Update: Orbit has recently introduced a new kit (91591) which supplants this 62032 kit. Gone are the many programming buttons and in its place is a dial that you rotate to program your watering cycles. No extra functionality has been added: only the physical package has changed so the limitations remain but it is easier to program.

There is really nothing else on the market at this time that compares to this faucet timer . This product lets you program up to 4 stations (or zones). Each zone is given its own watering duration and you can water up to 3 times per day whenever you wish. Stations are watered sequentially and you can choose to skip any station in the programming (e.g. 1-2-4) if you need to disable a station for maintenance.

What you cannot do is choose which stations activate at each of the 3 watering times: you can only set the same stations to water at each of the three watering events. I think this is the greatest complaint people have but I suppose it's limited by Orbit to force you to consider the rest of their product line.

Pros:

- very cost effective to automate multiple watering zones
- This AAA model replaced the previous 9V model and now the batteries last all season long
- 2-stations expandable to 4 with purchase of additional 62035 watering valves

I've used this kit for several years without fail but there are some caveats to be aware of.

Cons:

- programming cannot be ascertained at a glance: display only gives time and watering mode (auto/manual/off).
- you'll have to learn not to press the next button when you are setting the watering days or you will skip to the next step.
- you can set a station to manually water for desired minutes but if you want to set all stations to water manually you cannot set the duration (it defaults to the schedule programmed duration).
- be sure to use locking quick connects upstream of the valves as they can shut off the water with enough force to pop a Gardena quick connect off which will quickly flood your lawn and generate a huge watering bill.

The kit is a good value given that you get two valves and a 4-way brass manifold that can cost $16-30 depending of where you buy it.

To ensure long life, bring in your timers for winter and remove the batteries. During the rest of the year protect your timer from the sun and rain. This has been my practice and I've not had a failure for 5 years since I started using this product.

I have had this product (2 timers and 8 valves) for 2 full seasons. I have had many timers over the years and this one is simply the best. It is true you can't stagger watering days, but you can pick if any day of the week is a watering day and if it is select which valves turn on for how long. Flowers, vegetables, pots, and hanging baskets are all happy. I have never had a leak or a valve failure. It has never to my knowledge missed a watering. I leave my home for extended periods during the summer and I have never come home to plants that are anything less than totally happy. I think the quality of this is incredible compared to all of the others I have owned. I especially like the manual mode. A couple of button pushes and extra water is available for those extremely hot days during the summer. I have a quick connect changeover to a large misting fan on my gazebo and I also use the manual mode for that when entertaining. The valves are better than other systems I have owned in that they turn all the way on and all the way off, none of the frustrating in between modes. One set of AA batteries has lasted for the entire season both years and the controller is incredibly waterproof. I highly recommend this system.

Been about a month now and no problems from this device. Works just fine. Only annoyance is in manual (water now) mode, you can water either one station or all of them, there is no option for subsets.

In programmed mode you can water any set of the four per "time". You get three of these "times", independent of each other, per 24 hour day.

Waters stations in a given "time" in series, not in parallel, so only one valve is open at a time. This is a Good Thing for us, but it doesn't seem to be changable if you want different behavior.