The Crystal Rain Gauge™ story

Our Story

OUR COMMITMENT TO AUSTRALIAN FAMILIES

We wanted to make a product that lasts. Having worked on the property for many years, you can tell the difference between quality and durability having gone through many tools and machines.

Crystal Rain Gauge was created to be sustainable and reliable. A rain gauge that's really built for Australia.

The Crystal Rain Gauge Story

2016 - An Idea

For years I’ve struggled with existing rain gauges, due in part to the use of plastic as the main component.

For a start, the plastic fades over the years, becoming more and more opaque. But even when new, if the angle of the sun was wrong, reading the calibrations moulded into the plastic proved challenging.

Having to decant the overflow from the large container into the calibrated inner container required not only dexterity, but some way to record the number of decants. All very fiddly. To me, reading recorded rainfall should be one quick glance at the gauge.

I started to imagine what the perfect gauge should be.

2018 - Trial and Error

Out of mounting frustration, and following the old adage “necessity is the mother of invention”, I was prompted to experiment to determine if “there must be a better way”. And so there was.

I spent the next two years researching materials suitable to the extremes of the Aussie climate, commissioning collection gauges that were readable without getting out of the ute. All that was left was to ensure it was presented in an aesthetically designed housing that could record up to 200mm of rain without emptying.

The result is the Crystal Rain Gauge.

It is made of thermally toughened glass with fadeless, contrasting easy to read annealed ceramic calibrations, all presented in an “easy to install” polished stainless container that would not look out of place in a George Jensen collection.

2020 - Getting an affordable, quality product to market

I would have liked to manufacture the Crystal Rain Gauge in Australia, and I tried. But even with economies of scale, I was unable to obtain significant improvement to the underlying high cost of labour in Australian production.

In addition to the high cost of Australian manufacture, the distribution costs, plus the usual 30%-50% retail margin, meant that even at double the price, there wouldn’t be a return on the development and manufacturing costs.

Manufacturing a significant quantity offshore, I’ve been able to hold the price down to an affordable price I think is reasonable for a lifetime purchase.

If you started nodding when you read our story, then I hope this makes you want to replace your current rain gauge once and for all!

What they are saying

Gerry - Illawarra, NSW

Beautiful rain gauge

This was a present for my 60th. I have 28 acres and a small orchard of 20 citrus trees. I did ask on my prezzie list for a decent rain gauge as all the cheap ones either the measurements faded over time or the gauge became cloudy or cracked. This Crystal one looks like a work of art but has features like hardened glass, stainless steel support and screws. Obviously I have only just installed it and will update my review in a years time. It said on the box, designed in Australia but made in China. You can't have everything!

Lyn - South East QLD

Best rain gauge we’ve ever bought

Easy to read, great service, after an issue with our original glass lug breaking a replacement was in the post as soon as they read my email. With newly designed stainless steel lugs on a new inner tube. Great improvement. Easy to clean.

Stuart - Melbourne, VIC

Best rain gauge ever

I had been using plastic gauges for years, I cane across the Crystal Rain Gauge in Gardening Australia mag and ordered 3, 1 for myself and 2 for my sons, the inner tube lugs broke, I emailed the company and they were only to happy to replace the two that had broken. to my surprise the tube has been remade with stainless steel lugs. Perfect product and very easy to read how much rain we have had.

Aaron Eyesman - Sydney, NSW

Exactly what I was looking for

I've been looking for a good quality rain gauge for quite some time, the others I've dealt with in the past have been flimsy and a bit dodgy. For example, they can become hard to read after being exposed to the elements for too long. I've been super impressed with how clear it is and how well it is made! Highly reccomended.