Orbit 24639 B-hyve XD 4-Port Smart Hose Watering Timer with Wi-Fi Hub

You have three options when you start adding new plants to a yard: you can water manually all the time, you can do a ton of digging to add zones to your sprinkler system, or you can do one of these. I moved into the B-hyve ecosystem a few years ago when my old Rainmachine died and it was obvious that the company wasn't coming back. I've very glad that I did.- Easy to set up. Attach to your faucet, attach your hose, turn on the water, and use the app to set and forget. Each of the four valves can be controlled separately, but not at the same time (not enough water pressure).- The Bluetooth-WiFi bridge is a must if you don't yet have one. Otherwise it can only be programmed and monitored when your phone is in range. It also means no persistent data access. You can easily set this up standalone with the controls on the device should you so choose.- When the instructions say "don't leave this outside in freezing weather", it's serious. I had one valve crack because of this. When you have a freeze warning, turn off the faucet and disconnect it to prevent damage.- A pair of AA batteries lasts the entire season. It's nice to not burn through a ton of them.- The application has improved with time. It used to be a lot less intiutive. Even so, the software has some learning curve if you need to make manual adjustments. It's also frustrating that each device is managed completely separately rather than from a unified console. The web interface has been quite broken for some time and is basically unusable, but the mobile app is good enough that this is an annoyance rather than a barrier to use.

this is a cool piece of technology. I also have the four-port timer. The cost for the 2 port is not too high, just right for me. Adding on this unit to the hub fairly simple to do when using the hub. I've got both timers on the Hub and is really convenient when setting programs or even turning on the timer. You can use your iphone to turn it on with the app and be across your yard 100's of feet and it turns it on for you. No trips back and forth. It looks to be of solid construction. The display is simple to read and can also be manually programmed. I've just started using it, so I'm still watching battery life. It's a decent timer.

Arrived on time. Opened 1 (ordered 2) and began first step of installing. 2 1.5v AA batteries. Didn't work, I tried 12 batteries, alkaline etc., none worked. Another device had a set of 1.2 v AA batteries, and they worked. Very odd. Other setup was easy. Works as designed. It's battery powered so beware. Blue tooth connects and has a decent range. To operate it over WiFi, we are required to purchase a WiFi hub. I haven't purchased that yet. I hope that I can find another set of batteries that will work. I will purchase a new set of 1.2v and test.

This is so handy! This is the third one I have bought. This one is for the misters for the chickens. Love that you can run four lines and have several programs in one device, and that I can run it form my phone.It's very accurate, haven't had any trouble with leaking. It stays on task even when you are changing the batteries.

I guess I got lucky with my single tap bluetooth/wifi faucet controllers. That luck ran out with the 4 port XD.A big part of the problem is Orbit HATE you. There's really no excuse for why their documentation is so bad, other than they truly despise you, the user.As a first example, the manual for the B-Hyve XD Bluetooth Hose Faucet Timer has a components diagram on page 1. Absolutely nowhere do they bother to show where the battery drawer is. The very next instruction is, "Insert two AA (1.5V) batteries (not included) and replace the tray." So what tray would that be? They couldn't be bothered to show you, anywhere, in their documentation. If you try pulling on the black rubbery parts, that might be a tray seal, you'll damage it. You're supposed to guess that the tray is the thing hidden on the back. In their defense, they did use two point text, yes, it's really that small, inside a recess, to label "1.5V AA Alkaline Batters Only" if you tilt it to the light just right, and have perfect vision. Otherwise, absolutely, and I do mean absolutely, no effort whatsoever was made.Then you get to pairing. Oh, who am I kidding. They made so little effort there, it's a crapshoot as to whether you'll ever pair it to anything.I got it in a bundle with the wifi hub v2. Well, I say that. They tossed some bits in a box, shrugged, and called it good.Amazingly, the XD's manual makes zero mention whatsoever of WiFi and the Gen 2 Hub makes zero mention of how to set anything up, other than to use the app. Not wholly true, they do say to press the B-hyve button to put it in pairing mode, where it will flash every five seconds. Except, turns out, it doesn't.In the app... which was apparently designed by the same people who wrote the manual, good luck finding anything much.If you eventually find your way to My B-Hyve, then Devices, then you might find the + button. Upon clicking it... It manages to find the XD. At which point it goes to a Connecting Bluetooth screen and fails out. The only way to get past that is to go to the Off menu on the XD and hold it for five seconds to reset it. Then, suddenly, everything connects.Except you're now in Bluetooth connection and none of those web features you bought it for work. And there's slightly less than zero mention about how to get it on to wifi.As far as I can tell, you were supposed to connect the hub first. So go hunt for Remove Device, as you're repeating everything all over again.Oh, except adding the hub also fails on the add to WiFi network. But if you quit the app and reopen it, it comes back saying it did connect, it was just kidding with that crashed screen.Awesome. So now we can connect the XD. Not so fast! It does now offer a connect to wifi option. Except, even sitting next to the Gen 2 hub, it tells you they're too far apart.Quit the app and reopen it and, as if by magic, it claims they found each other.Except they didn't. If you try connecting via WiFi and telling it to manually water, nothing happens. Disconnect WiFi and change to Bluetooth and nothing happens. Reset the XD and the bluetooth connects and now you can manually water, getting a loud clunk as it switches. Back to WiFi and it's given up.And, the whole time, the Devices screen tells you everything's happily connected. Even if you unplug the Gen 2 hub from power, it'll still tell you everything's happily connected.Their app is deep, deep garbage. To go along with their awful manuals. Their products sometimes work, sometimes don't, but the app has no useful tools to help you figure out why, regularly lies about status, and the manual's so brief as to be of absolutely zero use.Sorry Orbit, but you've failed to hit the bar of "utterly lazy" and managed to plow straight into We Despise Our Customers territory.Fire all of your app folks. Fire your manual writers. Then put the device in front of people unaffiliated with your company, watch the misery they go through, then build and app and write manuals that explain all of the many, many, many problems you confront users with.

Unit does not have full functionality without a buying a gen 2 wifi hub ($40)All in all a pretty good unit. Easy to set up, easy to program.

I love it. Programming is a breeze with the app. The controller works as intended. I connected it to an irrigation system that I also purchased from Amazon. I love the fact I can manage it from anywhere and that the controller can be linked to the local weather data and program will temporary stop when rain is anticipated.