Orbit B-Hyve Smart Hose Faucet Timer With Wi-Fi Hub Review

An in-ground sprinkler system makes it easy to keep your lawn and shrubs adequately watered, especially if you're using a smart timer such as the Rachio Gen2 Smart Sprinkler Controller.

However, there are plenty of homeowners out there that rely on a simple garden hose sprinkler to water their lawn.

With the Orbit B-Hyve Smart Hose Faucet Timer ($82.99), you can press your garden hose into service as a smart watering system that you control from your phone, complete with programmed watering schedules and smart weather-based watering.

It's a breeze to install and program, and it works with Amazon Alexa voice commands, but detailed water usage reports would be a welcome addition.

Design and Features

The B-Hyve Faucet Timer is housed in a gray plastic weatherproof box that measures 3.2 by 1.7 by 4.0 inches (HWD).

At the top of the device is a swivel connector that attaches to a faucet and on the bottom is a connector that attaches to a regular garden hose.

The front of the timer has a removable gasketed battery compartment that holds two AA batteries (not included) and a button for manual watering.

The B-Hyve supports a flow rate of 100psi (approximately 12 gallons per minute) and is designed for use with cold water only.

The timer does not have a Wi-Fi radio.

Instead, it communicates with a Wi-Fi hub that you plug into a wall outlet on the inside of your house.

The hub measures 4.7 by 1.5 by 1.0 inches and looks similar to a typical USB thumb drive.

It uses 802.11n (2.4GHz) Wi-Fi technology to connect to your home network and can support up to 36 timers if you wish to create a multi-zone sprinkler system.

Additional timers go for $59.99 each.

The B-Hyve timer uses the same mobile app (available for Android and iOS) as the company's 12-Station Smart Wi-Fi Sprinkler Timer.

It opens to home screen that displays the next scheduled watering or the Smart Watering status (if enabled).

Smart Watering uses local weather conditions and factors like soil, plant, and sprinkler type (which you enter for each zone) to create a custom watering cycle.

There's also a Rain Delay button you can use to delay watering for 24 or 48 hours or for any number of days.

At the bottom of the home screen are Calendar, Programs, Zone, and Settings buttons, as well as a Home button.

The Calendar button takes you to a screen where you can view watering schedules and weather conditions for the month, and the Programs button launches a screen where you can configure watering start times for each zone on specific days.

Here you can also turn Smart Watering on and off.

Tapping the Home button twice will display all zones, and tapping a zone lets you initiate manual watering for a specific period of time and view how many gallons are being used for that particular watering session.

The Zones button opens a screen with all connected zones.

Tap any zone to view flow rate information, the last and next watering cycle, soil moisture, and scheduled run times.

In Settings you can configure Wi-Fi settings, edit account information, add a device, and enable notifications that alert you when watering has finished, when a rain delay takes place, and if there's a freeze warning in the forecast.

There's also a Watering History page that displays the dates and watering times for each zone, but lacks the detailed cost reporting information that you get with the Rachio Gen 2.

As with the Smart Wi-Fi Sprinkler Timer, the Smart Hose Faucet Timer doesn't integrate with other smart home devices and it doesn't support IFTTT applets that let it interact with other IFTTT devices.

But you can control it using voice commands with an Amazon Echo or other Alexa-based device.

For example, you can tell Alexa to do things like turn the water on and off, initiate a rain delay, and run or stop a program.

Installation and Performance

Installation is a snap.

I already had an Orbit account from a previous review, but if this is your first Orbit device you'll have to download the app and create an account.

I plugged the Wi-Fi hub into an indoor outlet that was in close proximity to my backyard faucet and installed two AA batteries in the B-Hyve timer.

I then attached the device to my faucet, opened the app, tapped Devices in the settings menu, and tapped Add Device.

I chose Hose Faucet Timer and Hub from the list of devices and the Hub was immediately recognized.

I tapped Next, selected my Wi-Fi SSID, entered my network password, and entered my address information, which allows the timer to access local weather information for Smart Watering.

I then added the timer itself and was prompted to perform a flow rate test which is used to calibrate the flow sensor.

I turned on the faucet and waited 20 seconds for the test to finish, named the Zone, and setup was complete.

The B-Hyve Timer worked wonderfully.

It followed my schedule without issue and responded quickly to manual watering commands both with the app and by pressing the button on the device itself.

Push alerts arrived instantly whenever a watering cycle completed and when a rain delay took place.

Alexa voice commands to begin and end a rain delay and turn the water on and off also worked without a hitch.

Conclusions

The Orbit B-Hyve Smart Hose Faucet Timer is ideal if you don't have in-ground sprinklers and want to turn your garden hose into a smart watering system.

It's easy to install and program, and can be controlled with your phone or by using Alexa voice commands, and at around $80 it's not overly expensive (although it can get pricey if you want to add multiple timers).

For homes with in-ground sprinklers, the Rachio Smart Sprinkler Controller Generation 2 is our Editors' Choice for connected sprinkler controllers.

It's more expensive, but it offers smart watering, Alexa voice control, detailed water usage and cost reports, and support for third-party integrations.