Customer Reviews

Melnor 3060 6-Cycle Electronic AquaTimer Digital Dual Hose Timer

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(40)

 

 

I bought this timer over others, the day before yesterday because of its ability to water on odd days. However, I have it attached below my south facing house wall faucet which is in direct sunlight for the majority of the day. I discovered the first day that the display became jumbled and the controls became inoperative when the unit had been in the sun for a modest period of time. Today, the unit was completely inoperative and required that I cool it down with hose water before it "came back on line." Worse, it had lost its time even though it didn't loose either program I'd stored. So, even if it did come to function again over night, it wouldn't know what time it really was! The manual gives no indication that the unit will not operate reliably at high temperatures although it does say it'll fracture if frozen. The manual lists no placement restrictions or options to avoid unit malfunction at higher temperatures.

I want to give it 3 1/2 stars but can't do it. It works and does the job as it suppose to. The good about this thing, others mentioned already. I believe something Melnor needs to improve for next version.
1) The text on the screen is too small. please make it BIGER.
2) The most thing I hate is the customized timing. After you customized, you have to live with it even you customized incorrectly. It allows 5 customized settings that can't be reset or change. The only way to rest it is to remove the batteries and then reput the batteries. Please make a reset button to allow to reset without removing the batteries.

Cheap ABS plastic lasts about 1 year. Then it ruptures under normal water pressure.

A metal version might last longer if I can find it.

Avoid this one unless you want to replace each year.

Melnor completely changed the model 3060 this year. I had had old models for 9 years. Loved them. Had to replace 2 this year. They are completely different, less features, no manual/auto with valve on/off feature. And worse, the clocks change time! My old ones chugged along with absolutely no problems for years. The new ones have failed in the first week!
Not only that, they are harder to program.
Ignore all the good review that are pre-2006! They don't apply to this model.

This sprinker timer is lousy! It sucks so much juice from the batteries that they go dead in less than a month, and that's with a conservative watering schedule of about every 3 days.If you had to run this thing daily, you'd spend more for batteries in the first 6 months than the whole unit costs!

I've used Gardena in the past and they're much higher quality -- though you should take care of the "O" rings.

This works, but it uses up batteries like crazy. With a modest setting (1 watering per day) I was changing batteries every 2-3 weeks.

I switched to the Orbit Sunmate 62001 which has been running great on the first set (uses 2) of 9v batteries for almost TWO YEARS.

This is the only timer that has a "Mist" feature, which allows you to set it for one long cycle per day still have it go on and off many times during that cycle. For example the cycle can start at 9 AM and end at 6PM. Using the "Mist" feature the water can go on for 2, 5, 10 or 15 minutes and off for 10 minutes during the whole cycle. This is especially useful if you have birds or animals which need to be kept cool but not soaked during the day. Our organization rehabilitates injured and orphaned birds of prey and this piece of equipment is invaluable to us for running our misting systems to keep our birds cool.

I have been looking for a timer that did not require a technical enginering degree and I have found it. It really is simple to set, easy to operate and I keep fresh battieres in it and have had no problems.

I bought two of these units so I could water every two hours around the clock. Each timer allows up to 6 on/off cycles per a 24 hour period. With two of these timers I would have 12 on/off cycles per every 24 hour period. That would allow me a watering period every two hours around the clock.

Great feature, the more cycles these have but, after setting them up - selecting the timing of the on/off periods - I let them go to work. They have a mind of their own. They might initiate a programmed cycle or they might not. More often than not they would miss programmed cycles...not always, though.

They also sound horrible when the servo motor energizes. The gears in these units sound as if they are destroying something. The grinding noise they make when the gears spin is disconcerting.

Needless to say I returned them to the retailer for a full refund and went to try out the newly designed Gilmour 4 cycle units. I don't know how well they'll hold up but they do sound much better when cycling and the electronics are removable. The downside so far is that they are only 4 cycle units. I had to buy 3 of them to get my 2 hour program but they do seem to be much better quality. I don't like the look of these Gilmour units as much as I liked the look of the Melnor ones but they are growing on me.

I bought six of these. Two of them lose several hours on the clock each day. I must reset the clock each day to keep them functioning on a schedule.