Hydrofarm Thirsty HGTL6PK Thirsty Light Classic, Pack of 6 (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

I bought some of these recently, expecting to get the same product I bought a few years back. Since then, they've redesigned them. I don't know why this is true, but the batteries on these new ones just do not last at all, and they are harder to get settled into the soil well enough that they don't blink, even in wet soil than my original batch. They also sometimes have the probe glue come apart so that it is no longer water tight. And in this set, two of them have already had the on/off knob pop out such that they no longer work or stay in place. None of my batch of 20 of the original version of this had that problem. One of the new batch was also wired backward, so that the batteries had to be reversed from the drawing indication to work.Conceptually these are great, or I wouldn't have bought them again, but unfortunately, the current batch seems to have cut a lot of corners and lost their quality.

I like having houseplants, but I'm not too careful about checking them regularly. So these little gadgets have saved my plants!2 tips:1)For the first few weeks you'll have to experiment with how deep to put the sensor and how far away from the stem to place it. These will both affect the reading and allow you to adjust for any plant's watering needs. For my pothos I put it very deep and close to the stem, so it lets me know at the first sign of moisture loss. But for my snake plant I put it close to the edge and less than half-way down because that plant likes to get a little dryer.2)The blinking light isn't very bright, so pay attention when the room lights are off. I usually give a quick scan at night after I've turned off all the lights and heading for bed.Also, don't lose the instruction sheet as you're sure to forget the blink codes. I recycled mine immediately and a few months later had to check with the manufacturer's website to decypher a blink I hadn't seen before. Luckily they have a PDF online that I saved to my computer desktop.UPDATE:I still love these little gizmos, but one of my plants died when the battery went out so it never flashed and the dirt dried to a crisp. So put the batteries on a regular annual replacement schedule (A76 batteries can be purchased here on Amazon very cheaply in larger lots).

It is now months later and these folks have never tried to contact me which tells me they don't care about their customers -- BUY from someone else. Hydrofarm HGTL6PK Thirsty Light Classic are excellent as I have 60 on 60 Bonsai. Just turn them off every once and awhile to make sure the batteries are still good. BUY from someone else to make sure they have good batteries when new!!!I ordered 2 packs of 6 Thirsty Lights and some arrived with dead batteries. A pain for me, as I had to go to Ace and get replacement batteries. I expect to replace batteries, but not when a product is new. I've ordered from these folks before and am very dissappointed on this order. I cannot find any way to contact the sellers otherwise I would have contacted them. If they read this review and contact me to replace the dead batteries - I will retract this review and write a different review.

I received these devices promptly and they worked for a couple of days, then they died.I did some trouble shooting and found that all had depleted batteries. Each item has two button batteries rated at 1.5 volts each. I removed all 12 batteries from the six units and measured the voltage of each. All were discharged varying from 0.8 volts down to 0.1 volts.I happen to have two of the appropriate batteries on hand, so I installed them in one of the units. It has worked well now for three days.I like the devices but feel cheated by receiving them with defective batteries.

Just 1 little minus ... after 2 dags, the first set (3pieces) in use was out of battery power... But work like a charm.Ordered other battery's ... same problem after 2 days... empty again, already thinking there comes the name from they are thirsty for battery's.

This is a good product if they work. I had purchased 3 several years back and they work fine. In this batch 2 do not work. The light stays on all of the time even when it is laying on the counter.

I ordered the 6 pack, of course only 4 work.. Should of known better.. Do you think it's a marketing strategy? They figure most people will just let it go.. Not me, I'm getting my money back.

Bought a pack of 6, and they only worked for about 2 days and then kept blinking due to battery not being charged and fresh. I was hoping for a great product to help with watering my plants, this is not the product, especially when within 3 days you have to order new batteries. For the price, these should have come with good batteries to last. Not a quality product at all.I tested the ladybug thirsty light as a product tester for my gardening club, and 2 years later, she still works great. Don't know what happened with these.

when they work there fine only last a few days and the batteries were dead so I purchased the extra card from amazon but the new batteries I bought only lasted a couple of days then when dead so either the batteries are no good or these burn out the batteries. 2 coin type batteries should last longer.

The original Thirsty Lights worked great. So I bought this multi-pack. These ones seem to kill batteries quickly. I bought more batteries and they died quickly too. I don't use these anymore.