Customer Reviews for Orbit 1-Port Single Dial Timer

It makes our jobs easier for watering our plants.

I buy these once a year I have geese that need fresh water so this is easy to set even without reading the directions. I have it turn on 4 times a day every six hours to refresh their water

Works easily and perfectly. Just what I needed.

This review is based on my experience with many of these units in Tucson. Your results may differ. Pro: Battery powered. Easy to program. Performs the intended function, and is very adaptable to many irrigation installations (including kluges like mine). Con: 3 stars because the LCD display, or the circuitry that controls it, is an Achilles heel. It will not long survive high temps and/or direct sunlight in our Tucson summers ( long days, 106 deg, clear skies). When display goes bad, you lose the ability to program it. My solution is to install so display is in shadow or faces North. If your environment is more benign, consider that my rating might not be applicable to your environment.

This is a review after using the Orbit 1-port single dial timer for less than one day, so I don't have long-term experience with it yet. LIKES: - $32 ; inexpensive - Very simple. - Batteries are very easy to install/replace (takes two AA's)...this is important since reviews for other products say that sometimes the batteries can be hard to replace....not with this one. - Very easy to program. I spent one or two minutes reading the instructions, and after installing the batteries, it took me about two minutes to program it. The longest delay was me trying to determine how often I wanted it to run. - Note: It's for one zone only, obviously. Note: Run frequency/intervals: It can water up to four times per day, but there's a catch. It only works with "interval timing" meaning every X number of hours or days. In other words, you can't program it to water at four unique and specific times such as, say, 9am, 10a, 4pm, and 11pm....however, you can set the interval time to the lowest setting of "every six hours", which is equivalent to four times each day. In regards to start time, you can enter only *one* start time, such as 6am. With a start time of 6am and a 6-hour interval time, it would water at 6am, 12pm, 6pm, and 12am. Lowest interval times are 6 hours and 12 hours and 24 hours (ie, 4 times/day, twice a day, once a day)...you *cannot* do three times a day. You can also do every 2 days, 3 days, etc. - Note: In regards to "run time" (for example, 5 minutes), it will run for that run time during EACH interval...ie, you can't have it run for 5 minutes at 6am and 10 minutes at 12p. If you need that, you'll need a more complex and expensive product. - Note: Manual running. Can you manually activate the sprinkler zone for X number of minutes? Yes. Quite simple...turn to AUTO, press manual button, select the number of minutes, and then wait about 5 or 6 seconds for it to kick in and start counting down. After you install the batteries, you can test the unit before installing it. when the start time is reached, you can hear a loud click in the unit indicating that the water-passthru valve is open, and then it clicks again when it closes at the end of the cycle. DISLIKES: - It gets very hot in direct sunlight....no fault of the product....that's what plastic does. Instead of artbitrarily saying that it "gets very hot", here is some accurate details about that. I'm in Phoenix, AZ at the end of April. It was 92F when I tested this at 2pm. I used an infrared thermometer to check the surface temperature of the Orbit timer after it had been installed and sitting in direct sun for 30 minutes...the surface temperature was 150F on the top of the unit. Ouch! The daily temperature usually hits 120F in Phoenix in the summer, so that will likely ruin the entire timer or at least the LCD screen. This is likely one of the reasons people blame Orbit for a bad timer...it overheats in direct sunlight. With that said, *NO* electric timer (or any electronics device at all) should be left in direct sunlight. Standard/larger timers are usually put in plastic water/sun-proof boxes, and they can still overheat. - Heat solution: I wasn't too concerned about aesthetics, so I found a 12"*12"*12" cardboard box, cut a few slots in it to fit around my hose and pipes, covered it in clear packing tape to make it water resistant, and then spray painted it with white gloss paint. The box was a complete cube with no bottom... I placed the box over the timer, pipe, and hose...I specifically created the box so that the cardboard top receiving direct sunlight would not be directly on top of the timer...there is probably 5" of air gap above and around the timer to the cardboard that protects it. - After waiting about 20 minutes, I went back out, removed the box, and checked the termperature of the top of the timer...it was now 112F...almost 40F degrees cooler. Because the timer is so close to the 1/2" copper pipe that feeds it, the water in the copper pipe (that is also being covered by the box) is somewhat acting like a miniature air conditioner inside of the box which helps keep the timer cool...not a lot, but I'm sure it helps since the copper pipe is slightly cool to the touch. Another benefit to the shade box is that it will keep the AA batteries cooler as well which will make them last longer. The white box is not horribly ugly, but not amazing...yet, it is functional and somewhat out of the way. - Other dislike: I have read several people say that the timer is oddly not very water resistant and can become ruined if it's in rain too long. Even though the water-resistant box will keep water off of the timer, I first wrapped the timer in a 1-gallon plastic ziplock bag to help keep it dry, and I placed the box over that. I'd bet that in some cases, the sun bakes/warps the timer after several weeks/months, which leads to a leak, which could lead to water damage...just a hunch. - Physical installation notes: I had a friend remove the hosebib on my house, replace it with a custom-made copper pipe "Y" splitter that we made with 1/2" copper pipe. The left side goes to the Orbit timer, but there is a manual ball-valve shut-off *before* the timer (HUGELY recommended, and very convenient to have the shut-off available during testing and troubleshooting), the right side of the "Y" goes to another hosebib for my regular garden hose. Can you use a standard $10 hosebib splitter instead of the custom copper pipe method? Yes, but I chose not to since cheaper splitters often leak once they've been under pressure for awhile, and I had the luxury of having someone help me do it the preferred way. Also, since I'm watering only a 100SF flowerbed, I connected a $10 pressure-reducer on the outgoing part of the orbit timer to keep the pressure down a bit. -Spike

easy to set time controls. home owners use should be great. we use in a nursery setting with hard use and these last about a year. cheap enough to just replace when needed

This product set up is easy. The display is large and easy to read. The water inlet fitting is brass/metal. The outlet is threaded plastic. Product takes 2 AA batteries. Product operates better than expected.

Love this timer! Easy to set ! Good price. Will probably get two more.

Easy to install, works as expected

My remote sprinkler lost power connection and I bought one of these to replace it. I was very satisfied with the ease of programming the timer. I needed to be able to water a new tree I planted and this gave me the control to do it. The instructions were easy to follow, you set the time of day, the time to start watering and for how long. the only tricky part was the how often, you need to read the instructions closely for this as the "1" meant every day, "2" every other day etc. It is very light and easy to mount with a little imagination I used a 1/2" conduit clip to hold it up and some plumbers tape.

Bought two, both of them got water in the battery compartment causing the LCD screen to break and the circuit board to rust. Hasn't even been a year, but this summer we started getting a lot of crazy rain fall in FL (and yes, I installed it correctly but maybe I should have used plumbing tape). Very disappointed. Buyer Beware.

It worked fine for a few weeks then started leaking internally with water coming out of the holes on the bottom.

I bought two of these timers. One has been working flawlessly for several months now, the other, well . . . . . . not so flawlessly. I had one of the timers (the one that doesn't work) going through batteries about every second or third day. The culprit turned out to be the top retaining screw on the back cover. I found it had been stripped out and just stuck in the hole. Being that there was no gasketing on the rear cover, and the screw unable to hold the cover in tightly, it allowed water to enter the unit and it entered the electronics compartment through the battery carrier. Electronic components were corroded and part of the "protective" coating had been lifted off the printed circuit board. Water also damaged the LCD display to where it is unreadable at times. To say that I am displeased with this particular piece would be a gross understatement. Being that it is one of the "less expensive" offerings, I guess the old adage does hold true - you get what you pay for.

This is just what I needed to keep my backyard plants in the green for the summer! Very user friendly too.

Purchased this a couple of years ago and it worked well that summer. I pulled it out today to use it and the LCD display is shot. So when it works it works, but I expected to be able to use this more than one season.

The Orbit single port timer has been perfect for my urban terrace garden so far. This is the first time I have ever used one. Easy to program, including time of day, duration in minutes and how often. You can easily just turn it off if you get into a rainy patch. Two AA batteries power the whole thing. It doesn't leak at all either. I use this timer in combination with a DIG irrigation system, which I also reccomend.

I have installed one of these so far; will probably end up using a few more as I set up a drip irrigation system. Was told this model doesn't burn through batteries as fast as other makes/models. The programming/set up was very intuitive and easy to do. Working great!

My old water powered water timer quit working so I was ready to replace it - when I found this new device. Not only does it time the watering of my garden and landscaping, but it also can automatically turn itself on every three days (my preference setting) - instead of my having to go outside and initiate my timer every few days with my old timer. Seems to be waterproof and work ok in the "outside" environment. As you can see I added a "Y" so I can water with another hose.

We recently went with Californian native plants in the front. Some of the displaced grass found its way into the backyard and actually grows better there than in the front. To facilitate this, I added a one head sprinkler system (It's a small area) T'd off an existing hose bib feeder. I dug short trenches which took about two hours in total. I used a piece of PVC with a nozzle attachment at the head and garden hose at the back using water pressure to push the pipe under a walkway. Next, I gathered all the necessary parts and pieces (a few I did not need and one incorrect piece included) of PVC to make the run from the hose bib to the sprinkler head. I also picked up a pair of PVC cutters ( a real life saver and much better than using a hack saw) and Christy's Red Hot Blue Glue to seal the joints. As you can see in the photos, I also used a piece of PVC flex to make removal and replacement of the timer very easy. The red ball valve is there in case the timer springs a leak or refuse to shut off. The sprinkler head is a $7.00 Rain Bird. A good Saturday's worth of work with a very satisfying outcome. Yet to be seen... performance and durability of Orbit timer.

sweet little timer- easy to set up and saved me hours watering my rasied bed gardens- good price and better quality- battery operated-

The timer was easy to program and easy to install. I like the simple everyday battery that is needed for it (batteries that are always in stock at house). Other timer purchased last year required 9v battery. The only part of this product that I did not like was that it did not have a cover for displays. Living in Texas, would in one years time fade out the display. I created a plastic cover and banded it to protect it from the sun. It's a clear cover so I took a picture of it first just in case display fades and I need to know where everything is to re-program for later changes.

I bought this to replace another famous brand I purchased in the past. This product was lot cheaper but performed better than the expensive brand. I'm quite pleased with this product. My garden is thriving now with the help of the sprinkler system & the timer I bought from the Home Depot.

I use this in my 1,000sf garden on well water. Performs flawlessly every day! I run it for 20-min every morning and my garden is very healthy. Batteries last more than season, too, since I had the same unit last year but lost the battery capsule. With this little water timer, the irrigation tubing, and the greenhouse tarp I covered the garden with this year...I don't worry about watering or weeding. More time to pick, can, eat, and enjoy! =)

Durable, easy to program and install, affordable. What more do you need?

This dial timer installs easily without leaks. The timer itself is easier to set than other dials I've used because the dial's lettering is large and easy to read. Resetting the dial does not require resetting the entire program, which makes changing from daylight savings time simple and quick.

Used this product to control the watering of overhead planters in the patio. Extremely easy to set up and install. Saves water because of the timer (eliminates turning on the water and forgetting it).

This is a great way to keep flower beds water on a schedule and consistantly. It is easy to set schedules and works so good.