Rachio Smart Hose Timer with WiFi Hub for Outdoor Watering | Easy Faucet Install, Automate Water & Sprinkler Schedules for Lawn, Garden, & Yard Care.

With a late spring and early summer having almost no rain, I had to find an answer. First, I started lining the garden with drip hoses. After that, I wanted automation.With this device, I was able to automate my morning and night watering of the vegetable garden with minimal intervention. It's perfectly effective and super smart once set up! It automatically skips watering if it has rained that day or night before-- your choice!The app is simple and beautiful. The device is minimalist and easy to use. Once set up it's set it and forget it. You can run it from the app-- you can run it from the device-- and the app tells you when watering did and didn't happen, and if a watering was intentionally skipped. I love it. I bought a second one to manage one-off water sprinkler usage easily.Now for the room for improvement: The app could use a little improvement only during the initial install and setup phase. There were some things that didn't quite explain everything thoroughly between the steps of unboxing things, then having it in the field and with water pressure turned on for some testing before the app considers it fully ready and installed. I also had some logical flow instructions missing, for example, it works like Google Nest: First you add a home, then you add a wifi bridge, then you add a valve. The app doesn't necessarily tell you this 1,2,3 so I had to go back a little bit and start a different way.That being said, initial firmware updates went well and easily, and I haven't had a bad experience anywhere past that initial setup phase.There is only one other "gotcha" that surprised me a bit that you should be aware of:The Wifi unit has to be INDOORS (not a surprise) but it has to be within 200' of the valve (surprise) so if you need to BOTH have it indoors PLUS within 200' of the valve, it could pose some yard logistics issues for you depending on where you have indoors space plus wifi coverage. Having wifi coverage at the location of the valve is not the "only" requirement.Even with those limitations and app setup confusion, this is still a 5 star product due to it's price point, functionality, design and innovative solution. I love it completely.

Likes:INSTALLATION-Easy to connect. Screws on just like a water hose. No leaks over the months we've been using it.Easy to pair with the hub. If you've connected anything to wifi before, you can connect this. The app is pretty straight forward.We have a "Y" connector we got from the hardware store. That way, we have the Rachio going to the sprinkler. The other to a free water hose. The "Y" connector has a shutoff valve on each leg. The leg to the Rachio stays on. The leg to the other hose stays off and we turn it on as needed(to wash the car, for example).APP-We didn't have any issues using the app. In the app you are able to name the timers, ie, "front yard", *back yard". You can trigger watering manually as needed for however long you want it to run. Of course, the reason for getting this is primarily to automate your watering. We looked up online the recommended amount of watering for our lawn in our area, then set a schedule according to that. TIP: Place a small, empty can (like tuna can or cat food can) in the middle of the lawn your watering and run the sprinkler for a period of time. This gives you an indication of how much water your lawn is getting for a given period of watering. You can then adjust the schedule accordingly.Schedule can take into account the weather forecast and skip watering sessions accordingly.Dislikes:Really don't have any complaints, other than wishing we had bought two together to save money. Bought the first one to try. Worked so well we bought a second for the back yard.This plus our Luba mower and Bob's your uncle! Pretty much have the major aspects of our home lawn maintenance automated. 5 stars!

I use this to water avocado trees. During the summer, I need to water frequently (every three days), with more water. Going into fall, the intervals are lengthened and the watering time reduced. Before, it required constant attention. The Smart Hose Timer works like magic - I can easily adjust the timing schedule, and it will skip water when we have had sufficient rain. I am getting better results with less effort, and using less water.The product was easy to install. My only concern going in was whether the connection would drip. It does not - the Smart Hose Timer has good connections to both the faucet and the hose.

I bought this because I am trying to grow a young sapling and water it ever other day. For that purpose, it has been working great! Initial set up and programming the schedule went easily enough.The app is ok, it can be a little clunky at times. The app was zero help after the wifi hub had been powered off for a bit while I was installing some smart switches and the timer would not reconnect. After messing with it for an hour, I reach out to support and they walked me through deleting and re-adding the timer. After that I had to reprogram the schedule.I would also like to see some crosstalk between their smart sprinklers and this. Mainly an option for if a certain sprinkler zone runs, that it skips the timer run, because where I have the hose set up is in one of my sprinkler zones.

The media could not be loaded.  I bought this Rachio water hose timer to feed a drip line in a raised bed garden that is not connected to my sprinkler system. It works well and is very reliable. It was easy to install; however, one complaint I have is that it took a long time to set up the app, because there were two different software/firmware updates that took quite a bit of time each. I compared RACHIO with other hose timers recommended by CR and purchased one of each of two that were recommended so I could try them out myself. Rachio is much higher quality and the app is much easier to understand and use. Unfortunately, this RACHIO hose timer is not waterproof/resistant, and it was immediately ruined by a water leak. I returned this Rachio and purchased another (same) one—this time, making sure all fittings were tight. This one has worked perfectly! I highly recommend RACHIO water hose timer – – but wish they would redesign it to be at least IPX7 waterproof. This device would make a great gift for those who are very busy!