Rachio 8-Zone Smart Sprinkler Controller

Rachio 3 is my first experience with a smart controller. The investment for one is well worth the money, whether you choose this product or not. Below are a couple features that I love about this particular smart controller:Pros:1. Controlling Via Smartphone - Being able to control the functions of your irrigation system via smartphone is a game changer. My previous unit had the ability to schedule but was rigid in what it could do. Having this feature available while seeding this spring eliminated following a rigid, programmed, schedule best suited to seeding, as well as potential trips to my garage to correct that programming. This app allows you to set up multiple schedules and label them accordingly. You have the flexibility to set your schedules to a date range, quick start a schedule, or simply initiate a quick run, which is just an option to choose a particular zone and spontaneously run for whatever reason.2. Weather Intelligence Skips - Localized to your immediate area, it will pull data and determine if the conditions are ideal for running your system. You have the option of modifying the thresholds for temperature, wind, and rain. For example, the default-skip for Wind may be 15mph but you have the option to lower to 10mph. A lot of older controllers have the ability to sense for rain.. how accurate those are can be debated (mine ran no matter what so I am biased). I don’t know how many are sensitive to wind, which is, in my opinion, the highlight of this feature.3. How Much Did It Rain? - I didn’t see this on my research on this product before buying and believe it deserves a highlight.. on your Home tab of the app, at the top, it displays the weather projected for the day and a couple in advance, as well as a recorded history of the weather in the previous days/week(s). While the system schedules to run your irrigation system according to rainfall, it’s still very nice to reference this data and correct your schedule, if needed.4. User Interface - the UI on the app makes navigating throughout simple enough for those challenged with operating a smart phone. It’s visually appealing to look at and doesn’t overload you with features/information.5. Smart Cycle/Soaking - Let’s say you have 4 zones. Each is scheduled to run 40 minutes. Zone 1 will run for 20 minutes, then cycle to Zone 2 for 20 minutes, etc etc then circle back to zone 1 to finish the scheduled watering. This is a very simplified explanation of this feature but it allows the water to soak into the ground and eliminates runoff.Disclaimer..This product is marketed as saving you money on your monthly bill and that’s done via the weather intelligence skips. This is, in my opinion, slightly false. While a scheduled run can skip for wind, temperature, or rain… it will be rescheduled. That being said, if you keep pushing your scheduled runs back, there is value saved seen, overall, in the calendar year. The claim to save an average of 30% and up to 50% on your monthly water bill seems misleading.How this SHOULD be marketed, while not as sexy as the message of “saving money,” is increasing the value of your money. The weather intelligence skips work. Running the irrigation system while it’s windy is the equivalent of lighting money on fire. Your lawn doesn’t get what it needs and will not get what it needs until the next scheduled run. You can see how this could be an issue if scheduled runs are stacked on windy days and what your lawn could look like in the summer. If you made it this far in the review, you are likely heavily considering purchasing this product or something like it. Do it. It’s worth the money.