Orbit56082 3-Outlet Programmable Digital Hose Watering Timer

Want to set your water hose on a timer, and forget it without reading a booklet of instructions? Look no further. Stop. Click add to your cart! This thing is an absolute dream. Out of the box, I popped two AA batteries inside, and set the timer, which took all of about 10 seconds to figure out. I went ahead and set the programmed timer 30 minutes out, which gave me time to set the hose up, and to get the water sprinkler in place. Upon reaching the set time, the water turned on, and it started watering the garden. The LED panel, and control panel wheel are super easy to navigate and set. I also checked two big box stores nearby (lowes and home depot), and this was $15 more at lowes. I would rate this 6 out of 5 stars if I could. Zero issues, and I'm very happy! Thank you.

This timer works really well and is super easy to program and use. I’ve owned several over the years, and the key to keeping them running smoothly is simple: keep it out of direct sun and harsh weather.I know that sounds a little ironic for a product meant to work outdoors, but exposing it to the elements shortens its life considerably. Mount it under a cover or somewhere shaded, and it’ll last much longer. The timer functions reliably and having three outlets makes managing zones a breeze.Great product overall — just take a little extra care and it’ll serve you well.

EDIT: 07/06/2020 Well, the 3rd 3 outlet Orbit Timer bit the dust this morning. Or rather, I noticed it for the first time. I'm not sure how long the water has been running on station 3. It was just continuous. There was a small pond among the trees we were trying to water towards the road. The brush hide the constant flow. I can't tell you how disgusted I am with these timers. When will ORBIT step up to the plate and realize they're manufacturing a defective product?? END OF EDIT.These timers are easy to attach, easy to program and easy to manually control. We've been using Orbit timers for a few years now. In May of 2015, we bought 2 Orbit 3-outlet timers for the first time, model 56082 from Amazon. We bought another 3-outlet Orbit timer, as well as 2 single outlet Orbit timers locally. Five timers in all: 3 of the 3-outlet times and 2 of the 1-outlet timers. Then in May of 2017, we bought another 3-outlet timer from Amazon to replace one that had stopped working. And in May of 2018, we bought another single outlet timer from Amazon to replace one that had stopped working.It never occurred to us to seek a replacement or refund from Orbit, because they did work for us for awhile, even watering everything on our property while we vacationed. We were impressed. And we were not aware that they had a 6 year warranty.Last year we unhooked all of our perfectly functioning Orbit timers, removed the batteries, cleaned them, and put them in storage, like we always do. This year, we pulled them out, put in new batteries, and attempted to program them for watering. To our consternation, we discovered that none of the 3-outlet timers would program correctly, would not turn off even when we switched them to off and would not respond to manual control. An outlet might work or...it might not. It was just random what these timers would do. They're designed to run one station at a time, but the first one wouldn't turn off, but the second one would begin, so that 2 outlets were running at the same time on the same timer and they would not shut off unless we turned the water off. And one of the single timers did that same thing [not responding to the programming].Now we couldn't trust any of them to do our watering and/or function correctly. We have a water well and the possibility of these things coming on and staying on while we're on vacation or otherwise gone for a few days runs the risk of flooding our watering areas and/or ruining our very expensive water well.So, we decided to buy all new Orbit timers to replace all of the non-working ones. On June 22, 2020, we ordered from Amazon 3 brand-spanking new 3-port timers, model 56082, as well as 2 brand-spanking new single port timers, model 62061Z to the tune of $290. Five brand-new timers in all. They arrived on the 25th and 26th of June, 2020. On the 27th, we put new batteries in, programmed them, attached them to the water faucets, connected the water hoses to each outlet and thought we were good to go.The next morning, on the 28th, imagine our surprise to wake up and see 2 of the brand-spanking new 3-port timers had not shut off and would not respond to turning the timers off. We had to shut the water faucets off. The other 3-port timer looked like it hadn't watered from outlet 2, so we tried doing it manually, but it wouldn't respond to a manual command. We always water in the wee hours of the morning before the sun comes up. The watering is always finished before daylight. Anyway...So, we took the timers off the faucets, took the battery packs out, allowed the memory to clear, reinstalled the batteries, reprogrammed them and reinstalled them. We ran tests through all the cycles, setting each outlet at 2 minute intervals. They worked. Then we cycled through all outlets to see if they would respond to manual control and all seemed well, giving us hope that they were going to function correctly.The following morning, the 29th, we woke to the same problem on 2 of the 3-outlet timers. Not one to give up easily, I ran them [my husband had already given up] through multiple tests, removing and reinserting the batteries, reprogramming and testing ad nauseam. Finally, I gave up too and decided to send these two 3-outlet timers back. UPS is scheduled to pick them up today, the 30th of June, 2020.These were brand-new and defective right out of the box. We are so disappointed in the compromised quality of these Orbit timers. At the first inkling that these things were defection, we should have re-boxed them all and sent them all back immediately. As of now, we're returning 2 of the 3-outlet timers. And we're going to be vigilantly aware of the performance of the ones we're keeping. If there's even a hint that one functions incorrectly, it's going back immediately.What has happened to the integrity of companies that are mass producing defective products? It's just all about the bottom line -- $$$. And there are probably multitudes of buyers unaware of Orbits 6 year warranty and just end ups trashing them. Should not companies be accountable for their defective products? I think so.We weren't aware that these timers have a 6 year warranty or exactly what that warranty covered. Perhaps companies like Orbit count on the ignorance of its customers. Orbit needs to be on top of all these negative comments. Now we're hesitant to order replacements and we do not, as of right now, recommend them to anyone.

I ordered this timer, and also the similar timer with 3 outlets, thinking that they would be the same as the older Orbit timer (58911) except for the number of outlets and the fact that the valves are incorporated into the time. The obvious differences are with the overall design. With the older model of timer, the timer was fully separate from the valves, which attached to the outlets of the manifold, and which attached to the timer via wired with dedicated connectors. This was the major, obvious difference. Also, the separate manifold had manual, variable on/off controls for each outlet from the manifold. This design was also a little awkward, but it was very flexible. It thought it was a reasonable tradeoff, given that this newer design was "cleaner" in that the valves are incorporated in the timer itself, with no wires, and no separate manifold.What I did not expect, and did not discover until it arrived and I played with it after inserting some batteries, is that the software is subtly but significantly different. This difference in the design of the software carries through to the user interface, and is probably best understood from the perspective of the user interface. With the earlier version of the software, you set the start times independently for each of three separate "cycles". It is really all one cycle, but there isn't a better word, apparently, to describe this. And this is better appreciated by way of comparison with the new software running in the newer models. In the newer models (this one and the 3-outlet and 1-outlet versions) you set a single start time. (I can't recall whether you can set the start time differently for different days of the week, but if so, this is not important in my opinion.) For a given day, you set a single start time, then if you want the sprinkler to come on more than one time during the day, you set the interval to either 6 hours or 12 hours. For most people this is probably adequate, and the advantage, ostensibly at least, is that the user interface is simpler. It occurs to me that the reason they changed this is that many people had difficulty with the moderate complexity of the user interface in the prior version of the timer and the software. But you also lose the flexibility you have when you are able to set three fully separate times for the three, uh, cycles.For example, if you have recently over-seeded a lawn, you might want for the sprinkler to come on for just 10 or 15 minutes, one in the mid-morning, again around 1 PM, and a 3rd time around 4 PM. With the earlier version you could do this, but you cannot do this with this newer version, because the interval cannot be set to less than 6 hours.As I said, the 6-hour minimum interval is probably not any problem for the great majority of applications, and when this is true, this newer product is more suitable because it is cleaner, less awkward with the valves incorporated in the timer, and the user interface is simpler to use. BUT, if that 6-minimum happens to be a problem for you, as it was for me, then you will be better off buying the older version (58911). Two things to note if you decide to buy the older version. First, even though it may come with a 4-outlet manifold and with the ability to control 4 valves, it might come with fewer than 4 valves, i.e., 2 or 3. In this case you will need to buy one or two additional valves, which, fortunately, are not very expensive. Second, if this is what you decided to do, you might not want to wait very long before making that purchase, because the indications are that the older version is not longer being manufactured and that the present availability is limited to existing inventory. There is no way to know for certain whether this is or is not the case. But it is not a product that Orbit is presently promoting, and I think it likely that sometime in the not-distant future, it will no longer be available.