When placing your AirVisual Pro outdoors, it is possible that your monitor shows a different values than the nearest outdoor official government station.

There are several reasons for this to happen:

1. The air quality may vary greatly even within a few miles/km.

2. The official government stations usually report measurement as an average of the past hour. In practice, it means the official government data reported might already be 1 to 2 hours old.

3. Frequency of the update: some government stations refresh several hours late. By the time the data is published, it is already outdated by a few hours. The Node/Pro has the advantage to show real-time data.

4. The government station doesn't actually report PM2.5. In this case, the Node/Pro would display a note below the outdoor data "Main pollutant is xyz".

5. The Node/Pro or the government station may actually show an inaccurate measurement. Government stations require frequent and expensive maintenance which is not always dispensed in time.

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