Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

UPDATED 1/23/23: Prepping for our annual February trip away. Unit still going strong and battery still had 80% charge from last year. INPUT teat snapped off when being disassembled last year. Super Glue fixed it, but be sure to use a probe inside it while glueing to make sure you don't block it up. Decided to carefully slice it off pump when I disassemble after using it each year. Still a good investment into the 3rd year. January 2021: Just bought this system so that my wife wouldn't lose her plants while we are away for a month. She didn't feel right asking a friend to come over due to Covid situation so I bought this system for her after comparing what is available on the market. Many of the reviews for the various systems are filled with dead plants, leaks, and failures, and I may know why. Since most of them come from China, the instructions are translated and leave a lot of confusion in their wake. I would have rated Assembly/installation higher if the instructions had been better. Here are the "Tricks" IMHO to making this system work: 1. Unit came with a 70% battery charge in it. The USB cable supplied is WAY TOO SHORT and there's no charger. I added my own longer cable and USB/AC charger from a phone. 2. Charge the unit to full charge. While charging unit will flash 7, 8, 9 (X10%) . Shows 10 when fully charged and connected by USB cord/charger to wall outlet. 3. Read the instructions multiple times, then with unit in hand, do a dry run to program it. 4. I then cut a short (about 18") piece of tubing, put it into a 2 liter bottle of water, sucked water into it and connected it to pump INTAKE, then standing at the kitchen sink I pushed test and pumped water for a while. Was impressed by the flow/pressure of pump. I then placed this in the side after connecting the intake filter (supplied with unit) to the tube still attached to the pump. 5. Taking the roll of plastic tubing, I then unwound a piece long enough to reach/wind through all of the plant containers. I put a plant watering stake on the tube's end (path of least resistance) then working my way past each plant, snipped the tubing and installed a "T" joint that faced the center of each pot and continued to work my way to the last plant. CRITICAL: DO NOT PULL TUBING OFF OF FITTINGS AFTER INSERTION OR 90+% CHANCE OF LEAKAGE! WHEN YOU PUSH TUBING TO FITTING TWIST THE TUBE AS IT MOVES ALL THE WAY AGAINST PIECE. 6. I had 9 pots so I cut eight 3" pieces of plastic tubing and inserted a watering stake in each one. I then attached to the open spot on each of the eight "T" fittings already in line. I DID NOT PUT STAKES IN POTS YET. 7. Cutting a piece of tubing long enough to reach from the end of the first plant to where the bucket/pump would be located, it was attached to the end of the first "T" fitting in line, taken to the kitchen sink, and connected to the pump's OUT port. Once good flow from all stakes and no leaks were observed at the joints, the assembly was disconnected at the pump, taken to the pots, and the stakes were inserted into each pot's center. 8. A large bucket was filled, the pump was reattached to the tubing assembly with the pumps intake line placed into the water and the USB charger/cord was plugged into 110v and the cord's end plugged into the pump AFTER the pump was clipped to the buckets side OVER the inside of the bucket (see photo 2). NOTE THAT THE PUMP IS HIGHER THAN THE BUCKET'S WATER LEVEL, LOWER THAN THE PLANTS/WATERING STAKES, AND THAT ALL TUBING CONNECTIONS (PHOTO 3) ARE OVER THE POTS SO THAT IF THERE IS A LEAK IT DRIPS ON THE PLANT. THIS SHOULD PREVENT ANY SIPHONING ACTION/SUBSEQUENT DAMAGE IF IT WOULD OCCUR. 9. The pump was then run on TEST to verify water flow, lack of leaks, and total system operation. POSSIBLE CAUSE OF DRY PLANTS: The system's output is measured in milliliters (ml) TOTAL OUTPUT PER WATERING. THIS PUMP'S MAX OUTPUT IS 990 ml PER WATERING - 120 ml = 4OZ - SO IF YOU SET THIS PUMP TO 990 MAX YOU'RE ONLY PUTTING A QUART TOTAL INTO YOUR PLANTS COLLECTIVELY AT A TIME. I am almost certain that people who have complained of dry plants either didn't calculate the water amount/frequency OR the size of the water reservoir correctly. My wife determined that 4 oz per plant per week should be adequate BUT SHE HAD NINE PLANTS instead of eight and she wanted all nine watered so the amount is actually estimated at 3.7 oz per plant per watering. We will probably increase the frequency to 5 or 6 day intervals to over compensate. Well that's it for now. I plan on editing this review once we are back in March to report if the above worked. JUST BACK AND FOUND ALL PLANTS ALIVE & WELL WITH BUCKET EMPTY. Changed schedule to every 5 INSTEAD OF 7 days watering. BEWARE that you CAN'T regulate individual plant amounts so I found two small ceramic containers filled almost to top ready to overflow when I got back. Would have been my fault if it had happened. Other than that this system is definitely a buy in my book. IF YOU ARE GONE LONGER THAN A MONTH; SUGGEST YOU CONNECT MULTIPLE BUCKETS WITH LARGER D HOSES THRU SIPHON ACTION OR YOU WILL DEFINITELY RUN SHORT OF WATER AND PLANTS WILL DIE. BTW, YOU GET LOADS OF TUBING AND FITTINGS FOR VARIOUS CONFIGURATIONS WITH THIS KIT. Best to all and stay healthy!