[RVRoadie]

On a recent trip out west a friend told me about this irrigation controller. Rachio His son had one installed, and was happy with the results.

It replaces your current irrigation controller, and is controlled entirely from your smartphone. Except for a blinking light, there is no display or controls on the irrigation box. It does require a wi-fi connection.

I did the install myself (very easy) and the programming was a snap. It walks you through each of your stations, asks you a few questions about what is growing, type of soil, and type of sprinklers. It then calculates watering times. Initial, I programed it to run on my regular watering days, but that really defeats the whole purpose of the system. So I called the water company and told them about it (new to them). They told me to go ahead and let it decide when to water, regardless of which days it selects.

So far, it is working great. Plus, I can easily make adjustments from my phone no matter where I am.

Home Depot has an 8 station model on sale for $200. I had to pay about $300 for a 16 station model since I have 9 stations.

No more trying to figure out how to program your irrigation controller.

If you have any questions, ask away.

[dmorhome]

are you able to shut it down from computer and I phone and how about a rain senor.

[RVRoadie]

Yes, you can control if from any phone, tablet or computer over the internet. My rain sensor is connected, and I have it set up to give me notification when the rain sensor is active (just to make sure it is working).

But more importantly, it uses the local weather data in making watering calculations, for both when to water and what duration. For example, since we didn't get the forecasted rain this past weekend, it has move up my next watering time to tonight.

Also, it logs each station as it waters, and provides an estimate of water usage. Not sure how accurate that will be, since I haven't had it long enough.