There is nothing about this product a newbie cannot design in a few hours. You can get a ESP8266 derivative and a bunch of relays for 10 bucks, and it will take about an hour to design and implement the circuit and program the MC.
Oh well, there is the case too, I have no doubt that was an engineering challenge on its own.
Time, effort, convenience, IP 54 rating?, powerline communicator? (AFAIK, it is not trivial to integrate PLC into a DIY system.. Wi-Fi, yes, very easy with pre-existing modules, but not PLC).
I mentioned in the review that DIY approach is also there with a link to instructables.
Have to give credit where it is due :) Also, pricing is decided by market demand - Blossom's competitors are also in the same range - so, I think they are justified in pricing at 199 - customary 20% off that seems to be available all the time.
They use a ready solution for PLC, so it is just as easy as the wifi. Also, pretty much needless.
Pricing is dictated by the level of chump-ness. In a world where many people buy completely useless garbage, such as "solar charger apps" or "lose weight hypnosis apps" or an app, whose sole purpose is proving you paid good money for nothing... You can buy a golden computer mouse with some diamonds for 20k, is that price dictated by market demand?
I would never recommend the purchase of any product, that easy and cheap enough to DIY. There are two ways to go, buy it and be a chump, or DIY - it will cost a tiny fraction, will give you full control over the device, and doing that will make you a tad smarter. It is a win-win-win situation. But nah, let's be model consumers and buy shamelessly overpriced stuff, just because ;)
So basically what you're saying is that you're a chump for not being able to build 75% of things you may need in your lifetime. Because yes, you can build your own furniture for a fraction of the cost of store bought furniture. You can also do almost any home repair without an electrician, plumber, painters, maybe even some building jobs (how hard is it to lay some bricks and some plywood?). And the list can continue.
You can even make your own spoons and forks from leftover piping you may have lying around after your plumbing job is done, because only chumps buy them. And this concludes your 48 hour day.
So after you do all these by yourself come back and tell us what's a chump. I know you think you're l'ombelico del mondo (don't be a chump, translate it by yourself) because you may be technically inclined to build a watering controller but you're still a chump for anything else that you're not so good at. And that's not to say that you could actually build this anyway.
It's been almost 10 years since I did lawnsprinklers (It put me thru college) but the rule of thumb was around $100 installed per head, and normally 4-8 heads per zone on city water. Even with a small install of 5 zones and 6 heads per zone is looking at $3k. How much difference is $200 on that cost if it makes the whole thing 10X easier to interface with?
oh, and btw, PLC is definitely not 'pretty much needless' - there are plenty of situations where Wi-Fi reach is just not there. It all depends on the customer's installation setting
Or maybe we could learn to water a garden ourselves, and leave technology to do the hard things instead?
Computers and technology were supposed to make our lives easier and more meaningful. Having a gadget water your garden for you, so you have an extra five minutes to spend on YouTube isn't easier and more meaningful, it's just lazy and senseless.
If you're trying to squeeze a gadget and software into every task imaginable, no matter if it makes sense or not, you're doing it wrong.
@Shadow&Mondozai Do you think it's easy to have an idea implemented? Have you ever had an idea but not interested in making it because it isn't what you loved to do? Have you ever bought or seen a product that you think it's not worth the money and you could make it better yourself? Do you think every product in this world is great or none of them deserves any criticism?....
I went to the mall last week and saw a bunch of clothes I think I could design way better and cheaper. That doesn't mean I should change my career to clothes designing.
It's a good thing when people can openly criticize company products but it's really absurd when those voice their criticism get attacked. Unless you're working for this company, otherwise you both are stupid assholes with foul mouths who love to attack others online.
Lmao. Actually, I have a good idea of what's involved in implementing an idea esp. as I've done it for companies as a PM. What you and ddriver are implying is that YOU could do it better yet don't show anything to back it up except some words. Words are cheap, action speaks volumes.
Have a better idea? How about giving a BOM, rough schematic, alpha code, proof of concept,etc instead of saying "This can be done better".
You do realize, that what you just wrote is the adult geek equivalent of the good ol' middle school challenge of: "Oh yeah!?! Well if you think its so easy, then let's see YOU do one!"
And it's still as lame today as it was in middle school.
The idea that one can't voice a criticism or critique without investing an hour of their time into "BOM, rough schematic, alpha code, etc." Is of course preposterous.
Next time I see somebody ridiculing Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton proposed policies, I'll make sure to point out that they shouldn't have an opinion on the subject, until I see their proposed budget/draft of foreign policy in the Middle East/proposed gun legislation...
Because as unimaginable as it may sound, some people are above the encouragement and exploitation of mediocre intellect. That also causes those people to have a problem with others doing that. Much like you have a problem with those, who know there is a better way, but the opposite ;)
Nobody has a problem with you "doing" something. The problem is when you just "talk". As said before, words are cheap. I bet I could be a better *ddriver* than you. Also, I would have written you comment better than you did. Or any other comment.
So maybe you should just follow your own advice and take at face value my words that I have a better way of doing anything you might do. Given this I see no reason why you would attempt anything else, since I have better ways to do it.
As someone who did create his own smart controller, I am surprised by this comment.
The hardware was easy enough: raspberry pi, relay board. I even found a way to "upgrade" my old controller by removing its logic board and connecting its triac board to another raspberry pi. With some experience the total cost goes down to around $75.
I wanted a web interface for ease of use, automatic weather adjustments and activity log. I also added automatic generation of soak periods to avoid runoffs. This eliminated the easy cron job edited with vi through ssh.
Even taking shortcuts (fetch an existing weather index from the Internet) this was much much more than a few hours of coding.. I guess the author of that comment most probably never built his own, or did not really read the article in full. Or both.
Or doesn't realize that even if one knows how to make something, knowing what to make is still a challenge. Getting someone else to make it in volume, at low cost? Another challenge, and selling it, yet another challenge.
what the fuck ddriver, you act like every store should be a 1980's radio shack and we should just buy our own parts to assemble hair dryers, smoke detectors and light timers because...why should someone else conveniently make it and charge a few bucks profit?
should we have no products and just parts for anything that can be made off-the-shelf? that's a ridiculous concept, some people are busy at their profession doing what they do best, no time to futz around building crap. it's the same reason I rarely even work on my own cars anymore. I make $150/hr. why would I take off work or waste time I could be spending with my kids when I can just pay a mechanic $85/hr to do it?
Hmm, so I'm not sure that a newbie could design this in a few hours, but you seem pretty confident, so you must really know your stuff. So when can we expect to see you entering the market and kicking their asses? Personally, I think you are full of it, but if you pull it off, I'll will waste no time admitting I was wrong.
I have been using a Blossom for about 6 months now. I love the hands-off nature of set-it-and-forgot-it but I have a few nit picks.
No web interface, which has been detailed in the review.
Short power cord, had to relocate from my old controller location.
Cloud scheduling - leaves a lot to be desired. What are they basing the schedule on? My unit waters frequently when I just received a lot of rain. I had to turn off the whole unit for a week once because it just kept scheduling cycles when I was getting tons of rain. I have my smart watering needs set to realistic needs, and if I decrease it then seems to never come on and my grass gets brown. To me it's not really 'smart' enough and should have an option to take input from a local rain gauge.
I really enjoyed this review. I don't need this kind of system as of now, I live in an apartment, but it's nevertheless cool to see Anandtech expand beyond the core tech of PCs. As IOT devices proliferate, I hope to see Anandtech keeping up with the trend. Covering both the terrabad devices you should avoid as well as recommending the ones you should buy.
As you can judge by this comment section, everything that is new and unknown brings with it a reactionary knee-jerk response. That won't change for a few years, but as IOT devices become better and more affordable, even the reactionaries will slowly understand that they are behind the times.
Thankfully, AT isn't, and this review is a sign of that. KUTGW.
Your comment reads as something from Popular Science in the late 40ies/early 50ies:
"As you can judge by this readers letters section, everything that is new and unknown brings with it a reactionary knee-jerk response. That won't change for a few years, but as nuclear devices become better and more affordable, we will soon see nuclear airliners, nuclear trains and cars, and every neighbourhood powered by its own small, nuclear reactor. Then even the reactionaries will slowly understand that they are behind the times."
I'm afraid it's you who is behind the times. The idea of technology being an end unto itself, had its heyday almost a century ago. Today, experience has taught us that not every technological fad makes sense, and it takes more than buzzwords and an industry looking for an easy windfall to make a given technology a reality.
This has been fixed. Thanks for bringing it to our notice. The marketing collateral was quite old, and I should have fact-checked for the current status before publishing.
Good to see more options. We have a Rachio and while expensive has been worth every penny. The smart watering is in beta but is working very well, the general support of the product is also fantastic.
Also to the guy above essentially calling everyone a moron if they don't build something like this themselves. I'm actually an engineer, aerospace to be exact with lots of knowledge in electrical and software. The hardware on these devices isn't complicated but the software is non trivial. I have no desire to re create these algorithms for smart watering, I have better things to do with my time (which is worth quite a bit).
Unless you're either managing acres of land, or have a small farm, what exactly is the point here?
You'll still waste water, using this rather than the manual way of watering. Sure, you'll waste a little less water than with the old fashioned sprinklers, but overall you're not much better off, unless you water your garden yourself.
It's not that hard. Take five minutes to walk around your garden, and look and touch. You'll quickly see which ones need water. You'll actually also learn something over time, rather than leave that oh, so overwhelming task of watering your plants to your smartphone and an app.
As a professional in the irrigation industry I have only seen one of our customers (out of a few thousand) buy a blossom.
So far in my experience a local weather station such as Hunters Solar Sync provide the most effective hands off irrigation solution. Its able to measure evapotranspiration on site with the unit supplying updated run times daily. I'm not convinced using weather data from the cloud will ever be as good as having local data. Too many weather variables, for example in my town sun/rain/wind very significantly only a few miles apart.
Having wifi, PL connectivity and an app are always welcome additions. Being able to use your phone as a remote to turn on or off zones on the fly is a HUGE advantage. Current irrigation specific solutions are overpriced (way overpriced).
The ideal solution is a combination of functions. An app, wifi and PL connectivity, a local weather station and hands on control. Not every home automation device needs the cloud to function better. Having cloud connectivity will benefit other devices in the IoTs realm more so than irrigation.
Articles like this make me realize that at least where I am living in CA I'll probably never find a use for that fancy IoT Water Control system. As when/if I can afford a house, I will probably be having someone else manage the landscaping and as such setting the control panel.
No manual interface.. so how does your sprinkler guy blow out the system if you are not at home when he comes to do it and the valves don't have local control either. Every sprinkler controller should have a manual control on it no exceptions and not just for blowouts, for emergencies where a line or a head breaks and it's flooding.
Also don't use Hunter clocks in ANY situation, only a schlub would install those pieces of junk builder grade RAGS, you use Irritrol or a Weathermatic. If you do think you need this unnecessary digital wifi BS for a sprinkler system then get a Skydrop.
Unless the valves are buried or inside something locked you can just open them manually. Every type of valve has manual bleed of some kind.
I agree 100% with having some kind of interface on the actual controller, lose your phone and you want to stop watering you have to unplug the unit every time?
Not sure what your beef with Hunter controllers is, I've only ever had a few problems with the old SRC's. Installed a ton of Pro-C's and only ever had a couple modules go bad. I always assumed they were top quality units.
I'm a bit out of the loop with newer Hunters, these days I almost always install Rain Bird ESP's. Best controller available IMHO.
Sadly not all valves do actually, I thought this too until I bought my current house and went out to try to turn the valve on at the box one day and there is nothing but the solenoid. I hate these valves I can't even adjust the pressure at them either so next summer those will be changed out.
Hunter clocks are hard for customers to program is why I don't care for them. As you stated the Rainbird ESP's are good, Weathermatic and Irritrol are also mindlessly easy to use and set, especially for yards that have alternate schedules for different watering types on different days.
All valves with just a solenoid require turning/partially unscrewing the solenoid for manual operation. Stiff solenoids like rainbird dv-100's come with a special tool that acts like a handle.
Only in special applications will valves come built with pressure regulating capabilities. The handle on the center of valves with flow control only regulates flow not pressure. You have to buy a special solenoid in order to set the pressure.
I recommend buying the exact same model of valves with flow control that you currently have, you will only need to unscrew and change the tops. No digging required.
Hah, thanks for explaining how irrigation systems work in the US. I've never realised until just now that there're so complicated systems to realise achieve so simple as watering plants and grass at the right time and only when needed...
It's actually not at all complicated, it's a clock that sends a signal down couple wires that goes to a valve that triggers a solenoid to open and close. My family installed these systems for decades, of course it gets more complicated when morons do stupid things like run lines next to house foundations, don't build a blueprint for the homeowner and install crap clocks like Hunter. But any basic concept can be ruined or over complicated by idiots.
If you want to see a complicated elaborate and amazing outdoor plumbing system then go to the palace at St Petersburg,
I really appreciate that companies are looking at the web space (I despise the term The Cloud - hosted services) for the massive remote controlled and smart home options/movement. I've been using NEST since it first came out, but ended up disabling the wifi aspects when I received a notice from Utah Power and Gas telling me I should consider running my AC at 78 and not 76. It might have been a coincidence, but having previously received the same suggestion from Google, I assumed there was some information sharing. One aspect, and to me a negative one with Wifi is the potential loss of privacy. If I'm watering my grass at an hour that irritates a tree hugger, will I become the victim of a war drive? Yes, I know its a bit over the top, but pretending there are not cougars in the mountains does not mean they are not there during your hike. Plus, I’m just trying to cool down our superheated supernova Earth for all of the Global Warming gumps out there.
On a less conspiratorial note If we are on vacation and I can water my grass as desired, that could be a benefit. I’ve been looking at some of the other home automation offerings out there, so this one jumped on my radar.
A problem that we have where I live are power outages. So the ability to spin up home services that have been powered off by power loss would be a fantastic benefit. Keep up the innovations folks. If we can keep government out of the kitty, all the better for everyone.
We’ve updated our terms. By continuing to use the site and/or by logging into your account, you agree to the Site’s updated Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
47 Comments
Back to Article
ddriver - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
Money for nothing... That product has a profit margin that will make apple jealous.Amandtec - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
Well, profit margin should include the design cost - not just the parts costs - otherwise you are not in business.ddriver - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
There is nothing about this product a newbie cannot design in a few hours. You can get a ESP8266 derivative and a bunch of relays for 10 bucks, and it will take about an hour to design and implement the circuit and program the MC.Oh well, there is the case too, I have no doubt that was an engineering challenge on its own.
ganeshts - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
Time, effort, convenience, IP 54 rating?, powerline communicator? (AFAIK, it is not trivial to integrate PLC into a DIY system.. Wi-Fi, yes, very easy with pre-existing modules, but not PLC).I mentioned in the review that DIY approach is also there with a link to instructables.
Have to give credit where it is due :) Also, pricing is decided by market demand - Blossom's competitors are also in the same range - so, I think they are justified in pricing at 199 - customary 20% off that seems to be available all the time.
ddriver - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
They use a ready solution for PLC, so it is just as easy as the wifi. Also, pretty much needless.Pricing is dictated by the level of chump-ness. In a world where many people buy completely useless garbage, such as "solar charger apps" or "lose weight hypnosis apps" or an app, whose sole purpose is proving you paid good money for nothing... You can buy a golden computer mouse with some diamonds for 20k, is that price dictated by market demand?
I would never recommend the purchase of any product, that easy and cheap enough to DIY. There are two ways to go, buy it and be a chump, or DIY - it will cost a tiny fraction, will give you full control over the device, and doing that will make you a tad smarter. It is a win-win-win situation. But nah, let's be model consumers and buy shamelessly overpriced stuff, just because ;)
close - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
So basically what you're saying is that you're a chump for not being able to build 75% of things you may need in your lifetime. Because yes, you can build your own furniture for a fraction of the cost of store bought furniture. You can also do almost any home repair without an electrician, plumber, painters, maybe even some building jobs (how hard is it to lay some bricks and some plywood?). And the list can continue.You can even make your own spoons and forks from leftover piping you may have lying around after your plumbing job is done, because only chumps buy them. And this concludes your 48 hour day.
So after you do all these by yourself come back and tell us what's a chump. I know you think you're l'ombelico del mondo (don't be a chump, translate it by yourself) because you may be technically inclined to build a watering controller but you're still a chump for anything else that you're not so good at. And that's not to say that you could actually build this anyway.
maniac5999 - Tuesday, September 1, 2015 - link
It's been almost 10 years since I did lawnsprinklers (It put me thru college) but the rule of thumb was around $100 installed per head, and normally 4-8 heads per zone on city water. Even with a small install of 5 zones and 6 heads per zone is looking at $3k. How much difference is $200 on that cost if it makes the whole thing 10X easier to interface with?ganeshts - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
Can you link me to this 'ready solution for PLC'? I would love to see the PLC connectivity option for DIY consumers.ganeshts - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
oh, and btw, PLC is definitely not 'pretty much needless' - there are plenty of situations where Wi-Fi reach is just not there. It all depends on the customer's installation settingV900 - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
Or maybe we could learn to water a garden ourselves, and leave technology to do the hard things instead?Computers and technology were supposed to make our lives easier and more meaningful. Having a gadget water your garden for you, so you have an extra five minutes to spend on YouTube isn't easier and more meaningful, it's just lazy and senseless.
If you're trying to squeeze a gadget and software into every task imaginable, no matter if it makes sense or not, you're doing it wrong.
Shadow7037932 - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
If it's so easy, why aren't you doing it and making huge profits then?Mondozai - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
Shadow, are you implying that arm-chair heroes on the internet actually could back up even 1% of their words for once?/s
sonny73n - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
@Shadow&MondozaiDo you think it's easy to have an idea implemented? Have you ever had an idea but not interested in making it because it isn't what you loved to do? Have you ever bought or seen a product that you think it's not worth the money and you could make it better yourself? Do you think every product in this world is great or none of them deserves any criticism?....
I went to the mall last week and saw a bunch of clothes I think I could design way better and cheaper. That doesn't mean I should change my career to clothes designing.
It's a good thing when people can openly criticize company products but it's really absurd when those voice their criticism get attacked. Unless you're working for this company, otherwise you both are stupid assholes with foul mouths who love to attack others online.
Shadow7037932 - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
Lmao. Actually, I have a good idea of what's involved in implementing an idea esp. as I've done it for companies as a PM. What you and ddriver are implying is that YOU could do it better yet don't show anything to back it up except some words. Words are cheap, action speaks volumes.Have a better idea? How about giving a BOM, rough schematic, alpha code, proof of concept,etc instead of saying "This can be done better".
V900 - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
You do realize, that what you just wrote is the adult geek equivalent of the good ol' middle school challenge of: "Oh yeah!?! Well if you think its so easy, then let's see YOU do one!"And it's still as lame today as it was in middle school.
The idea that one can't voice a criticism or critique without investing an hour of their time into "BOM, rough schematic, alpha code, etc." Is of course preposterous.
V900 - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
Next time I see somebody ridiculing Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton proposed policies, I'll make sure to point out that they shouldn't have an opinion on the subject, until I see their proposed budget/draft of foreign policy in the Middle East/proposed gun legislation...ddriver - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
Because as unimaginable as it may sound, some people are above the encouragement and exploitation of mediocre intellect. That also causes those people to have a problem with others doing that. Much like you have a problem with those, who know there is a better way, but the opposite ;)Shadow7037932 - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
How about you actually prove you can do what you are impleying?close - Friday, September 11, 2015 - link
Nobody has a problem with you "doing" something. The problem is when you just "talk". As said before, words are cheap. I bet I could be a better *ddriver* than you. Also, I would have written you comment better than you did. Or any other comment.So maybe you should just follow your own advice and take at face value my words that I have a better way of doing anything you might do. Given this I see no reason why you would attempt anything else, since I have better ways to do it.
Ryan Smith - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
In the interest of transparency, two comments have been deleted for violating our rules.sonny73n and other posters: we do not allow profanity here, and we especially do not allow profanity hurled at other users.
Pfm - Saturday, August 29, 2015 - link
As someone who did create his own smart controller, I am surprised by this comment.The hardware was easy enough: raspberry pi, relay board. I even found a way to "upgrade" my old controller by removing its logic board and connecting its triac board to another raspberry pi. With some experience the total cost goes down to around $75.
I wanted a web interface for ease of use, automatic weather adjustments and activity log. I also added automatic generation of soak periods to avoid runoffs. This eliminated the easy cron job edited with vi through ssh.
Even taking shortcuts (fetch an existing weather index from the Internet) this was much much more than a few hours of coding.. I guess the author of that comment most probably never built his own, or did not really read the article in full. Or both.
easp - Monday, August 31, 2015 - link
Or doesn't realize that even if one knows how to make something, knowing what to make is still a challenge. Getting someone else to make it in volume, at low cost? Another challenge, and selling it, yet another challenge.Samus - Saturday, August 29, 2015 - link
what the fuck ddriver, you act like every store should be a 1980's radio shack and we should just buy our own parts to assemble hair dryers, smoke detectors and light timers because...why should someone else conveniently make it and charge a few bucks profit?should we have no products and just parts for anything that can be made off-the-shelf? that's a ridiculous concept, some people are busy at their profession doing what they do best, no time to futz around building crap. it's the same reason I rarely even work on my own cars anymore. I make $150/hr. why would I take off work or waste time I could be spending with my kids when I can just pay a mechanic $85/hr to do it?
Samus - Saturday, August 29, 2015 - link
Sorry ryan for swearing in my above comment. I wasn't aware it violated the rules.easp - Monday, August 31, 2015 - link
Hmm, so I'm not sure that a newbie could design this in a few hours, but you seem pretty confident, so you must really know your stuff. So when can we expect to see you entering the market and kicking their asses? Personally, I think you are full of it, but if you pull it off, I'll will waste no time admitting I was wrong.hbsource - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
Or, you could just live in the UK.puck - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
I have been using a Blossom for about 6 months now. I love the hands-off nature of set-it-and-forgot-it but I have a few nit picks.No web interface, which has been detailed in the review.
Short power cord, had to relocate from my old controller location.
Cloud scheduling - leaves a lot to be desired. What are they basing the schedule on? My unit waters frequently when I just received a lot of rain. I had to turn off the whole unit for a week once because it just kept scheduling cycles when I was getting tons of rain. I have my smart watering needs set to realistic needs, and if I decrease it then seems to never come on and my grass gets brown. To me it's not really 'smart' enough and should have an option to take input from a local rain gauge.
Murloc - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
yeah this is something that you set up and then leave running for years, so they should allow fine-tuning for the people who want it.Mondozai - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
I really enjoyed this review. I don't need this kind of system as of now, I live in an apartment, but it's nevertheless cool to see Anandtech expand beyond the core tech of PCs. As IOT devices proliferate, I hope to see Anandtech keeping up with the trend. Covering both the terrabad devices you should avoid as well as recommending the ones you should buy.As you can judge by this comment section, everything that is new and unknown brings with it a reactionary knee-jerk response. That won't change for a few years, but as IOT devices become better and more affordable, even the reactionaries will slowly understand that they are behind the times.
Thankfully, AT isn't, and this review is a sign of that. KUTGW.
V900 - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
Your comment reads as something from Popular Science in the late 40ies/early 50ies:"As you can judge by this readers letters section, everything that is new and unknown brings with it a reactionary knee-jerk response. That won't change for a few years, but as nuclear devices become better and more affordable, we will soon see nuclear airliners, nuclear trains and cars, and every neighbourhood powered by its own small, nuclear reactor. Then even the reactionaries will slowly understand that they are behind the times."
I'm afraid it's you who is behind the times. The idea of technology being an end unto itself, had its heyday almost a century ago. Today, experience has taught us that not every technological fad makes sense, and it takes more than buzzwords and an industry looking for an easy windfall to make a given technology a reality.
Colin1497 - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
Wait, Rainmachine doesn't have iOS and Android apps?http://www.rainmachine.com/howitworks.html
You might want to fact check that.
ganeshts - Friday, September 4, 2015 - link
This has been fixed. Thanks for bringing it to our notice. The marketing collateral was quite old, and I should have fact-checked for the current status before publishing.freeskier93 - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
Good to see more options. We have a Rachio and while expensive has been worth every penny. The smart watering is in beta but is working very well, the general support of the product is also fantastic.Also to the guy above essentially calling everyone a moron if they don't build something like this themselves. I'm actually an engineer, aerospace to be exact with lots of knowledge in electrical and software. The hardware on these devices isn't complicated but the software is non trivial. I have no desire to re create these algorithms for smart watering, I have better things to do with my time (which is worth quite a bit).
mailinh - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
Much of the landscape hydration systems already have more control than most people use and do not required this useless add on.V900 - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
Unfortunately, the IOT-enthusiasts still think that "Yeah, but now you can do it FROM YOUR PHONE!" is an actual argument for buying one.Unfortunately, non-geeks are rather crucial for IOT to become a success,and they're not as easy to impress...
V900 - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
Unless you're either managing acres of land, or have a small farm, what exactly is the point here?You'll still waste water, using this rather than the manual way of watering. Sure, you'll waste a little less water than with the old fashioned sprinklers, but overall you're not much better off, unless you water your garden yourself.
It's not that hard. Take five minutes to walk around your garden, and look and touch. You'll quickly see which ones need water. You'll actually also learn something over time, rather than leave that oh, so overwhelming task of watering your plants to your smartphone and an app.
Arls - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
Hand watering is the least efficient and most time consuming waste of your time.This product, and others like it will provide anyone with sprinklers an efficient watering solution.
Arls - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
As a professional in the irrigation industry I have only seen one of our customers (out of a few thousand) buy a blossom.So far in my experience a local weather station such as Hunters Solar Sync provide the most effective hands off irrigation solution. Its able to measure evapotranspiration on site with the unit supplying updated run times daily. I'm not convinced using weather data from the cloud will ever be as good as having local data. Too many weather variables, for example in my town sun/rain/wind very significantly only a few miles apart.
Having wifi, PL connectivity and an app are always welcome additions. Being able to use your phone as a remote to turn on or off zones on the fly is a HUGE advantage. Current irrigation specific solutions are overpriced (way overpriced).
The ideal solution is a combination of functions. An app, wifi and PL connectivity, a local weather station and hands on control. Not every home automation device needs the cloud to function better. Having cloud connectivity will benefit other devices in the IoTs realm more so than irrigation.
Sttm - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
Articles like this make me realize that at least where I am living in CA I'll probably never find a use for that fancy IoT Water Control system. As when/if I can afford a house, I will probably be having someone else manage the landscaping and as such setting the control panel.TheSlamma - Saturday, August 29, 2015 - link
No manual interface.. so how does your sprinkler guy blow out the system if you are not at home when he comes to do it and the valves don't have local control either. Every sprinkler controller should have a manual control on it no exceptions and not just for blowouts, for emergencies where a line or a head breaks and it's flooding.Also don't use Hunter clocks in ANY situation, only a schlub would install those pieces of junk builder grade RAGS, you use Irritrol or a Weathermatic. If you do think you need this unnecessary digital wifi BS for a sprinkler system then get a Skydrop.
Arls - Sunday, August 30, 2015 - link
Unless the valves are buried or inside something locked you can just open them manually. Every type of valve has manual bleed of some kind.I agree 100% with having some kind of interface on the actual controller, lose your phone and you want to stop watering you have to unplug the unit every time?
Not sure what your beef with Hunter controllers is, I've only ever had a few problems with the old SRC's. Installed a ton of Pro-C's and only ever had a couple modules go bad. I always assumed they were top quality units.
I'm a bit out of the loop with newer Hunters, these days I almost always install Rain Bird ESP's. Best controller available IMHO.
TheSlamma - Monday, August 31, 2015 - link
Sadly not all valves do actually, I thought this too until I bought my current house and went out to try to turn the valve on at the box one day and there is nothing but the solenoid. I hate these valves I can't even adjust the pressure at them either so next summer those will be changed out.Hunter clocks are hard for customers to program is why I don't care for them. As you stated the Rainbird ESP's are good, Weathermatic and Irritrol are also mindlessly easy to use and set, especially for yards that have alternate schedules for different watering types on different days.
Arls - Wednesday, September 2, 2015 - link
All valves with just a solenoid require turning/partially unscrewing the solenoid for manual operation. Stiff solenoids like rainbird dv-100's come with a special tool that acts like a handle.Only in special applications will valves come built with pressure regulating capabilities. The handle on the center of valves with flow control only regulates flow not pressure. You have to buy a special solenoid in order to set the pressure.
I recommend buying the exact same model of valves with flow control that you currently have, you will only need to unscrew and change the tops. No digging required.
toyotabedzrock - Saturday, August 29, 2015 - link
The housing is not designed well. Those exposed wires seem like a bad idea.Daniel Egger - Saturday, August 29, 2015 - link
Hah, thanks for explaining how irrigation systems work in the US. I've never realised until just now that there're so complicated systems to realise achieve so simple as watering plants and grass at the right time and only when needed...TheSlamma - Sunday, August 30, 2015 - link
It's actually not at all complicated, it's a clock that sends a signal down couple wires that goes to a valve that triggers a solenoid to open and close. My family installed these systems for decades, of course it gets more complicated when morons do stupid things like run lines next to house foundations, don't build a blueprint for the homeowner and install crap clocks like Hunter. But any basic concept can be ruined or over complicated by idiots.If you want to see a complicated elaborate and amazing outdoor plumbing system then go to the palace at St Petersburg,
Bluepig - Tuesday, September 8, 2015 - link
I really appreciate that companies are looking at the web space (I despise the term The Cloud - hosted services) for the massive remote controlled and smart home options/movement. I've been using NEST since it first came out, but ended up disabling the wifi aspects when I received a notice from Utah Power and Gas telling me I should consider running my AC at 78 and not 76. It might have been a coincidence, but having previously received the same suggestion from Google, I assumed there was some information sharing. One aspect, and to me a negative one with Wifi is the potential loss of privacy. If I'm watering my grass at an hour that irritates a tree hugger, will I become the victim of a war drive? Yes, I know its a bit over the top, but pretending there are not cougars in the mountains does not mean they are not there during your hike. Plus, I’m just trying to cool down our superheated supernova Earth for all of the Global Warming gumps out there.On a less conspiratorial note If we are on vacation and I can water my grass as desired, that could be a benefit. I’ve been looking at some of the other home automation offerings out there, so this one jumped on my radar.
A problem that we have where I live are power outages. So the ability to spin up home services that have been powered off by power loss would be a fantastic benefit. Keep up the innovations folks. If we can keep government out of the kitty, all the better for everyone.