Spruce Irrigation 16 Zone WiFi Sprinkler Controller (Gen 2), Compatible with Alexa, Wireless Soil Moisture Sensors, Leak Detection, Flow Meter

First of all, if you still have an analog sprinkler controller, upgrading to a smart WiFi-enabled controller will change your life! It makes it super easy to change schedules and turn on particular zones whenever you want by pushing a button in your phone!I’m very happy with this Spruce controller purchase! First of all I needed a 16-zone controller and this was one of the cheapest options. Having also previously owned a Rachio controller, there seems to be basically no difference in terms of functionality.Comparing the Spruce app to Rachio’s is where I see a few differences. While the Rachio app was simpler and a little more intuitive to operate/navigate, it feels like the Spruce app has more built-in features and views. Now that I’ve used it for a couple weeks I do appreciate some of the Spruce features, for example based on my clay soil it automatically splits watering time for each zone into three separate sessions to prevent runoff and saturation. While I’m sure Rachio also has this feature, I never saw it.I still think some views in the Rachio app are easier to understand, like which zones are currently running, about to run, and how long. I should note that setting up the Spruce was just as easy as the Rachio. However with more ways to view water usage and customize running schedules/zones, and also about $75 lower price tag, I highly recommend the Spruce!

Setup was simple. The features of this system are why I purchased a new controller to upgrade from a simple timer. Pairing with a moisture sensor makes this a completely closed loop system for managing my subsurface drip system for my lawn. I was particularly interested in the constants that go into it's calculation for watering times/ frequency and thankfully, this are not only described in detail, but user configurable. For instance, I know exactly how much water in/hour my garden gets because the emitters are all constant-flow. When I adjusted the ET constants for that zone, I have an accurate model of the water level in the bed even w/o the moisture sensor!I use the controller for two non-standard "zones". One is to fill my pool and the other controls misters to keep a chicken coup cool. Spruce doesn't have a clean way to tell it that these are not standard watering zones - i just called them "trees", but I can leave them manual in the spruce app. The real magic happens with the smartthings integration so I can trigger the chicken coup for 15 min when the temp is above 95deg and trigger the pool fill when a z-wave float switch tells ST that it needs water. This saves me having to buy/integrate other connected valves/controllers.Well-worth the investment to save water and $.

I almost sent the product back because when the box arrived it had clearly been previously opened and repacked. The box was a bit dirty, the side seals were resealed, the controller had no plastic bag and had debris all over it as if it had been opened in a backyard and put back in the box. I decided to keep it and see if it worked because it did look OK after I cleaned it up.Install was easy and without issue. The controller connected with ease to my home wifi. I would suggest that the instructions clearly state that the controller should be unplugged when hooking up the zone wiring so as not to short any valves with power on. The instructions actually state there must be power supplied in that section in red with an exclamation point which is bit misleading.The wiring is a bit tight, but I get the need to keep a small footprint and reduce cost based on size. One glitch was that during the install on my phone, the app was ready to test the zones when I paused it do the wiring. Then the app would not resume at that point and I had to hunt around for the 1 minute/zone test routine.When I ran the 1 minute/zone test, the phone app (ios) generated and error message to customer support, but still ran the routine. No other problems though.I have since created a connected program for my lawn and a basic manual program for my tennis court. The watering times the app calculated for my lawn zones were way too high. The system would have watered for hours so I restricted the time window and the app nicely scaled everything down to about where I had my old manual timer set. I did take the time to input all of my zone, lawn and nozzle info. I do find it odd that the number of heads in each zone did not figure into the calculation??I will update this review when I have more run time on the system. Overall, easy to install, nicely designed product, the app is bit hard to navigate at first, but I am sure I will learn it quickly.Alan W.

This is not the first smart controller I installed - so I have a bit of comparison.Spruce is my favorite. Let me add that I am an engineer and always compare gadgets to "the one I would have designed" :-)I wasn't able to arrest my engineering curiosity and peeked inside (voiding warranty): The hardware design is nice and clean. I also like the four push-buttons - in case one hires less technically savvy gardener. In contrast I prefer geeking out with my phone and run back to get my phone if I forget it inside the house ;-)The app is also clean and easy to navigate and offers all the features I may need - yet without making setup complicated. You can get up and running in minutes.Last note: I thought it is too late to install smart controller now at the end of summer. The opposite: Now the weather is less predictable and smart controller shows its smarts. Last week brought some unexpected rain and my old controller would be wasting my water.