Please check this out: http://www.rainbird.com/documents/turf/bro_ESP-Me_WiFi_en.pdf
I looked over it. Rainbird doesn’t learn.
Thats what happens if you let bunch of COBOL devs to design consumer device in IOT era.
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t does seem to have one feature that I would find useful–bypass rain sensor by zone. But other than that…
I got a sample and plugged in my house. The app is attractive and they do provide weather data. However, i cannot find the weather data source. The huge concern is if you dont select the seasonal adjust all you get is a stanard controller with operation from a smartphone. The ESPTM2 is a well built controller, but the smart features are very flimsy. Meanwhile Rain Bird reps are out here saying homeowners dont like the seasonal adjust. Ditto what you said. Again, Rain Bird simply does not get it. Oh, forgot to say it took 20 attempts to get wi fi to connect.
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20 times? 
Ok I’m going to stay out of this one… I may be a little biased 
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Hey! Watch what you say about COBOL developers! Some of us have been pretty adaptable, and we know enough to harden our systems against hackers.
From a glance at the Rainbird manual in the link, I definitely prefer the simplicity of the Rachio interface. Rainbird is obviously going for some degree backward compatibility, while Rachio did a more “clean sheet” design. That approach (been there, done that) drags too much baggage forward, and support gets more difficult at every step. They need to look at the same lessons Microsoft learned - support the old stuff for awhile, but only market what’s new. It will anger some folks (Windows XP…) but you gotta keep moving.
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I did some COBOL in grad school, much better than the JCL they made us do!
JCL is just plain evil, but it seemed to illustrate what was wrong with IBM at the time. Rigid, over controlled, and inflexible - and it just about killed them as a company. You have to move on with minimal baggage or it will drag you down. (Wonder if Rainbird gets the parallel?)
I still enjoy COBOL, even though it’s unfashionable, and miss having one place to go to see how a variable’s defined. Oh well - gotta keep moving!
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Hey!!! What’s wrong with JCL!!! 
Not that it’s a programming language, but you could sure do a heck of a lot with it! Old school nowadays, but at one time I knew it backwards and forwards. Builds character!!!
And only took 100 lines of code to copy a file
It’s amazing to see them stick with that stupid dial for a User Interface.
But then again, Rachio doesn’t have any physical User Interface either, so maybe I shouldn’t be too harsh.
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If you watch some of the Rain Bird videos they take a cheap shot at Rachio as a controller in a cheap white box.
Rachio, i must say you have the best product. But having no knobs or front panel is driving away contractors to Rain Bird, Hunter and Toro. Rain Bird is also telling contractors and distributors that Rachio is just a start up company and wont be around much longer. I strongly believe you are here to stay. Rachio should be applauded as the company that elevated the entire industry.
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