The best hose timers, smart and plain

Short answer

The Orbit B-hyve XD 1-Outlet is the best hose timer for most yards: you can program it with the dial at the faucet or from your phone over Bluetooth, and add Orbit’s Wi-Fi hub later for control from anywhere. If you never want an app, Rain Bird’s HET100 is the plainest good timer we track; for a lawn and beds on one faucet, get the four-outlet XD.

Best overallOrbit B-hyve XD 1-Outlet Smart Hose Timer

$48.95at Sprinkler Warehouse · checked 2 Nov 2026

Check price at Sprinkler Warehouse (opens in a new tab)

A hose timer screws onto an outdoor faucet and turns the water on and off on a schedule, for a sprinkler, a soaker hose or one of the drip irrigation kits we recommend. Four things separate the good ones: how you control it (buttons, Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi, which for Orbit and Rachio means a hub indoors), whether it seals without dripping, how it copes as its batteries fade, and winter, since every timer here must come indoors before a freeze. See every hose timer we compare.

Our picks at a glance

1. 1
   Best overall

   Orbit B-hyve XD 1-Outlet Smart Hose Timer

   Set it at the faucet or by phone; add a hub later for Wi-Fi

   • 1-zone
   • 2-yr warranty
   • Batteries power
   $48.95at Sprinkler Warehouse · checked 2 Nov 2026

   Check price at Sprinkler Warehouse (opens in a new tab)More retailers for the Orbit B-hyve XD 1-Outlet Smart Hose Timer
2. 2
   Best budget

   Rain Bird HET100 1-Station Hose End Timer

   Simple one-outlet digital timer with a brass inlet and rain delay

   • 1-zone
   • Batteries power
   • 15 psi minimum water pressure
   $46.99at Rain Bird Store · checked 2 Nov 2026

   Check price at Rain Bird Store (opens in a new tab)
3. 3
   Best multi-outlet

   Orbit B-hyve XD 4-Outlet Smart Hose Timer

   Four outlets with their own schedules from one faucet

   • 4-zone
   • 2-yr warranty
   • Batteries power
   $75.95at Sprinkler Warehouse · checked 2 Nov 2026

   Check price at Sprinkler Warehouse (opens in a new tab)More retailers for the Orbit B-hyve XD 4-Outlet Smart Hose Timer
4. 4
   Best without Wi-Fi

   Rain Bird HET200 2-Station Hose End Timer

   Two stations, brass inlet, no app or Wi-Fi to set up

   • 2-zone
   • Batteries power
   • 15 psi minimum water pressure
   $58.99at Rain Bird Store · checked 2 Nov 2026

   Check price at Rain Bird Store (opens in a new tab)
5. 5
   Best smart

   Rachio Smart Hose Timer with Wi-Fi Hub

   Rain skip, flow alerts and up to eight valves on one Wi-Fi hub

   • 1-zone
   • 1-yr warranty
   • Batteries power
   $99.99at Rachio · checked 2 Nov 2026

   Check price at Rachio (opens in a new tab)More retailers for the Rachio Smart Hose Timer with Wi-Fi Hub

Side by side

In Canada: we can’t show a Canadian price for any of the seven. Orbit’s Canadian store charges in US dollars, as do Rachio’s and Netro’s own stores; Eve has no Canadian store; and we found no Canadian retailer listing the HET100 or HET200 by those model numbers.

Best overall

1. Orbit B-hyve XD 1-Outlet

Zones

1

Wi-Fi app

Yes

Bluetooth app

Yes

Needs a hub or bridge

Yes

Power

Batteries

Warranty

2 years

The XD doesn’t make you choose between buttons and an app: set the schedule with the dial at the faucet, or in the free B-hyve app over Bluetooth (about 150 ft of range, Orbit says). Orbit’s Gen 2 hub (part 21027, or the 24516 bundle in the US) adds control from anywhere and weather-based adjustment, and Orbit says the pair is WaterSense certified. The timer is rated for 10 to 100 psi and carries Orbit’s two-year B-hyve warranty. The trade-offs: the hub costs extra, the body is water-resistant rather than waterproof, and it comes indoors for winter. Read the full review.

Where to buy the Orbit B-hyve XD 1-Outlet Smart Hose Timer

• Orbit$59.99checked 2 Nov 2026Go to Orbit (opens in a new tab)
• Sprinkler Warehouse$48.95In stockchecked 2 Nov 2026Go to Sprinkler Warehouse (opens in a new tab)

Prices and stock change; the retailer’s page is always the final word.

Best budget

2. Rain Bird HET100

Zones

1

Wi-Fi app

No

Bluetooth app

No

Needs a hub or bridge

No

Weather-based scheduling

No

Power

Batteries

For one sprinkler, soaker hose or drip line and no app, the HET100 is the plainest good timer we track. A dial and a few buttons set chosen weekdays or a cycle from every hour to every 14 days, with up to two starts a day of up to three hours each. Water Now runs it on demand without touching the program, and Cancel Water doubles as a rain delay of up to 96 hours. The brass inlet is designed to resist cross-threading. It needs at least 15 psi, knows nothing about the weather, and its warranty is a refund promise with no term in years. Read the full review.

Where to buy the Rain Bird HET100 1-Station Hose End Timer

• Rain Bird Store$46.99In stockchecked 2 Nov 2026Go to Rain Bird Store (opens in a new tab)

Prices and stock change; the retailer’s page is always the final word.

Best multi-outlet

3. Orbit B-hyve XD 4-Outlet

Zones

4

Wi-Fi app

Yes

Bluetooth app

Yes

Needs a hub or bridge

Yes

Power

Batteries

Warranty

2 years

Four outlets, each with its own start time, run time and interval, make this the timer for a lawn sprinkler, a vegetable bed and a soaker hose on one faucet. It programs like the single-outlet XD, with a zone button to pick the outlet at the dial, and Orbit sells it boxed with the Gen 2 hub in the US as the 24639. Its pressure rating, batteries, warranty and caveats match the 1-outlet model’s, and Orbit’s guide doesn’t say whether two outlets can water at once. One of the few owners we read had an outlet fail within two years: too few reports to judge how often. Read the full review.

Where to buy the Orbit B-hyve XD 4-Outlet Smart Hose Timer

• Orbit$99.99In stockchecked 2 Nov 2026Go to Orbit (opens in a new tab)
• Sprinkler Warehouse$75.95In stockchecked 2 Nov 2026Go to Sprinkler Warehouse (opens in a new tab)

Prices and stock change; the retailer’s page is always the final word.

Best without Wi-Fi

4. Rain Bird HET200

Zones

2

Wi-Fi app

No

Bluetooth app

No

Needs a hub or bridge

No

Weather-based scheduling

No

Power

Batteries

The HET200 is the HET100 with a second outlet, and our pick for two watering areas with no app at all. Each station keeps its own schedule, so a sprinkler can water every other morning while a soaker hose runs on set weekdays; a rain delay pauses both. Rain Bird rates it for 15 to 90 psi and says it can run up to five impact sprinklers. Against the four-outlet XD you give up Bluetooth, the Wi-Fi option and two outlets, and gain a brass inlet and nothing to pair. Read the full review.

Where to buy the Rain Bird HET200 2-Station Hose End Timer

• Rain Bird Store$58.99In stockchecked 2 Nov 2026Go to Rain Bird Store (opens in a new tab)

Prices and stock change; the retailer’s page is always the final word.

Best smart

5. Rachio Smart Hose Timer

Zones

1

Wi-Fi app

Yes

Bluetooth app

No

Needs a hub or bridge

Yes

Power

Batteries

Warranty

1 year

Rachio’s kit has the best software here, with the Wi-Fi hub in the box. Rain Skip cancels runs from local weather, Detect Flow warns you when the valve opens but no water moves, and the valve stores up to 400 runs, so schedules carry on if the Wi-Fi drops. One hub runs up to eight valves, each on its own faucet, and it works with Alexa, Google Home and IFTTT. The catches: schedules are set only in the app, the hub needs 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and must sit indoors within 200 ft of the valve, and the valve’s warranty is one year. Read the full review.

What owners report: 42 of the 48 owners whose posts we read wrote on Rachio’s own community forum, a support forum where people post when something breaks. Its 2023 to 2026 threads return to three faults: water in the battery compartment corroding the contacts, valves that stayed open and flooded beds, and batteries that drained in days or weeks. Several say support replaced faulty units quickly. A forum shows what can go wrong, not how often, but it is why this timer scores below both Rain Bird models.

Where to buy the Rachio Smart Hose Timer with Wi-Fi Hub

• Rachio$99.99In stockchecked 2 Nov 2026Go to Rachio (opens in a new tab)
• Sprinkler Warehouse$125.95In stockchecked 2 Nov 2026Go to Sprinkler Warehouse (opens in a new tab)

Prices and stock change; the retailer’s page is always the final word.

Best without a hub

6. Netro Pixie 2

Zones

1

Wi-Fi app

Yes

Needs a hub or bridge

No

Weather-based scheduling

Yes

Power

Solar

Warranty

2 years

The Pixie 2 is a Wi-Fi timer with nothing else to buy or plug in: you set it up over Bluetooth, it joins your 2.4 GHz network itself, and a solar panel charges its built-in battery. Like the Rachio, it has a flow meter that logs each run and flags blocked flow, and it skips runs for the weather. Netro rates it for about 3 to 116 psi, the widest range here, and gives two years of warranty. The catch is placement: it needs good Wi-Fi at the faucet (Netro says within about 100 ft of the router) and an hour of direct sun on a sunny day. It’s new, so we found no owner reviews. Read the full review.

Where to buy the Netro Pixie 2 Smart Hose Faucet Timer

• Netro$119In stockchecked 2 Nov 2026Go to Netro (opens in a new tab)

Prices and stock change; the retailer’s page is always the final word.

Best for Apple Home

7. Eve Aqua

Zones

1

Wi-Fi app

No

Bluetooth app

Yes

Needs a hub or bridge

No

Power

Batteries

Warranty

2 years

Eve Aqua shows up in Apple Home as a sprinkler, so Siri and automations can run it, and its schedules run from the controller with no phone, hub or internet. It ranks last on hardware: a 72.5 psi maximum, the lowest here (measure your water pressure first), no built-in rain skip (the Eve app offers an Apple Shortcut instead) and no Android control. Eve’s spec gives a G 3/4 in (26.5 mm) faucet thread and says it fits almost any standard outdoor faucet, but none of Eve’s pages mentions US garden hose thread, which the Orbit, Rachio and Rain Bird timers list. Screw it on by hand and check for drips with the valve shut. Read the full review.

Where to buy the Eve Aqua Smart Water Controller (3rd generation)

• Eve$164.95checked 2 Nov 2026Go to Eve (opens in a new tab)

Prices and stock change; the retailer’s page is always the final word.

How to choose a hose timer

Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and hubs

Bluetooth works from your phone near the timer; control from away, alerts and weather skipping need Wi-Fi. Orbit and Rachio reach it through a hub plugged in indoors (Orbit’s sold separately, Rachio’s in the box), Netro joins your router itself, and Eve goes through an Apple home hub. Orbit, Rachio and Netro all ask for 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi. Rain Bird’s HET timers have no wireless link at all, which is the point.

Leaks at the faucet

Most drips start at the inlet. Check that the washer and its filter screen sit flat (Orbit suggests turning its cone-shaped washer over if it still drips), start the thread straight and tighten by hand, with no tools or PTFE tape, Rain Bird says. A standard garden hose washer replaces a worn one. On frost-free faucets with a built-in vacuum breaker, owners on Rachio’s forum report the breaker dripping while a timer holds the water on, so check with the faucet maker.

Batteries and power

Six of the seven run on two AA or AAA cells; the Netro charges a sealed battery by solar. The B-hyve XD switches itself off at roughly 20 to 30 percent charge, so it can’t stop mid-run, and needs setting back to Auto in the app after new cells go in. Rachio says a set should last a season, though owners on its forum report much shorter life on some units. Orbit suggests new cells at least yearly, Rain Bird each season.

Winter storage

None of these timers should freeze. Before the first frost, take the timer off, drain it, remove the batteries and store it warm and dry; Orbit’s warranty excludes freeze damage. A paired B-hyve keeps its programs if you set its run mode to Off first. See how to winterize a sprinkler system, drip kit and hose timer.

Backflow at the faucet

Orbit and Rachio both say their timers have no backflow preventer built in. The usual minimum is a hose bibb vacuum breaker: it screws onto the faucet and vents to the air when the supply stops, so hose water can’t be siphoned back into the house. Rules vary by town, so ask your water utility, and read whether you need a backflow preventer.

What each budget buys

• Under $60: a plain digital timer with one or two outlets, or a one-outlet Bluetooth timer you can add Wi-Fi to later.
• $60 to $130: four outlets on one faucet, or a Wi-Fi timer that comes with its hub or needs none.
• Over $130: smart-home niche models, such as a timer built for Apple Home.

How we chose these

1. Started from what decides a hose timer: control, hub, outlets, power and rated water pressure.
2. Compared the makers’ manuals, quick start guides and help pages for the seven timers we track.
3. Checked prices at Orbit, Rain Bird, Rachio, Netro, Eve and Sprinkler Warehouse, and show the date we checked.
4. Read owner reports where we could: few or none for most of these timers, and mostly Rachio’s support forum for the Rachio.

What we don’t do: fit or test timers on a faucet. Everything here comes from the makers’ documents, retailer listings and what owners report.

Our full method

Hose timer questions

Will a smart hose timer still water if the Wi-Fi drops?

The Rachio and Eve Aqua will, because they keep their schedules on the timer. Rachio’s valve stores up to 400 scheduled runs, so watering carries on through an outage, and Eve Aqua runs with no phone, hub or internet at all. You lose control from away from home until the connection returns. Netro doesn’t say what the Pixie 2 does offline, so give it a strong signal.

Can a hose timer skip watering when it rains?

Only the connected ones do it for you. Rachio’s Rain Skip, Netro’s weather-aware schedules and the B-hyve XD with Orbit’s Gen 2 hub adjust from local weather. Otherwise you pause it yourself: the Rain Bird HET timers take a rain delay of up to 96 hours from the Cancel Water button, and the XD takes one at the dial. Eve Aqua relies on an Apple Shortcut from the Eve app.

Is a smart hose timer worth it over a plain one?

Only if you’ll use what the app adds. A plain timer such as the HET100 holds two starts a day and a rain delay, plenty for a sprinkler you look at most days. A smart timer earns its place when you’re often away or the weather swings: it skips runs for rain, changes schedules from anywhere and, on the Rachio and Netro, warns you when water stops flowing. Check your Wi-Fi reaches the faucet first.