Top 10 best Smart Irrigation Controller 2022 By User reviews

UPDATE JULY 2016:I finally got my first water bill containing the use of this timer for an entire month. According to wunderground’s historical data, June 2016 was very much like June 2015. Average temp was 86.3 vs. 2015’s 85.2. Mean temperature was 59.6 vs. 60.5. Precipitation was 0.64″ in 2016 vs. 0.58 in 2015. The water bill didn’t show gallons I used last year, but according to the graph they give me it looks like somewhere between 20% and 30% less water used this year. My grass is no more dead than usual. The past couple weeks we’ve been in the mid to high 90s in temperature, and the sprinklers have come on every evening, so I was a little concerned, but let it do its thing. In the end, it is watering for a much shorter time each evening, and just watering more often than my manually scheduled timer was before.If this thing continues to save 20%-30% of my water bill it will be paid for before the end of summer.ORIGINAL REVIEW:Before you begin reading the wall of text, know that I received this product free in exchange for an honest review.I upgraded from an old orbit timer that had been working flawlessly for 10 years, to this wifi enabled timer. I took a picture of the old wiring and was able to get this installed in about 15 minutes. As Lego Batman would say, “First Try!” It’s much bulkier than my old timer, but includes a lock so I could mount it outside in the weather or something if I wanted to. I didn’t want to.It’s still a little early in the watering season for me, so I’m not sure I’ve run it through all its paces, but I’ve had it wired up for a week now. Before I hooked it up I figured I should fix the one broken sprinkler I knew about so I could test the lines. That was backward. With the old timer you obviously had to be at the timer in order to manually start and stop a station. So in flushing the line and validating my fix I had to run back and forth into the garage to start the water, then out to look at the line and check for leaks. I’m sure the neighbors enjoyed hearing me yelling from the front into the garage to my young son, “Push it now!” and having nothing happen because he couldn’t reach the button…I tell you that story so that you know that had I replaced the timer first, I could have stood over the sprinkler and just tapped a button on my phone to start and stop the zone.I have 6 stations attached to the 12 station timer, and already I can tell I’m going to wish I had finer grained control of my irrigation. I inherited it when I bought the house 15 years ago and have had to discover all the secrets as things break over the years.In the companion app it was very nice to be able to name the stations I have setup. I could walk around the yard, start them, shut them down, and try to pick a meaningful name by what they were shooting at. For each station I had to select the soil type, head count, head type, etc. It would have been very nice if I could set defaults for the soil type and head type as most of my lines are essentially the same, but instead I had to select each part for each line. Not a huge inconvenience, especially since I’ll really only have to do it once, but annoying enough I thought I would mention it.I originally setup my stations to run like I had on my old timer. Each one ran for the same amount of time and that was it. After poking around in the app for a bit, I thought the watering budget was very awesome. I could keep my program with X minutes per stations, but depending on the weather I could give it a percentage of that program. With it being early spring, and the weather having been cool I figured I would set it to 40% of my regular summer program. I think this feature is awesome. I could then adjust as things warmed up. I think you can even go above 100% if you are having a long dry spell or something.After playing with that, I went to the “smart watering” feature. This would be much more valuable if I took the time and energy to do something with the capture cups or whatever they’re called, but I haven’t done that. I’m hoping the app is smart enough to figure out something decent given the shade stats I gave it for each station and be “close enough.”Smart watering allows the timer to take control of your water schedule. I like to water at night so stuff doesn’t just evaporate. With smart watering I can direct it to only do it’s watering thing between hours I choose. So far, that seems to be working. Smart watering also allows the timer to do automatic rain delays. We had a very wet weekend and it was nice to see the timer adjusting its next start time automatically each night. It is also supposed to take the temperature into account.One other nice feature of the smart watering is I can decide which zones participate. I can have a program that only includes garden lines and use smart watering for my lawn lines, or whatever. This was fortunate for me since while testing I found water coming up through my concrete and I haven’t had time to fix that yet, so I was able to just opt that zone out of the smart watering. The app even alerts me that zone 4 is not included in any watering schedule. A nice feature.Finally, I read other reviews with concerns about wifi connectivity. I was a little concerned about this as my wireless router is upstairs in my bedroom so the signal has to go through an inside wall, a floor, and an outside wall to get to the timer in the garage. My phone showed OK, but not great signal strength at the location where I wanted to mount it. I’m happy to say I haven’t seen any problems with it at all. I would also point out that your phone does NOT have to be on the same network as the timer. Once your timer is connected to the internet you can control it with the app from anywhere that you can get an internet connection. I have NOT evaluated the security of this networking because I’m too lazy to setup a proxy or sniff my network to see what’s going on. It DOES require you to create an account on the orbit site.So, with all this awesome sauce baked into the timer, why 4 stars instead of 5?I think I’m smarter than the smart watering schedule. I think there are a few kinks to be worked out in the software. Frankly, it’s been cool enough that I still wouldn’t even have my sprinkler system turned on yet. As I said we had a very wet weekend, with a large rain storm on Monday. Today is Wednesday. The smart watering schedule seems a little unsure of itself. For most of the weekend it was telling me it was going to start at 1:43 AM on Sunday. That sounded perfectly reasonable to me. But sometimes when I check it just says it is going to start at 10:00PM tonight (which is the earliest I told it that it could start). So I’m never quite sure what is going to happen, even when I look at the app. Well, I’m sitting here watching TV tonight, and sure enough the sprinklers turn on right at 10pm. I hit the “rain delay” button and specify a 24 hour delay. It then tells me it’s going to start at 1:43 AM Monday. So the start time it was telling me all week was moved by 24 hours. Alright, whatever, but then I look back at the app a couple minutes later and it tells me it is going to start watering at 10pm tomorrow night.By selecting a zone in the app I can see that it last watered exactly a week ago, and it’ll tell me how much time it plans to water with the smart watering. Since it plugs into the weather, it would be interesting if it would report rain in the watering timeline as well, but that would obviously be a feature request. It does also attempt to estimate the soil moisture for each zone, which I assume is a calculation based on the last watering time, duration, and temperature. Again, not sure if it takes weather into account.I expect given that this is a new product that the software will be worked out over time and it’ll only get smarter. If I do the cups thingy and input that data then it’ll get even better. Finally, this thing has prompted me to make better zones in my irrigation. Right now I have zones that do all sorts of stuff and have various combinations of heads. I can see now that that is probably the reason my park strip grass is dying.To the cost. At launch the 12 zone model is about 1/2 the cost of a nest thermostat. I have a nest thermostat. Frankly, it’s not money well spent. It’s a “smart” thermostat that really just isn’t that smart. The only thing that I really like about it is being able to turn up the heat from my phone without having to get out from under the blankets. If you, like me, have bought into the “smart home” idea, then this timer fits right in. Yeah, it costs more, but now I can sit on the couch and turn the sprinkler on my daughter when her date drops her off. I love not having to get out of bed at 11 when the sprinklers turn on when it rained earlier that day. I really just have to think less about it now (probably…) and know that I’m not going to be wasting water growing mushrooms in my grass. Given my regular water bill in the summer I expect this thing to pay for itself in a season or two.It would be awesome if this had an app for Amazon’s Echo device so I could ask Alexa when the sprinklers are going to run next, or just tell her to turn on the driveway zone. With IFTTT integration that shouldn’t actually be too hard (just like they did for Nest.)If you read this far, nice work. Executive Summary? A probably buy if you are in the market for another smart device or love irrigation or want to save the world by saving water, or just save money by saving water, or love controlling things in your house with your phone. I fully expect the quirks to get worked out sooner than later.

Great unit! You do not need “technical support” for a 6 zone irrigation system.Here are the controls: – arrow in a circle = cycle tru options – the –> = adjust the option cycled to – +/- = adjustmentsI set this unit up in my greenhouse in 2016 it’s still operating the same 9 solenoid valves to this day, 3 years later. Yes if all the valves are wired together you can open as many 24v valves as you want, all at once.If you dont know what transformers, solenoids, and/or basic wiring there is only one solution: do some homework first and order later.

The B-hyve 4 Channel Water Sprinkler replaced a 20 year old rainbird. It’s about 1/3 the size of the Rainbird by volume (good). I admit I had some trepidation, based on the few bad reviews, but figured I’d take a leap of faith. A wifi sprinkler system that I could monitor and control while travelling sounded very attractive, esp when “home” was hit with a heatwave!The eventual garage destination for the unit is about 45′ from my home TPLink AX50 Wifi-6 router, and crosses through two walls, one floor, and a garage shelf stacked with paint cans. My phone gets 1-2 wifi bars from that location, so I had some connectivity concerns. In the end wifi signal strength was not a problem.Before Amazon delivered the B-hyve, I downloaded the Android app, but stopped when it reached the point where it tried to initiate contact with the (B-hyve) device. Lesson for others, it’s not worth downloading the app until the unit is in-hand and powered on.When the B-hyve was delivered, I connected the unit to the 24VAC adapter and powered it up in my living room. I started the Android phone app and continued through the process of setup.. initially through Bluetooth. As mentioned in another review there is RISK involved in connecting the unit to Wifi because you enter your wifi SID and password into the phone app that is transmitted to the B-hyve unit.The B-hyve license agreement (aka terms) appears to follow strong European Union GDPR Personal Info (PI) regulations. I’ve contacted Orbit and asked if they collect or retain my router password. if Orbit doesn’t reply or replies affirmatively, I’ll have to think about whether the risk is worth keeping the unit. There’s NO reason why the router password needs to leave my home network and collecting it on Orbit servers would be an absolute breach of trust.I spent at least a couple of hours trying to program the B-hyve the first time. I was interested in watering my lawn (2 circuits/channels) using the “smart watering” feature, which uses inputs like soil, plant type, location info, and weather data to determine when and how to water. I was willing to abandon my wired outdoor Toro rain sensor that I used with my Rainbird controller. However my hanging plants and planters need every day, 2-3 times daily watering, once at 3p at the hottest part of the day. After over an hour of dicking around with “smart watering”, I set up a manual program for the planters. Oh, btw, I had to go online to find out that you set up manual programming from the app Home screen, which is an Industrial Engineering FAIL since the app starts you on the Zone screen on first time startup (as in WTF Home screen? Oh That Home screen!)The thing about Smart Watering is that it forced the start time for my lawn watering at 6am. Apparently it’s not smart enough to work around my planter manual program, and after much effort trying to change the Smart Watering start time, moved my manual program start time instead. That took about 30mins of dicking around.The Smart Watering system broke up my lawn watering into 3 cycles, repeated back to back. I guess that’s to help the water sink in and reduces run off. Ok. I can deal with that, even though my yard is relatively flat.When I moved my control wires from my Rainbird to the B-hyve, I screwed up the order. But when connected for the first time, only #3 controller worked. And then when I cycled through the zones, only #3 turned on a circuit. After some trial error, it seems like the B-hyve gets confused if you power it off and on and DON’T close and restart the app. That said, I was more careful to insert the control wires fully and tighten it down with the (included! thx!) mini screwdriver.The cavity behind the cover was able to accommodate all the extra wire (power and control), so the finished installation is very neat (excellent!)I will say, the wifi convenience is nice. I can test/check the sprinkler system from anywhere in the yard, whereas in the past I would be running back and forth like a chicken with his head cut off. And I can monkey with the settings while relaxing in my living room.I also run a copy of the Android app in a Windows Bluestacks emulator session, for the rare instances I’m on my laptop and am too lazy to reach for my phone. And I resurrected my Toro rain sensor for one of my manual, backyard circuits, where all plants receive rain.(Update 5/1/21)Email reply extract from Orbit, regarding the B-hyve app’s use of the router password: The password is not saved at all. It is only used to access the router, and it is never seen on our end by a person. That information is not stored. S****** D. B-hyve Project Manager

I’m really not a fan. It’s got a few short comings. I set this timer up on my propagation benches in my greenhouse. I did everything by the book and… nothing. I could use it manually. But the timer just simply won’t work. I spent over half the day messing with it trying to figure out what’s up with it. As a last ditch effort, I swapped to another zone and somehow using all the same settings it started to work. After hours of nothing and out of the blue it starts working?? Scared me when it went off lol. Then I set it for a more practical time session and for no reason at all it stops working again! So.. I went to zone 4! The last zone and it started working again. What in the hell?? After about a hr of swapping zones I noticed it was trying to water on zone 1?? Haha wth?? There’s a start setting. The same setting that they’re telling u that has nothing to do with cycle timing, which is BS!! It does. If u don’t set that time a min ahead before the actual time it is currently. It will not keep time. As in the timer will stop keeping time and will not keep counting down. The dumbest thing ever! A setting that your not even suppose to mess with. But if you don’t set it 1min ahead of the time you at currently at it will not keep time and the timer will not work. And I’m talking about the actual clock timing settings. I’m referring to start times underneath the days settings. A setting that only should work if you’re setting the time by the days of the week. Which I’m not. I set a endless time a cycle that will run from 7am-6pm 3sec run at 10min intervals. This makes my third timer. Last two was a scam. Bait a switch on a older timer that didn’t work by the seconds. I kept all 3 thinking I’m sure I’ll use them on other Applications. All in all if I could do it all over again. I’d never bought these 3controllers I’d found something else that was a smart device so I could set it using my phone from a air conditioned building then wifi the set programs to the device. Vs standing up on a ladder half the day trying to leave the timer in place and set it where it was 9ft up on a wall out of the range of the mist heads. When you’re not sure if it’s a wiring problem battery problems, wall outlet problem or just a timer problem u really don’t wanna unwire it till u know what’s going on.

Rachio 3 is my first experience with a smart controller. The investment for one is well worth the money, whether you choose this product or not. Below are a couple features that I love about this particular smart controller:Pros:1. Controlling Via Smartphone – Being able to control the functions of your irrigation system via smartphone is a game changer. My previous unit had the ability to schedule but was rigid in what it could do. Having this feature available while seeding this spring eliminated following a rigid, programmed, schedule best suited to seeding, as well as potential trips to my garage to correct that programming. This app allows you to set up multiple schedules and label them accordingly. You have the flexibility to set your schedules to a date range, quick start a schedule, or simply initiate a quick run, which is just an option to choose a particular zone and spontaneously run for whatever reason.2. Weather Intelligence Skips – Localized to your immediate area, it will pull data and determine if the conditions are ideal for running your system. You have the option of modifying the thresholds for temperature, wind, and rain. For example, the default-skip for Wind may be 15mph but you have the option to lower to 10mph. A lot of older controllers have the ability to sense for rain.. how accurate those are can be debated (mine ran no matter what so I am biased). I don’t know how many are sensitive to wind, which is, in my opinion, the highlight of this feature.3. How Much Did It Rain? – I didn’t see this on my research on this product before buying and believe it deserves a highlight.. on your Home tab of the app, at the top, it displays the weather projected for the day and a couple in advance, as well as a recorded history of the weather in the previous days/week(s). While the system schedules to run your irrigation system according to rainfall, it’s still very nice to reference this data and correct your schedule, if needed.4. User Interface – the UI on the app makes navigating throughout simple enough for those challenged with operating a smart phone. It’s visually appealing to look at and doesn’t overload you with features/information.5. Smart Cycle/Soaking – Let’s say you have 4 zones. Each is scheduled to run 40 minutes. Zone 1 will run for 20 minutes, then cycle to Zone 2 for 20 minutes, etc etc then circle back to zone 1 to finish the scheduled watering. This is a very simplified explanation of this feature but it allows the water to soak into the ground and eliminates runoff.Disclaimer..This product is marketed as saving you money on your monthly bill and that’s done via the weather intelligence skips. This is, in my opinion, slightly false. While a scheduled run can skip for wind, temperature, or rain… it will be rescheduled. That being said, if you keep pushing your scheduled runs back, there is value saved seen, overall, in the calendar year. The claim to save an average of 30% and up to 50% on your monthly water bill seems misleading.How this SHOULD be marketed, while not as sexy as the message of “saving money,” is increasing the value of your money. The weather intelligence skips work. Running the irrigation system while it’s windy is the equivalent of lighting money on fire. Your lawn doesn’t get what it needs and will not get what it needs until the next scheduled run. You can see how this could be an issue if scheduled runs are stacked on windy days and what your lawn could look like in the summer. If you made it this far in the review, you are likely heavily considering purchasing this product or something like it. Do it. It’s worth the money.

There are numerous modern smart controllers out there that try to do everything for you automatically and have limited control locally. This is more a take on a traditional design with an onboard display and buttons, while also adding optional smart features controllable via Bluetooth or wi-fi.The controller has almost everything you need to mount it outdoors — you will need some way to protect the sprinkler wire coming out, whether conduit or cable glands, both sold separately. It supports 12 zones, a master valve or pump, and a rain sensor. (If you don’t use a rain sensor, it can still set rain delays via internet data, but in my experience it’s pretty terrible since I water 2x a week and a slight drizzle is enough to cancel half a week’s worth of watering, it doesn’t actually “delay” it).The “maximally smart” way to use this controller is to input data about your sprinklers’ precipitation rate, plant type, soil type, and so on — this will automatically create a schedule based on what you entered and use online data to adjust the amount of precipitation. It’s a bit of a mystery how it works and personally I’m not a fan but this is the kind of thing some people want out of a smart controller.My preferred way to do it is to have fully manual control, and using the app is far less cumbersome than manually entering things into a traditional controller. I can start zones from my phone instead of running back and forth. However it’s nice to also have the onboard buttons if I’m nearby — best of both worlds. The app supports up to 4 programs and within each program you can set the amount of time each zone (1 or more) runs, and add one or more start times. This allows “cycle and soak” watering by manually breaking a zone’s runtime into chunks and setting multiple start times all on one program..This controller is also sold in 8-zone and 16-zone versions under the name “Hydro Rain” which is Orbit’s commercial line. I’m already using 11 out of the 12 possible zones.The B Hyve app has some issues. First of all it can only control one device at a time — I had a faucet timer which cannot be added as a “zone” and instead I need to go into the settings and switch it to the active device and then switch back to the controller when I’m done. Flume integration is spotty (not sure whose fault it is, Flume or Orbit, but it shows raw JSON as an error when trying to link the two and then either works or doesn’t). But overall I’d rate the app 4 out of 5, as it mostly does what it needs.

Decided to give this model a try as replacement for aging Orbit controllers (have 3 controllers running 22 zones on property supplied by well water). While my well can pretty much deliver water 24/7, it was nice to see the controller included a feature coordinate use with a well pump as well as a rain sensor input.While the old Orbit controllers weren’t especially difficult to set up, it was annoying when they would lose memory if backup battery was low and a power glitch occurred. Doing quick teardown, it was good to see this model uses FLASH memory instead of relying on ancient backup battery technology.The product comes with following items:• 8 channel WiFi enabled smart controller• 1000mA (1.0A) 24Vac wall transformer• 3X wall anchors/screws• Screwdriver• Mounting template• Wire marking stickersThe included mounting template isn’t really required. I simply held the controller against the wall and marked with a pencil (which easily fits through the three housing mounting holes). Then just drill holes for anchors and install the controller with screws.With the cover removed, you have easy access to the terminal board which uses screws instead of spring clips. That was a nice feature as it is easy to see what you are doing when installing/securing the wires. The old Orbit controllers with spring terminals were always difficult to see without looking up from floor level with a flashlight…Quick examination of hardware found high construction quality and reasonably sized/rated components.Setup (even for this old Boomer) was reasonably easy. Simply scan QR code in instructions, or load the App from the App Store or Google Play. I’ll describe Android installation…After creating Imolaza account, check your Junk email to confirm account. Once confirmed, fire up controller and follow prompts – enter address, allow pictures etc. The only tricky part I encountered was making sure to be on 2 GHz home network while scanning controller QR code (or manually entering MAC address). Once that is complete, you need to change to Imolaza WiFi network to enter your home router/password information.When complete, you are prompted to take pictures of each zone and continue programming watering days/times etc.The absolute best part of this controller is if you’re away on a trip you can change watering on-the-fly.Being in the South East US, I tend to only water when necessary. It is nice to know I can force watering while away from home.Here’s quick summary of Pros and Cons:PROs:• Super flexible controller with helpful phone interface• Ability to irrigate or change settings from anywhere• FLASH memory (no battery backup)• Easy access screw terminals• High quality constructionCONs:• Only available in 4 or 8 channel models. It would be nice if they had 12 or 16 channel for folks with larger properties or irrigation needs.

I previous had an Orbit B-Hive that worked great, was easy to navigate, set up, modify and worked great for about a year and then it wouldnt connect to wifi. I tried over and over. I tried to get a hold of customer support and like so many companies, it just rang and rang and then if I entered my phone number, they would call me back ASAP. After waiting 3 days, I realized they didnt care – so DONT BUY AN ORBIT B-HYVE. I purchased this on Amazon. The little manual shows you how to mount it and how to connect the wires and that’s about it. The interface is unbelievably difficult to understand. You would think you would just be able to define a watering schedule, so many days/week, on and off times, start times and you are done. Usually they have a water saver feature you can turn on and off if needed. On this one, you set up zones and it asks somewhat irrelevant questions – like what type of soil. I dont think their list had any type of soil close to what I have. Then you define if it’s shrubs or trees or cactus, etc. I think 90% of people have zones with shrubs, trees, flowers, all mixed together and you change the emmitters depending on the specific planty. On these zone, you can only pick one. I wanted to just turn on and off some of the zones to test them and it took an hour to figure that out – and it’s on a long list of menu items in a location you wouldnt expect. I finally figured it out but it’s just not a very user friendly interface at all. I did consider returning it because it really could be sooooo much simpler. There’s a few videos on youtube but they arent real clear what screen they are on or what they are clicking on – very fast and you cant really tell what they are doing – pretty useless. I think it works — so I’ll just keep it and deal with it, but would buy something different if I had a chance to.

I replaced an old Hunter “manual controller” that was a real pain to program. The instructions for the B-Hyve made it simple to install and I easily connected the wires to the proper slots (I made sure to take a picture of the old setup before disconnecting the wiring since I have 8 zones). Once I downloaded the app and plugged in the unit, it immediately paired with my cell phone. I did have to go into the house to connect to my wifi, but once that connection was made, it was a fairly simple procedure to test and name each zone. I set up the schedule I wanted and the installation was complete. Now I won’t have to run outside to turn off the controller every time it’s threatening to rain (or actually raining), then remember to turn it back on. Everything can be done using the app in the comfort of my home. This was a very worthwhile purchase!

After extensive research to determine which irrigation controller I would get to replace my 15-year-old Weathermatic, I decided on the Netro Sprite-12. I have 9 zones and 4 of them are on a steep slope. This controller will split the watering time into smaller intervals which allows for each interval to soak in before getting additional water, thus reducing runoff.The Netro was very easy to install. I downloaded the app to my phone, I took a picture of the wiring on my old controller, ensuring it was good enough to distinguish the wire colors and zone number each was connected to. Removed the power and all the zone wires, removed the old unit from the garage wall. I then mounted the Netro to the wall and fed the wires into the cavity, trimmed, bent and zip-tied the wires for a somewhat neat appearance, then powered the Netro on and setup the app. It took less than 20 minutes from start to finish.I purchased the Netro in Jul 2022 (3 months ago). It has more features than my old unit and it controllable with my phone from anywhere. There are many features that I do not use (yet). I would like to get a couple of sensors in the near future to augment the system. It works as expected and I highly recommend the Netro controllers.

I did my own UG sprinkler installation, and used this controller and I really like it. It is easy to program, and you can program four start times each day, handy if you are planting a new lawn and need to keep it moist. Once lawn is established, you can set it to run even, odd or every day. When the weather cools, (Live in Central WA ST, four seasons,) it has a handy feature that lets you water a percentage of the time so there is no need to reprogram each station. I have two now which waters lawn, rock wall, trees and my garden. Recently retired and this lets us leave with no qualms about water. I added a water shut off and blow out when I did both systems, so very easy to blow sprinklers using the manual start, I have yet to use the WI-FI, but will set that up as well. Also very easy to wire to the valves, uses 120V outlet for power, 24V to the valves, which I purchased from Home Depot as a three valve assembly, which it made it much easier, and faster to install. Very satisfied about every aspect of this controller!

I’ve had this for about a year now and I’m fully satisfied with it. The initial setup took sometime to do because you have to identify the soil type, condition and grade of each zone. You can even take pictures to associate them with each zone. After that you just let it do it’s thing. What I like about this is that you can control your sprinklers with your phone; you don’t have to run back and forth to the controller.

I replaced an older timer where all the settings had to be done at the box. My timers are hardwired, so I had a sprinkler professional install due to splicing the wires. Also my individual sprinkler control valve wires needed to be down sized because the existing wires were too thick to insert into the clips on this sprinkler box. Connecting to Bluetooth needs to be done before connecting the WIFI. The instructions are not very clear on this. I missed the initial Bluetooth pairing mode when the power was initially connected, so I had to shut the breaker off and restart to get it back into pairing mode. Once Bluetooth was connected, everything worked. The app is not really user friendly, it took me a while to figure out how to manually program. Also no sure how the “SMART” feature will work with knowing the moisture in my soil when there are no sensors in the ground. I am just using a manual program for now. I want to see if the sensor works when we have rain, but no rain yet.

I was an early adopter to smart sprinklers, but the first product I purchased went out of business. One of my biggest complaints about it was that you could not create one account with more than one unit. (You had to make up two accounts with different emails and switch back and forth). I have a unit in the front yard and one in the back yard. With this product, there is a super easy pull down menu to toggle between the two. Very easy to set up and use. I also like that you can add in pictures of the area the sprinkler covers so you can tell easily which ones you want to turn on.

I purchased this after having the Rachio at my old house for several years. The Rachio lacked the ability to run the sprinkler if internet connectivity was down (it would run the program but you couldn’t manually control it) or if you don’t have your phone with you, or if your gardener wants to adjust the settings for you. This device offers the best of both worlds! Love it!