Features:

  • Works with Alexa for voice control (Alexa device sold separately).
  • Weather Intelligence - Watering is automatic based on real time weather and seasonal adjustments. No need to schedule it.
  • Better data, smarter watering - Rachio Water Reports confirm how much water you're using and saving.
  • Pays for itself - Saves customers as much as 30% on their outdoor water use, giving them one of the fastest paybacks on any smart home device.
  • EPA Water Sense Certified Product - Check with your local water municipality for rebate options. Rebates can range up to 100% of retail value.
  • EPA Water Sense Certified Product - Check with your local water municipality for rebate options. Rebates can range up to 100% of retail value.
  • Weather Intelligence - Watering is automatic based on real time weather and seasonal adjustments. No need to schedule it.
  • Better data, smarter watering - Rachio Water Reports confirm how much water you're using and saving.
  • Pays for itself - Saves customers as much as 30% on their outdoor water use, giving them one of the fastest paybacks on any smart home device.
  • Weather Intelligence - Watering is automatic based on real time weather and seasonal adjustments. No need to schedule it.
  • Better data, smarter watering - Rachio Water Reports confirm how much water you're using and saving.
  • Pays for itself - Saves customers as much as 30% on their outdoor water use, giving them one of the fastest paybacks on any smart home device.
  • EPA Water Sense Certified Product - Check with your local water municipality for rebate options. Rebates can range up to 100% of retail value.
  • The most connected sprinkler controller. Integrates with Nest, Amazon Alexa, IFTTT, Wink, Control4, Nexia and other top tier home automation systems for expanded functionality
It's paying for itself!

I love this! So far it is my favorite home automation upgrade. Living in Orlando, lawn irrigation can cost a lot of money in water and wastewater bills. My bill was basically cut in half based on this device is recommendations and my lawn looks great. I recommend using an external rain sensor if you live in an area that has quick localized bursts of rain (like Florida) as opposed to only using the internet weather service that this device pulls from. This unit will pay for itself in about a half a year in my case (Orlando water costs are pretty high). Even outside of the savings, this device is cool and definitely worth it.

Great Product with Outstanding Support

I've had my Rachio installed and running for just about a two months, and I could not be more satisfied or happier with its performance. The physical installation was very easy, replacing an existing controller, as I did. I opted for Flex scheduling, so setting up the parameters (plant, sprinkler types, slope, shade, etc.) on the individual zones does require an owner investment in time and diligence, in order to optimize the watering schedule, and may require some tweaking, but there is plenty of support and guidance material available, so it's a good learning process. Product support is outstanding on the Rachio, in fact, I've never experienced a support team and active community forum that approaches it, in terms of responsiveness or product expertise. The team is very active in making frequent improvements and enhancements to the firmware and UI, which bodes well for their ongoing success and for customer satisfaction. The Android app and web browser access are great, and it can be really helpful to be able to directly control the schedule and individual zone activation from anywhere. I live in the Southeast, where Summer storms are often highly localized, and I quickly found that reliance on the nearest NWS weather station for reporting, even though it is only 1.1 mi. from my home, was not giving me the level of accuracy for rainfall that I needed, so I added a Rain Bird WR2 Rain Sensor, and then a Netatmo Weather Station. Now that I can rely on rain information that is very accurate for my home, I am comfortable that the scheduler can do its job most effectively. In retrospect, I might have just added the Netatmo, but I have both the Rain Bird and the Netatmo operational, as kind of a belts and suspenders operation.

Ain't Technology Grand!

I debated quite a bit before purchasing the IRO (it is expensive) – I poured over the reviews (mainly on Amazon, but on other sites as well). Honestly, I wasn’t overly convinced until I started reading the responses to the negative (and the positive) reviews … this is what SOLD ME! Customer service ABSOLUTELY ROCKS with these folks!!! Emil doesn’t get paid enough (and I have no idea how much he makes) for putting up with all of the negative nannies that post reviews where the user was simply ignorant of the product and how it is explained it should be used. Ashley and Lena were also helpful to me in getting through the setup. But Kevin Rooney really connected with me on behalf of Rachio – thanks, Rooney! If you’re thinking about a “smart” irrigation timer – buy one from these folks! If only for the customer service!!! They do care – the technology is not perfect, the product is not perfect … but it is still a fairly new/innovative product and some hiccups are expected to be encountered. The folks at Rachio will go above and beyond to make you happy (and we know that there are some folks that never will be, but Rachio still tries!). Now for the review – I’ve had issues and am patiently waiting for “fixes” (a new app was recently issued): 1. If you are one of the few (like me) that uses a Windows Phone, you can’t connect through an app. You can connect through the internet on your phone and have some control over the system. But it seems the app would be the way to go. This is on me and not Rachio – while I will continue to use Windows Phones until they are more obsolete than the Zune (which was better than the IPod) I probably wouldn’t invest much in developing apps for it either. 2. I blinked the system up with the wife’s Android … it took several attempts, but we got it done (note: if you’re unfamiliar like I was – take the case off the phone … that seemed to make it work right away). 3. I actually measured off the area of each zone and entered all of the data into the advanced fields hoping that the “technology” would advise of watering times and such … it doesn’t. Not yet anyway. But I still believe that as the technology evolves and more units are sold – we’ll get there! 4. In short, you can do EVERYTHING that you could do with you “old fashioned” irrigation timer – plus, you can control it from your phone. If you check your sprinklers once or twice a year to make sure everything is working well – you don’t have to walk back and forth to the well house (I am irrigating about 3 acres) – I just change the zone on my phone. The technology continues to improve. I have waited nearly six months to write this review to insure that I have put it through it’s paces – I wish there was a Windows app so I would know how the rest of the world uses the Rachio. To conclude, it’s a very good product that only continues to improve and with the STELLAR customer service provide by all employees, you should buy this if you’re in the market for a wifi irrigation controller.

Highly recommended

I ordered this product to replace an older controller. I took advice from other reviewers and applied for the rebate through my city making this product almost free! I really enjoy being able to control everything from my phone. I travel a lot for work and it's nice to be able to have control on the road. I've also noticed a significant savings based on the app automatically postponing watering due to rain. One of the most beneficial functions of this device is that I can water my flowers which is a separate zone independently from the rest of the zones. This means I can water my flowers daily and my yard every 2 to 3 days. I also like the fact that you can control the zones manually from the app which makes replacing sprinkler heads and flushing the system for winter much easier. The app is very user-friendly and easy to understand. I am thrilled with this device and have already recommended it to all my neighbors who always question how I'm able to turn on my sprinklers from my front yard. Highly recommended

Rock solid simplicity

I removed a new construction Rainbord controller and enclosure after less than two years of frustrating use. I'm an engineer and programming the Rainbirs was a PITA. My new home had been required to have a rain gauge to over ride the controller. An inspector had even come to ensure that was in place. The contractor told me they never worked anyway. Ha! When I removed the Rainbird I found out the gauge wasn't even wired in properly. No wonder they don't work.and thanks for charging me for your worthless inspection City Hall. I bothered to tell you all that because one of the best features of the Rachio is not only that it tells me when the rain gauge is activated it also tells me when it deactivates. Those gauges can be adjusted (calibrated) to reset over a timeframe that matches your soil and climactic conditions. That's exactly the kind of thIng you need to do to get the most out of an irrigation system. Try that with a conventional controller. The Rachio has been rock solid. My wife loves it and loves that she can intervene easily if she wants to. Even if she is in a different state. And the lawn service guys can't mess with the settings like they used to (because they know best). If they have a siggested change to the watering they call my wife and she adjusts it on the spot...even if she is 1600 miles away. I love the ease of programming and flexibility and ty simple reliable notifications of what happened and when. I irrigate using an adjacent lake and the Rachio controls my pump. Using lake water means I haven't been trying to minimize a water bill but I don't know of anything on the market that gives such simple and precise control which makes minimizing water consumption while optimizing green grass such a breeze.

Advanced Installation was a Breeze

I am writing this review because my set up was a little bit different than others and I hope that my experiences will help others. I have a large yard. Our old sprinkler controller had 19 zones. I researched this unit and the Skydrop for a few weeks. They seemed pretty comparable. I ultimately based my decision on which unit had the most advanced app according to the reviews. The app for the Skydrop was updated recently but some of the comments still knocked the look and feel of the app. So I decided to go with the Rachio. I contacted Rachio about my 19 zone issue and I asked how they recommended the issue be addressed. They told me that I could have two units and that I would need to splice the common wire to the new unit. They also stated that to keep them from both running at the same time, it was recommended that I run one on even days and one on odd days. I did not like this proposed solution. I have been told that the version 2 app will allow multiple controllers to be integrated and work as one controller. I researched on the Rachio forum and found someone asking questions about putting two wires on a single zone. The comments stated that it should be okay, but might affect pressure. So I mapped out my existing zones and picked three that I thought could be combined. I purchased the Rachio and it was delivered three days ago. Installation was a breeze. I followed the recommendations and took a picture of the existing layout and then proceeded to set up the new zones with the proposed combining of three on the new system. If I did not have the issue with the 19 zones going to 16, the whole process would have taken about 1/4 of the time. I then proceeded to set up the system. It was so much fun to be walking around our big yard turning on each of the zones on and give it a name on my cell phone.. Of the zones I selected to combine, one affected water pressure. The other two worked fine. So that zone could not continue to be together. I tried two other configurations and both affected water pressure for the two combined zones that I selected. I disconnected one of the two wires for a zone and just left it overnight. I slept on it and tried to decide whether to buy another unit or to return the thing because I could not get it to do what I wanted it to do. Yesterday, when I woke up, I decided to take one of the two other zones that I had combined and to break it up between two neighboring zones. Then I set up the lone remaining zone on its own. When I tested it, all was fine and the pressure was not impacted by any combination. Right now I am out of town and my Rachio is watering away through the different zones in my yard. The biggest advantages for me with this unit is the ability to turn on a single zone at anytime from anywhere. Also, our yard is mostly clay. So I am hoping that the changes for clay will help manage our yard better. This was the reason that I did not want two units. With clay, the unit breaks up the watering over a period of time during the day. So the only sure way to keep them separate would be to water different days. We have had water restrictions in the past so I did not like that as an option. I think that you could address the two units differently and water on the same day, but never had to try that since I was able to successfully combine three zones. I did notice a couple of things during installation. There were some comments about if the wires are too long, it can create issues with closing the unit. I agree with these comments. The issue is that there is no click to close. It is being held closed by a data connection between the two pieces. I think that a click catch between the two plastic units would be a nice added feature. Overall, the installation was super easy and would have been even more so but for my 19 zone issue. I am very happy with the product so far.

Love it.

So far, the Rachio is terrific. I replaced an age-old clock that still worked, but I was always stressed about turning it off if it was going to rain, how long to water each zone, etc. etc... After setting up each zone on the Rachio, I've done nothing. It doesn't water if it's going to rain, it skips days based on temperature, and you can easily manually water a zone from your phone. I was a little freaked by having a box on the wall with no ability to manually turn on a zone, but that soon faded, and now my lawn looks fine. I live in Colorado, and some brown spots during our hot dry weeks are unavoidable; so even with the Rachio I have a couple spots that look a little dry, but fewer than I did before, and I'm using FAR less water. I'm marginally tech savvy, but you sure don't need to be. The app walks you through set up. Another cool thing is I finally took the time to describe each zone, so now they are named in the app. This is an outstanding product that I suspect will keep getting better. I received a $100 rebate from Denver water for buying this (I needed two but only get a rebate for one), and I believe I've probably already saved enough in a couple months to pay the difference. Plus I'm saving water, which is always critical in places like CO.

Best Wireless Product with Much More!

Same as all others here. I have been running the IRO for about 4 months now with many significant benefits and zero issues. Great product and eliminates yet another major pain in modern life. I actually have the 16 zone version with 9 zones turned on. Haven’t touched the control unit once since I installed in about 20 minutes. I love the setup and the application to name your zones, set the ground type, get recommendations, set the rain predictor threshold, etc. I use to get either dead grass in the middle of summer with too little irrigation or too many mushrooms from too much irrigation in the spring. Not anymore. The history and reports are great but there is much more beyond water savings and automatic seasonal adjustments. Every now and then a product comes along and changes the way we do things beyond their advertised benefits. This is one of those products. Several things I love in addition to the core functionality. Easily maintaining, adjusting and testing sprinkler heads without running back and forth to old manual controller. Turning the sprinkler on the wife when she is working or laying in the back yard (even when I'm at work) :). Being able to easily set up a quick run on a single zone like the flowers/bushes when I want to. Setting off the sprinklers on kids or the cat while watching through the window and so on... I don’t agree at all with a couple reviewers complaining about all kinds of “what if” issues as if it should be perfect out of the box with all expected, unexpected and future features already built in. That’s the beauty of this product. All the logic & interface is at the application so they can easily update, introduce new features, listen to feedback and continue to improve. This is how it should be! Overall, this is the best addition to my wireless-controlled world and after much research I highly recommend this to anyone. Now if I can just integrate with my Dropcam to trigger the spinklers when detecting motion in the front yard for those rabbits…

Great product worthy of a 5 star review, although still plenty of things to work on going forward

Several things to say. I'll try to be as concise and objective as possible. Positive - I purchased this because of the flawless 5-star reviews on Amazon. I agree with the rating after having used for 2 weeks. - Rachio's customer support is at par with (or even beyond) Amazon's own (which I hold in very high esteem). The guys are awesome and very responsive. Not sure how long they'll be able to hold up that quality as their company grows, but right now I can say their responsiveness to my questions has been way above average. Kudos to them for their focus on customer experience. - Comes with terminals to connect sensors (e.g.: rain sensor). - Installation was a breeze - Connection to home WiFi (router) was quick and painless. - Good build quality. "press-in" wire connectors make installation easy (no screws to mess around with). All it took was 2 larger screws to fix it to the wall--no biggie. - Very nice app. You can customize things like soil type, grading and irrigation head type for each zone, and if you activate the smart irrigation setting, the program will calculate appropriate "soak times" (to account for heavier, clayey soils taking up water slower). The program is not so good at showing you the "soak minutes" it has decided to add (they do have a comprehensive FAQ on it, but it is a bit cumbersome to do the calculations yourself, just because there are so many variables involved), but I was told changes/improvements to the app are coming in May. The not so positive - I have 12 zones. Felt I was ripped off a little in buying the "16 zones" to accommodate for only 12 (their smaller controller only has 8 so it didn't fit the bill). Not a product issue--More of just being stuck in the middle with my current configuration. - They do not support Weather Underground "cloud", so some of the nicer and lower-priced persona weather stations (such as WS-1001-WiFi) are not supported. You often need a weatherbridge or more fancy equipment running hundreds of dollars if you want to improve accuracy with your own little weather station. Most of the Personal Weather Stations (PWS) they support are somewhat expensive. - Has the option to use "Personal Weather Stations" if you think the national grid is not so accurate. In my case, the closest national weather station was 15 miles away (ugh!), and I had a "Personal Weather Station" set up by a neighbor 0.15 mi away. However, you never know how reliable that data could be. It is not Rachio's fault that I don't have more neighbors setting up their own PWS, but I am still a bit skeptical on weather data interpretation--then again, local weather is always hard to predict. This kind of goes in hand with my opinion about the pricey compatible PWSs that Iro will work with. ...still, not critical to the unit itself; more of my personal wishes as a user speaking here. Negative - As pointed out by other reviewers, wiring can be tight. I had 12 zones, and my wiring was heavy (probably 14 or even 12 gauge, solid strand copper, same as house wiring). I had to cut the plastic in the back panel to get the cables to fit. And then bend every wire individually and meticulously press it back against the controller to be able to close the lid without it popping back open. There is just enough room to fit the cables (they get "sandwiched in between the front and back part of the controller). And I have only 12 zones--had I used 16 I would have needed to splice my cables to lower gauge wires. Still, the "retrofit" did not take all that long. - Some minor bugs in their app. Crashes on one screen in particular, and did a few weird things on others. Was able to work around things, and they said they'll be releasing a new improved version of the app in May. Can't wait.

Added a Junction Box During Install

This is a great device! I added a junction box (see photo) to transition from my existing 14 gauge wires to 18 gauge which made my installation a lot easier. The smaller wires fits the opening in the base plate of the IRO a lot better. Here are the additional items I ordered at Amazon to do this: 1) Hubell PDB77550WH junction box 2) Morris 22052 terminal block Being able to remotely turn on and off each zone manually made the job of troubleshooting my pop up sprinklers and drip emitters so much easier. The Rachio App provided all the features and flexibility I needed for optimum watering of my landscape. This product is a joy to use.

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