RainMachine

Все хорошо, кроме работы по летнему времени в России. Исправьте настройки времени !!!

One day they suddenly decided to ask for a subscription payment, and unless you pay it the app is completely unusable. Note that you pay thousands of euros to install the system, and then you can’t change provider.

Imagine you just buy one of the most expensive irrigation controller on the market, but you’re just fine with it because of its smart functions. Imagine one day the people behind this probably bumped their heads somewhere and starts saying “hey, why don’t we just make all the services we have sold on a paid subscription from today?” RainMachine here you are, my compliments.

3G works fine

Despite paying $30 a year for premium connectivity to my RainMachine controller, when I use the app it frequently disconnects. If I am out in the yard testing zones, I can get one or two zones to work and then I lose connectivity and have to fully quit the app, few times to restore connectivity just to turn off a zone. Incredibly frustrating given that they charge an additional $30 a year for this service.

When we first got it, it was great - 10 years ago or so. Now it loses connectivity, the interface gets stuck and just spins in our plants die!

Ignoring the whole fiasco/scam of taking features away and putting them behind a paywall, I can’t even use the app to connect to the controller while at home on the same network. Yes, controller on same network and yadayadayada. App sees the controller through local discovery, and closes whenever it is selected. And other access attempts like direct connect will either close the app or have the spinning icon endlessly.

This is ridiculous, and as another customer’s one-star review stated, “shady” at the least. I get that the developer is always looking for new ways to increase revenue. But come on… do you really need to disable the connectivity features like remote access that were already in the product (and the reason many of us bought it), and now only restore those features when the owner purchases a “premium subscription”? Very lame. Exceptionally poor attitude to your customers. What will be next, a firmware update that disables the little LED display unless a monthly fee is paid? If you are considering buying one of these from Rainmachine, you might want to read the countless negative reviews first. Besides the bait and switch tactics, the iOS app remains seriously flawed, the app often fails to connect to the Rainmachine unit and just endlessly shows a spinning process indicator. Have to force the app to stop and reload. A waste of time.

I’m an irrigation technician and most of my properties have good controllers, like Hydrawise, but I’m stuck with one of these and it’s the single worst controller I’ve got. Even Rachio is better. The algorithm is bad, the interface is bad, and the app is bad. That’s before you get to suddenly locking features behind a paywall. Fine, whatever, but when you try and connect on the same network, it just spins and spins. Garbage product, never use.

When I first used RainMachine, I enjoyed its advanced capable features compared to what was on the market, now it lacks. I get it, subscriptions are “the way now” but, even local or direct access rarely works anymore (but using a web browser to the IP Is fine) While I’ve enjoyed this, now the lack of a decent app, and just lack of updates means it’s time for a new controller that’s not a RainMachine.