Customer Reviews

Contech CRO101 Scarecrow Motion Activated Sprinkler

5 star:		(590)
4 star:		(195)
3 star:		(43)
2 star:		(32)
1 star:		(52)

 

 

Before I bought my house I thought cats went in a litterbox. Well some do, but my yard is apparently more appealing to Leo, my neighbor's cat, who is old and incontinent.

If you are reading this you know that none of the sprays, repellants, etc do anything at all and should be removed from the market. But dog-gonnit, the Scarecrow works.

There are a few minor things you should know, however. First, if you care about the Scarecrow leaking, be sure to assemble the unit with Teflon tape. Second, the Scarecrow is entirely plastic, right down to the spike that you drive into the ground. Not a big deal perhaps, but if your ground is hard you won't be hammering the Scarecrow into the dirt. Finally, if your yard is good sized you'll probably need two so crap avoidance has its price.

--And don't forget to run your hose in such a way that you can turn the water off before you approach the Scarecrow, because it will spray anything in its path; birds, the mailman, anything. This raises some interesting possibilities if you are plagued by door to door salesmen.

First off I would tell anyone that this product truly works. If you have any hesitation, my review along with all the others should be proof enough.

I purchased the Scarecrow Sprinkler last year after coming back from vacation to find a brand new shade garden I had planted completely decimated by local deer. We have a family of about 8 deer that I try to keep away, but my neighbors have other agendas. They "feed" the deer with corn which attracts them and frustrates me more and more [if Contech invents a neighbor deterrent, please let me know ;) ]

After mourning the $500+ I lost in plants and shrubs, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I started with "deer-b-gone" or some sort of "organic" deer repellant. It washes away, isn't cheap, smells bad and flat out doesn't work.

I then came across the Scarecrow and decided to give it the old "college try". Well folks, IT WORKS. No more deer, but uh-oh a flaw. Just like others, you have to remember that the Scarecrow is there or "BAM" YOU WILL GET HIT WITH A BLAST OF WATER. It has gotten me, my kids, my wife, a landscaper, our exterminator and one of our neighbors.

LADIES and GENTS..I have the solution to this problem!!!!!
What I realized is that the deer only do their dirty work from dusk to dawn. I thought what if I can get my sprinkler to only work during those hours and shut off during the day. Then I researched to see if there was a water timer that allowed for extended watering times. Say hello to this Orbit timer from Amazon.com Orbit Lawn & Garden Hose Digital Watering Timer And Valve #62001to use in conjunction with the sprinkler. It has completely flexible functions that allow the water to only turn on from say 8 pm to 8 am. It only turns on the water flow to the sprinkler. It will only use the water if the sprinkler motion sensor is set off so no wasted water. At 8 am, the timer turns off the water flow and NO ACCIDENTAL MIDDAY SHOWERS!! Then it kicks back on at 8 pm for another night of protection. These are the times I used but I may need to adjust a bit since I do sometimes make early or late strolls through my garden. You can set to whatever times you need to have it on and off based on your own situation.

So there you have it. Use this product in conjunction with a flexible timer and you get the benefit of excellent deer/pest protection while avoiding many of the minor flaws mentioned in other reviews.

A couple thoughts on this very useful product which I feel slightly guilty about downgrading to four stars:

First, the thing works perfectly, at least for me. Before the Scarecrow, my neighbor's (big) dog left a (big) present on my lawn, every night. Since the Scarecow, never, not once.

Well, okay, once, but that leads to comment two:

The trouble is that the Scarecrow cannot distinguish between me, enjoying my garden on a fine Summer's day, and the dog, doing his thing in the middle of the night. This means that I need to be very careful to set up access to the Scarecrow from behind, so I can turn it off and not get soaked every time I walk across the lawn. Once, I forgot to turn it back on, and, sure enough, that night the dog had done its thing.

Of course this is both a critique and a compliment: the Scarecrow really works. It's just not entirely convenient. Still, I wouldn't be without it and Amazon has it for a great price and free shipping. Can't beat that.

My husband and I were very disappointed to see that neighborhood rabbits had eaten our bean and pea plants to the stem after only two days of being in the ground. We wanted to keep the rabbits out of the garden area without chemicals, unsightly chicken wire, or traps. We purchased the scarecrow and absolutely love it! After replanting, our bean and pea plants are healthy and growing. The scarecrow seems to be doing its job of letting the rabbits know they are not welcome in the garden area. I have told friends and family about our happy results. I would recommend this item to anyone looking for a solution to unwanted intruders.

Length:: 0:09 Mins

I was having problems with the cats getting in my vegetable garden. I purchased and installed this product and have not had any problems since. This sprinkler does what it says and I would highly recommend it. On the videos I am throwing a tennis ball in the garden and my dog is chasing it. You can see some videos of the sprinkler in action here:

http://www.youtube.com/v/eBOuAP7XBUE

http://www.youtube.com/v/uKKKYGtTX2M

(Update: 4 years after original review: This product continues to keep the deer away. Four years of 6 month a year daily use and the original one is still going strong, plus my Mom bought another herself for another part of the yard. -Excellent product)

I bought this for my Mom in Michigan for Mother's Day. For the past five years she'd tried everything to keep the deer out of her flower garden - netting on the ground, fishing wire placed on posts about 3 feet off the ground... no matter what, some of the deer got in the garden. I'd told her about this product for several years, but she figured it didn't really work, I figured, let's give it a try. It has been installed for 3 weeks now, and the deer have yet to go into her garden (and they live on their property, so they are around). She just told me that some bulbs she planted 5 years ago are blooming for the first time ever - every year before they'd been eaten before they bloomed.

We'd highly recommend this product and she's about to order another.

One hint, get a good hose to go with this product, since the water pressure remains constant, you want a newer hose that can handle that pressure.

Length:: 0:21 Mins

My stupid neighbors dont obey the leash laws, and let their pets roam free. I was constantly having to clean cat and dog mess from my yard. It was so bad that when I would mow my lawn the tires of the lawnmower would be totally covered in brown matter, if you know what I mean. So I figured I would give the scarecrow a try. Works great, I have on video two dogs going into my yard to do their business, then the scarecrow blasts them point blank in the face with water. It was Hilarious, one of the dogs took off, but the other one panicked and ran around the circles not knowing how to get out of my yard through the fence, even though my gate was wide open. The dogs haven't been in my yard since. I seen cats get blasted with water too. My neighbors are mad though, because their dogs are now messing in their own yard, and everytime they walk in their yard they step in it, very funny. One thing that needs to be improved though is battery life, 9 volt batteries have very little capacity and go dead in less than a month if the unit goes off alot. It would be great if the unit could run on 4 D cells, then the scarecrow could run more than a year on one set of batteries. I bought lithium rechargeables in order to save money, plus they last longer than alkaline 9 volt batteries. Overall great product and alot of fun to watch it work.

We have tried all sorts of things to keep deer from eating our
tomatoes and hosta (and almost everything else) and nothing works
short of covering everything with "deer netting." And the deer
around here are so brave (stupid) that nothing short of running
after them would scare them away.

This gadget certainly scares deer. We saw one older fawn who had
wandered into our back yard in search of breakfast. When he
triggered the device, not only did it bombard him with jets of
water, but the clicking of the sprayer added a sense of emergency
to it. The deer took off like a shot until it had found the
cover of some nearby woods.

Drawbacks: You can only cover a fairly small area, but you can
put it across the deer's usual paths. Moving it around probably
helps, too. And you have to keep it out of the way of the UPS
guy or neighborhood children (unless that's your intent).

We bought the Scarecrow because of the problems we had with our neighbors cats. The cats would come into our yard and use it as their litterbox. We live in Arizona and have a gravel backyard, so it could easily be mistaken for a litterbox by a cat.

We had tried many remedies prior to purchasing this device. The internet was a wealth of knowledge on what to do for cat problems. Most of them had some degree of effectivness but none of the solutions were long lasting. The pepper would blow away in the wind, the tabasco would wash off in the rain.

We ordered the Scarecrow from the Amazon approved dealer because we have had very positive results when ordering from Amazon and their affiliated partners. The cost was a bit higher but the piece of mind was worth it.

When the device arrived we immediately set it up in the backyard. Remember that you need one 9 volt battery for the sensor to work. The device works by reading a range of almost 180 degrees with a sensitivity knob so it won't fire and shoot a stream of water if a leaf blows by. The sprinkler head is adjustable both to horizontal range as well as vertical range. I set the device to fire just at the about the top level of our brick fence so as not to soak my neighbors yard. She was told about the sprinkler also so if her cats came home wet, she would know why.

The Scarecrow did a great job of keeping the cats out of our yard. I was very impressed with it. I never heard it fire but left the hose attached and the device on all the time for the first week. The connections were tight and did not leak. The spike on the bottom of the device was strong enough and sturdy enough to survive being pounded into the tough Arizona ground. I didn't put the funky stickers on though. I figured if it was that easy to scare the cats, I could just put a drawing outside; besides the strong Arizona sun would just bake them off.

In very short order the problems we had in that section of our yard were gone. The problem though, is cats are not as stupid as one would hope. The cats just cut through the front yard and hopped the fence on the other side of the yard and did their business there which would necessitate the purchase of a second Scarecrow. We moved away from Arizona prior to purchasing a second Scarecrow but I am sure that it would have proven as successful as the first.

Our water bill remained the same since the Scarecrow only fires for short bursts and the cats won't stay in range that long.

Overall, very worth the cost. This is one device that works as well, if not better, than it is supposed to. I would not hesitate to recommend this device to anyone with animal or pest problems. It is safe, non-toxic and user friendly. Your neighbors who own the pests should not be upset with wet animals and it is better than neighborly discord.

Our problem is the neighborhood cats who are allowed to roam. They were ruining our garden, lawn, etc. We tried so many different things to keep them away, without any lasting success. The Scarecrow is fantastic! The cats (as well as other bothersome 'strays') stay away and they are not harmed in any way (except perhaps their pride)!

The Scarecrow is very well made--quite sturdy. Also, I had the Scarecrow on daily and the battery lasted for nearly two months.

I highly recommend this product--it is effective on more than just deer or rabbits!

Our flower beds and lawn are recovered.