Gardena(31169) Mechanical Water Timer with Flow Control

I was looking for a hose-bib mounted mechanical water timer that would not restrict my anemic city water pressure and this did the trick, in spades.Our city water inlet is only 1/2 inch and results in about 50 PSI at the bib. As a result, I have had all sorts of trouble with impact sprinklers. I started with Melnor's then tried GIlmour's then finally Orbits. I tinkered and fussed but to no avail. If no one on my city block was so much as flushing a toilet, they MIGHT work a few times, but then would no longer spin hard enough to trip the return levers. I tried shortening the hoses that fed them, no luck. I tried using a smaller diameter hose hoping to raise the water velocity. No joy. I grew up on farms so I knew deep down that there's really only one brand of impact sprinkler worth anything and that is Rain Bird. I yanked out the old heads and dropped Rain Birds on. Still no love. I tried everything, I adjusted, I tinkered, I fussed, I meddled and twiddled. I even resorted to some rather colorful language which did nothing but cause my blood pressure to rise. However, it did nothing for my water pressure.It did cause the dog to give me a rather mournful look however.In desperation, I decided to swap out the timer I was using to see if maybe that was the problem. I have used Orbit and Melnor timers, but unfortunately the diameter of the pass-thru is about the size of a pencil and I can only run one impact sprinkler at a time with them. Like a bolt of lightning (Or possibly a rather large, well-thrown bolt) it hit me. The timers were throttling the water pressure down even further, below the threshold that even my beloved Rain Birds could operate. While the timer function was great, the pass-thru water pressure was not. Off to Amazon I went.After a few failed attempts at searching term usage, I found another timer that promised "High Volume", but the reviews were less then hearty even discounting the obvious "Pilot error" in some of them. Then I found this Gardena. At double the price that I had paid for mechanical water timers I was a little hesitant, but I was tired of standing next to a non functioning sprinkler head, getting soaking wet trying to get it to run and for the price of a couple CD's I was willing to have dry pants and no longer cause the dog great amounts of consternation at the vociferous language being used when he obviously hadn't peed in the house anywhere. Not that day anyway. I engaged the "Prime Directive" and two days later the magic box appeared on my porch.Irrigation bliss. Lo and behold my Rain Birds spun in near frantic ecstasy happily spreading water hither and yon across the yard. This Gardena works great. I can run both my Rain Birds and the lawn is thoroughly and evenly watered. The dog was rather non-plussed at first as he was not able to time his forays between the jets of water and got thoroughly soaked. He was at least kind enough to not sully my mood by likewise watering the living room rug, so all is good.Ignore the nonsense about variable pressure in some other reviews and simply bask in the glory of your sprinklers running at full pressure. The "Soft Off Feature" is nice I suppose but I personally don't care if my timer slams off as hard as my front door does when a political pollster shows up so long as the sprinklers are running at full bore and soak those wretched time vampires as they scurry down the sidewalk.

I tried cheaper versions trying to save a buck but they were junk and malfunctioned quickly. After a lot of research I came across this brand and the good reviews. I originally bought one for my elderly mother who sometimes forgets to turn off the water to her garden. Thankfully she's able to easily work this timer. We were so impressed with the quality and reliability that we bought another for our home and have been using it without any issues for several months.

I paid. For me, not a free-product. Real usage.After only three uses, my expensive Gardena mechanical water shutoff timer stops working. Won’t shut off.My city has mandated that everyone must “immediately” reduce water usage 20%. No recommendations – ‘Just do it.’ Thanks to this ‘water saving’ timer, I waste too much water. I have been cited, must pay for excessive water use plus their mandatory administrative fees & penalty costs. This hurts.And, worst part is, thanks to this timer, they are right. I waste a lot of water.To backtrack: this timer gets lots of free-press, great reviews and expensive. What is not to love? Must save precious water for our only world to survive.For my four orange and one guava tree, I connect the timer on my newly installed low-pressure drip hose that is covered with mulch. I’m proud.Initially the mechanical timer works great. Turn on water, timer assuredly clicks down to zero, gently shuts off water. Great! I am happy!First failure. Twist the timer to 60 minutes then back to 40. Timer clicks but sounds weak. It sounds anemic. Give it a shot. I leave to go shopping. Timer counts down then sticks on the 5 minute mark. Water is still flowing. Floods my fruit trees for 2 hours.Maybe I did something wrong?Second failure. Next week, try again. Set it and I can hear the now a very weak anemic timer clicking. I go away. This time it sticks at 40. My trees are flooded for 14 hours. I hold my head down, close my eyes and do face-palm. My neighbors are happy because I am watering their property.I can manual move the dial but that is silly. Maybe it is paranoia: I have to keep one eye on it. Is it still counting down? Yes, weakly and slowly. I’m sure you understand that I don’t trust it.A final test. I run it dry. Watch it closely. Still sticks at 40. Turn on my water faucet. Of course, faucet & valve are still open so water flows freely. Sucks. Useless.I quit. Another useless product got-ya. Paying more gets the same results as the cheap ones. The cheap ones fail to work and these expensive ones do the same. Even my electronic one from another reputable company failed after one use. Says low battery every time and shutoff failures. They don’t work.I’ve had enough. Getting way to expensive to save. Back to using my cheap but reliable egg timer or phone/tablet timer.I’m usually good at keeping the original packaging but this time, because I threw away the original box, no returns. If you try it, keep it with your growing mountain of boxes.I stopped looking. Too frustrating. I hope this review helps others. Thank you for reading this.

I have used these types of timers for 30+ years (you turn the water on - they cut it off after a certain time/gallonage) - perfect for so many situations - turning the water on when you're going to work, turning the water on before dark (and you don't want to get out in the yard after that), and just plain half the work - it keeps up with the time and you don't have to.Now, why is this a better "wheel" than the others? I used to buy the $10 - $12 kind and just "understood" I would have to buy 2 new ones (1 for front and 1 for back) every year. If you tried to make them last more than a year, they leaked, and sometimes they leaked before the year was out. I have kept records since I started using this model in 2008. They last from 5 - 10 years for me, with NO leaking! It is definitely worth the difference in money to get some that you just don't have to worry with. I live in East Texas and you never know what our winter/spring (sometimes snow in April, ha!) will be, so in November I turn off the faucets, in December I cover them (with those styrofoam covers) and then when I need to start watering the lawn, I take off the covers and put on the timers (it depends on how much the Lord waters for me - smile!).