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4.5
We had to replace a 14 year-old irrigation timer when the electro-mechanical switches started to get flaky. Three valves were already installed, with wiring already in place from the valves to the timer location (in the garage). I was really unsure how to replace the old timer, and did a fair amount of research and dithering, but finally decided on this unit. I'm happy to report it turned out to be a good choice! First, it was a snap to install--I just hooked up the wires from the valves (one wire per valve, and one "master/common" wire), and plugged it in. The "hardest" part was attaching it to the wall, which just required all of two screws. After that I downloaded the app to my iPhone, created an account, and the rest was a piece of cake. The unit asked me for permission to connect by bluetooth, after which it detected our WiFi; I logged it in, and then set up the watering schedules. You can have up to four; I created three (normal, hot weather, and REALLY hot weather...). You tell it when to start and how long each valve should run for each such schedule (you can choose specific days of the week, odd or even days (viz., dates), etc., all pretty standard for irrigation timers). Then you (typically) choose which schedule to run, and that's it, you're done. I think this whole process took me about 15 minutes, if that. The thing I did not realize in advance is how much easier setup and operation is with a well-designed app as your interface! Our other timer worked basically the same way, but you had to perform all operations physically on the unit itself (and you can get such timers for $40-60 less nowadays, if you want to save a little money). Besides setup, the app tells you what schedule you are using, when the next watering will happen, and allows you to change to a different schedule, run a valve manually for x amount of time, and so on. Status information is also displayed on the unit, as well as in the app, which can be handy if you don't happen to have your phone on you at a particular moment. Part of this is simply about having a timer that's capable of connecting to the internet and is controlled by a phone app, but I want to add that if the app were poorly designed (which is often the case when companies that used to just make gizmos suddenly find themselves wanting to produce smart gizmos, but they lack the engineering expertise!), or connectivity did not work well, or whatever, then even a well built piece of equipment could be a disappointing pain in the ---. So I congratulate Orbit for designing a nice, clear user interface that works exactly as it should. I should add that the unit has an "automatic" feature that I have not tried yet; I guess that feature actually monitors the weather (which it can since it's online) and decides whether to water based on that, at least in part. I might check that out later. It also can handle up to 8 valves, which is way more than we needed, but who knows, we might add more zones in the future. Finally, I must confess, I was delighted by the way the panel that hides the wire connection array comes off--rather than some kind of plastic tabs or something, it clicks out of and into place *magnetically*! That probably reveals my truly geeky nature...ahem...but, well, I just thought it was a cool touch, and maybe indicative of some uncommonly thoughtful engineering.
