Hannah et al., It's been 2-3 years since I used iButtons, and more importantly the last computer I downloaded onto was running Windows XP. I remember having some trouble initially downloading the correct version of the software and getting it to run on my computer. However, once I got the program installed and running, it was pretty simple and straightforward to use (in that clunky, early-Windows-software kind of way). I'm not sure how this would work on newer versions of Windows or whether the software has been updated. Sometimes you're better off finding an old laptop sometime can donate expressly for downloading data like this, and then using a USB drive to transfer it (I'm currently doing that with a Campbell Scientific weather station).
In terms of field performance, I also made the switch from HOBO to ibuttons, for implanting in large snakes and recording wetland water temperatures. I later used iButtons for recording over-winter environmental conditions adjacent to hibernating lizards (buried a couple cm into the clay substrate in the wild). We always coated the HOBOs and iButtons going inside animals with PlastiDip (for the animal's sake). However, the first winter we used iButtons they were not coated with anything, and nearly all of them failed. The following winter I also coated them with PlastiDip, and that seemed to weather-proof them effectively enough. I think the HOBOs are much more robust to field conditions without any modifications, though you pay for it. I hope that helps. Cheers, Alex Wolf Resource Staff Scientist Missouri Department of Conservation 2929 Co. Rd. 618 Ellington, MO 63638 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 10:36:21 -0400 From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Hannah_Webber?= <[email protected]> Subject: using iButtons in the field Hello, We've been using HOBO data loggers to record temperature data for the las= t couple of years for=20 various and sundry projects and were thinking about trying out iButtons. = Can someone with=20 experience with iButtons tell me anything about using these loggers in th= e field? We are especially=20 interested in the getting-the-data-into-the-computer part of using iButto= ns and the ease-of-use of=20 whatever software iButtons use (the website is baffling). Thanks for any input you might have. Cheers, Hannah ------------------------------
