Spent $40 on a hose timer and it totally saved my garden

I was always forgetting to water my tomatoes and peppers, especially during the heatwave we had in July. Picked up a simple Orbit brand timer at Home Depot for $40, hooked it to a soaker hose, and now it runs 20 minutes every morning. Plants went from looking sad to thriving, plus my water bill actually dropped because I'm not overwatering anymore. Has anyone else tried those smart wifi timers, or should I stick with the basic model?

4 comments

4 Comments

jamie94023d ago

Tbh my brother got a fancy wifi timer and spent three hours trying to connect it to his phone just to watch it forget the schedule after a power outage. Basic model with a simple dial has never failed me and you don't need an app to remind you the batteries died at 2AM. Stick with Orbit, smart tech for a hose timer is just overcomplicating water.

william_garcia23d ago

Have you ever noticed how the simpler stuff just tends to outlast the complicated stuff? In my experience, any device that needs an app to function is just adding extra failure points. I had a buddy go through three wifi timers in one summer before he went back to a basic dial model and hasn't had a single issue since. The mechanical ones are basically indestructible too, you could run over mine with the lawnmower and it'd probably still work.

tessa_murray23d ago

Wait THREE HOURS? lmao I would've yeeted that thing into the neighbor's yard after 45 minutes max. That's dedication right there, I'd be sitting in the backyard with a hose in my hand before I spent that long fighting with an app. And the power outage thing is just salt in the wound, imagine waking up to dead plants 'cause the timer forgot it existed lol. Simple dials just work, they don't need a software update to remember how to turn water on and off. Honestly your brother has more patience than me, I would've been out there with a bucket and a prayer by hour two.

angela58723d ago

Same experience with my brother and his fancy wifi timer! Spent an entire Saturday trying to get it to talk to his phone, finally gave up and returned it. Basic Orbit model I got at the hardware store has been running perfectly for two years now, no app required. The mechanical ones just work because they don't have any moving parts or software to mess up. Like you said, a power outage won't scramble the schedule because there's nothing to scramble. Plus my tomatoes and peppers are doing so much better since I switched to the timer, I don't think the smart ones would make them any happier. Simpler is definitely better when it comes to something that just needs to turn water on and off every day.