In recent years, interior smart home technology has spread out, and you’ll now find dozens of wireless watering systems on the market that can take some of the confusion and complexity out of watering your plants. Whether you have a sophisticated in-ground sprinkler or drip irrigation system or you rely on an old-fashioned hose, there are many smart watering solutions readily available. The good news: No matter what your outdoor environment is, we’ve got you covered.
Be sure to check out our other guides to backyard tech, including the best smart bird feeders, best grills and smart grills, best flat-top grills and griddles, best coolers, and best pool cleaning robots.
What can smart irrigation systems do?
Overall, smart watering solutions are fundamentally designed around scheduling. Although you can always initiate a manual watering run with one of these systems, their real value is in setting up a recurring schedule so you can basically forget about them. The best systems offer sophisticated scheduling tools that let you water on your chosen days of the week or month, as well as schedule the watering time and how much you want to water.
Best of all, more sophisticated solutions include what is now commonly known as “weather information,” which is a fancy way of saying that they will check the Internet for local weather conditions and adjust watering based on whether it will rain or freeze. Many systems will also work with wireless soil monitors to give you even better control over soil moisture levels – and help you save as much water as possible.
What if I have an existing irrigation system?
If you already have an underground water system with a traditional timer, it is very easy to upgrade to a smart irrigation system. You simply remove your old controller and replace it with the smart one, connect the zone wiring to the terminal posts inside the smart controller just like they were in the old controller, leaving the rest of the infrastructure in place. (Make sure the controller you purchase has enough zones to handle your infrastructure; controllers typically support 8 or 16 zones.)
-SOURCE-Chris%2520Null.jpg "The Best Smart Sprinklers and Irrigation Systems: In-Ground Sprinklers, Hose Timers (2026) 2")
Photograph: Chris Null
From there, you’ll use an app to configure your zones based on plant type, shade conditions, and soil type. Most apps will recommend watering periods for each zone based on this information, and you can fine-tune these periods zone by zone. For setups involving a garden hose, configuration is even easier. Smart sprinklers connect to any standard hose terminus and can be placed anywhere in your yard. Alternatively, smart hose timers connect to the spigot; You then connect your own sprinkler (or, in some cases, drip irrigation) to the timer. The features of the mobile app will certainly vary, but many of them are just as sophisticated as those of permanent smart sprinkler systems.
How I test smart irrigation systems
I have been testing smart irrigation products on land as large as 1.3 acres in both California and Texas since 2017. My current sprinkler system is a permanently plumbed solution that spans 11 fields and includes both in-ground sprinklers and drip irrigation. For hose-based solutions, I test by connecting to a standard hose spigot, usually in both lawn and flower bed environments.
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Best Smart Controller for In-Ground Sprinkler System
Rachio
3 Smart Sprinkler Controller
I’ve tested over a dozen smart sprinkler controllers with my underground irrigation systems, and this Rachio controller is the one I use every day. Sure, there’s nothing noteworthy about the hardware, although zone wiring is easy to connect thanks to spring-loaded clips rather than screws, and the onboard controls only cover the basics.
The real magic is in the creator’s app. Here, you define your zones based on vegetation type, nozzle/drip type, soil type, level of sun exposure, and slope. If you really want to go wild, advanced options let you set everything from root depth to the amount of water loss you want to allow. Assign each zone a name and a photo, and they’ll all be presented in an intuitive grid that you can use as a point-and-click interface for manual watering operations as needed.
Scheduling of Rachios can be fixed based on day or date or dynamically, with adjustments automatically applied based on changing weather conditions. The app’s logging system is abundant, detailing the time and duration of each run for each zone and each day. It’s also easy to share access with my professional irrigation team, so they can periodically test areas for leaks or other problems without needing physical access to my garage, where the controller resides.
Other solid smart controller picks
iGreen 3.0 starting at $2,089: Irgreen is not just a controller. This is an expensive, end-to-end irrigation solution that requires fresh plumbing and upgrading all your sprinkler heads to Irigrin’s conservationist “water painting” system. I wouldn’t tear apart the existing system for this, but if you’re installing sprinklers from scratch, it’s worth a strong look.
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