New 2.5 schedules: Do they water all zones even though only one has low moisture levels?

I was reading other threads about 2.5 schedules that water all zones even though only one zone has low moisture level (< depletion set on that zone).

Is that how it works?
Lets say I created a schedule with 5 zones (I.e the new 2.5 schedule) set to water on wednesday and saturday. Lets say one of the 5 zones has low moisture level.
Will the schedule water all the 5 zones on next scheduled date or the one with low level?

Please confirm.

Thanks

@Videoguy - Confirmed! :relaxed:

All schedules in 2.5 group their respective zones together, and take the lowest “common denominator” when deciding to skip. The schedule will adjust as a whole, deciding on watering events for each schedule and not the respective zones individually.

For this reason, it’s recommended that zones with similar attributes get grouped together into separate schedules.

Based on feedback, we’ll certainly be iterating over this design going forward.

Thanks for your question, and happy watering!

~Lucas :rachio:

Wow. What a horrible software design decision. The whole point of the Iro was to make it easier for the user, but now you are telling me to group my zones based on their evapotranspiration characteristics? With Flex, the system took care of that for me. Now you are telling me to create many separate schedules instead of one?

If you are going to shove that burden back on the user with the “improved” 2.5, maybe you could at least have a software tool that tells us which zones are “similar” based on all the variables (slope, soil, vegetation type, shade, etc.). There is no way we mere mortals can figure that out on our own.

Thanks Lucas for confirmation.
I trust you guys that you have put lot of thought into this based on all the telemetry from previous releases. I am planning to monitor new watering events for few weeks to get fair assessment of these changes.

@Videoguy, thanks for giving As Needed schedules a test drive :slight_smile:

We’d love to have your feedback on the schedules in this thread moving forward: