

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