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C**R
I think I found a gardening unicorn! A Reliable Well Built Wireless Water Timer!
Finally... a water timer that is simple to use and program, very high quality, and doesn't drown or dry out your plants and lawn! I did a lot of research and have used the competitor's options for a few years (Orbit, Gardena, Melnor). I have spent enough money replacing either dead timers or dead plants to more than pay for this system (and I take my timers in at the end of each season and maintain my things). My LinkTap system setup has a gateway and five water (tap) timers because I have a lot of separate gardens in different locations around the house and yard. My gateway is located in my basement and my house is on about a 1/2 acre lot. While not the cheapest solution out there, the money you invest here will more than pay off by not having to frequently replace cheaper, poorly made timers or dead plants/lawn (and saving you money on water if you're not on a well)!Here is why you should buy this system (pros):- Setup instructions are easy to follow and simple - No major tech know-how required. It took me less than 15 minutes to be up and running.- Long Range - Water timers have their own wireless connection which has a much longer range than WiFi (uses the Zigbee standard) so you can put them almost anyplace, even on a large property. This connection is fully secured (encrypted).- Easy to program - If you can use the web or an app on your phone, you can program your timer in about a minute. If you want to do a very detailed program, it'll take you just a bit more time, mostly to make decisions on exactly how you want your watering schedule to work.- Rain skip function works really well and requires no effort to turn on and off/adjust it. Rain skip uses Dark Cloud weather data which I have found to be very reliable (free, no subscription or app required). Unlike other timers that use a soil moisture sensor only and will still water one hour prior to a major rain storm, this system uses forecast and actual rainfall to determine when to skip watering (you set the rainfall thresholds for water skip), reducing over or underwatering and saving you water and money, This is one of the most impressive features for me so far.- Water Timers are remotely, securely, accessible with any internet connection - PC or Mac, iPhone, or Android - any device which can access the web can control the water timer from anywhere you have a connection. (all communications are encrypted from the timer to the gateway and from the gateway to the internet - end to end security!)- No significant water flow or pressure reduction - Solenoid valve is similar to that used in touch faucets and fully opens and shuts with almost no restriction to water flow.- Customer support is absolutely awesome - Before and after my purchase, I reached out to the company in Australia via Facebook messenger to learn more about the product and get my questions answered (no other Amazon reviews, so I was trying to do my research!). Response time is remarkably fast (almost instant), support is from people who actually designed and built the product, and who care about your experience!- App/Website give you lots of data about your watering history - You can see exactly when and how long water was applied to your lawn and gardens from the app- Still waters if your internet is down/unreliable - If you lose your connection to the internet, your system will still water as programmed.- Solenoid valves are very reliable and high quality and use almost no power to open and close- Provides a wireless test feature to ensure that your water timer/tap linker will always receive commands from the Gateway- Can control up to eight water timers per gatewayCons: In order to use a better valve and wireless radio, the tap units are big! You cannot easily install two of them side by side on a hose bib (see photo). So if you, like me, need to run three off of a single tap, you will need to be a bit creative. But trust me, it's worth it!- Installing batteries requires removing and inserting small screws (screwdriver and extra screws provided). This permits a fully sealed, watertight battery compartment. The batteries are supposed to last up to two years, so you won't need to do this step too often.Finally - forget getting anything from Melnor (I had an entire RainCloud system, trashed it after a several week trial period - total junk, website and valves are unreliable (you will have dead plants - the negative reviews are spot on)), Orbit (very meh quality, reduces water flow and pressure, very limited programming options), or even Gardena (WiFi timer not available outside of Europe, very expensive, non-WiFi timers significantly reduce flow and are difficult to use, with limited program options.)I am truly impressed with the entire LinkTap Water Timer system. I have already recommended this to my friends and family and will continue to buy them as our needs grow. From beginning to end, a product that works and does exactly what you want it to. While not the cheapest option out there, it is definitely the best!
M**H
Buy LinkTap and don't waste your time and money with Melnor products
I am extremely satisfied with this product in all aspects. Here are the main areas I can comment on:1. product was received promptly (within two days) in excellent packaging2. Material is very high quality and durable3. Connecting to my router and setting up and adding link taps was very easy. Even identifying and adding different faucets was as easy as pointing your camera to the serial code.4. I bought eight units and all functioned perfectly fine5. I used iOS App (LinkTap) and it is very stable, versatile, and powerful.6. Setting up/programming watering schedule is very easy7. I added eight Taps to the gateway. no problems.8. the eight taps are spread around my 7000 square foot yard and all have strong connection to gateway. Please note that they use Zigbee which has better range than WIFI.9. Batteries do take few minutes to install but that is fine. They made battery compartment water tight secured with six screws10. Taps are a little bulky, but I am ok with that since i can see they are rugged and well made. I had to be creative to create space for them.In short I could not ask for better product. Now compare that the Melnor Aquatimer experience.... I ordered two of those and no way in hell I could not connect them to my WIFI. I am in the process of returning those Melnor units. Yes, these 8 LinkTap units cost me about 3X the Melnor per channel, but that is well worth it to get reliability, quality, and peace of mind. This is the first Australian product I recall buying, and I am very impressed. I guess they need some reliable water control in the dry Australian deserts. Good job LinkTap!
V**S
Concept is good but app is very unstable
Bought this timer, set-up was easy and worked the first time. But after that tried logging into the app and it repeatedly says "Error. Check your network connection and try again" when the connection is fine and my internet is also running fine. Given you can only operate this through the app, it's very frustrating and disappointing to say the least. Also the app in "Instant mode" crashes and closes. My version is 1.5. Tried logging into their web version but got the same message. Have emailed their support. Awaiting some assistance.**Update***Got a response from their support team acknowledging issues with their cloud services and have promised to anlayse and make it more robust to not fail again. But still it would be good if we can have some offline manual capabilities so that there is a plan#b when issues like these pop. Updating my rating to acknowledge the fact that they at-least responded with an explanation.
M**T
Wifi makes this timer buggy
I loved the idea of this water timer. Where I live it rains a lot and no one wants to have to remember to go and turn off the water timer every day that it rains. This device was supposed to help me not do that. I tried it out in summertime, since that's when I really need it, and the timer kept coming disconnected from the gateway which would cause it not to water at all. I'd find that with any wifi disconnect the timer would get buggy and not work. The last straw came when the gateway which was properly connected to my wifi would not connect at all. Great idea for this but it still has a long way to go. It would be much better if the company would make the device still work even if it's not connected to wifi. That way it could still maintain it's normal schedule even if it hasn't connected to the internet so at least plants don't die in the summer.
Trustpilot
1 month ago
1 month ago