It appears there was no improvements for years. This company just sits and collects the money. I do not think any Google Integration works. Purchased Rachio3 6 month ago, issue after issue.
Rachio 3:
→ OK Google Water my lawn
Waters each zone for 3 minutes.
→ OK Google, when was the last time my lawn watered
I am sorry, I do not understand
→ OK Google, when will be next watering
I am sorry I do not understand
->OK Google, water zone 2
Watering for 3 minutes,
→ OK, Google, stop
(The only working command)
Unfortunately, as you found out, the integration is rather lacking. How do I connect my Google Home to Rachio? contains the few commands that are implemented to some extent. One can extend the functionality with Routines, IFTTT, public API, etc. However, I agree that it would be nice if the integration were at least a bit deeper.
Just curious what money Rachio sits and collects? There’s no fees involved in automation or other operations.
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IMHO There is no continues product improvement. If you own a company and you don’t do continues improvements from let’s say 2018 - you are sitting and collecting money.
I’ll agree to disagree. When I buy a product, I don’t expect it to be continuously improved. With rare exception, that’s how the world works. And once I’ve paid for the unit, they collect no more money from me.
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I share your concern. Rachio started out with great ratings for the hardware… and it was one of the first and best “smart” controllers on the market. However, as an installer, we have started using others because their focus now appears to be fertilizer. I have asked why their developments didn’t lead them to designing a rain sensor, or a weather station that linked seamlessly to their controller, or a controller beyond 16 zones. We install many commercial systems requiring many more than 16 zones. Linking two controllers is not feasible, most customers want one controller. We have to use another manufacturer.
I would encourage Rachio to refocus their efforts on their hardware & software development and leave the very competitive fertilizer market to others.
Just my .02.
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I’m relatively new to Rachio. I inherited an existing installation when I bought a house back in March. Since then I’ve been reading a lot of posts on this forum going years back. Comparing the level of engagement from the company in past years to the last year, I get a feeling that the company has lost its way. It does feels like they are trying to refocus and go back to their core competency, but it’s not going well. This definitely doesn’t work for commercial applications where stability and long term support is a must. As a residential user, it doesn’t really matter to me to the same degree. But I foresee being forced to switch to another product in a few years, so I’ve postponed upgrading to Rachio 3 and am keeping an eye out for alternatives.
This is the problem with selling iot devices which don’t have an ongoing fee. They have to pay for weather information, and for servers, but are not getting any revenue past the initial installation. They don’t get ad revenue in the app, and how often do you use the app anyway? At some point, the profit from the hardware will be consumed by their costs, and selling more controllers will just make the problem worse. Lawn maintenance products might bring in some revenue, but mail order will always be more expensive than a local store. Keeping the product free only works if we are the product.
If Rachio could make something premium, with a small ongoing payment, they may be able to improve some of the existing interfaces. The question is what they could sell given what they are providing free for now. Skips for future rain is something which might have been a premium feature, while still providing free skips for past weather, but they give it away for free already. Just based on water saving, a $5 per year fee could have been feasible. I’m just not sure what they could bring as a premium feature above today’s product.
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I think the problem, at least for me, is one of expectations. I saw the HomeKit logo on the seller’s website before I purchased and that left me with the expectation of compatibility. Two years later after grousing about not being able to use HomeKit, I’ve given up and gotten over it, writing off the purchase to one that isn’t HK-compatible. Yes, I’m more than dismayed this feature has turned out to be a lie (products are still sold as HK compatible, but aren’t, a lie in my book), but I’m expecting nothing further. At this point I have the winter to select a new controller as several today appear to have all the water-saving features that my Rachio3 has, and they tout HK compatibility with reviews that confirm that. So I have some research to do looking for something that meets my needs. Sad state of affairs with Rachio but alas it is what it is.
With Google Home, oh it can water — but only for 3 minutes. I do not understand why it defaults to this 3 minutes interval? Why when I say run the program, it does not run a program. It runs this 3 minutes per zone. I bought it because of compatibility with google home. And it has been disappointing
