[JT118]

Thanks. I'd already seen your thread. I do check on ebay each week or so but I'm not far off purchasing, so the chance of a dead Davis system becoming available in time is getting less and less. There is one available on ebay.com (US$19.90 at the moment) but the seller doesn't ship to Australia.

I can buy a Fine Offset station for about AU$120 delivered or I can buy a new Davis 6410 for about AU$190 delivered. The Davis is more expensive but it looks much neater, looks to be better quality, and has a 12m cable. Will it last much longer than the Fine Offset sensor? That's the big question. If I knew that it would last twice as long (or even 1.5 times as long) then it's an easy decision to make. At this stage I'm leaning towards the Davis 6410 unless someone convinces me otherwise.

That's very cheap for a Davis, for the most basic version in the UK you will need to pay £400.00. It will last longer, my Davis Groweather is 20 years old and still working. ( www.ayrshireweather.org ). The anemometer is infinitely( almost! ) repairable as is the rain gauge. Do you get the rain gauge in that price? You really only need the anemometer and rain gauge, Davis use a SHT11 in their stations now so that too should work with a bit of pinout changing.
The big advantage to my mind is you will get better data from Davis instuments than FO. This is particularly the case with the rain gauge, The FO one at best will give a representation of rainfall rather than an accurate measure. See my other post on rain gauge calibration.