Everything your controller does. No subscription.
Six things, each explained — sensors or not, on every controller, forever. The one paid feature, Autopilot, is at the bottom.
Every zone, from your phone or any browser.
Name your zones, set a schedule the familiar way — days, start time, minutes — and change it from the couch or from across the country. Start a zone by hand while you fix a sprinkler head, stop everything with one tap when the kids are on the lawn.
Same water, in sips.
Clay and slopes can't drink a long run; the extra sheets off the lawn and down the driveway. Turn Cycle & Soak on for a zone and the same minutes are split into short cycles with soak breaks between them, so all of it reaches the roots. Autopilot plans around it.
The forecast says no? The run waits.
Before every scheduled run the controller checks the local forecast. Rain on the way or just fallen, a freeze overnight, or wind strong enough to carry the spray off target — the run is held, and the app tells you which one it was.
Three hot days, and every run gets longer.
Others charge $29.99Three days at 95 °F or above, and every scheduled run gets 20% longer — automatically, until it cools off. Nothing to turn on and nothing to buy; other controllers sell this as an add-on.
Every valve checked, every run.
Others charge $29.99Each time a zone runs, the controller checks the electrical draw of that zone's valve. A solenoid that's shorted, open, or drifting out of range gets flagged on the run it happened — so you find out from the app, not from a brown patch three weeks later.
Quiet, unless something needs you.
Most weeks there's nothing to open. The controller checks every valve on every run and keeps an eye on each sensor's battery. If a valve stops responding, a wire comes loose, or a battery runs low, you get one notification that names the zone and what to do. Otherwise, nothing.
Autopilot plans the watering for you.
Add a sensor to a zone and Autopilot decides when it waters and for how long, from the soil, the forecast and your rules — no schedule to set. It also watches each zone for leaks. Everything above keeps working whether Autopilot is on or off.