Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

So three star because I am brutal when you miss the basics. Software and everything about the interface is great so far. They missed it big time on the hardware side of things. First of all, the hole that you put your wires through to line up to the connections is way too small if you are doing a retrofit to an older system that has heavily insulated, large gauge wire. I ended up having to cut the hole in the base plate larger with a hacksaw at the recommendation of their tech support. The other solution would be to splice lighter gauge wire with less insulation to the existing wires, but that would make for an ugly install. My other complaint is the light duty feel of the tension ports that the wires actually plug into. One of the release buttons broke on mine. Other than those things, after having it for a couple of hours now, I think the software interface is great. It is pricey for the light weight hardware though. Let's face it, for approximately double the cost of conventional controllers, it should be heavier duty. I will update after it has been in a hot Texas garage for a year. If what you can see is that light duty, what about the components you can't see? In summary, they would have a five star unit if they did two things: 1. Design the base plate to EASILY accommodate wire installation for retrofit installations. 3/4 inches deeper would probably do it on the 8 zone controller. 2. Use a traditional screw down connecting strip for the wiring, like what is on the rainbird isa 400 series controllers. UPDATE after having it for just about a year now... One big annoyance for me is that if your internet goes down, not your wifi, but your internet, you have to go and reboot the controller. Needs to be unplugged and plugged back in. This seems odd, as I have lots of devices connected to my router, and all of the can still communicate on the local area network even when the internet is down. Maybe this is unique to mine. So a final update on this closed chapter in my life. I ultimately decided to go with another unit. Three of the zones in the controller went out, and it stopped watering those zones. I discovered this after a $100 service call and another hole in my yard when the sprinkler guy came out. So I was an early adopter, paid $249 for this, and got more headaches than it is worth. Rachio did send me a factory refurbished version of this discontinued model, and suggested I contact sales to see about upgrading to the Gen 2 version. A week later and I have not heard back from them. I am going with the Orbit B-Hyve as of this writing. Great hardware, although the software is early in development. I'm sure they will improve it.