These are neat devices but keep in mind that in November 2021 they had sent out Google details details of ~1, 000 customers (including images their customers used in profiles- like faces) by not masking contact details. While things happen they seemed to not respond to customers impacted by the information reveal (aside from an “Oops” tweet).
Basically if personal data protection is important to you, you might want to think twice…
I have a 15 year old IrrigationCaddy that’s basic smart with its own website and ability to create multiple"programs", but no advanced controls like seasonal adjustments, weather forecasting, percentage adjustments and soil dryness detection.
Are the advanced controls of this Rachio with the price if you already have a smart basics?
They’re included. Adjusts automatically based on seasons and weather (example, if weather predicted rain it won’t run, adds days of watering during drier seasons and decreases during wet).
It can cause issues if it doesn’t actually rain (it goes off weather forecast, can’t tell if it is actually raining you’d need a sensor for that), if you live in a restricted watering area (say your county only let’s you water certain hours, it can sometimes water outside of those hours). But there isn’t a subscription as far as I can tell so it is useful in that aspect!
My sprinkler control box is outside - I recall a past model of this said it needed to be installed indoors. Is that still the case?
You’d need to buy their weather-proof enclosure:
I love my Rachio.
I installed Gen 2 at my previous house on my own. Super easy to do.
On this house, I had my landscaper install it when he was putting in the irrigation system. It was his first time to install a Rachio. He figured it out and was also able to attach the rain detection doohickey required by our city.
I love the seasonal adjustments and how easy it is to go from one watering per week for the winter to two for the spring/summer.
Works great, easy install. I sold my previous home with a Rachio gen2. First month in my new place, took out Hunter controller, replaced with Rachio gen3. BTW, Rachio also works with Amazon Alexa, though the interface could be better. Alexa only runs one zone at a time “Alexa, ask Rachio to sprinkle zone 3 for 5 minutes.” Hope to see an upgrade to run all zones, i.e. “Alexa, ask Rachio to do a quick run of all zones for 5 minutes.” Also very handy if you are working on sprinkler heads, just turn on and off through a smart phone when adjusting or replacing.
Good News for everyone that bought the Rachio R3,including myself. Your local water company might offer a $50 rebate for buying this. My water company, Suffolk County Water Authority does. Check on Rachio website to find out Rachio Rebates Program
By the way, super easy to hook up and loving the the features and the app.No more running down the basement to fuss with the old timer controller 