LinkTap G1 Add-On Wireless Water Timer, Requires LinkTap Gateway, Cloud Controlled Smart Hose Faucet Timer, 2 Yrs Battery Life, Quick 2 Mins Installation, Rain Skip, Improved Flow Rate

Short review:This is an excellent product and just what I needed.So far it’s reliable with excellent wireless connectivity and long battery life.I can now remotely control my watering or follow various types of schedules.My wife and I are both very happy with this purchase.If you need a retirement gift for someone this would be an excellent choice! Peace of mind while they’re off enjoying their new life. At least that’s what it is for us.Longer review:My wife spends a lot of time creating beautiful flower and vegetable gardens and I maintain a nice lawn. My job is to keep it all watered when we’re traveling. I’ve used quad port timers from Orbit for about 10 years now and while they work I’m constantly replacing timers or valves and I don’t know if they’re functioning when I’m away from home. Now Orbit no longer makes the model with external valves so I had to find a replacement. In addition, finding a device I could control remotely was very desirable. I researched several remote control hose timers and read every review I could find. Those reviews generated performance questions. Jack at Taplink answered all of my questions and the other vendors I contacted didn’t bother to respond. After extensive testing Jacks answers have proven to be extremely accurate.I really like the Rachio controller that my daughter has at her home and its remote control capabilities but they don’t make a hose timer version. The Taplink device gives me similar remote control functionality with my hoses.I’m so glad I chose the TapLink device. It’s everything I hoped it would be and more.For a new setup you need to buy a Gateway and a LinkTap valve. After that you can buy more valves and link them to the original Gateway. My system is very extensive and I have 12 valves on one Gateway (pop up sprinklers, drip lines, soaker hoses). This is more than TapLink shows as the maximum and is the result of recent improvements they have made (partly at my request). Check with Jack at TapLink support for the new limit.Setup is super easy. I question the two minute claim for your first one because you will have to download their app and create an account. Then you’ll need to attach the Gateway to your internet router with an Ethernet cord (you should have at least one unused port available). Then you need to find four AA batteries and remove 6 small screws, install the batteries and reinstall the screws. The second, third, etc will be very close to two minutes but the first one is going to take a bit longer.Setup consists of opening the App, selecting Gateway/Add new Gateway and pointing your phone camera at the Gateway serial number. The App will tell you when the Gateway is ready to use and LED’s on the Gateway will indicate connection success.Then you can add the TapLinker by selecting TapLinker/Add new TapLinker and pointing your phone camera at the TapLinker serial number. Again the App will tell you when the TapLinker is ready to use (and the device LED’s will indicate connection success).I have had no problems installing two Gateways (in different states) and twelve TapLinkers.It is possible to have 3 Gateways and (currently) 15 TapLinkers on each Gateway. The Gateways can be at one location or multiple locations. I have homes in two different states and a single account lets me access and control both locations.I now have remote control of my watering and can run my system via schedules or manually no matter where I am using my phone, iPad or laptop. It’s fantastic!If you create a schedule you can activate it or perform a manual watering operation. You can also create multiple watering schedules and activate one depending on the situation. For instance you could create schedules for Spring, Summer and Fall watering needs and activate the proper one as the year progresses. There’s also a skip feature so you can automatically save water if a scheduled run time coincides with a rain event.So far the hardware setup has been very good with no leaks, excellent wireless connectivity and flawless valve ON/OFF operation. The software has some room for enhancement but overall it’s very good and has nice features. Using the camera to read the serial numbers is great! There are a couple of design flaws in the software but I’m accepting how they work for now. I don’t like how Instant mode fails to activate the prior Activated schedule if I stop instant mode early. I think that’s something they’re going to fix.I’ll be adding more technical details and pictures to this review later on but for now I just want to say I think I made an excellent choice! It does cost more than the Orbit timers I used previously but it should be more reliable and now I have remote access!I have some scheduling feature changes to discuss with Jack. I think they’ll be useful. And I hope they get incorporated in the software.Technical review will follow later. This is my second attempt to do a review on the TapLink products. Somehow Amazon lost the first one and I’ll have to do it again and I’m out of time for now.

NOTE: This listing is for a single tap-timer only. You need a gateway and tap-timer for the system to function. My review is for the entire system, but covers the pros and cons of the add-on tap-linker.Here is why you should buy this system (pros):- Setup instructions are easy to follow and simple - No major tech know-how required. It took me less than 15 minutes to be up and running.- Long Range - Water timers have their own wireless connection which has a much longer range than WiFi (uses the Zigbee standard) so you can put them almost anyplace, even on a large property. This connection is fully secured (encrypted).- Easy to program - If you can use the web or an app on your phone, you can program your timer in about a minute. If you want to do a very detailed program, it'll take you just a bit more time, mostly to make decisions on exactly how you want your watering schedule to work.- Rain skip function works really well and requires no effort to turn on and off/adjust it. Rain skip uses Dark Cloud weather data which I have found to be very reliable (free, no subscription or app required). Unlike other timers that use a soil moisture sensor only and will still water one hour prior to a major rain storm, this system uses forecast and actual rainfall to determine when to skip watering (you set the rainfall thresholds for water skip), reducing over or underwatering and saving you water and money, This is one of the most impressive features for me so far.- Water Timers are remotely, securely, accessible with any internet connection - PC or Mac, iPhone, or Android - any device which can access the web can control the water timer from anywhere you have a connection. (all communications are encrypted from the timer to the gateway and from the gateway to the internet - end to end security!)- No significant water flow or pressure reduction - Solenoid valve is similar to that used in touch faucets and fully opens and shuts with almost no restriction to water flow.- Customer support is absolutely awesome - Before and after my purchase, I reached out to the company in Australia via Facebook messenger to learn more about the product and get my questions answered (no other Amazon reviews, so I was trying to do my research!). Response time is remarkably fast (almost instant), support is from people who actually designed and built the product, and who care about your experience!- App/Website give you lots of data about your watering history - You can see exactly when and how long water was applied to your lawn and gardens from the app- Still waters if your internet is down/unreliable - If you lose your connection to the internet, your system will still water as programmed.- Solenoid valves are very reliable and high quality and use almost no power to open and close- Provides a wireless test feature to ensure that your water timer/tap linker will always receive commands from the GatewayCons: In order to use a better valve and wireless radio, the tap units are big! You cannot easily install two of them side by side on a hose bib (see photo). So if you, like me, need to run three off of a single tap, you will need to be a bit creative. But trust me, it's worth it!- Installing batteries requires removing and inserting small screws (screwdriver and extra screws provided). This permits a fully sealed, watertight battery compartment. The batteries are supposed to last up to two years, so you won't need to do this step too often.Forget getting anything from Melnor (I had an entire RainCloud system, trashed it after a several week trial period - total junk, website and valves are unreliable (you will have dead plants - the negative reviews are spot on)), Orbit (very meh quality, reduces water flow and pressure, very limited programming options), or even Gardena (WiFi timer not available outside of Europe, very expensive, non-WiFi timers significantly reduce flow and are difficult to use, with limited program options.)I am truly impressed with the entire LinkTap Water Timer system. I have already recommended this to my friends and family and will continue to buy them as our needs grow. From beginning to end, a product that works and does exactly what you want it to. While not the cheapest option out there, it is definitely the best!

This is the second one I got. Running two timers with a single gateway.I’ll get to the point:- setup is easy (be patient when linking the timer to the gateway)- the app is full of features and provides all you need to manage your irrigation system or automate your sprinklers. UI could be better though.- API works but tricky to configure. You need to know a bit of coding to configure IFTTT.- Support is superb - fast response and help with whatever you need. After I got help with API, I was able to configure Google Home Assistant and through Webhooks add the timers to my Home Assistant server which allowed me to use Siri (HomeKit) to activate my oscillating sprinklers.- rain skip feature is the best. The timers are not watering my lawn when it was raining in the past or when rain is forecasted in the next 24 hours. The log and push notification tell you if your schedule was skipped or not (rain skip).

The LinkTap works as advertised.I'm using it to keep ferns moist over summer with just a minute of spray every half and hour during daylight. Very easy to add such a regime with the app or via web login. I've found the app quite clear, intuitive and simple to use, it is quite esay to set up a new watering program. The app and the web have almost the same look and functionality. There is even a nice history function so you can check your programming.The rain skip function is a little bit tricky to get right, but it is completely optional to use.Wireless range is quite good, although I found I had to put it on it's edge to get really good reception in the garden. Probably the ideal situation is to have an ethernet cable and powerpoint externally, and place the LinkTap gateway in a waterproof enclosure to really extend range out to 300m. One gateway at the front and back of the house would cover an acre (4000m2) provided the gateways were elevated. Under the roof eve would be ideal.Mine is inside in a window and I get good reception through foliage at 50m or so, but now I know they work, I'll be looking to get better outside coverage by running ethernet.Overall, after a month of use I am very happy with LinkTap, and am making plans to expand with more Tap units to cover my acre of garden.

The LinkTap wireless system is easy to set-up and works very well. It has very flexible settings and you can add more LinkTaps to connect to one gateway. The only negative is the app that is clunky. It works once you figure it out but it is not user friendly. The modifications to the settings or programs are also odd as you need to delete instruction lines and generate new ones which is much more annoying than modifying a dial to adjust the watering time. It is interesting that the system considers rain forecasts in your area but it is not very accurate and you will need to force the watering if the precipitations happened to be less than expected.

This is an additional valve used to expand my Link-tap network. The network efficiently waters critical parts of my garden, I this case vegetable, and insures that I neither underwater nor waste water by over delivering. This version does not have the safeguards to detecting flow and pipe leaks, but does exactly what I need.

Works very well so far I’ve had it for about a week.The app is easy to navigate