My unsmart rainbird controller is original to the house in 2007. Has a rain sensor so it shuts off after a decent rain. No issues with it at all. Any reason to buy a smart controller other than the ability to soak the kids via my phone?

They are very handy, but not necessary. Some features are more important based on your climate.

Things I use mine for:
- Freezing temp skips - very important in our area.
- I turn on an extra schedule for the hot months of the year that puts a little bit of extra water on the areas next to the sidewalk daily so they don't burn up. Makes a big difference.
- Can easily turn on a schedule for establishing new seed/sod
- Much easier to flag for aerating
- Quick start after mowing and/or fertilizing to keep grass from burning up.
- Moves start time to finish right at sunrise, since this is a moving target.

I don't use the feature, but you can also reduce water usage based on future weather, rather than not run after a large rain only. With our dry climate, I get too many false skips, but I think it works well in other areas.

Saves time and saves money. My $40 b-hyve paid for itself in a year easily for me when it skipped a cycle and didn't run after a rain or ahead of predicted rain.

Easily pays for itself with the predictive weather. Calculate how much you pay per watering, then divide that by the cost of the controller. If I skip 3 waterings, I've paid for the controller.

The only thing you have to be cautious of is you will skip a cycle due to predictive weather, then you don't get any/minimal rain. In that case, I just do a manual run if my lawn looks thirsty.

I also like to ensure my sprinklers are running properly once/month, so it makes life a lot easier to pull your phone out of your pocket and turn a zone on rather than running over the controller.

Make sure to check with your water district/utility to see if they offer rebates or credits for putting one in. It's been a while but I know I got a decent bill credit for putting ours in.

thanks for the replies. what's the texags controller of choice?

I have rainbird. It works just fine. Never used any other brand, so nothing to compare against. Using the phone app is much easier than the controls on the box.

hoosier-daddy said:

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thanks for the replies. what's the texags controller of choice?

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I looked at the Racchio and got a B-hyve on eBay for about $40 instead. The Racchio is far and away a better device.

Dill-Ag13 said:

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hoosier-daddy said:

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thanks for the replies. what's the texags controller of choice?

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I looked at the Racchio and got a B-hyve on eBay for about $40 instead. The Racchio is far and away a better device.

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I've owned Rachio and B-Hyve. For 95% of people the Rachio is fine, but why on gods green earth don't they allow for a manual timed option. 3 minute manual section all the is possible!! There is no Bluetooth support either in the event Wifi is lost.

B-Hybe has Bluetooth + full manual control for however long you want.

Installed a Rachio earlier this year.

Nice to control with phone, but it massively over waters my yard. I'm about to switch to manual scheduling.

For example it will water a flower bed for 45 minutes that I know does great with 10.

I've had both the Rachio and B-Hyve and don't trust the automated, dynamic schedules. They consistently over or under watered my yard if I set it and let it run. The weather forecasting and skips works about the same on both and controlling via the phone is great for testing and starting ad-hoc runs without going to the garage.

I switched to Rachio from B-Hyve because the wifi chip on my B-Hyve died and I hoped Rachios algorithm would be better, but haven't found that to be true.

if you are on any sort of the "Flex" schedules, this is a common complaint. Try using Smart Cycle and a Fixed Schedule. Fixed schedule is good for when you have scheduled watering days, like my neighborhood. With my smart cycle, it runs each zone twice to prevent run off and allow for some soak time.

From the panel itself or through the app?

https://support.rachio.com/en_us/rachio-3-manual-controls-ryBTDLkFP#:~:text=The%20manual%20controls%20on%20the,time%2C%20straight%20from%20the%20device.

3 minute limit from the box itself. Pretend your WiFi is out.

I have the greenest yard in the neighborhood and I have the b-hyve…

All of the above:
-Troubleshooting
-Manually running from your phone when it is 900 degrees and you think about moving to California
-when you are mowing in said 900 degrees and you are point of blackout and cycle the sprinklers on as you are going down.

evan_aggie said:

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From the panel itself or through the app?

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I never touch the panel. All through the app on the quick run selection.

Right. So when WiFi is inopp it's a useless paperweight.

Crazy they don't have Bluetooth.

evan_aggie said:

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Right. So when WiFi is inopp it's a useless paperweight.

Crazy they don't have Bluetooth.

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The Pro HC stores the program and runs that even if no wifi. It just doesn't get weather data and you can't run manually from phone. You can run individual zones for any specified time manually from controller just not the whole program at once.

CapeAggie89 said:

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Another plus is that you have controls on your phone. Walking around and checking on the zones does not require you to run back and forth the box on the wall to move to the next zone. So if getting ready in the spring or working on a repair, it does make it easier.

Sometimes its the small things.

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My sprinkler system isn't smart but it does have a remote module that keeps me from having to run back and forth.

evan_aggie said:

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Right. So when WiFi is inopp it's a useless paperweight.

Crazy they don't have Bluetooth.

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Does this happen often? The only time my wifi is out, the power is out. And that's rare these days.

AgLA06 said:

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evan_aggie said:

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Right. So when WiFi is inopp it's a useless paperweight.

Crazy they don't have Bluetooth.

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Does this happen often? The only time my wifi is out, the power is out. And that's rare these days.

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It is rare. It's more common if you have a rental property with tenants changing hands, and internet service, once a year in the summer.

Which eventually begets the question why the crap they couldn't incorporate Bluetooth when B-Hyve could and was half the price.

That makes more sense. As I was looking at it as a home owner. Do you automate everything?

I used to automate but not anymore. I just manually kick things off from phone when I think something needs watering.

I meant things in your rent homes other than irrigation. Locks, lights, appliances, AC, etc.

Wifi out is rare, so it is really a non issue 99.9% of the time. When it does, the Rachio still operates:

Quote:

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If for some reason the Rachio does not reconnect to the Wi-Fi, the controller will continue to run the last saved schedule. During this time, the controller will be unable to perform weather skips, as it has no way to check the forecast without an active Wi-Fi connection.

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B-hyve fan. In addition to the reasons already given, I like being able to run a zone(s) if it looks scorched when I pull into the driveway when I get home in the evening before walking into the house and getting distracted by family.

I have a Rachio 3 and a Rachio Hose Timer for my vegetable garden drip irrigation. So far I've loved both, having access in the same app to make any adjustments. Last week the Rachio 3 became disconnected and won't fully reboot. Somehow the program is still running, but I can't login to the controller on the app. I sent in a report this morning and will update once I hear back.