WiFi Smart Sprinkler Controller (8-Zone Irrigation Remote Control) – App-Based Scheduling, Local Weather Intelligence, Rain Skips, Easy DIY Install

This works great!!! Extremely simple setup and app is very easy to learn/use. Since it connects to the internet for weather updates, it has cancelled two watering due to rain, saving me money!! Wish I had it sooner!

I bought this system in April, one month before I left for a 7 month deployment. I combined this with my rainbird rain sensor and it's been incredible. First I love how easy it is to set and forget. The system does everything for you. It will automatically change water times based on the time of the year and when sunrise is. How does the system save you money? It has a soaking feature where it will start a zone for 20 minutes or whatever you have yours set up to, then it will go through other zones and eventually go back to watering the first zone. This allows your soil to soak in water and not get flooded and have run off. Essentially you aren't wasting water because of this feature. The system automatically uses weather data for your area, but if you combine the system with a rain sensor it is just that much better. The app is actually useful and works. Too many times is there a smart product where the app just sucks and doesn't make the product worth it. That is not the case with the Rachio app. This can be a one and done type of product. You set the system up, and never have to touch it again. If you actually do the work the system will work for you. What do I mean by you need to do the work? Plug in the correct information into the app. Look up the information of your sprinkler heads and what the flow rate is for them. Do a water catch test and see where in your yard you need more water. If you do these the Rachio will work that much better. Best part was that I got the system for $50 as a rebate deal through my water company so make sure to see if your water company offers the same.

I debated for a long time before purchasing this product due to the mix of very strong reviews — both positive and negative. After using this unit for about 2 weeks, and experiencing a lot of weather in the North TX area, I’m writing to speak to both sides and offer my observations in hopes that it will help others who find themselves in the same dilemma that I did. First, let me say that this is an awesome product. Having worked in technology, and specifically software engineering and product development for 15-20 years, I truly appreciate the simplicity of the product. The entire setup process — from opening the box to having water running in our yard — lasted maybe 10-15 minutes max, and it was only that high because I spent about 5 minutes creating a label on our label maker to “mark” the zones on the outside of the unit. Some might call this overkill… my wife calls it particular… but nevertheless. Everything from the design, to engineering, to the magnetic cover, the software in the app (we use iOS)… it was simple and the experience was like opening an Apple product and having it “just work”. Second, let me speak to the setup options, since I think this is where most folks that write negative reviews get hung up. There are basically two paths to choose from, and there doesn’t really seem to be a middle ground. One path is to basically set it up as a “dumb controller” — meaning, think of what your parents probably had 20-30 years ago in their garage. You set a schedule, it is fixed, and it basically runs on certain days and times that you set. If this is your preference, then save your money and buy a different controller. There are way cheaper options on the market, and this product is going to be overkill for a schedule that simple. The other option, which is why I suspect most of you are probably interested or reading this in the first place, is what this system is really designed to do. You can set it up as a “smart controller” — meaning, you set a base schedule, along with some data points specific to your location, and these are fed into an algorithm, along with real-time weather information from your area, and it basically adjusts “on demand”. For example, if it rained more than a certain amount (you can set the threshold), or if rain is even expected in your area in the next 24 hours, it will skip a cycle. Or if it detects winds (again, you can set a threshold), it might adjust the time. Same thing for temperature below freezing, soil moisture, etc. There are a lot of options and you can customize which ones per zone… for example, one of our zones is a dedicated drip hose, so the wind alert doesn’t really matter but the soil moisture does. The neat thing is you can set multiple “schedules” and target different settings for each. The only thing to be aware of, is one of the settings is “time of day”… so if you have multiple schedules for the same day, and they are both set to “finish before sunrise”, for example, you might run into weird situations. We get around this by alternating days (or you can set a “fixed” time of day for one). Just a heads up for anyone running more complex schedules across zones. The “smart controller” setup (as I call it) is a little more work up front, and if you do it wrong, I can totally see how it will mess up your yard. However, it’s not all that difficult, and once it’s setup as intended, it’s totally worth the money. Based on our water usage, and the unpredictability of weather in the North TX area, I think this unit will pay for itself in a matter of a couple months. In the past 14 days alone, it has already saved us from running 4 different cycles for who knows how many hundreds of gallons each time. Again, this means that you actually have to do some work up front to make sure it is setup correctly. It does require a little bit of knowledge of your soil type and the ability not to over-estimate slopes. For example, just because your yard is graded (to get water away from your house) does not mean that the slope is “extreme”. All of the factors go into the algorithm… so if you get it wrong, that is not Rachio’s fault, even though it sounds like that is where most of the negative reviews stem from. It’s just like anything else with data… garbage in = garbage out. If you put good data in, then the results can be remarkable. The only downside, if there was one, is I could not get this to work with our existing rain sensor or HomeKit. The rain sensor threw false positives, and once I figured that out (thanks to Rachio alerting us "why" the system did not run), I just unplugged it and it's one less thing to have to worry about. For HomeKit, with a background in software engineering, I’ve looked into this technically and this appears to be an issue with Apple’s integration rather than Rachio. Practically, all this means is I cannot say “Hey Siri, turn on our sprinklers for 10 minutes". Would that be impressive to show off? Absolutely. But with the intelligence already built into Rachio's software, there’s a good chance I’ll never need to do anything manually ever again. In summary… this is an excellent product, but it is not for everyone. I do wish there was a review like this a few weeks back so I did not have to spend time second guessing myself before we purchased this product. All in all, this is a solid product, and I would highly recommend it… as long as you have some time to set it up correctly. I hope this helps! Justin

This controller made me wonder why I didn’t buy it sooner. It works flawlessly, fit in the same foot print as the old controller, was super easy to connect to the WiFi and sooooo easy to program. I love the soak feature where it splits each zone into two cycles to allow the water to absorb and get a more effective watering. I like that it allows you to set to run after sunset or before sunrise so you aren’t having to constantly adjust the schedule. Best part is our water district had a rebate for this controller so it was almost free and I ended up with a far superior controller unit.

Do not buy from Amazon if you will be claiming a rebate from your water utility. I submitted the rebate form but they are saying that since Amazon sells both used and new, approving the rebate won't happen unless I submit a receipt that shows that the product I purchased is NEW (not used). However, the invoice or any order details printed from Amazon do not say that the product I bought is new. Wish I had bought it from Home Depot instead. The product itself is great. Installation was easy and the setup in the app is well designed. I just hope there was some more information on what the different types of schedules like "fixed" etc. mean. The only minor gripe I have is that the magnetic face plate comes off too easily - the 8-zone wire is quite thick and keeping it pressed low enough so as not to push on the face place is tricky. I wish the faceplate had screws (for cases where the magnets did not suffice).

Very easy to use, a lot of modofications available, really good device. The only problem if you don't have US socket, but you can solve it using another adaptor.

Easy to install. Excellent app. Water efficient since it's connected to the local weather network (no need for rain sensor).

Unusable device in UAE based on our power standards. Avoid!!

It's only been two weeks but I will give you my first impression and it's a good one. The reason I was looking for a new controller was my old Rainbird always had issues with connecting to my wifi. It was ok feature wise but felt it was falling short. This new Rachio was super easy to install. I loved that fact the bottom of the control was left open so you don't have to pull wires through any holes. Face is held on with magnets, another nice feature. Connecting wise, Are you kidding me! I blinked and I missed it. I thought for sure I did something wrong as it should not be this easy but no! I was wrong and it was connected and it really was that fast! The rest of the set up was just as easy. I'm a guy, who has time for instructions, not me!!!! And you truly do not need them. It walks you through everything step by step. I found everything easy to understand and to navigate through. It has some great features in my opinion zone wise. Asks about your area you live, asks what kind of watering you are doing (Grass, bushes etc) what type of irrigation heads you are using. What slope the area is on. It then gives you the option to name the zone and add a picture. All this is to optimise your watering. So cool! Timer wise, again super easy. I asked to end my watering cycles at sunrise and it figured out the start times. Because you entered all the information about the zone it automatically calculates how long each zone waters for. Keeping in mind you have full control over all of these settings if you wish. It watches your local forecast and it has only watered once so far. Its early spring here and it has been cloudy and sometimes raining. It is pausing my schedule automatically for me. Such A nice feature. I was a little hesitant on giving it full control but since you can easily go into the app and monitor your past watering cycles I feel comfortable knowing I can monitor it and see what is going on. Another very cool feature. It's not the cheapest unit on the market but due to all the features, the care free operation it's worth every penny. For anyone that has never used an App based watering system its pretty cool. My cell phone notified me someone was in my yard (Security camera system). When I looked someone was walking their HUGE wolf dog and it decided it didn't want to go any farther and layed down on my lawn. She was pulling and pulling. No way she was moving him. So I decided to help her out..... I opened up my Rachio app and flicked the zone on. Wanna see how fast a Wolf dog can move!!!! She literally said out loud laughing. THANK YOU WHOEVER YOU ARE !!!!! LOL!

Great unit, easy to set up and works well. For those in Australia, if you buy from the AU Amazon site the package includes 240v Australian transformer which is nice.