b•hyve 4+

I use this app on the Orbit B-Hyve XR and it works as it should for daily watering but the interval watering does not work. I set the unit up to water my trees every two weeks and when the time to water comes, nothing happens. I contacted Ortbit customer service and they said I needed to set the “interval start date.” Well in the app that I have, there is no interval start date. There is a “program start date” but apparently that’s not the same thing. So then they directed me to my online account where I could set the interval start date. The online account is not easy to navigate and I feel turned off at this point anyway because this should be in the app, but I digress. Once I set the start date and go back to the app to finish setup and try to set enter start time, the app crashes (every time). So I think maybe I can put the start time in the online account, makes sense right? Well there is no place in the online account to enter the start time. At this point, I am ready to pull my hair out. I have 32 trees in my yard and because I can’t do interval watering, this unit is useless to me. The customer service person said they would submit a bug report but how long is that going to take to fix? Unless I can do interval watering I am going to have to return this unit. App developers, please fix this problem!!

And now it’s only thing I want to use. It just works. You don’t have to close the app and re-open it to reconnect in the middle of adjusting sprayheads. Rain Bird losing its connection Every time I set my phone down for 20 seconds. Doesn’t work for me. Also, it doesn’t work for me that they have an article that basically tells us we have to get used to that they don’t plan on correcting the problem.
The fact that the b-hyve app has a easy to find space to provide feedback is why it all works so well. And that’s important to me.
I’ve got to figure out how to get orbit to start making controllers to Take 30 zones. I’ll be forced to use others for anything over 16 zones.
also I love being able to take a picture to illustrate each zone because describing a front yard big enough for two football fields. It’s hard to describe which set of rotors in the front yard. You’re talking about.. Rainbird only allows you to take a picture for program a and one picture for program B etc. so they just look cute but the pictures aren’t helpful unless you can take one for each zone. Totally perfect. good job developers. Also, I love being able to set run time with one click. If I need to make a few of them a little less time I can, but it’s so much faster being able to do that.

Works great and setup went flawlessly. Had an Orbit brand installed on this house when I bought it, but something went wrong and it needed replacing. Went to Lowe’s to pick up a new one and saw this WiFi version. Since my home is rather “connected”, i.e. we bugged ourselves with Alexa, smart plugs, smart lights, etc, I thought it appropriate to make my irrigation system smart too. Very glad I did. Once we had it wired correctly (5 zones), setup of the timer to our home network (via WiFi) was super-simple and programming the 5 zones was a breeze. Took less than 5 minutes to connect it to my network, test the zones, and program 5 zones. If you’re used to using apps, the common app interface makes it super-simple to navigate and use - way easier than programming an irrigation timer using the LCD screen and buttons on the timer itself. Plus you can do a rain delay right in the app (not necessary if you have a rain sensor...I do not). There are 4 “Programs”, so you can program the same zones on multiple programs and toggle them on/off with a slider. Useful if your zones are treated differently for different seasons, for example. The only thing that’s not 100% clear during setup is any Alexa compatibility. I’m going to research that now. So far, the timer works great and I love the easy app interface, setup, and programming. Great job, Orbit!