Great app
I’ve used this app for a few years. It has been great. Very reliable. I only have it 4 stars not 5 because I’d like an added feature to see my watering history.
Ok
I went to the local irrigation shop to buy and orbit b-hyve controller as I had heard really good things about the app, however I was talked into the rain bird.
The controller it’s self is good but the app really lacks some functionality which I would have thought was basic. You can not look back on a day and see what events actually happened. E.g if you have a program scheduled, you can see when these were/are scheduled, but if you manually water or stop a program short, you don’t see this on the calendar. It’s a small feature but I’d say a very vital feature for an app based irritation system.
Overall I’m happy with most but there is a lot for improvement.
The controller it’s self is good but the app really lacks some functionality which I would have thought was basic. You can not look back on a day and see what events actually happened. E.g if you have a program scheduled, you can see when these were/are scheduled, but if you manually water or stop a program short, you don’t see this on the calendar. It’s a small feature but I’d say a very vital feature for an app based irritation system.
Overall I’m happy with most but there is a lot for improvement.
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Great app
Great app use all the time
Needs improvement
First off, when you name your sprinkler zones it does not allow many characters even though the box for the entry is quite long. Second, any scheduled program supersedes all other functions, so if you are manually watering and a program start time is scheduled during the manual watering it shuts the manual watering off and starts the scheduled watering. You can remove start times but you will get an alarm message on your controller and magically mine reverted back to the original start times. Thirdly the app is slow at keeping up with the controller. For instance it will display that you are on a specific zone but you need to wait a few minutes for it to sync and show the actual zone and watering time. Lastly, don’t trust seasonal adjust or you may have a brown lawn. It’s still a handy app it just needs more work…..oh and the rain sensor..hmm had to turn it off. It says it’s raining on a beautiful sunny day
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Really disappointing
I originally thought this app was “okay” at best. I thought it would mostly control the sprinklers and be automatic. The notifications stink. It only tells you after it runs. Not when it’s happening. Also, it randomly turned watering “off” once, and none of my scheduled watering would work until I turned it back on. Finally, last straw- it had a connection error. I have now tried everything to reconnect the device, restart, restart phone, restart WiFi, everything. Nothing works. Constant error telling me I cannot connect. I’m not sure if I have a bad unit or what. I planted new grass and I need something that will be reliable. I got this for peace of mind, and knowing the watering was happening. Not to be confused and wonder what the heck is going on half the time I’m going to return the whole unit and probably get something else. The app was glitchy at best but I might have been able to accept it. I have too many other things to worry about to be fighting with some $150 water timer that works “okay” and an app that is just garbage.
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Rain bird app review
For the most part the app is useful. I would give it higher marks if it had an easy way to cycle through all zones. I have not found a way to use the app to either select one zone or to easily cycle through the zones on command. It would be much more useful if there was a troubleshooting feature. The feature would allow one to pick a zone and turn it on/off on command or to manually run a cycle and on command jump to the next zone. This way one could walk through the zones and see how the sprayers are working maybe stopping the spray to adjust the sprinkler head the starting it again. I hope someone reads this and creates an enhancement request around it.
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Rain Bird WiFi controller
The controller works fine but I have two main issues with the app.
1). Location services must be turned on to access the controller. There is no need for Rain Bird to know my location to water my lawn. Whether I am at home or traveling, the app works the same and therefore no need for me to turn on location services. I’m not one to live on my phone and don’t need my location shared just to work a product I purchased.
2). After programming a manual delay in the schedule (which is a function I like) the controller only says the front panel is “Off” but the automatic schedule does not show when the next watering will occur. You have to remember how many days you manually shut the system off.
Those are my two complaints. Other than that the WiFi was easy to set up and program. The manual turn on function is nice when making adjustment to the heads
1). Location services must be turned on to access the controller. There is no need for Rain Bird to know my location to water my lawn. Whether I am at home or traveling, the app works the same and therefore no need for me to turn on location services. I’m not one to live on my phone and don’t need my location shared just to work a product I purchased.
2). After programming a manual delay in the schedule (which is a function I like) the controller only says the front panel is “Off” but the automatic schedule does not show when the next watering will occur. You have to remember how many days you manually shut the system off.
Those are my two complaints. Other than that the WiFi was easy to set up and program. The manual turn on function is nice when making adjustment to the heads
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Solid app performance
Great app, can manage the entire controller program from the phone. I can connect at all times and start and stop everything remotely. Like most of the Rainbird equipment a quality product
Great app
I installed a complete rainbird system including the ESP-RZEe controller. The app has lots of options and the ability to adjust settings without going to the hardware. The only shortcoming is having to visit the hardware to switch on / off the auto setting. In the UK it would be nice to have the ability to switch on / off remotely due to our weather.
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App is great, module is unreliable
App works great. It’s easy to use and understand and it’s very convenient for testing and adjusting the system.
The modules are are unreliable as they easily lose their WiFi connection and then the only way to get it up and running again is to repeat the setup process which can only be done at the controller. It’s a real pain to do even if you are always on site. If you’re away on vacation, etc, you’re screwed until you return. Interesting how I don’t experience this problem with my doorbell camera, smart thermostat, or other similar devices.
I do wonder how competitor controllers work under the same circumstances...
The modules are are unreliable as they easily lose their WiFi connection and then the only way to get it up and running again is to repeat the setup process which can only be done at the controller. It’s a real pain to do even if you are always on site. If you’re away on vacation, etc, you’re screwed until you return. Interesting how I don’t experience this problem with my doorbell camera, smart thermostat, or other similar devices.
I do wonder how competitor controllers work under the same circumstances...
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