RainPoint WiFi Smart Hose Timer with Brass Inlet - Automatic Sprinkler Timer for Garden, Lawn & Yard Irrigation | APP & Voice Control | Weather-Based Watering System for Efficient Outdoor Plant Care

The good:- My wife normally questions pricey smart home products, but she quickly realized how much of a convenience this unit is over manually opening the valve (especially with trying to grow new grass, flowers, plants, herbs, veggies etc.) while we are out of town, not to mention being able to check forecasts and delay timing as well as changing the time or duration of the waterings. It is much easier doing these actions on a smart device than it is on a standard mechanical timer- App interface is clean, robust and easy to use. I love the (very) detailed weather info tab- Plans are easy to schedule and the app can accommodate multiple watering plans. I use the plan feature to set start times and duration so that my different zones can run one after another and not simultaneously (this way each sprinkler can get the maximum water pressure to cover as much lawn area as possible- Whether running a planned irrigation schedule or a manual cycle, there is no delay. As soon as you confirm the action, the valve opens and it will water for it’s set duration- Very cool that it can integrate with alexa, but I have two young kids at home and don’t need my water bill this summer through the roof if they learn that she can control the sprinklers- Color of unit blends in nicely with landscaping- Unit is very robust and seems well made- Hub and timer paired quickly and easily with my home’s wifi- Although the unit is not cheap, the pricing is much better than more well known automated lawn sprinklers out thereThe bad:- It took a while to get the water to flow through the valve. 25+ cycles on/off through the unit’s button as directed in the manual & quickstart guide, and a customer support email did the trick. It seems the valve can get “stuck” during shipping? I suspect this might lead to some returns if other people have the same issue but keep cycling it on and off and once it clicks open it works great- I have two other rainpoint wifi timers (their products are so-far excellent) and they use a different hub and the rainpoint tuya app. This unit uses a smaller hub which unfortunately will not work with the hub/app I already have, so now I have two hubs, and two separate rainpoint apps to control my sprinkler timers. (Not horrible, but a minor inconvenience; Who needs another app to clutter their smartphone when us types already likely have many others to deal with)Some other thoughts:- The unit is pretty heavy. I added a garden hose coiled spring protector to ensure it would not break the unit or put undue pressure on my outdoor spigot if someone bumped into it- It would be nice if rainpoint made a user accessible housing that the unit could fit inside which could be mounted but mainly used to protect it from constant UV, water and weather- I would absolutely recommend this 1-zone timer to anyone looking to add smart control capabilities to their home. I like this unit so much in fact that I also purchased another 1-zone and a 2-zone timer for my other outdoor spigots, and so far have been 100% satisfied. Truly happy with this purchase- I will definitely be removing them well before winter frosts and hoping it gives me many great years of use