Rachio Smart Sprinkler Controller

Rachio Smart Sprinkler Controller

If you can live without HomeKit and only need 8 zones, this is a great deal. Make sure to look for local rebates. Ours was straightforward and came within a month (50%)

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Got one of these a couple years ago. Works fairly well.

The rain skip leads a bit to be desired and there are times when it skips that I think it should have gone, and times when it goes when it should have skipped. I’ve had it run while it was raining, and had it skip when there was .1" of rain forecast after a week of 100+ degree days. So if you’re counting on that, it takes a bit of babysitting.

The auto-scaling of watering times throughout the year is nice, but it doesn’t always correspond with the actual temps you’re seeing. And it’s a bit funny to have it alert you that it’s changing your watering times when you have it disabled during the winter.

I get the impression that the people doing the programming haven’t done much to accommodate different locales growing seasons, which I’m sure is a difficult process. Otherwise, it does a better job of managing the water than any dumb system I’ve messed with, and the ability for me to run it from my phone is great. Especially when it’s time to do maintenance and you want to run a test for a minute without having to run around the whole house to turn it on and off.

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Appreciate the honest feedback. I was looking into purchasing.

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I have one. Love it. Easy set up and control. Great while fixing issues in the yard. No more running back and forth to control box. Great price.

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I installed one at my previous house. Pretty easy install. My only hitch was shortening the plastic pipe the wires were going through but I happened to have a pipe cutter so, BOOM!

I loved the simplicity of use and all the automatic adjustments. I didn’t have the problems with the rain skip that I recall.

I’m getting ready to have sprinklers installed in my current house. My landscaper wanted me to go with Hunter. Did some research. Nope, going with Rachio. But I need at least 10 zones so I can’t get this one. :cry:

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10 zones! I only have 5-6…
Thanks for the personal input on this product. It’s one of the things I love about this website.

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You can double-down on some zones. My parents have 9 zones but we got an 8-zone Rachio. We just doubled up one of the zones. Completely kosher apparently.

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Yup…if you have a couple zones that have real similar characteristics, that should work fine.

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Same model I have, love it. Rain skip is at the whim of your selected weather station. If you don’t have an official nearby station, using an unofficial station that’s nearby will often fix it.

If you take the time to fiddle with the settings for the type of foliage, absorption, runoff, slope, soil type, etc, it does a bang up job of watering.

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