This review is long, but it details exactly why you shouldn't buy this product until they fix the issues addressed. I really couldn't find any good, unbiased reviews on these sensors, so hopefully mine helps some people out. If you want just my generalized points, skip to the last paragraph. I was REALLY looking forward to getting these to help maintain proper watering of my bananas and potted plants. I liked the idea of a hose bib timer vs running valves/ low voltage lines, and my current timer does not sense rain so it will overwater during wet periods and will not water if it’s particularly hot and dry and it’s not scheduled to. Setup was pretty easy; the timer and the sensors connected easily and quickly to the app. Software-wise, everything seems to function properly with the exception of my #1 port is showing as my #4, my #2 as #1, and so (see screen shot). The BT range of the timer is pretty small also, maybe 30-40 ft outside and about 10-12ft through a wall. I have to be right next to the exterior wall in order to connect. It’s not surprising for a battery operated BT device, but begs the question of what is the point when I have to get so close to the timer anyway that I might as well go to the timer to make adjustments. It rained for several days before setting up, so I expected the sensors to read 80-100%, but my banana sensor read 45% and the pots read, 65% . The soil was visibly wet and a quick moisture meter test and finger probe confirmed a very high moisture level in both. The banana sensor triggered the zone controlling those drip emitters- watering soil I could already squeeze water from. Not good. I then filled a bucket with soil and saturated it until I could see water at the surface- the sensor read 40% (see attached pic). I thought maybe the reading was combined with the soil volume as well so 50% is really 100% (which would be very odd for a meter). I placed the sensor's probe in a water container- and the reading dropped down to 35% (again see pic)! Obviously not happy, I start boxing it up, but then decide to give it a week or 2 as maybe it needs a break in period. I left everything in place and set the watering function to 3 days in the future so it wouldn’t keep trying to water. I was excited again when the sensors went to 100% next day so I set them to water every morning at a moisture percentage of 60% with the goal it would only water on days the soil was dryer. The moisture levels on both probes never left 100% for several days even as my potted plant soil became obviously dry and the plants started to show stress from lack of water. I manually watered the plants and the sensor dropped from 100% to 75%. Then yesterday, we got several inches of rain and the sensor dropped again to 65%! (See attached photo). This morning it was 10% (the soil more than adequately watered) and it started watering again. So conclusion- the accuracy is garbage. The other major problem with this sensor is that it won't allow for proper watering cycles. Any plant person will tell you that for proper root development, as well as avoiding root rot or other moisture related problems, plants should only be watered when the soil dries out a bit and needs to be watered "deeply", meaning a long, slow watering to allow the water to penetrate deep into the ground. Infrequent, deep waterings force the plant's roots to dig deep into the ground for water, allowing it to better tolerate drought stress and have access to more nutrients. Also, since the soil dries out between waterings, it also prevents "wet feet", fungus, and mildew. For MOST plants, this is about 3-7 days depending on the plant itself, soil structure, sun exposure, and temperature. This is literally plant care 101 and any professional will tell you the exact, same, thing. As this sensor only allows 1 trigger moisture setting, it waters when the sensor goes below that setting until it reaches that setting. So if your sensor is set to water several times a day, like it came set up to do from the manufacturer, anytime it triggers the timer, it is only watering a few minutes and shutting off (since 65% will trigger a 70% trigger and it will only waters to 70%). This creates a frequent, shallow watering scenario which is TERRIBLE for plants. Most of this evaporates or runs off, wasting a lot of water, but mostly importantly it does not penetrate deeply. Since only the surface gets watered, it creates shallow roots and invites fungus/ mildew since the top of the soil is always wet. You can try to mitigate this by setting the watering frequency to a few days to allow the soil to dry out between waterings, but then you risk UNDERWATERING the plants during hot, dry periods and, quite frankly, defeats the entire purpose of the moisture sensor. A proper moisture sensor controlled system should have a low and high moisture trigger; allowing it to start watering at the low trigger until it stops watering at the high trigger- preventing both over and underwatering situations since the moisture range is always ideal for the plant. At the BARE MINIMUM (and how a lot of them work), it should allow for a low water setting to trigger the watering event then water for a specific length of time. This would ensure no underwatering since the trigger event would be the user's low moisture % setpoint. It would also prevent excessive overwatering since the soil would need to dry to that low moisture % before watering again (though may waste water if the time period is set TOO long). Honestly, either would be a pretty simple software update and better than the current setup. At this point the ONLY thing you gain with this moisture probe over a cheaper, frequency/duration hose bib timer is that it won't water after a recent rain (that is, if the sensors measured moisture correctly). One last thing, while this boasts a range of 328 feet, I was barely receiving a signal at 100 ft with direct line of sight in my range tests (See picture), so if you have longer distances, or anything blocking the signal, it probably won't work. This is pretty typical with Bluetooth as manufacturers quote the transmitter’s theoretical range and you’ll seldom get even close to it. This isn’t a gripe, but you should be aware before buying. So bottom line, these sensors are intuitive. I love the concept and I really wish they'd function properly so I don't need to run a proper irrigation system. But as is, the sensors are completely inaccurate, and their lack proper watering cycles is actually harmful to your plants and can create either an overwatering or underwatering scenario; completely defeating the purpose of a moisture sensor controlled system in the first place. That said, I don't recommend the Eden Moisture Sensors (or the Eden Bluetooth timer for that matter); you can do the same things with a properly setup, cheaper hose bib timer without the "extras" you can get at any big box store. If they added a second moisture setting trigger and addressed the inaccurate reading issues, I'd buy this in a heartbeat, but for now, I'm returning it and looking for a better solution. NEXT DAY UPDATE: Potted plants sensor already stopped communicating, losing another star.
