Customer Reviews

Orbit Watermaster 91922 Twelve-Station Sprinkler System Timer with Remote Control

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to have a remote on my sprinkler system! Have you ever tried having your kids turn the sprinklers on and off while you adjust the heads? I gave up and do it myself. My family used to sit and laugh at my annual sprikler adjusting comedy session. Talk about being tired and soaked! Now with this timer I can turn it on/off from the remote. I stay dry and save a ton of walking back and forth. I keep the remote in the kitchen in case I want to add a little watering or cancel the watering because somebody is in the shower etc. I love it! The range on the remote is good. Reaches beyond my 1/3 acre lot. The only problem I have had was when my neighbor bought one of the really cool Orbit touch screen remote timers and we were both actuating each others times! After resetting the timers and syncing the remotes again that problem went away. Awesome timer!

I am very happy with this timer. I have just set up a new system (never done anything like this before) and testing and clearing all pipes before attaching sprinkler heads is so easy. I was worried about the range of the remote, but it works great for me, and my timer is buried in the basement. The first unit sent to me by amazon had 4 zones which for some reason did not work, and I simply went online and returned it through their website....they sent the new one overnight....and when I received it I replaced the faulty one and sent it back without ever going without a unit in hand! Amazon has got this process down to a science! Even though the first unit had problems, I felt very well taken care of by Amazon. I would recommend to a friend and purchase again here.

Bought this unit with remote controller to replace a malfunctioning 7 year-old unit that had only 8 stations and no remote feature (different manufacturer). As I was reworking new irrigation on a large residential property, the remote control feature seemed like a good idea. I have had the unit for a few months now and the job is almost done. All in all, I am quite happy with the unit. It saved me a tremendous amount of leg work walking back and forth between the master unit, the irrigation valves, and each irrigation zone. Programming was very intuitive and the range for remote operation was about 120ft with residential structures in the line of sight. Installation of wires into each of the 12 station slots at the bottom of the unit however required some effort as the design does not allow easy sliding of the wires into their positions without a lot of trying blindly to find the small openings. Hence 4 instead of 5 stars. The remote unit cannot be used to reprogram the master, but serves basic on-off functions very well. I really appreciate the ability to add water cycles from within the house.

Easy to install, easy to use. The remote control hand unit is small and neat and easy to operate. Only the sleeve (wire cover) is a little bit too small to push in all the wires, but it did work. Before I fount this remote control timer, my husband and I had to use walkie-talkie to test and maintain our sprinkler system. I will never go back to non-remote controller.

I bought this at another website which included a wireless rain gauge for free.

The system works great. Two main programs and seemingly endless start times and options for watering will make everyone happy.

I found the remote would not start up a station all the time ... it was hit and miss. Perhaps I need to fudge with the antenna a little, but regardless, usually trying the remote again in the same spot would start it up (my yard is not big at all). Whether the station started or not, the remote would beep and indicate with another beep noting command success.

What people are saying about the wire insertion spots are all true. They are a real pain.

Save yourself a headache and install the wires as follows:

1. keep the back on the ground (not the wall) not screwed into the wall yet
2. push the square in the middle with a small phillips screwdrive before inserting the wire, and instead of pushing straight in, push in a somewhat downware motion (toward the bottom at at 30-45 degree angle) with your phillips still in the middle of the square
3. insert the wire after the square has depressed all the way
4. release the square and your connections should be snug

If you have already installed the back on the wall, stand on a chair higher than the unit and press the squares, but not in, but somewhat down and you should be successful. If you push straight in, you have to use the force of an elephant.

Because of the wire installation headaches and remote not working 100% of the time, I give it four stars.

This unit does all it is advertised to do. Nice to be able to program the unit and then plug it into the docking station. The remote works well from throughout my yard area, but I'm never over 100' from the unit. This unit has a wired rain switch and if that is tripped (by rain) there is no override for it. I believe that the wireless rain switch does allow an override. I plan on creating an override by adding a switch near the timer to connect the two wires which go to the roof mounted rain switch since all that the rain switch does is break the ground from the zone solenoids to the timer.

The installation of the wires into the docking station is poorly designed. There is no instruction that indicates that the square plastic block with the small detent has to be pressed to get the wire into the terminal. I am familiar with wiring electrical outlets using the push connector and would have presumed that these connectors would work the same way had I not read the reviews before installation. They don't. They require that the square plastic block be depressed with a blunt device, like a medium Phillips screwdriver. This has to be done before the wire is inserted into the slot or it pinches the wire and the wire then won't go in. It takes a lot of force to press the block in so that the wire can be inserted. i would have expected a couple of pounds but my guess is that it took 15 pounds of force! I had the sense that I was about to break the unit just trying to install the wires. Also, the wires must be straight and have no burrs. I'm not sure what guage wire the unit was designed for, but I am using standard underground irrigation system wire, perhaps 20 guage. If there is a trick, like using a small diameter blunt nose punch it would be nice to know that.

But for the wiring problem I would have rated the unit at 5 stars. The unit works well and the price is very good.

I love the remote function as it makes adjusting the heads a snap. It's also nice if you quickly want to turn on a zone or two for the kids to run through on a hot day. The main unit sits down in our basement so it's a pain to run down there anytime I want to mess with the system. The range on the remote is pretty good, but not great. My yard is about .7 an acre and I can get all but about 20% of it to reach with the remote. The programming is very simple overall, just like the other Orbit controllers.

The issue of the poorly designed wire connectors is very real. However, after struggling with them myself about 30 minutes, I realized that you have to push the little square buttons on each terminal as you slide the wires up and in. The manual failed to mention that part. It also suggests stripping only 1/4" of wire. That wasn't enough for what I experienced, more like 1/2" was needed. After I realized that you have to push the terminal buttons with a small screwdriver, then insert the wires, things stuck in much better. It's still a pain, and I would be preferred screw terminals for sure, but at least I made it work.

I would also add that the main unit doesn't seem to snap into the wire terminal bracket very solidly either. But as long as you're not pushing up on the unit a bunch, that shouldn't be an issue. Overall, the design of the unit could use some improvements for sure.

While I don't know the pricing on a competitor unit of similar function, I would bet they are much more. For my $$, this meets the need and functions great, ONCE I got it installed.

I don't write a lot of reviews. There are always better things to do: organize my sock drawer or clean the refrigerator are good examples.

However, this wireless sprinkler system deserves a review. It's a real gamechanger!

Automated sprinkler systems always need a little adjusting. There always seems to be a sprinkler with a sticking head or a sprinkler under an overgrown shrub or a sprinkler where a stray cat bumped it and changed the direction of the water spray. Most of the fixes are simple but the hard part is walking all the way around the house to turn off the sprinkler system, walking back to make the adjustment, walking back to turn on the sprinkler system, walking back to visually check the alignment etc etc.

The wireless sprinkler system gets rid of all those problems. Now I just adjust the sprinkler and remotely turn on the system. Then remotely turn off the system and make another adjustment. It couldn't be easier. My sprinkler heads are all now perfectly aligned and I actually look forward to the next problem.

Orbit... thanks for making my yard chores a lot easier. And most of my neighbors have added Orbit wireless sprinkler systems to their Christmas lists!

I had a professional 24 valve timer that I for about $300 5 years ago (Nelson EZ pro), but got very tired of walking up and down the stairs to turn on and off the values to test the sprinklers (or reach in the underground valve box with black widows.) Really a pain when needing to configure a drip system and clean the hoses first. The remote for this same system was about another $300, so I never got it (and is not longer made).

Now wanting the remote control, I replaced the Nelson with two of these 12 station units -- I have 10 sprinkler lines on one, an 10 drips on the other. The remote feature is really handy for debugging a system, adjusting heads, and particularly for configuring drip systems.

One think I do miss about the Nelson system is the professional build quality, particularly the well-made wiring terminals that use set screws. The whole unit is actually very well made and is professional quality.

So while the Orbit unit is very functional with a nice remote feature, it appears to have more of a consumer electronics build quality and the push-in wire terminal releases are a bit hideous and seem like could break if one was not careful(hence the 4 stars). But the price is very good, and the remote does work well, at least so far.

As a suggestion for using this product, make sure you mount the unit on a very solid surface so you can apply the great amount of force needed to open the wire terminals. Find a comfortable tool where you can apply even and consistent pressure to the terminal indentation while working the wire into the hole. Use something with a dull tip that will not deform and possible break the plastic (I used a center punch with a handle made of duct tape). Make sure the wire is straight with no kinks. Also make sure the sprinkler wire is well clamped close to the timer unit so that the wire does not move around and get loose. Doing all of this should result in adequate electrical connections.

I was frustated while installing the timer. It's difficult to hookup the wires to the unit. I installed new wires to add 6 more valves to the existing system and to move the timer to a new location from the shed to the garage to have a more convenient access. The system did not work at first. After trying a lot of testing using the old and new timer to find out if the incorrection was from the valves or the wires or the new timer, and after a couple calls to the manufacturer tech support, it turned out the timer had no voltage output even while the timer screen showing that it's working well. Calling tech support was not fun since their business hours are the same as my working time and I have to call from home to troubleshoot the timer with the tech support. I also had to run to the store to buy a volt meter for the third test as their requirement for the replacement. Each call was a long waiting.

After more than 2 weeks waiting for the new timer to arrive since they forgot to ship for some reasons, I called again and finally got the new timer. It's nice that it came with the prepaid UPS sticker to send back the defective one.

The 2nd timer worked OK, except for the pump/master valve line and one regular valve line that did not work at first. After 2 weeks trying, I almost called again but it turned out that the wires did not contact well with the timer due to the bad design connection.

Finally I got the system work well and I am happy now with the remote and the pump/master valve features. I need the master valve feature since I installed 6 more valve zones that receive water from an existing valve which is difficult to be removed since the valve box was buried in a concrete slab. This old valve works as a master valve for the 6 new valves to make a 10 zone system.

The Orbit Watermaster 91922 Twelve-Station Sprinkler System Timer with Remote Control is a good timer except for the bad design wire connection. I deduct 2 stars rating for the 1st defective timer and the bad design connection.