If you want to simplify your lawn or garden care, a smart hose timer will help you keep your yard or garden thriving with little effort on your part.
We like the Orbit B-hyve Smart Hose Watering Timer because its comprehensive app allows you to easily set up customizable Schedules, and a built-in water-flow meter lets you monitor usage. This model is smart enough to skip waterings based on the weather in your area, as well, so you aren’t the local dope soaking your lawn during a downpour.
Smart hose timers screw on to standard outdoor hose bibs and can connect to one or several above-ground sprinklers. Using an app, you create Schedules for your timer to go on and off, and because it connects to Wi-Fi, you can control it remotely. Many models consult forecasts and can automatically cancel or delay watering if rain is on the way. Some can pair with additional timers if you need to cover more ground.
Our pick
This timer offers easy customization, a built-in flow meter, and a wide range of features, including automated delays based on rain.
Compatibility: Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant
We recommend the Orbit B-hyve Smart Hose Watering Timer for its wide range of features and easy customization.
The app, which we found simple to set up though somewhat clunky to use after the initial configuration, provides access to remote on/off control, notifications, an activity log, scheduling, and family sharing. If you don’t have your phone handy, you can directly turn the timer on or off by pressing a physical button. A hub to connect the B-hyve to your home Wi-Fi network is included.
The B-hyve also offers a built-in flow meter, which keeps track of how much water you are using. And because the timer connects to a local forecast, you can set it to automatically skip a scheduled watering if rain is coming.
Runner-up
A dial and a digital display give you the option to schedule watering straight from the device when your phone isn’t nearby.
Compatibility: Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant
The Orbit B-hyve XD Smart Hose Timer doesn’t have a flow meter like our top pick, but it does offer more advanced on-device manual controls for anyone who is less interested in relying on a smartphone app. Not only can you start and stop the B-hyve XD directly from the timer, as with our other picks, but you also have the option of programming it using a small digital display and a dial. We prefer the ability to use an app, but for some households with less smartphone-savvy members, a model that offers both manual and digital controls may be a better choice. Otherwise, the B-hyve XD works almost identically to our top pick.
The B-hyve XD is available with a single hose port (the model we tested), as well as in two- and four-port versions. To enable smart functions, the B-hyve XD requires the Orbit B-hyve Gen 2 Wi-Fi Hub, which is included in the package.
Budget pick
This affordable model allows for easy on/off control, scheduling, and family sharing in the app.
Compatibility: Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant
The Diivoo Smart Water Timer with WiFi Hub is easy to set up, integrates well with both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, and comes with a Wi-Fi hub, yet it costs just $50. It offers all of the same basic features as our top pick but lacks a water-flow meter.
It can’t automatically skip scheduled runs based on whether rain is in the forecast, but you can toggle on a rain delay in the app for a set amount of time to skip any watering cycles, so you don’t have to run outside in the rain to shut off the hose.
This Diivoo timer is available in one- and two-port versions.
