Melnor 2-Cycle Electronic Micro Water Timer #3020

But I have two problems that I needed to solve. One was that I tended to forget I had started watering something, and the other is that after a tour of the yard, I may want to water everything at once. Both of those problems are solved with a timer.

While I haven't tried every timer, I've tried a few. There are simple count-down timers that only time how long (or how much water) you put on, but cannot be set to start later. They're cheap, and they only solve one of my problems.

This timer has some limitations on how you can set your schedules. It keeps track of how much time has passed, but it doesn't have a clock. You tell it how far in the future you want the first cycle to begin, and it works from that point. The first cycle can be set to be one-time only, or to repeat every 1, 2 or 3 days. A second cycle can be set to start after the first time the first cycle runs, again with the same options.

The first cycle cannot be set to start more than 12 hours after programming. Thus is you want the water to come on at 5am, you can't set it any earlier than 5pm.

Once you have the schedules set, there is no way to tell what the schedule is. If you are in doubt, you may need to reset it, and start over.

On the other hand, I have a different, less expensive timer that I like better. That timer only has one schedule, but has more options of how often it is repeated, as little as every couple of hours, or up to a full week. On that timer, I also set the time of day. This means I can set it up to 23 hours in advance. It also means that I don't have to count how many times I press a button to make it start at 5am. I simply choose 5am on the dial. I find that timer meets my needs better than this one.

I would submit to you that unless you have a small yard that can be considered only a single zone, you will want more than one timer. You may also not realize which features you like best until you actually try them.

If two distict watering schedules for the same zone works for you, this may be the right timer for you. On the other hand, I found a less expensive single-schedule timer that better fit my needs.

Ultimately I put this timer on the drip irrigation zone that includes my tomato and pepper garden. I anticipate freqently changing the schedule, and I will be freqently watering this plot. So it matters less that the repeat function choices are only every 1, 2 or 3 days, and I don't have to worry about resetting the clock each time I change the schedule.

I doubt that I'll be buying more of this timer, but that's not to say it's a bad timer. It's just not the right one for the way I use timers.


Terrible quality   July 9, 2002
M. Coats (Raleigh, NC USA)
16 out of 17 found this review helpful

I have a .42 acre yard and have owned 4 of these timers. All four broke within a year. I did not abuse them (brought them inside in winter, took out the batteries, etc.)

They have a new model (cylindrical shape) and 2/4 of these have broken within the first year.

Extremely frustrating waste of time. Avoid these electronic timers.


Water-timer Pleasure   October 30, 2001
2 out of 4 found this review helpful

It's a pleasure, not having to worry about watering the garden during early morning hours. I connected three timers, each feeding one hose. This allows me to set the timer to different starting times. Never overlapping the use of one with another. Therefore, always having excellent water pressure. I am happy about my purchase.


Second one that I bought   September 7, 2005
Bill Treeman (Philly suburb)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

It does exactly what I need. I position two sprinklers, the first on a mechanical timer, the second on the Melnor electronic timer. I program the Melnor timer to delay start until after the first timer will shut off. The only thing to remember is that the number of start delay button pushes is the number of hours plus one. Recently, I started using the second cycle after a delay to allow the water from the first cycle to soak in.


Works great -- buying another as a gift   September 4, 2006
Diogenes
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

Have had this unit 3 or 4 years now (actually, my wife says it may be 5 or 6 years, and she may be right). Always bring it in in the late fall and remove the batteries. It's never failed me or had a problem.