Gro 7 Zone Controller - Smart Sprinkler

First, setup.Setup might be easy for some, but if you have a complicated network setup, or don’t have a good grasp of how WiFi actually works, the setup can be a hassle. It took us about 4 hours for what should have been fifteen minutes. The switching over of the wires was no big deal. Very easy, actually. App for setup was easy to find in the App Store. Creating an account was a breeze. Then we tried to connect it to our WiFi. And it just would not connect.The instructions in the box are over simplified. They never mention that you need to have it on a 2.47 GHz channel. Just that it needs to be a 2.4ghz network. When we had our router set to automatically pick a channel, it would connect then disconnect, if it connected at all. Once we found that channel, we had only one more issue, and that was with a secondary bridge broadcasting the same SSID. That also caused the controller to disconnect, as it saw both networks as individual ones. Each time this happened, the controller had to be reset. Scanning for WiFi networks was easy at first, and more difficult at other times.Once we got connected and set up, zones were found automatically. The app gives you the option to name the zones, and take pictures of the area for reference. You can set watering days based on specific days of the week, or just regular intervals. You can choose a specific time duration, or smart watering based on weather. I’ve chosen smart watering, but I also put it to the bare minimum amount of water. The other nice thing about the app is you can choose the type of plant, from grass, shrubs, trees, succulents, or flowers. You can also choose your watering type- drip irrigation, sprayer, rotors, bubbler, or sprinkler.You can also manually set a timer for all zones, or for specific zones, and it will cycle through the zones if you choose to do all of them.The downside to the app is that it gives a timeout error quite a bit. As we have only had it two days, and spent about 2 hours after work each day trying to set it up, we haven’t played with it a whole lot. It feels a bit clunky, but not overly so. If you have gotten your controller to connect once, you can still navigate around even if it disconnects. But once you start that WiFi scan, you cannot go back.There is also an Alexa skill for the GroConnect device, which I find extremely helpful. So far I only know of three commands, which are to start watering, stop watering, and water a specific zone for a specific amount of time. It’s not like you really need much else, but I do hope that I find more.If it hadn’t been for the connection issues, I would have given this product the full five stars. But I caution others as this was a frustrating setup for us, and we are a techno-savvy family.Update:Within 24 hours, we were having the same connection problems, again. Plus, none of our set information saved, so we had to set everything up again. Then we had to do it a third time... and a fourth. Not worth trying to continue. It’s a great idea, but would benefit from a hardwired Ethernet connection, and better WiFi connection on the Gro Controller end.

I saw the reviews. With no disrespect, I thought people were less tech savvy. I was wrong. After dealing with Hubitat, Smarthings IDE, Insteon, Wink, WiFi/Zigbee/Zwave... I thought I had seen it all.The controller frequently disconnects from Gro's servers which causes it to skip waterings and/or over water.Last straw moment: I woke up one morning (supposed to be auto watering according to the app countdown) to no water - yet I walked down to the control box, it was happy solid green (connected but not watering). I couldn't cancel the fake watering through the app with the "stop button" and I couldn't troubleshoot because it locks you out of the app while it is watering (Android Note9). I let the timer run out and finally I was able to get into the app. About 10min later, it finally registered the Errors.Errors are rampant and heaven forbid Comcast goes down, you need to "sometimes" perform a power cycle. App driven diagnostics is very basic and passes even when the app reports the infamous red dot. Static IP setting nor device reset nor firmware update fixes the problem(s). The hub is right below where the router sits. The red dot (little picture of the controller that sits top center on the app) on the app doesn't seem to have any significance as I can still run the system when it is red. If it is red, I can just close the app and reopen it and it will sometimes update to green. Sometimes... it is green and a banner on the bottom of the app states that the app cannot communicate with the controller. This morning, auto-watering ran (ground was wet in the correct spots), and the controller errors out and stated that watering was not "confirmed." In response, the controller increased the amount of watering time for the following days.The app is... simple. The install is... standard. You cannot have smart watering and water sense run at the same time. In fact... water sense uses MORE water; 15 min runs vs 30 min runs. I turned off the emails for errors because I was getting one every two hours even though I could remotely control the zones.Stay away. Trying Bhyve instead. Hopfully worth the extra $13.UPDATE:I apologize for my erroneous comment regarding the "happy green light" above. It was/is actually "blue".After additional errors and connection issues, I have installed the Bhyve 8 zone indoor controller. It is fantastic and everything I thought the GRO7 was supposed to be. Not a single problem with the new Bhyve controller; more advanced and feature rich.

It controls the watering from a smartphone like a champ. Be nice if they just put a few zone buttons on it for when the internet is out or whatever. Just a push on push off for zones.... but apparently buttons are a thing of the past. Wired it through an old mechanical sprinkler controller for added functionality.Is it smart? It promises smart watering. I can’t tell. It’s not like it asks what kind of soil or it’s condition, type of grass or anything. I’ve caught it watering as usual on the day after a big rain when set to smart... so...? I’m a renter or I’d pull up the lawn.But I live in a sun baked desert that shouldn’t have lawns anyway so rain is seldom.Nice to be able to hit test button from my phone to observe the sprinkler operation from any zone... not just from in my garage.The server connection is free and you can see what it will do/doing/done. I got mine as a steeply discounted return so I consider it a good purchase.The price of controllers is out of control. It’s a simple device. So it put a smart device into competitive pricingSetup took about 10 minutes from taking down the old controller, wiring 4 zones and getting it on the web. Figure 1.5 hours and a “pro install” if you’re a native Californian.

Unable to get it work in Australia. Current App was not available from AU Playstore so needed to return item as useless to me. (old App did not work)