Hunter Hydrawise HC-1200i 12 Zone Smart WiFi Irrigation Controller for Lawn & Garden - Remote Watering System for Home & Commercial Landscaping

I will attempt to give this product as complete a review as I can. This is the first truly web-based watering solution I have used. It attempts to merge the best of the traditional irrigation timer with the best of the web-based timer. It does a good job bringing traditional and web based timers together. It is not perfect. It still needs some improvement, but it is evolving quickly thanks to a super responsive support group. I've contacted them four times via email. The first time was to ask about a feature I needed that wasn't available. Their response was within hours and told me how to work around what I wanted to do, and that they were releasing a feature that achieved what I wanted in the next 10 days. My second contact was right after the new release to ask why it wasn't working from my browser, turns out the cache needed to be cleared. No problem. Again, quick response. The third and fourth interactions were about 'bugs' in the software. Fields that were re-setting to default when an option page was opened. Again, their response was within hours and the response was that it was 'fixed'. Bug fixes within hours of reporting them, that's pretty darn good. They listen and they respond. Feel confident in purchasing this product for that service alone. By the way, don't let my use of the word 'bug' scare you. Overall the software on this unit is very stable. I've had no problems with this except for what I mentioned and they fixed it quickly.Now for the review:The GOOD:1) On-device touch screen for disconnected programming and use. This is an important feature. Sometimes, you need to work with the device directly. I'd stay away from devices with no manual interface. When things go wrong, like an WiFi outage, and you need to change something, this is a must.2) Sensitive WiFi. I was initially worried that my placement of the controller was in an area where my WiFi signal was going to be too weak. My unit is mounted outdoors on the side of the house in a weather proof enclosure. It is about 70' away from the WiFi source and across the entire house. The signal must travel through six walls, one of which is concrete stucco. Still connects just fine.3) Heat resistant. I live in Phoenix, AZ. It get HOT here. I was worried that it would be unreliable in the heat. For the last month it has been over 105degF with two weeks regularly over 111degF and the hottest day over 115degF. Unit is enclosed in a weather proof box on the east side of the house (i.e. in the sun in the morning). Works fine so far. We'll see how long the electronics last in this environment, but so far so good. I'll update the review if I see any instability issues.3) Nice user interface. Once you understand their concept of zones, schedules, triggers, and the such its very easy to program. Web interface and iOS interface are identical. No separate learning curve.4) Nice looking, easy to hook up. I like neat looking installations. Installed it in an weather proof enclosure, the wiring is neat and tidy. Looks good on the side of the house.5) Lots of stations. I have the 12 station version.6) Reliable. Nice and reliable. The bugs caused me to reset some settings unwittingly, but they fixed that right away.7) Top notch support. Fast response. Fast fixes. This is worth the price of the unit.8) Lots of sensors options available. Flow sensors, etc.9) Supports master valves.10) Easy to setup for world wide access. No port forwarding or firewall issues. No 'security' issues with people hacking directly into the device. The device is not visible to the internet. Their cloud base approach isolates direct access to the hardware from the internet. A direct local WiFi connection is supported if needed. Choose a strong password and security shouldn't be an issue.11) Lots of reports: Actual watering schedule, proposed watering schedule, rainfall trends, water usage, water savings, temperature trends, etc.The BAD:1) Station expansion is expensive. They offer a 6 zone and 12 zone model with 12 zone expansion modules. They really need an 8 zone offering. I'd replace the 6 zone with an 8 zone. I have 22 zones total grouped into a 7 zone area and a 15zone area. I have to have two timer because of this. I was forced to purchase a 12 zone controller to cover 7 zones, It would have been nice to have an 8zone option. I know, this is a personal problem, but I thought worth mentioning.2) Its not weather proof. Had to purchase an additional outdoor enclosure to mount the controller outdoors. I really don't mind that so much but it would be nice if Hydrowise offered a custom designed outdoor enclosure that fit it better, or offered an outdoor version. The multi-purpose enclosures are a little kludgy. I know, another personal problem, but what can I say, there aren't a lot of BAD's for this controller3) No 'custom' dashboard or reports. No ability to layout my own custom dashboard or to build my own custom reports. It would be nice future addition.4) No home automation integration. This may be possible and I just don't know about it. It would be nice if they published an API to allow for interaction between home automation systems and this controller.5) No multi-controller striping. This may sound strange but it would be nice to be able to virtualize the controllers in the dashboard. Right now, you choose which controller you are working with from a drop-down menu at the top of the page. It would be nice to virtualize the zones from multiple controllers into a single 'virtual' dashboard so that schedules could span controllers. This would be an awesome feature.6) Expansion units must be wired and need to be within a few feet of the main unit without purchasing additional hardware. The suggestion above in #5 would remove that restriction.7) In summery, very little bad about this device, and when there is an issue they fix it very quickly.The UGLY:1) The price. Its about 3x the price of a comparable traditional 12 station controller. Expansion is also expensive.2) Managing multiple controllers in a single 'schedule' is a little difficult. Easier than doing so with a traditional controller though. This is an area where they could evolve to make a 'mesh network' of controllers. Useful for larger properties like mine, ranches, gold courses, parks, etc.3) As you can see, there really isn't anything ugly about this controller. The price is what you pay for innovation. These guys have done a nice job, and I'm willing to pay extra for it.Works as described. Installed with a couple of Toro in ground moisture sensors (you are limited to two sensors, but you can associate sprinkler zones with a sensor so that multiple zones can be controlled by a single sensor). Online system works well. Have not yet figured out the integration with my Vera 3 automation controller. I paid for the upgraded access to Weather Undergound since I know they charge manufacturers for use of the system (no problem supporting both the manufacturer and WU since both services are valuable to me).Physical installation took about 10 minutes. Initial configuration took about 20 minutes. Then a few more 10 minute adjustments as I learned more about how the system works. Figure on spending a little time over the first few weeks to learn how the system works and to adjust it to get it dialed in.My only ding on the system is that it only has the ability to add two sensors. Would love to have the ability to add a moisture sensor for each zone as well as a water flow meter for even better control over the system. If I could deduct a half star for that I would, but the system is good enough that I don't feel right deducting an entire star.Love the fact that the system is made in the US. Support from the manufacturer is very good.I would buy this again.----- UPDATE after a couple years and a new house ----I figured I should make an update to this review. My opinion of the controller has not changed. It's only gotten better with time. The company has been purchased by Hunter. I just moved into a new house and decided to buy one of the Hunter branded units even though the old ones were still on the market. The Hunter branded units have improved build quality. Some of the things I wasn't thrilled about with the first generation (the mounting terminal placement/size, etc.) have been fixed. Overall it's a more professional quality device now. It's built to the level of quality that Hunter is known for. Setup is just as easy as before.My new house required that the controller be located outside and not as close as I would like to one of my Wifi access points. It drops out a little more often than I would like, but it always gets reconnected, so I'm not going to dock a star because it is pretty resilient. I wish they offered the ability for a direct Ethernet connection. I would have gone to the trouble of running a wire to get a hard connection if that was possible.Some thoughts on getting it set up so it really saves you money. Don't just set this up and let it run. Spend a couple months reducing the watering time length and the soak time. If you do this, you'll figure out exactly how little water is actually needed to keep the grass green while reducing the amount of mowing your yard needs. It takes a little time, but it is absolutely worth the effort. Doing that reduced the amount of water I used at the last house by about 80%. I'm expecting similar results at the new house.For the new house I decided to ditch the toro sensors as I actually ended up turning those off at the last house once the option of using multiple local weather stations was added. In their place I decided to add my own weather station and the Hunter branded water flow meter. Both have been outstanding additions. The flow meter paid for itself in the first week because it caught a solenoid that broke and was causing a zone to keep running once it turned on. Without the meter I would not have caught that until 20-30K gallons of water had been wasted. The weather station has also been an excellent addition. I picked up an Ambient Weather WS-1400-IP from Amazon for $159. Ten minutes to install it and set it up. It's been bulletproof. It's been a nice addition to the house irrespective of the lawn watering benefits.Go with rainmachine. This was uterly useless. Bad integration with smart hubs and they require extra money to pick a water station close to you. Also, no way to know which sprinkler is on and when the scheduled watering schedule is coming or being cancelled. There is just no data which is key for anything that is labelled "smart". Hunter basically bought out a smart sprinkler company and stiffled their growth.Easy install & to program