RainMachine Touch HD-16, Cloud Independent Smart Wi-Fi Irrigation Controller, Compatible with Alexa, 16 Zones

As an engineer who designs user interfaces for medical data products, I am generally pretty critical of the user interfaces found in consumer products. I was VERY pleasantly surprised by this device, where I found the interface to be attractive, intuitive, and logical. Someone put a LOT of thought into this software. It requires almost no explanation, has all the needed functionality, and works very well. It connected to our wide area mesh network immediately, and has remained solidly connected since installation. The device works exactly as described, and has been reliable and effective. Setup proceeded without any problems exactly as described in the simple instructions included in the package. My installation is somewhat unusual; I am using it in a greenhouse with 16 zones, some of which involve multiple valves. I did not need all of the weather functionality (it does not rain in a greenhouse) and as I had hoped, the "smart" functions are easily customized. I had no trouble connecting to the unit from our iPhones and iPads; the setup required only the identifier and a password. The iPhone and iPad apps were also logical and intuitive and did not require any explanation or detailed instructions. The choice of this unit was driven by two things which I thought were very important: (1) It is cloud-independent, and once the unit is installed, you are not dependent on the manufacturer for its functionality, and (2) It has its own touch screen, so you can control it without a smart phone or computer. As someone who values his privacy and does not carry his smart phone everywhere, these issues were important to me, especially in the greenhouse application. I have only two very small complaints: (1) In order to have pump relay or master valve control, you have to give up one of the 16 zones. I would like to see a separate connection for the master/pump function. (2) The choice of weather stations is somewhat limited. We have a local weather station, and would like to have the ability to connect to that. Other than these two small issues, this device is nearly perfect, and I will be installing several more on our 7.5 acre property for the landscaping and bamboo gardens.

UPDATE: I purchased it in May of 2016 and was an avid proponent for them. It was clearly the best at the time, and it was really nice to use for the first 6 years. I didn't like the limited master valve control, but I bought it because they said I could access it from anywhere without them in the middle. Now they took that away (or maybe it was never true), making this far less useful. Everyone is complaining, maybe nobody is buying. I don't care if someone sells a device that requires a subscription, but you can't just change that many many years later after the device was purchased.-------This is a pretty easy review for me to write after using the controller for a couple months. I spent a lot of time researching controllers and reading reviews but basically was most concerned about three main things: remote access from my phone (which quite a few controllers can do now), no reliance on the cloud (where others fall short), and 15 zones without expensive add-on modules. This one had me covered on all points and at a very competitive price so the rest of its features are all cream. You can't add pictures of your zones or use a google maps image of your yard but you can name the zones whatever you want and I've never been confused about where the water will go. I have not used the weather feature either but I do really appreciate the ability to set up as many different programs as I want. That is especially helpful when watering zones include the lawn, some bushes/trees, the raised garden beds that include some zones that need to be watered less often than others, and some flower boxes in the sun that need daily water. If I don't get around to dealing with the weather features I could also make a couple programs for the same zones that just have different durations on them so I can top off or catch up on the lawn by starting a single program. The options are limitless.The packaging is very professional and has everything you need, even including a screwdriver (see an unboxing videos on youtube). The unit looks so nice I wanted to mount it in the house but ultimately left in in the garage instead of splicing and running additional wire for 16 zones and turning this into a real chore. It turns out that after I set it up, I've never used the actual touch screen on the unit since the phone app works so well. It is nice to know it is there as a backup though.I LOVE being out in the garden or yard and being able to use my phone to start and stop zones to make adjustments. Our clay lawn can often easily go a week or more without water and I love being able to just start that program from my phone just when I think it needs water. I'm going to love it in the fall when blowing out the system without needing to constantly go to the controller. I'm really going to appreciate all of the times the lawn isn't watered a second time because I forgot to turn the old controller off after manually starting it.I'm sad when it rains because I can't justify playing with the program on my phone and turning the zones on. Can't wait to start ITTT programming.