Halo Smart Sprinkler System Controller | Alexa and Google Home Enabled | WiFi Connected | 8-Zone Irrigation System on Your Water Bill

What's to like? A month of frustration.I bought the SkyDrop system as well as the expansion module but returned them within the first 30 days as the system never worked correctly.1) Control and User Interface: Let's start with the controller. What's the point of the fancy space-age design with the cool display screen and sexy glowing control dial? This controller is essentially an industrial device that will be installed in some utility room or closet and never looked at after installation since you will be using the app or a computer to control it. This does not negatively affect the device's operation. It's just weird.The app was easy to use and intuitive but the app would frequently lose contact with the device and then nothing would work. The app would often say that it lost the WiFi connection with the device, even though the device screen reflected that it was connected via WiFi with good signal strength. Often I could get the controller to work only via my laptop computer via WiFi, but not the app connected through the same WiFi.2) Installation: The installation was very easy as advertised, but the device could never recognize one of my connected irrigation zones. The zone worked perfectly and could be activated manually through the device but the device would not recognize it to control it automatically. The expansion module (to increase zone capacity to 16 zones) also was easy to install.3) Customer Service: I called customer service and was told to perform a factory reset on the controller, but this action essentially killed the controller. Customer service agreed to send me a replacement for the defective controller, but refused to sent the replacement via overnight shipment as that was "against company policy" according to the customer service supervisor.4) Replacement controller: I received a replacement controller, but the controller was apparently an older reconditioned SkyDrop model instead of the newer version SkyDrop Plus module that I was trying to replace (It says "SkyDrop Plus" on the face of the controller). The replacement controller would not allow the expansion module to work at all but as I was going on vacation soon and needed something to water my plants, I used it with just the eight zones.5) Timer programming: I programmed the device to water my plants each morning (easy to program) using manual programming rather than allow the device to automatically water based on the weather, etc. Each morning the system would send me an e-mail letting me know that the system had watered my zones as programmed. The app also reflected that the zones were watered every day at the programmed time. The problem is that the device never actually watered anything at all! It would tell me that it did so, but never did anything. It did allow me to manually request watering of each zone for whatever amount of time I wanted. It just would not allow this to happen with the timer. Each day, I would request through the app manual watering one zone at a time and this would work fine.6) In complete frustration, I returned the system for a full refund within the 30 day return period.7) Recommendation: Buy anything except the SkyDrop and you'll be happy. I bought the Rachio system and am completely happy with it. It works correctly all the time! It's made in the USA and was easy to install. The app is simple to use. It waters my plants perfectly every day and never fails. The Rain Machine also gets great reviews but I have not tried that system.

Beautiful Industrial design, better documentation would make it as good as it gets. Documentation is limited and leaves a lot to be desired. It only works if you know to click on a small check buried among alphabetic characters on only some screens. The installation instructions are clear, simple and well done. However, one critical piece of information is missing. It's not mentioned ANYWHERE!! You must highlight and click on a check mark when entering zone names or the WiFi password. This check mark only appears on some of the screen options when entering alphanumeric characters for naming zones or passwords. Additionally, the highlight is difficult to see unless you're at or below the plane of the screen. The characters are small but visible. Once I figured out that the check indicates the name or password is complete, everything worked flawlessly. Connecting it to my cell phone was a breeze. The phone graphics are beautiful and you can control everything easily and intuitively. Only time will tell how effective it is at saving water by accurately predicting rainfall at my house, not the weather station.A weather resistant cabinet is required for outside mounting. The cabinet is manufactured by Orbit. The model number is 57095. It has an internal GFI receptacle so mounting the Skydrop inside is very simple. You will have to drill mounting holes in the internal mounting plate, but that's a simple job that can easily be done by the installers or anyone who can use a drill.Cudo's to the designers and shame on the documentation people for making a simple installation unnecessarily frustrating.

It’s true what all the others say ... suddenly your smart sprinkler controller is just about as dumb as they get unless you are now unexpectedly ready to pay a monthly fee. BUT ... this is not the only dirty little trick this company felt comfortable perpetrating.For example: if you were installing flow sensors, they would sell you a second add-on piece of hardware that had wiring connection for one of the flow sensors on their published compatible list. With a sensor there would be better water conservation through more accurate monthly reporting and a guard against breaks or punctures in sprinklers and supply lines. With suddenly higher than normal flow on a zone, the controller would temporarily shut down the zone and send warning about the leak. There were specific instructions for connection with caution about not reversing the sensor leads the line because it would cause erroneous readings. There was no mention of the fact that no software function had ever been implemented to read the sensor or perform any of the advertised functions. The way it worked for me was, my quarterly water bill suddenly was over $1,000 higher than usual. Installers of artificial turf had cracked an elbow fitting and driven a spike through a supply line. The SkyDrop did exactly what it was programmed to do ... nothing. When I contacted support they admitted there was none of the advertised software functionality. It would be ready in about a month. Four months later, it would be ready in about two months. A year later, it would be ready in a couple months. Another year later, they weren’t quite sure of a date, but release was imminent. A year after that they weren’t sure on a release date for a feature they had already advertised and sold three years earlier.Even now the pattern repeats. Here you are being offered a piece of hardwsre, whose functionality (fee or not) isn’t likely to actually be around much longer. According to company information, they are OUT OF BUSINESS officially. It has been functioning in some quasi-ghost state of operations. Connectivity to my controller (even with fee) is in and out. Without it, there are many settings that can no longer accessed for programming.My controller’s “Smart” watering, is more like bipolar disorder watering, alternately watering then not. Some of my cirrus trees were nearly killed.. Ferns died. Flowers withered. The $1.99 a month charge kept coming.The only thing reliably sprinkled is going to be you ... with ongoing lies. Maybe choosing a product that’s a little dumber for the same price might be a smarter plan.

A great Watering SolutionThis is a super simple to use sprinkler system that took me ten minutes to install and have up and running. I can program, change, stop watering and increase watering all using my IPad or IPhone simply and easily. It syncs with weather forcasting to ensure that I don't over water and gives me a clear dashboard of my next timings, weather forecast, and where my programming is. Super happy with my purchase!

I previously purchased one of these in my old house and since purchasing a new one, I chose to install one here too. No sooner did I get connected and install my irrigation system, I received an email from Skydrop stating they would start charging a monthly/annual subscription. They touted themselves as being affordable and never having a subscription but they have back-peddled on that statement based on “weather underground” being purchased and them having to have a more affordable data feed. This is quite unfortunate. If the interface wasn’t so buggy (such as often defaulting to my previous unit in another city), I’d be more inclined to pay their subscription fee but the fact remains, giving a weeks notice that the most useful features this system has, will be restricted unless you pay for it, like manual watering for crying out loud, is ridiculous. I am debating returning this product at this point on principle.

Absolutely love it. If you're into smart devices like me, then this is the controller for you. Had it for a year. It's flawless.

Was great until they decided to charge users to use the app. It was made clear when I purchased the product there would be no monthly fee. Now it’s $1.99US a month. Without payment the app is useless!! Would not recommend this product.

Best product for the price. Easy to install.