B-hyve XR Timer

Just received my unit today and I’m just totally loving it already. This is the unit with the WiFi hub. It was a breeze to setup and link with my home WiFi. Setting up my zones took a little while because I was having a good time customizing zone labels and photo labels of each zone (see accompanying photo). I have no clue what one reviewer was talking about when he said you can’t control anything from the APP, you can control EVERYTHING via the app, but you can also easily operate the unit from the outdoor unit itself. Hopefully, it will last at least as long as my previous Melnor dumb timer (which was a total pain to program, standing outside at the unit no less)

Initially, I had some trouble connecting the hub to my Wi-Fi, but it turned out to be an issue on my end. Once everything was set up, the software proved to be excellent — it’s well-designed and makes setting up automatic watering simple and intuitive. One thing to note: rechargeable batteries don’t report battery levels correctly, so it’s best to use standard alkaline batteries. My home is about 2,300 square feet with hose faucets on both ends. Placing the hub in an outlet near the sliding glass door, roughly in the center of the house, provided great range and connectivity. e to connect HUB to Comcast’s WiFi router.

Update:. It’s dead. It was a serious pain in the ass and a serious waste if money. It lasted about two years during which it was unreliable and enormously frustrating. In its final hours it opened valve one and never closed it or operated any other valve. I am happy to see it go. IT HAS NO WAY TO MANUALLY OPEN OR CLOSE A VALVE! If you want to control your home irrigation, keep shopping. Or, you could save yourself the hassle and money if you buy a few solenoid valves and a smart power strip. Original review: This product is not designed for what I needed to do. I wish that that had been more evident to me before I purchased it and discarded the packaging. I purchased this to assist in watering plants on my balcony because it provided four zones and could be controlled by Alexa. What I did not realize that the device can only be controlled by Alexa verbally, it cannot be automated using Alexa. The device includes an application that permits scheduling. All of the schedules are subject to rain delays, based on the Recent weather in the area of the devices located. Rainy or not, it doesn’t rain on my balcony. There is no way to disable the delays that I have found. If you are buying it to irrigate your garden, or flower bed, and you do not mind managing the schedules in the b-hyve application, this is probably a good product. If, like me, you seek a product that is programmable directly from Alexa or other home assistant and does not adjust your schedule based on recent weather, pass on it.

Maybe my life isn't as exciting as others, but this wifi-controlled timer has saved me countless hours this past summer. We have a large courtyard that can take almost an hour to water by hand and even then evaporation can make some of it need more water. With this timer combined with an irrigation system, I set it to run for 45 min just before sunrise each day and we have had almost zero wilting and fantastic blooming of our hydrangea which normally get droopy during the heat of the day. Had to use two of the zones to separately water two sections, but that was easy to set up. Use the third port to add water to the pool as necessary without the worry of forgetting to turn it off.

I finally got the 4 Port Time XD w/included Hub connected and working. The working range between the Hub and the Timer unit is not great, and it's difficult to diagnose because there are no diagnostics available*. It either shows "connected" or "not connected" in the app, and there's no signal strength indicator or percentage displayed. The connected/disconnected state seems to be tested only when executing a function, so I spent a long time turning one of the stations on and off manually a few dozen times to see whether or not the command was received by the timer. I eventually got a reliable connection between the Hub and the Timer unit by running a length of Ethernet for POE, and then buying a $10 POE-to-5V-USB extractor and mounting that and the Hub in a semi-covered area near my garden (see photo 1). From there it's about 50' to the Timer unit, but without a clear line-of-site. In fact there's about 15' elevation drop and a block wall in between (see Photo 2), but it does connect reasonably well. I tried 10 cycles of manual watering on/off, and it succeeded every time, but with anywhere between 5 and 20 seconds between when I pressed the button on the app and when I heard a "click" from the Timer unit. Orbit needs to add a real-time Diagnostics feature to the app, showing the real-time WiFi connection quality between the network and the Hub, and the real-time BlueTooth connection quality between the Hub and the Timer unit(s). This would allow the user to move the Hub around on an extension cord and optimize the placement before committing to a location. As things are, we're just guessing and using trial-and-error. Also, my testing seems to suggest that there's a minimum delay between a Manual Stop command and a Manual Start command. If I start a Manual Watering, I can stop it almost immediately, and I get a relay "click" within ~5 seconds of clicking the Stop button in the app. If I attempt to Start another Manual Watering cycle, sometimes it takes ~5 seconds and sometimes it takes 20. I _think_ if I wait awhile after my last Stop command, the Manual Start starts faster after I click in the app, but I'm not 100% sure about the correlation because I'm also troubleshooting connection issues. If there is a built-in delay/latency, Orbit should display a message in the app so that we're not left wondering whether the command was received or not. But I'm giving this 4 starts because it does work, and I've needed a connected timer for years now, and it finally appears to be reasonably good and reasonably priced. * Yes, on the advice from the Orbit forum I downloaded and tried the Orbit Assist app, but it tells me absolutely nothing useful. It shows only the download/upload speed to the Internet from where my phone is sitting, but nothing about the connections that are actually used by the B-Hyve products.

I have a garden and a job that has me traveling in the summer. That’s not really a good combination so my husband and I installed a drip irrigation system and two different timers. This one is the best, hands down. The app lets me set up schedules to water different zones at different rates and times. I can water from my sofa or from across the country. I can check watering history to know what and how much has been watered. I can turn programs on and off or change them temporarily or permanently from anywhere with the convenience of the app. The only real complaint I have is the rain delay. You set the nearby weather station the app will use for forecasting. Or rather, it sets it but you can change it. Unless you set the allowable percentages quite high, it will set a 24 hour rain delay for a small chance of light to moderate rain during one hour of the day. Here in Florida, we have forecasts that include potential pop up showers which may or may not happen, so rain delay is useless in those situations. I experimented with it a while and finally just turned it off. I determine my own delays manually. Speaking of manually, you can attach a handheld hose to a port for manual watering. Because your tap is already open, you’ll need to deal with the timer box to open the port and get your water flowing. Read the instructions and follow the five steps and you’ll get used to what you have to do each time. One thing to keep in mind about the design of this, or really any timer unit, is that it can be difficult to attach hoses if your water tap is very low to the ground. Mine are traditionally low, and I have just enough clearance for the box to hang off the tap and for hoses to connect without crimping, but my husband plans to extend the faucets and bring the pipes up several feet, to match the design of taps we’ve added throughout our yard. This makes the timers and hoses so much easier to deal with. All in all, I’m a big fan of this timer. But honestly, I found nothing comparable in this price range with these features to compare, so I’ll be a fan unless and until something better comes along. The build seems solid. I have yet to notice any leaks, and I use all 4 ports daily. The display is large and easy to read and use. We’ve been using it for months and haven’t had to change batteries yet. It’s an electronic device that’s made my life easier. In fact, I could not keep a garden without a device like this and this unit was best value for money to fit my needs. I now own three of them and can’t wait to get the other two into action.

I had originally ordered a RainPoint WiFi timer that couldn't connect to my network. Testing in another home found that it couldn't connect to two random networks. That made it into a return. Amazon is great that way. I troubleshot the RainPoint with AI and after it couldn't help and saw it was a lost cause, it recommended two other products. I'd heard of Orbit products, usually with a good reputation. It also had a cheaper price. I got it. It connected to my network without any problem. Following the instructions was easy. I even moved it after setting it up and it reconnected immediately. I then setup each of the zones - very easy to do, but I can't fully describe all the surprise functionality the WiFi timer has integrating with weather, photos, and descriptions of your landscaping. I've had it hooked up for less than a full day and, with the testing, have used it 15 times, with the very easy manual option and rain delay settings. If I become disappointed at some time, I'll stop back. This is my first WiFi water timer and I am much impressed so far. So, I'm stopping back. The only difference between this unit an analog unit you program at the controller is that you can program it on your phone and it does act upon the weather forecast. If you're looking for it to do the other 80% of its functioned claims, forget it. Notifications on when watering starts and ends - forget it. Amount of water expended in the watering cycle - forget it. Set manual watering through the app - forget it. For what I actually get out of the product, the additional $50 between this and the manual water timer was a complete waste.

I use this for my irrigation hoses for my garden. I really appreciate its ease of use from setup to daily tasks, this has been a wonderful addition to my gardening.

Hallo, ich habe mir den B-Hyve XD über Amazon.de bestellt. Der Netzstecker passt nicht für die übliche Steckdose und zudem kann ich nirgendwo erkennen, welcher Anschlusstyp (Gewinde) der Wasserausgang ist. Keiner der Schlauchadapter, die ich zu Hause habe passt. Ich kann auch keine EMail-Adresse finden um den Verkäufer zu kontaktieren. Darum versuche ich es auf diesen Weg. Ich bitte darum, dass sich ein Mitarbeiter der Firma Orbit bei mir meldet. Ansonsten muss ich das Gerät zurück schicken. Weshalb dieses überhaupt in Deutschland ausgeliefert wird, ohne einen Hinweis, dass verschiedene Adapter benötigt werden, kann ich nicht verstehen und macht schon mal einen schlechten 1. Eindruck.

Great product. Warning, though: In Australia the taps have a different screw-in groove standard. You’ll need an adapter.

There is nothing to say as a minus for this product. I am very happy with it. Before this I had a Gardena Master + water distribuitor which was getting stuck. With this, not only that works flawlesly, but you can as well use the app features and functions which are awesome.

Hasta hace poco el termporizador fiuncionaba excelente pero desde hace una semana tengo problemas con los programas pues finalizan antes del tiempo establecido. Desafortunadamente no existe soporte a cliente en la página del fabricante Orbit.

Bought this to set up an automated watering system without having to buy a full underground kit. Attached 4 hose to it to create 4 zones, set up was super simple. The only issue I had was the app would get stuck during the set up but you can exit and go back in. In order to use the smart features fully you need to know a lot about the soil and sprinkler you are using, along with the moisture levels of the soil and type of grass. Still even without the more complex features, this worked great and allowed me to set a program to water in the morning, and it skips the watering if rain is on the horizon. Excellent product