Orbit 1-Outlet Programmable Timer

It finally expired today after 8 years of use. I left it outside last winter, not connected, but still. Since the spring, it had a slight water drip internally, and I think internal corrosion finally did it in. It was a good run, always reliable. And these are easy to program. Had I brought it in for the winter as I typically did, it may have made it to 10 years.

I have used these before in a mechanical variant. The summer of 2025 taught me that my tomato plants needed even more flexibility. This unit was the answer. There are a variety of clever options that allow you to set it up to water when you want, as often as you want and in the quantity you want. It is also simple to turn water on instantly when needed without removing the unit. I have a soaker hose routed around my tomato plants and use the timer to supply them a fresh drink every morning and evening. You could set it to more or less frequently if you like. It's also very easy to make changes if you have changing weather conditions or just witness that the plants need more or less. Also works great for new sod or over seeding grass in the fall.

I don't often submit negative reviews, and never until after I have attempted to get a problem resolved. We own two of these timers, one purchased last year and a second this year used in our vegetable garden. Selected Orbit due to name recognition, even though pricier. The timers were easy to setup and use, and worked well until they didn't. A week ago there was a sudden loss of water pressure that effected all three zones of both timers with the change happening within 24 hours of each other. The water pressure to our home has been unchanged. We took everything apart and cleaned everything including all the filters. Put everything back together and still terrible pressure through the timer. Without the timer pressure running through the line is normal - we put a different timer in the same line and pressure is normal - eveything points to an issue with the timers. Tried chatting with customer service, after spending quite a bit of time answering different questions about the issue and what we had done and waiting a fair amount of time for very slow responses from the chat representative, she cut off the chat when I didn't respond right away. Quite frustrating as I just wasted all that time and will have to start all over again - and if she perhaps thought we got disconnected she had requested my phone # but did not attempt to call. Considering this poor customer service and the fact that these timers are more expensive, I just cannot recommend them, especially since two are doing the same thing.For those who may wonder, the timers have only been used during spring/summer gardening - brought in the house and stored during the winter so never exposed to freezing temps. They were mounted in a protected area so nothing has hit/damaged the timers. And prior to the issue about a week ago, the timers had been running regularly with the exact same setup since spring - so nothing else has changed.

This is the best brand for timers. I just bought a dual outlet to replace another brand that's malfunctioning. I bought this brand in a single years ago and it's still working with zero issues. The one I'm replacing is on it's 2nd season. The one I'm replacing is kind of a pain to program. This brand is stupid simple. If I'm replacing batteries I don't want to have to look up in a manual how to program the time. No worries with this brand because it's so intuitive. If you struggle to program this unit you're the issue.

Item functions as expected and is easy to program. One star was taken off for the concern that the plastic couplings will break over time. I will be careful in the threading on of the unit to the spigot and hose.

Product stopped working within first 6 weeks. Removing battery pack it was found to contain brown (rust) colored water. We would have caught the failure within the return period but were away on vacation for 24 days.Contacted Orbit and they are shipping a free replacement.

I love this thing. I can water all of my front yard before I even wake up. I set one zone for 4 am, another for 5 am and another for 6 am. Each zone gets a good soaking. The device is very easy to set up. The batteries last months (so far). The display is big and bright, easy to read. If rain is coming I just set it to off and it stops watering.

I really wanted to love this Orbit 62061Z Hose Faucet Timer because, on paper, it checks all the boxes: easy to program, convenient scheduling, and it saves me from having to manually water the garden every day. And when it works, it does work well — the interface is fairly straightforward, and it’s nice not having to worry about forgetting to water.But here’s the issue: it randomly stops working. I’ve had to reset it several times over the past few weeks, and there doesn’t seem to be a consistent reason why. Sometimes it just doesn’t open the valve at the scheduled time, and other times it acts like it’s working — but the water never flows. A quick reset usually fixes it, but having to keep checking on it kind of defeats the purpose of “set it and forget it.”I’ve also tried swapping batteries and making sure it’s not getting too wet, but the hiccups keep happening. It’s frustrating, especially if I go a day or two without noticing it didn’t water — not great for a lawn in the middle of summer.Bottom line: when it functions properly, it’s a great little gadget and saves time. But the reliability isn’t quite there, and I wouldn’t trust it to run unsupervised for too long without occasional check-ins. Not a total dealbreaker, but not as dependable as I’d hoped.