# Rachio or hydrawise



## Mnbadger (Jun 9, 2019)

Will be buying a new smart controller very soon. My question is from your personal experiences or knowledge of controllers, which is better. Ease of use. Basically buying for a planned renovation next fall. And a bonus our city is offering rebates to upgrade to a smart controller. Win-win. I think having the phone app will be great. I would have probably originally bought the hydrawise before quizing the guy blowing out my system this fall. He said their company sells mostly rachio. Guess just looking for your guys opinions. Seems I've looked at every review on the web. Thanks in advance.


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## dj80d (Nov 15, 2020)

hydrawise. dont go with rachio at all. plus there are others that might be easier and have all the features you are looking for.


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## Mnbadger (Jun 9, 2019)

Ok thanks. Any reason why not rachio? Just trying get as many facts as possible. 
Thanks again


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## Mnbadger (Jun 9, 2019)

Also what are the differences between the hydrawise and pro hc?


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## TSGarp007 (May 22, 2018)

Mnbadger said:


> Ok thanks. Any reason why not rachio? Just trying get as many facts as possible.
> Thanks again


Nothing wrong with Rachio. It works great.


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## JimFromLawnGuyland (Jan 15, 2020)

I just got the hydrawise pro c installed this year and I love it. Haven't figured out or noticed the many options for smart watering that will adjust frequency and run time but it's so easy to adjust schedules with my phone I may never use then. I have 12 zones due to the size of my yard and low water pressure and hunter sells modules to add something like 24 zones


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## tx turf pro (Dec 3, 2020)

i would chose the Rachio as i've installed them for customers and they are easy to use. The Hunter hydrawise, once registered, can not be returned because you have to register with Hunter. I would not recommend the hydrawise and i'm a Hunter fan but, just not the hydrawise.


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## pdefeo (Sep 10, 2019)

tx turf pro said:


> i would chose the Rachio as i've installed them for customers and they are easy to use. The Hunter hydrawise, once registered, can not be returned because you have to register with Hunter. I would not recommend the hydrawise and i'm a Hunter fan but, just not the hydrawise.


You can easily delete it and remove the serial number from your account on the website.


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## potatochip (May 28, 2020)

I have had the Rachio (gen 2) timer for a few years now and absolutely love it. The app is really intuitive and easy to use. I recently moved and will be getting another rachio for my new home. 10/10


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## nichord (Jul 9, 2020)

Not sure if you have already made a decision or not. I went from a Rachio 3 (old house) to a Hunter Pro-HC/Hydrawise when I added irrigation to my new house this spring. The Rachio 3 has lots of app related features and feels a lot more modern. However I had times when rain would hit us and Rachio was not going to water then changed its mind and would water when it was pouring. Hydrawise seems to be better at its predictions, but in my opinion errs on the not to water side due to forecasted precipitation. Hydrawise is limited to a small amount of weather stations (one free public station) unless you pay for their subscription. I added a personal weather station at my house and they will add your PWS to your account for free. Nearest free airport station was about 10 miles away from me, but with pop up rains it could be a big difference. I am an Electrical Engineer and sometimes the Rachio was a bit much for my techie wired brain for an irrigation system. Once the Rachio was tuned, it worked really good. The Hydrawise interface is more commercial and there are some limits over Rachio for sure, but sometimes things can get too techie with things that should be more simple. You can't go wrong with either system. If you want a more commercial feel, then go with Hydrawise. If you want a ton of tech and a better app (IMO) then Rachio is loaded and will likely continue to be more technical than the Hydrawise. Hydrawise is targeted to big commercial type applications or lawn care companies and built to require less technical support etc.


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## TSGarp007 (May 22, 2018)

nichord said:


> Not sure if you have already made a decision or not. I went from a Rachio 3 (old house) to a Hunter Pro-HC/Hydrawise when I added irrigation to my new house this spring. The Rachio 3 has lots of app related features and feels a lot more modern. However I had times when rain would hit us and Rachio was not going to water then changed its mind and would water when it was pouring. Hydrawise seems to be better at its predictions, but in my opinion errs on the not to water side due to forecasted precipitation. Hydrawise is limited to a small amount of weather stations (one free public station) unless you pay for their subscription. I added a personal weather station at my house and they will add your PWS to your account for free. Nearest free airport station was about 10 miles away from me, but with pop up rains it could be a big difference. I am an Electrical Engineer and sometimes the Rachio was a bit much for my techie wired brain for an irrigation system. Once the Rachio was tuned, it worked really good. The Hydrawise interface is more commercial and there are some limits over Rachio for sure, but sometimes things can get too techie with things that should be more simple. You can't go wrong with either system. If you want a more commercial feel, then go with Hydrawise. If you want a ton of tech and a better app (IMO) then Rachio is loaded and will likely continue to be more technical than the Hydrawise. Hydrawise is targeted to big commercial type applications or lawn care companies and built to require less technical support etc.


Maybe part of the difference in weather prediction is that you moved - or just hapenstance? Considering all the weather forecasters get it wrong so much anyway, I'm not sure that should be a knock on either platform. A 20% chance of rain outlook in Florida can easily turn into an inch of rain in the afternoon. It's actually because of this that I also added a rain sensor to my irrigation system (with the Rachio). I was irrigating some new sod three times a day, and I kept getting pop up storms in the afternoon after the Rachio already started irrigating. Doesn't do anything to prevent morning irrigation cycles when it unexpectedly rains later in the afternoon, but at least it keeps the sprinklers from staying on once it does start raining, which has at least the appearance that your 'smart' irrigation system is pretty dumb.


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## nichord (Jul 9, 2020)

Maybe that is a better point that some of that "smartness" can complicates things. The issue I had with Rachio (and maybe it has been corrected) is that it said it was going to rain delay with high probability of rain when I checked before going to bed, then it changed its mind over night and watered for hours in the early morning, and then it rained after that. Never had Hydrawise change its mind last minute. A big lawn with Orbit Voyager II heads cost a pretty penny when that happens. I still debated for a week before picking one over the other at the new house (only 25 mins drive from old house so similar forecasting). This was just my personal experience with having used both of the controllers in question on large lawns/irrigation systems. Nit picking on 2 great systems. Rachio updates often, so likely improved features since I used it last. Hydrawise has a commercial app feel to it.


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

How do these systems differentiate from a certain upcoming afternoon sprinkle from a possible afternoon toad strangler?

I've watered a golf course in the rain plenty of times, and had to explain to baffled members that even though it's raining, .10" of rain won't carry us very far so we'd rather supplement with irrigation to get us up to .25" or more. As a bonus, we wouldn't have to water around play in the morning/evening as we had a completely manually operated system.


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## JimFromLawnGuyland (Jan 15, 2020)

The hydrawise app lets me create programs so I have my twice a week normal run, a quick syringe for hot days/seeding and a separate program for my landscape trees. I can activate any program at any time I want. The syringe program isn't scheduled to run by itself because I tend to run it when my wife isn't looking &#128556;


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## burntfire (Dec 10, 2020)

My irrigation guy just recommended the Rachio 3 over the Hunter HC... funny how this seems to be all over the place. I ordered both just to check them out. I will say i like the screen on the Hunter as I don't relying on strictly my phone.


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## Mnbadger (Jun 9, 2019)

Thanks, I have not been on the forum for a while, but I went with the hydrawise. Have not installed yet but looking forward to it.
Operating from my phone rather than running back and forth to the garage will be very nice.


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## TSGarp007 (May 22, 2018)

In theory Rachio changing its mind last minute should be a good thing. I think it does a weather prediction check an hour before program start time. But if you have your programs starting while you are asleep then you may be surprised by the change even you wake up. But again weather guessers are just guessing...


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## JLMTX83 (Apr 15, 2019)

I've had both. I built the last house, 12 zones with a mix of drip, rotors and bubblers and went with Rachio. I loved the simplicity of tuning the system and being able to run everything off my phone as needed. The current home, existing systems in place, I installed a Hunter Pro HC 24. The hydra wise app and web interface took more time getting dialed in, but seems to work now. I did have to pay to upgrade to include pictures for all my zones and additional weather stations. Not a deal breaker, but was needed until I change the order of my zones to make better "sense". If Rachio had support for as many zones as I have now, i'd consider switching back to them but as it currently stands, I don't want the hassle of two controllers and additional parts to get it working on my 24 zone+ setup.


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## bodean (Aug 21, 2020)

TSGarp007 said:


> Mnbadger said:
> 
> 
> > Ok thanks. Any reason why not rachio? Just trying get as many facts as possible.
> ...


If you don't need HomeKit (a promised feature that isn't working) you should be fine...


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## jayhawk (Apr 18, 2017)

Rachio. I don't have the situation those above mentioned. It's quick to skip if lawn is saturated.

Hydra doesn't even ask if zone is rotor or fan etc.....u need to be more informed to optimally use.


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