Rachio Smart Sprinkler Controller


Rachio Smart Sprinkler Controller

I bought one of these as an upgrade to my manually programmed sprinkler controller. The ability to run the sprinklers from the yard by smartphone while adjusting the sprinkler headsis a great improvement over running back and forth to the garage to activate different zones.

Likewise the intelligent rain skipping feature and seasonal watering time adjustment are a great convenience. Installation is simple, just plug in the wires from your existing 24 volt sprinkler controller valves and set up the watering schedule with the Rachio smartphone app and you are good to go. The hardware is well made and should last for a decade or two.

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Better than sliced bread. If you have an irrigation system and don’t have one of these, well, I feel sorry for you.

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I have a first-gen one and it still continues to work. Saves big money on water bills by watering only when necessary. Having smartphone control is great when the kids want to run through the sprinklers in the back yard.

What was said above is basically what I was going to say about this. I’ve had one for about 2 years and can’t imagine not having this.
For maintenance alone, totally worth it. Remote starting and stopping while working on sprinkler heads is invaluable.
Another feature I didn’t know I would ever want is the ability to remotely start a cycle to get extra water down while away on extra hot days. Prevents the yard from totally drying out during heatwaves while on vacation.
The first gen uses funky light flashing from your phone’s screen to a sensor on the unit to sync. It works fine, but takes a bit of time. This runs on old 2.4ghz, so consider your router placement before buying. That said, I’ve had zero connectivity issues with our first gen.
I see no reason to upgrade as this works perfectly well for our needs.
Great price for an bit of tech you will be amazed you lived without.

I have the first generation of this sprinkler. It’s awesome.

If you don’t have one, buy it.

Ditto on the above. But instead of hyping on the good/cool stuff, here’s a few things to think about.

  1. If you can, setup a SEPARATE wireless connection (SSID) for this device, then “hide” it. Just makes it harder for someone out “wardriving” to see it and hack your network. Also, make sure you check NO INTRANET ACCESS (if you can)

  2. I live in Michigan. I shut mine down in Oct and fire it back up in May. I normally unplug it from the wall. I end up having to re-connect it to my network but no reason to leave it plugged in all winter.

  3. Though the app is awesome, it takes a little bit of poking around to modify it. I normally just make up a new schedule and delete the old one.

  4. As stated, will not work on the 5ghz WiFi band. Not a big issue but 2.4 is cluttered enough as it is. 5 would be nice.

Not many “cons”. I spent about an hour setting it up the first time, using pictures for my zones to make it easier to figure out which of the 8 zones I was trying to water. Never felt the need to jump to gen 2+. Though having the RUN button on the unit is nice, or if you don’t have your phone on your person.

I’ve used it as a “offensive” deterrent. Live in big sub. People walk their dogs. Ok, no issue. But people tend to think it’s OK to let said dogs pee or poop in the yard (they do curb their dogs), instead of guiding them to use the “right of way” area. Soooo, when I’ve seen them sniffing in the yard, that zone magically pops on. Dog and walker scramble to get in the clear zone. Nice feature to have, from the phone that is.

Does anyone know what model number this is?

I bought this on a previous sale. I absolutely love it. Our water usage has dropped considerably and it is fine-tuned to a weather station in our neighborhood for extreme accuracy.

Has paid for itself already.

It only says Gen 2 in the specs.