Orbit 21006 B-hyve Wi-Fi Hub, Gen 1, Gray

Originally got the wifi “kit” with the hub and valve to see if it was worth the extra cost for wifi. With the rain delay feature alone, it saves on eliminating wasted water versus the old digital timer that required manual adjustment for every rain delay so not very convenient and unable to control remotely. After a few weeks, the orbit system has proven to be reliable. So I ordered a 4 port XD model for the other parts of the lawn but had to return it since it is not backward compatible with gen 1 wifi hubs. This is ultra irritating since these gen 1 are only single port. But since I already had the gen 1 hub it didn’t make sense to start over with gen 2 which offer very little other than the multiport timers. If anything, I’d wait to see what gen 3 or 4 brings for features since it’s apparent that’s the way these tech products go these days, a new gen every yr or two.So to remain compatible with existing investment, I ordered this gen 1 valve timer and a hose splitter. It was pretty simple to connect to my existing gen 1 wifi hub and so far it’s working well. I plan to reconfigure the sprinklers so I can daisy chain a soaker hose using a pass through fitting so that the one splitter will suffice. We seem to have enough water capacity depending on type of sprinkler, impact types seem to need the most pressure to flip them from side to side, so I can daisy chain maybe one off the impact type - the oscillator and soaker hose seem fine to add on after the impact but two impact types don’t work well, could be the particular models. Anyway, for reasonable cost I’m able to cover the majority of the lawn with a variety of sprinklers we luckily inherited from former owners who left them behind. Benefit with city water is savings on water usage/cost. Time will tell but just a handful of rain delays each month should pay for the hub and 2 timer system within 1 season.

Ease of use: the app connects with Bluetooth and requires a little work to figure out how to program and change the program. Once you’ve set your program you can easily change days of the week, watering minutes and time of day. You can also water manually directly from the app without changing the program.Reliability: it has never failed - it warned me when a battery replacement was necessary. I have had to replace the battery once since purchasing it.Accuracy: to the minute. Always.

This timer works great and I do love it but sometimes i want to trigger it manually and if I don’t have my phone on me I can’t do it. This particular unit would be best in a situation where you program it and never use it otherwise. That is the only reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars.There is a single hose unit that has a digital read out and buttons though.The hub is fantastic. Without it you can only operate the timers or set up a schedule with bluetooth in close range- like within 5-10 feet, with it you can operate them from anywhere. You can connect multiple timers (they say up to 64) to one hub. I’m a big fan of all of their products. In the absence of a sprinkler system, these timers have helped me tremendously and saved me a lot of money since I don’t have to hire someone to water when I’m away.They are easy to install and set up in the app. I haven’t had any leakage problems.

The device seems to work well enough but like others have stated the app is terrible. Before buying I read the reviews and thought how bad can it be? Well it's pretty bad, after finally understanding it all the app has the feel of being outsourced to the lowest bidder to a company that has NO idea what a watering system is supposed to do. In my opinion they should trash the app and start over.Some might feel one star is harsh but with a device like this when everything is being controlled by the app the app is a MAJOR part of the system. I bought the B-hyves to have more control over the timers I already have.Orbit,Why do you have to pick a zone when each timer IS it's own zone, confusing and pointless.Why do you have to select the time duration by selecting a zone that doesn't apply to this watering system.Why do you have no indication at the top on the home page that is where you select between the timers, only adds to the confusion.Why can't you add as many start times for each program? I have to keep adding programs to add timers, there is no point to this. In my area I want to be able to water as many times a day as I want for as long as I want. THAT'S WHY I BOUGHT THE SYSTEM! There shouldn't be any restrictions in an app for goodness sake.Why isn't there a simple manual control to just start watering, sometimes you just need to water a little extra. All of your other timers can do this simple function easily. But with this system I have go through some convoluted menu system and force it to turn on by testing it, or change the program then change it back. OK, I see you can water by pressing the icon at the bottom, randomly stabbing at the app seems to be the best way to understand it.This app could be SO MUCH more than what it is. The device itself is nothing more than a valve with a bluetooth send/receive, a great deal of what we are paying for is the app to CONTROL the device.A simple timer can do what this does a lot easier at half the cost, till the app is improved I'm not seeing any advantage of this system.UPDATE:One of the timers started to malfunction, the valve opened up and would not shut off. Tried everything through the app, turning it on then off but it wouldn't shut off. The app for it's part seem to be working fine, it would try to shut the timer off and you can hear the "click" but it still stayed on. When I got the timer I could tell it was previously owned I think someone returned it and Amazon put it back on the shelf.

This is a game changer. It makes it really easy to control the system from anywhere in house. The standard bluetooth connection was quirky and limited in range. But with the addition of the wifi, I can control from anywhere.