The B-hyve 4 Channel Water Sprinkler replaced a 20 year old rainbird. It's about 1/3 the size of the Rainbird by volume (good). I admit I had some trepidation, based on the few bad reviews, but figured I'd take a leap of faith. A wifi sprinkler system that I could monitor and control while travelling sounded very attractive, esp when "home" was hit with a heatwave! The eventual garage destination for the unit is about 45' from my home TPLink AX50 Wifi-6 router, and crosses through two walls, one floor, and a garage shelf stacked with paint cans. My phone gets 1-2 wifi bars from that location, so I had some connectivity concerns. In the end wifi signal strength was not a problem. Before Amazon delivered the B-hyve, I downloaded the Android app, but stopped when it reached the point where it tried to initiate contact with the (B-hyve) device. Lesson for others, it's not worth downloading the app until the unit is in-hand and powered on. When the B-hyve was delivered, I connected the unit to the 24VAC adapter and powered it up in my living room. I started the Android phone app and continued through the process of setup.. initially through Bluetooth. As mentioned in another review there is RISK involved in connecting the unit to Wifi because you enter your wifi SID and password into the phone app that is transmitted to the B-hyve unit. The B-hyve license agreement (aka terms) appears to follow strong European Union GDPR Personal Info (PI) regulations. I've contacted Orbit and asked if they collect or retain my router password. if Orbit doesn’t reply or replies affirmatively, I’ll have to think about whether the risk is worth keeping the unit. There’s NO reason why the router password needs to leave my home network and collecting it on Orbit servers would be an absolute breach of trust. I spent at least a couple of hours trying to program the B-hyve the first time. I was interested in watering my lawn (2 circuits/channels) using the "smart watering" feature, which uses inputs like soil, plant type, location info, and weather data to determine when and how to water. I was willing to abandon my wired outdoor Toro rain sensor that I used with my Rainbird controller. However my hanging plants and planters need every day, 2-3 times daily watering, once at 3p at the hottest part of the day. After over an hour of dicking around with "smart watering", I set up a manual program for the planters. Oh, btw, I had to go online to find out that you set up manual programming from the app Home screen, which is an Industrial Engineering FAIL since the app starts you on the Zone screen on first time startup (as in WTF Home screen? Oh That Home screen!) The thing about Smart Watering is that it forced the start time for my lawn watering at 6am. Apparently it's not smart enough to work around my planter manual program, and after much effort trying to change the Smart Watering start time, moved my manual program start time instead. That took about 30mins of dicking around. The Smart Watering system broke up my lawn watering into 3 cycles, repeated back to back. I guess that's to help the water sink in and reduces run off. Ok. I can deal with that, even though my yard is relatively flat. When I moved my control wires from my Rainbird to the B-hyve, I screwed up the order. But when connected for the first time, only #3 controller worked. And then when I cycled through the zones, only #3 turned on a circuit. After some trial error, it seems like the B-hyve gets confused if you power it off and on and DON'T close and restart the app. That said, I was more careful to insert the control wires fully and tighten it down with the (included! thx!) mini screwdriver. The cavity behind the cover was able to accommodate all the extra wire (power and control), so the finished installation is very neat (excellent!) I will say, the wifi convenience is nice. I can test/check the sprinkler system from anywhere in the yard, whereas in the past I would be running back and forth like a chicken with his head cut off. And I can monkey with the settings while relaxing in my living room. I also run a copy of the Android app in a Windows Bluestacks emulator session, for the rare instances I'm on my laptop and am too lazy to reach for my phone. And I resurrected my Toro rain sensor for one of my manual, backyard circuits, where all plants receive rain. (Update 5/1/21) Email reply extract from Orbit, regarding the B-hyve app's use of the router password: The password is not saved at all. It is only used to access the router, and it is never seen on our end by a person. That information is not stored. S****** D. B-hyve Project Manager

I was hesitant in switching my controller for my house, but it was so easy to do. The setup is self directed so it will walk you thru the steps. What nice about it is that I can do automatic watering or separate zone watering while I sit back in my recliner. The other benefit i t hat it uses the local weather forecasts so that if it looks like rain the sprinkler wont come on, thus saving me money. Best purchase I ever made!! Thanks Orbit

Everything works great as far as schedules and operation. The only thing that's not accurate is sometimes it doesn't record the watering history when I can see that it's watered that day. I got on support and they showed me a different view that showed watering history correct. But on my Android phone app and on my iPad tablet it doesn't show the same thing they emailed me. Maybe some glitch in the app?

I bought this to replace a 20-year old Rainbird timer. In short, it’s awesome. The install and set up were super easy. I love the smart water function that adjusts based on weather, time of year, etc. It shuts off if there is rain or high winds. It’s such an upgrade from the old manual timer that I’m embarrassed I didn’t switch years ago.

It's true I got the first one several years ago, with a rebate from my utility company. In the time since they have made significant improvements to the app. The controller you are buying takes the instructions from the associated smartphone app (or web interface) and turns them into signals for your irrigation controllers. Of course, your wifi needs to reach your controller. It installs as easily as any controller--you plug it in, and connect up to 8 circuits, usually using a common ground and a single wire for each circuit. You could use two five strand wires and connect 4 ciruits using each 5-wire cable, assuming you have your irrigation valves in one or two boxes. Best reason for buying this--while you work on the irrigation circuits you pull your phone out of your pocket, select the circuit, hit test to turn it on, and stop to turn it off. No shouting to the person in the basement or garage, or using two smart phones and trying to tell them what you want. Next best reason for buying this--it turns off the circuits when rain is in the forecast. This doesn't work so well in the desert, as we often only get 1/10" of rain, but at least I know to check the weather before I override it. Also it does freeze delays. The smart watering features are cool, but I do a combination of smart and manually programmed because it's all drips, did I mention the desert? My son likes to say, "Hey, Google, water the lawn." This is just dumb. Hopefully he'll get over it before too long. At least his wife can say, "Hey, Google, stop watering the lawn." just as easily. This could be used with door to door salespeople, though, with a little customization....hmmmm. Don't tell anyone you got this from me. The B-hyve app has a very useful feature, you can adjust your program (up to 4 programs plus the smart watering, actually) so that it goes from 50% to 200% using a single setting. In the high mountain desert, we have highly variable temperatures through our short season, so there is a big difference between May, July, and September. Also, my son might not need this, but I find it very helpful to have a picture and a descriptive title for each circuit in the app on my phone. Before I always had to look up whether 3 was flowers in front or trees in the meridian, etc. Now the title and the picture make it clear (or clearer, depending on how I labeled it in the first place.) B-Hyve by Orbit is not the only smart controller, but it's the only one I've used, and it's worked great. It does not require that you use other components from the same label--the output on the two wires to each valve is quite standard, and the app works on both android and apple, with alexis and google as well, but you don't need any of these to use the controller, so long as you have a way of accessing the internet. You do need a wifi signal that reaches the controller. If your phone can reach the wifi from where your controller is, the controller can probably reach the wifi too.

The product was well packeted. The direction are ok. They did not say what way the power wired should be installed. So I put the wire strips on the right. The rest of the setup was straight forward. You only get 2 screws, but you need 3. I had an extra screw to use. 1/2” bare wire was good. The app synced up very well. I am using the apple app. My biggest issue was getting the zones set up. That part is not set up right. I feel the beginning steps need to be reworked so it walks you through setting be zones first. I thought it was but it did not. I walked away for a few hours deleted everything and started over. Now I was able to sett all my zones. I hope updates this later. But test features and test and manual modes all worked great.

This unit connects to WiFi in just a few steps. The app is pretty intuitive and easy to navigate. The smart watering feature is great! Monitors local weather based on your zip code and with the zone settings you enter -- it adjusts the watering times for you! The one thing that is not so great is that I cannot get it to work with Google Home. Spent quite a bit of time on the phone with tech support and I gave them the MAC address as they requested and then they said it was connected to Google Home and that was that. Not sure which Google Home to which it's connected -- but it isn't mine. So, no voice controls. Everything through app.

I bought this during the Black Friday sale. It was marked down to $50 USD including the shipping, handling and custom duties to be sent to Mexico, so I figured I had nothing to loose. I didn't realize it was an open box product (hence the hefty discount). In any case, I needed to upgrade my 13 year old Orbit Rainbird (pictured) since the thing was just about dead. Since it served me well, and I wanted to with a "smarter" option, the B-Hyve seemed the obvious choice. Obviously, from the title, I can't complain. It does exactly what it says it does. I am giving it 4 stars overall, for several reasons, both good and bad: a) +++++ The WiFi signal is strong, constant, and omnidirectional, to about a radius of 10 meters. b) ++++ Bluetooth as above is stable, but a bit less powerful, just covers about 7 meters. Pairing was a breeze! c) +++++ The design is simple, elegant and sleek. I does not distract from where ever you put it. d) -- There are several B-Hyve apps out there, so if you just try to download the app from the stores without knowing which one to download you'll be confused. e) ---- The information regarding smart watering is really non existing. I can surmise what it does, but haven't been able to confirm if it only works for the US, or internationally. f) -- Programming watering schedules seems to be simple, but it has several features that are confusing, even for an IT professional like myself. g) --- Integration with Alexa and Google, although simple, if you have done it for other devices, will be hard for most due to the lack of information, but... h) ----- Be prepared to do a lot of tweaking, like creating aliases, routines, scenes, etc., in both Google Home and Alexa to get the B-Hyve system to work with voice commands in either of these 2 platforms. For example, you name the zones in your app, but for the home automation and voice controls you can't use those names, you must use the zone number. You also have to use very specify commands to get it to do what you want, so unless you have a great memory, you'll be spending some time creating routines to map out what you want the B-Hyve to do. i) +++ You can have multiple users both monitoring and managing the system on their particular smartphone. Lastly, j) ----- You need to create 2 accounts, one for the B-Hyve app, and one for the Orbit website if you have any questions regarding your products. (Yes, really!) On a separate note (and my evaluation did not take this into account), I posted the pictures of the box the product came in, since I would have never called anything in that box "very good". Inside the product was scratched and the instructions where missing. I'm not sure if the seller or amazon gave it that rating, but whomever did, needs to reconsider their grading system.

I purchased one of these sprinkler controllers for my front yard, as I have two old manual timers one for the front yard and one for the back yard; much to my surprise the controller was super easy to install and also very easy to connect to wifi. Overall my experience has been positive, as the controller has worked great so much so that I purchased a second unit for my backyard. I highly recommend this unit.

I used this to replace a very basic control that was getting difficult to program. I didn’t realize that this was an indoor controller until I had it installed. I don’t think it should be a problem outside as it is in a water proof universal sprinkler control box. Everything is pretty straightforward as far as programming except the weather program which I couldn’t figure out how to override. Turns out you can’t but if you set the rain delay function to 90% chance of rain or higher you are basically overriding it so no problem. It’s nice to be able to use the different functions it has from the comfort of my sofa instead of crouching down on my deck trying to get the old unit to change a setting on an archaic worn out timer control. Very clever and easy to use. Love it!