Which one should I use with my Rachio? Or should I use all 3?
It’s a matter of taste, but here are my opinions:
For adjusting heads and the like, Google Home (via the Google Assistant app) can work without touching the phone, perfect for when your hands are wet, dirty or gloved. The Alexa app requires tapping each time before you speak, and AFAIK SmartThings has no native speech input at all.
Though I’ve not done so, for a complex automation e.g. pause watering at an appropriate time prior to mowing or a lawn party, SmartThings seems like the obvious choice.
I have many Echo devices but have not yet found a need to link them to Rachio, though other members have posted various uses. For example, you’re inside but see the grandkids playing on the lawn and tell Alexa to squirt them.
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IMO certain devices don’t really need to be hooked up to a voice assistant. I have Alexa in every room and every car and love it, but some of my devices serve no useful purpose. Rachio is one of them, once dialed in and setup right you never have to touch it again. It just does it’s thing when it needs to. For sprinkler testing, the Rachio App works good enough for me.
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Good points! Although, would it be possible on any of these platforms to trigger from motion detection from a video camera? It would be useful to have a zone group turn on when it sees a dog on the lawn, whether or not it is about to take a dump.
Good points! Although, would it be possible on any of these platforms to trigger from motion detection from a video camera? It would be useful to have a zone group turn on when it sees a dog on the lawn, whether or not it is about to take a dump.
It’s been done!