Customer Ratings & Reviews

I pushed hard for the Rachio because of its marketed reviews and integration capabilities. None of my area irrigation contractors wanted anything to do with it as they preferred the proprietary controllers they get paid to distribute. That being said, I went with the Rachio anyway. Here's the summary: 1. Easier to install the wiring than expected. There is a mess of wiring under the old controller. But once you took a breath and sorted it out, the wires made sense and it was super easy from that point. 2. MAJOR, MAJOR PAIN POINT: the Rachio does not work with "late model iOS devices." There is a firmware issue. It's a known issue. And the issue is buried in the guts of their message boards where it's pretty hard to find. I spent over two hours trying to get this thing to connect to Wifi with no success. Even had an access point 5 feet from the Rachio bathing it with 350 kbps of signal. No luck. As advertised, it's supposed to be a setup that takes a couple minutes. No it does not. What comes in the box (and mine appears to have been manufactured only 4 months ago) has outdated firmware. SO you need to update it. But you can't because it won't connect to wifi. The message boards advertise an "easy" way. All you need to do is find an iOS device from 2019 or earlier. Oh, but wait. The Rachio app requires iOS 10+ And if your device is of a certain age, then it can't support iOS 10+ and therefore no app, and no fix. So unless you have an iOS device that you've been neglecting to update, that is "Goldilocks" in age, this easy path is not easy at all. It's also a waste of time. The "long way" advised was to take a windows machine, download a .BAT file, reset the Rachio wifi, find the local signal the controller generates (not as easy as hoped due to firewalls), connect your laptop to the Rachio, execute the .BAT file, and update the firmware that way. Then your up-to-date iOS device will be able to talk to the Rachio. Then, and only then, does Rachio work. And you're sitting there angry you just tanked half your day off into this endeavor. 3. Once it's running, it's pretty easy to decipher, and appears to be thoughtful. 4. The customer support was pretty good but just came in a day late and a dollar short. When your app fails to find the Rachio several times, it collects system information and sends it to Support. Auto generates a support request too. Liked that alot. However the tech didn't circle back until a day later. And by that point I had already solved the problem. 5. It's a little harder than expected to set the water schedule you want. I think the UI is a little un-intuitive in that regard. And they push you to letting them manage your watering with the smart cycles. Which is fine in the long run, but I just needed to get my lawn some water asap and I felt like I was having to massage the settings to get there. Even with the "Quick run" feature. Perhaps I missed it, or perhaps it doesn't exist, but there should be a Quick run that covers all zones. I was only able to discover it zone by zone. And I'm not inclined to manually quick run each zone in sequence. Defeats the purpose. 6. The smart cycles do look very promising and once this thing settles in, I have confidence it will do what it's supposed. 7. Last observation. The controller does struggle with Wifi connectivity. If there is any disruption to signal (for example, when I unplugged my access point to move it) it takes a while for the Rachio to cycle, reset, or whatever and reconnect to the signal. Like over an hour. Bottomline: I am grateful to not be using that legacy controller which can't be easily configured or managed remotely. I think the marketing guys at Rachio are a little stronger than the Product Development guys. But I am definitely in the camp that Rachio is a major improvement to my situation. Oh, and if you've noticed and are wondering why it's getting deeply discounted recently (33%+ off former price), I suspect you'd find the answer to that in my notes above. Were i running Rachio I would have slapped a sticker on it saying the firmware needs attention, or I would have made the issue more prominent on the support website. Note I would recommend this to a friend, with the appropriate caveats above and mentally prepare them for the install journey. So Rachio gets low marks on that debacle, but ultimately this is better than the legacy controllers that have been around way, way too long.

I only have 7 zones so the 8 zone was all I needed. Easy to install took about 10 minutes. Easy to program too. It gives you all kinds on information and even takes the weather into consideration. Very smart devise.

I had to replace my old system this one was a great investment. It saves me lots of money and do not waste water. This system give it a new meaning of Smart watering.

Great gadget!!!Great gadget!!!Great gadget!!!Great gadget!!!Great gadget!!!Great gadget!!!Great gadget!!!Great gadget!!!Great gadget!!!Great gadget!!!

I love this thing! It's smart to detect when to water and when it shouldn't based on the weather. You can sneak a few water showers on your phone now to get that extra care the lawn needs!

Our neighbor alerted us that there was a rebate from our city for installing an eco friendly sprinkler controller. We were hesitant at first but installed the Rachio. Installation was easy. The setup was a bit tricky and we have had to tweek it a couple of time. It works like a dream once you get it set up. Reads weather forecasts and lets you know when it is going to skip watering. Even can do a presoak on those difficult areas.

The best. No app fee’s. I had purchased another brand and took it back because it was cheap. This product is not cheap and easy installation

Easy to install. Very good instructions. App's friendly to use. Most importantly you can run any time, any minutes, any zone anywhere as long as wifi available. Love it.

Finally upgraded from the old Toro sprinkler system. The Rachio was easy to setup and been stable.

I put this off for a while but once my old controller broke I pulled the trigger on this purchase and my only regret is not doing it sooner. The features make this almost completely hands off after set up.

Excellent, smart product to manage an otherwise analog sprinkler system. Simple to instal and set up, definitely DIY.

Been wanting a smart sprinkler control system for a while now and very happy to have gone with rachio. This was super easy to setup and works great.

Super easy installation and sync. I love the versatility and functions. I especially love the fearure to quiet the bang sund on my pipes when the sprinklers turn and off.

Very easy to install and set up. I like the algorithms it uses to optimize lawn watering.

The item came as advertised. Really easy to install and the application is very easy to control via smartphone. Love being able to control my sprinklers from anywhere

So far so good. I finally got to hook it up and use it. Very convenient having the ability to control the zones from my cell phone! Very easy to install this controller!

Great device. Initial setup was easy with no issues. I like being able to setup via smartphone away from home. There was a rebate so it's the same cost as a dumb sprinkler controller.

I was a little nervous about switching to a smart controller. But this was super easy to set up, and now I dont need to worry about adjusting for weather changes!

It was very easy to replace my old Hunter controller with this new sprinkler controller. And it was easy to setup. I am very pleased with this controller.

Over all good product just over priced purchased with points and on sale other wise would have purchased a cheaper type.