I have two of these units in two different locations. One is a plug n play type and one I set up from scratch. If you are not tech savvy I would recommend the plug n play since it is easier to set up. However, I have been pleased with both over roughly two years of operation. Unlike some other brands I find that these devices never fail to reconnect to the WiFi system after a power failure. This is critically important for remote monitoring. I use the app for monitoring on my iPhone and iPad and have set up the alerts that email if the temp or humidity go out of bounds or if power is lost. All I can say is that they continue to work flawlessly, as opposed to two GOVEE units that have quirks that require one to be present to reset them. Obviously, this is not acceptable. So, if you want a robust system, And cannot easily return if there is a connectivity issue, My recommendation is to use the pp code system. I’m an engineer and appreciate a well designed and robust unit.

The watchman has been a life saver for me as a landlord. No more late nights driving though our rental properties trying to read thermometers that we had hanging on every front window. The watchman unit checks frequently and consistently, and sends a text alert to my phone the instant the temperature drops below the threshold (of my choosing) - as a side note I HIGHLY recommend the additional features offered by pp-code. I chose the buyout, but there are other options if you prefer. This device wouldn’t work for my purposes without the additional ‘buyout’ features (one of which is an alert if the power goes out. This happening just once during the winter in an empty unit would cost hundreds of dollars in broken water pipes. Definitely worth the extra cost). It works so well in fact that we decided to permanently install a watchman unit in every single rental we have. Additionally, representative Moss and pp-Code’s customer service are unbelievable in their commitment to their customers and their products. Every question I had was answered quickly and thoroughly via email, oftentimes on the same day.Good luck and I hope this helps some of you out there with multiple properties in need of temperature monitoring!-Mannox

PROS:Great Value!Connects to your WiFiBuilt-in API for pulling readings on demandSuper usefulResponsive customer serviceCONS:Requires some technical knowledge to setupDevice enclosure is much larger than the device itself (it could be much smaller)No holes for mounting(Screenshots of reading in Nagios and the Web API (http://{ipaddress}/{deviceid}&Stats))It was very easy to set these up and integrate into Nagios as well as run hourly jobs to pull down data from the API into a database table. Would recommend!

tl;dr:This is a very nice piece of measuring equipment. Rugged, precise, does what it says will do.The guests count and access reporting continues to be a little puzzling perhaps because that was not my main objective.Cosmetically has room to grow.Extra controls are desirable at box-opening. Display controls, reporting controls, power button, etc. However set up does not need controls in-device and once configured the unit is placed and forgotten about it.Info for registration and activation of the devices seems a lot, but it's optional for all intents and purposes.Hardware:First of all, this device presents itself as an instrument, not an appliance, not a toy. That feel is conveyed by the ruggedness of the enclosure, its solid, hard construction and four thick, hard to miss screws that hold it together on the face of the unit. There are also no visible controls on it. No power button, no LCD brightness dial, no status button, nothing whatsoever. The only thing protruding from it is a hardwired power cable that ends in a male USB connector. As an accessory there is an unmarked power supply very similar to a regular Samsung phone charger that gives the impression of being 3A in capacity.The ruggedness, hardiness and lack of controls in the unit won't let a customer think this is a turn-on-and-go type of device. Even if It will not pass as a weather-resistant unit because of the open window that gives way to the power cable, the first impression is correct. This is not a power-and-go device. Unpacking it one could even get the feeling that it is a late stage prototype, really close to final production units but not quite there. Built perhaps on off-the-shelf, readily available components. In any case, this is an engineering department product. Made by people looking to solve a specific need and going about it with noticeable efficiency. No extra bells and whistles.A single sheet of instructions comes in the box and they include some references to web resources to aid in the configuration of the unit. The instruction sheet is useful, but it would be useless without the on-line support and it feels somewhat incomplete because of this. While it could be more detailed however, the web resource is up-to-date, accurate and comprehensive.The setup is somewhat straightforward, once it is understood what needs to be done. A few minutes after power-up the unit works as a WiFi server that allows for configuration of the WiFi client that will run shortly afterwards for as long as the unit is on. So the hot setup is to power it, log into it using a WiFi capable device and wirelessly configure it to the desired network.On a sticker at the bottom of the unit there is an ID number that looks suspiciously like a MAC address. If it is, it does not correspond to the WiFi MAC address of the unit, so there will have to be some investigation work to catch the address if the desired WiFi network has MAC filtering.Once the setup is done the unit will be pushing data to an external server every certain period of time. Also, it will allow queries via the command http:///&Stats. This last sentence is relevant because it allows for the collection of data in any way needed, which is of the most useful features of this device.Service:First of all, the web service is optional. It is not needed to make this device work. It is not like, say, some IP cameras that need you to login to an unkown server somewhere so they can work within your own network. Not like that. If you want you can skip the web service altogether and use the unit stand alone. It will need some work however to get the most out of it, but it can be done. The unit offers everything you need to work either in your local LAN or with a router and some more expertise, in the Internet. For the less-technically inclined, the web service is perfectly adequate and useful.Now, with that out of the way...The hardware is accompanied with an on-line service that collects and stores the data pushed by the unit. The service is accessible through the main site advertised for the unit. The address, which Amazon won't let me paste here, is easy to remember and allows to logging from anywhere to check stats of the unit. The site is funny looking, in a dated kind of way. In direct corresponding with the unit, the site does what it says it does with no extra bells and whistles, no graphics or animations. No flashy programming, just your information.The first step to get data from the watchman is to create an account and register the devices. There are two types of service. The free service will display data pushed by the device every hour or so. The paid service will let you see data updates every 15 minutes or so. Also the free service will save data for a week versus a month on paid.The register process is somewhat surprising. It requests phone number and valid email address. It does feel rather intrusive. If you only need the data updates from your device, it's hard to justify giving away all that information on a random site. Anyway, you can skip those or just input that old number you give away at bars, just bear in mind that on paid service you can have alerts sent via MMS to your phone, so you may want to enter it. Also, they will use the email address to send you notifications on the conditions in your site, so be sure to have a valid email address to receive them.Once registered the following step is to register your devices. To register it, the site asks for a location, and the location is not just a random name, but a physical address. There is no explanation or justification given to request this information either, the site just wants it. I asked customer service about this and it turns out the site wants the address so they can correctly calculate the time zone the device is in, so they give you your stats accurately time stamped. So yes, you can enter your mother-in-law's address just in case, just make sure the address you enter is in the same time zone as where the device will be located.Then you will need to enter that suspiciously MAC-address-looking number at the bottom of your unit, which is nothing more -turns out-, than a unique ID of your device. The ID will let you pull stats from your device in your local network and it will be also used to tie it up to your web service.So, after the registration and activation you just gave up a valid email address, a bar-friendly phone number, a physical address and the unique ID of the watchman. It does feel like a lot of information, but the site does use it for the better use of your device.In return, the site will let you monitor your data depending on the type of the subscription you have.Once the information is in, there is no way to remove it. To delete the records in the server a call to customer service is needed.Customer Service:The people making these devices are US based and take a lot of pride in their work. It means they fully support it. We have been exchanging a few emails for the past few weeks and they will help with everything from set-up and configuration to reporting and use cases even after months of having the device, usually answering in the same day - sometimes within hours. The support for this little gizmo is very strong, very prompt and with a real concern to help and create happy, satisfied customers. This is really one of the highlights of this product. They will not let you hanging with a new paper weight you can't configure or make work in your network with a power cable sticking out of it. They do care for their products.Performance:The temperature and humidity levels are accurate. Comparing the readings to other means of measurement, coincide for the most part. It is hinted on the site that the unit will try to guess the number of people in the vicinity by watching the number of devices attached to the wifi network. It does not say anything about people present not having the wep of the network, for example. The measurement does not seem very accurate, and it states it is an estimation. It was observed that this feature needs some more work. It keeps reporting zero persons when there is at least other watchman attached to the same network. However as the feature is not being used there was no especial effort to make it work, so in all fairness nothing can be said at this point with any level of accuracy of it.The temperature is given in Fahrenheit only. Apparently support for Centigrade measurements will be added in the next few months. Which is weird because adding a column of Centigrade reading in the site does not seem like a lot of work, but maybe there is just no demand for it.The readings in the web site are inconsistently timed and there is no way to fix it. Meaning that if the intention is to take several readings throughout the day and graph them to say, take control of a heating unit, there will be the need to do some data adjustments. One day the unit will report on 12:45, 1:45, 2:45, etc. and the next day will be 12:57, 1:57, 2:57, etc., and the following 12:37, 1:37, 12:37, without counting the extra reports pushed in when the temperature exceed a 5 degree differential in less than one hour. This is supposed to work as a heating alarm of sorts. So if the intention was to have a reading every hour and have it consistently measured at certain times within the hour, the web service will barely be enough or tolerable.The heat alarm system sends a message, either text or email depending on subscription, every time temperature jumps five or more degrees up. It does work.In an application where consistency is not needed, this device works perfectly and up to what it says it does.The humidity measurement works the same and has the same constraints.The LCD has nice contrast and it is easy to read. It would be nice to be able to control its brightness or turn it off altogether. Also, the clear plastic on top of it has the injection point dead center of the display, which is unfortunate but not a show-stopper.Use case:I bought this because I needed to control temperature in a shed on my backyard. The objective was to keep the temperature to about 100 degrees. It was not very long before it became obvious I needed two devices, one outside the shed and the other inside. Since I needed monitoring every minute and the paid service gives 15 minutes the fastest, I had a friend develop for me a small database that collects data from the watchmen every minute and displays it using a graph.The application runs in a small computer attached to the same LAN.The attached graphs show how I gradually gained control over the temperature. The green line is the temperature inside the shed and the yellow is outside. The graphs shows the green going well above 120 degrees at first, and then after a few days not going much above 100 despite yellow (outside) peaking to about 115.The few falls to zero are failures in the network. They happen once every few days and will not matter if you use the free or paid service.Using the remarkable capability to pull data, a programmer or other tech driven individuals can develop this kind of applications and get the most out of their devices. I regard this openness as the most important feature of the watchman if for it I give it solid five stars.I included a picture of my in-shed device.Also, the apparent ruggedness of the watchman is more than just that. I accidentally dropped one of them from about 6ft. Picked it up, connected it to power again, started working.All in all, very good devices, very good support, very good value.