@Dwiniger The biggest issue with the connectors is not following the directions or recommendations. I have experimented with “Commercial Grade” connectors from my irrigation supply house since I assumed that they would be better than the connectors that they recommend from Home Depot/Lowes/Amazon.
It was more headache than it was worth. Rachio must have done their homework before printing out their final answer on the connectors. I take my hat off to them for going through the engineering steps to be able to properly recommend what actually works.