With the advent of new cooperative volunteer networks such as the Citizen Weather Observer Program (CWOP), the accuracy of low cost instrumentation becomes an important aspect of data integrity. This study highlights the results of a side-by-side comparison of daily maximum and minimum temperatures and hourly readings recorded by a National Weather Service Cooperative Observer MMTS shield and a Davis Instruments passive radiation shield. Using the MMTS shield as a reference, the Davis Instruments shield met the accuracy requirements for synoptic needs and, for a vast majority of the observations, the requirements of climate monitoring. The findings of the study suggest Davis Instruments radiation shields perform with sufficient accuracy to support real-time observational and forecast model data needs, and in most cases, climate monitoring and modeling needs.