Product Review: Cloudy forecast for the WeatherCast, by Brookstone

I'm a sucker for gadgets that (A) make my life easier, and (B) are stylish and/or cute. So initially, I thought I would like Brookstone's wireless weather forecaster, the WeatherCast. But after using it for a few weeks, it became clear that it was a useless gadget.

I put it in my kitchen to get updates on the weather. But it only gives you very general information. It didn't provide any weather information for Fort Lauderdale or any city in Broward County, which was lame since I live in that area. Of course if I wanted info for my zip code, I could pay a subscription of $7 a month... which would be a waste of money.

The closest weather I could get was for Miami, and even then it wasn't very specific. Almost every day it showed a rain cloud... but when will it rain? Morning? Evening? Strong chance of showers? What part of Miami? Sometimes it showed rain but I didn't see a drop all day. Bah... if you want any useful information, might as well watch local TV weather reports or check online -- both of which are FREE.

The best part about all of this was that it is marked down from $85 to the low, low price of $49.99. What?! It's crazy to ask $50 for it since all it does is give you the highs, lows and a general forecast icon.

What I can't understand is how there are so many rave reviews on Brookstone's website about how this is the best product ever.

It might look neat to have it in the kitchen, but it wasn't very helpful. I would get it if it was much cheaper and if it could give me my local weather for free. Get the full scoop and what was good about it (yes, it's not all bad) by reading my review or watching the video below: