The Eve Aqua Smart Water Controller Lets You Water Your Garden From Your Phone

To instal the Aqua betwixt my spigot and hose, I threaded the instrumentality straight onto each. If you are utilizing drip tubing alternatively of a hose, you’ll usage the included adapter to link an irrigation enactment to the Aqua. While the directions are comparatively simple, I had an contented getting a large seal connected the spigot broadside of the Aqua, adjacent with pliers. The determination of the grip made it intolerable to compression a instrumentality successful to tighten up the connection, which meant that, ultimately, I was ne'er capable to debar immoderate level of h2o leakage from this area. (An Eve typical suggested utilizing plumber's portion to amended the seal oregon adding an angled adapter oregon hose hold to the setup to marque the space little awkward, but I didn’t trial either method.) It is nevertheless easier to get a bully seal connected the little transportation that attaches to the hose, arsenic there’s not arsenic overmuch hardware to get successful the mode connected the underside of the Aqua.

Testing the Hardware and Software

Once batteries are installed, you tin onboard the Aqua to your 2.4-GHz Wi-Fi web wrong the Eve app, oregon you tin usage HomeKit to link straight to Apple’s iOS Home app. You’ll request the Eve app to usage astir of the precocious operations connected the portion (like kid locks and water-consumption measures), but for elemental manual power and timer operations, iOS Home works fine.

That’s a bully thing, due to the fact that Eve’s iOS app is simply a amazingly convoluted portion of bundle that whitethorn frustrate adjacent seasoned smart-home enthusiasts—at slightest that’s however I felt portion trying to navigate the app. A analyzable postulation of scenes, timers, and rules determines however your watering docket operates. While the volition present is to entreaty to a consciousness of flexibility and powerfulness for however you negociate your watering schedule, the full happening feels much analyzable than necessary. The interface is excessively busy, with excessively overmuch unnecessary accusation crowding each screen. Configuring a elemental on/off timer feels similar a logic puzzle connected this app. To beryllium honest, a wholesale redesign of the Eve app is astir apt successful order.

Perhaps if the Aqua shipped with amended instructions, the app disorder would beryllium a nonissue. But I was amazed to find that the portion contained thing but a spare and little commencement guide. The hardware is casual capable to woody with, but I expect astir users volition request a small much hand-holding than Eve provides (or plentifulness of patience) to maestro the app.

Fortunately, aft I finished mounting up my schedules and nary longer needed to tweak them further, I got the bent of the instrumentality and recovered it to enactment rather well. The portion responded rapidly to on-demand commands, and schedules went disconnected similar clockwork. In respective days of testing, the Aqua ne'er failed maine once.

A Pricey Proposition

Here’s the atrocious news: The Eve Aqua is 1 of the astir costly astute hose controllers, importantly much costly than the Rachio Smart Hose Timer (which I recovered simpler but inactive effectual erstwhile I tested it) and the Orbit 90204Z (a exemplary I haven’t tested but which is akin to different Orbit cogwheel that I’ve tried and liked). Like the Aqua, some competitors connection app-based astute features—but for astir $100 oregon less. That said, the Aqua is notably little costly than the IrriSense 2 astute irrigation system, and each of these options are overmuch much outgo effectual than digging an in-ground sprinkler system.

Unlike different astute h2o controllers, the Aqua does not necessitate a abstracted Wi-Fi span to operate, making it seamless to use. But that vantage loses a batch of its radiance erstwhile it comes clip to woody with a analyzable setup process and a leaky-faucet effect erstwhile up and running.