@dzee - Three years ago when I was looking to replace the dumb (no intelligence) Rainbird irrigation controller (which had a manufacturing date code in 1996) that I had, I was similarly concerned about the lack of local control. What got me over the hump was how good the community is on this board and when I looked around to see how often I replaced other electronic equipment (e.g. WiFi router, WiFi modem, cell phone, work laptop, home computer, etc.). Don’t get me wrong, I’m of Scottish descent so I don’t spend money freely, but I figured that the potential savings would pay for a replacement irrigation controller if I guess wrong on Rachio (so far I my guess has been good and the other controllers I was looking at, well …).
On the second topic of wildfire protection, I can think of a couple of ways to accomplish this. If the goal is to run all the zones in a continual series, then I think a fixed schedule triggered hourly with a manual cycle and soak to get the watering time spread over the schedule might work. I’d also put the Raciho power supply on a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) so that if the electricity went out it would still run until there was no more water pressure or the batteries in the UPS are exhausted. This should last longer than powering both the home automation system and the Rachio on the UPS.
The other option would be to configure the Rachio to use a mobile hotspot in the event hardwired internet connectivity is lost. Again a UPS would be helpful to keep the Rachio and the hot spot running longer.
I don’t know if you saw this thread, but real life wildfire and Rachio →