Top 8 Best Water Timers

Buying a water timer is essential if you want to make a sprinkler system without paying thousands of dollars for a specialized setup.

Best Water Timers at a Glance

It is a crucial part of the whole system. That’s why it’s vital to get the best water timer. A water timer, also known as a sprinkler timer, is an electromechanical device. You put it on a water line, and it uses a solenoid valve to either increase or decrease the water flow. There are multiple types, from a battery-operated sprinkler timer to mechanical ones. Getting the best water timer that fits your needs is important.

When you combine it with irrigation sprinklers, you can make an automated or non-automated sprinkler system. This is ideal for any garden. It can administer precisely regulated amounts of water on a regular basis. You no longer have to worry about watering your plants or your lawn – you have a water timer to do it for you.

Now, choosing a water hose timer isn’t such an easy task. It’s of a similar difficulty of working out the right time to mow the lawn. There are multiple options for timers and controllers, and they come in a variety of configurations.

Choosing one can be difficult. However, we’re here to help. We have a list of options for you. The list contains a couple of timers that we’ve found to perform admirably. Regardless of which one you choose, you will not regret it, but they aren’t all the same. They have different specifications and are made for different situations. That’s also why we put together a buyer’s guide at the end to help you with your decision. Once you’ve read through everything, you can go ahead and order your water sprinkler timer. Let’s begin.

1. Orbit Water Timer – the Ultimate Single Dial Faucet Timer

If you’re looking for an excellent hose faucet timer that does it all, look no further. There is a good reason it’s one of the best selling products, as it’s simple, it doesn’t break the bank, and it just works! The oversized dial is a great feature and only enhances the ease of use. Set things such as watering time, how long, how often it waters, and run it! You won’t be needing the Orbit water timer manual, or any water timer instructions to set it up – it’s really simple.

One of the most important components of the Orbit water timer is the flexibility of scheduling. It’s obvious that Orbit considers this a key feature as well. You can set watering intervals for any time, from 6 hours to 7 days. Talk about versatility. It doesn’t get much better. Running it also requires two AA alkaline batteries, and battery life is stellar, so you don’t have to worry about that either.

You also have a rain delay in the run function. We’ll talk about rain sensors and what they do to help a bit later, but for now, it’s good to know that there’s such functionality here. You get a choice of delaying things for 24, 48, or 72 hours, as you deem fit. And if, at any time, you’d like to interrupt the program, you can always make use of the “Manual” button.

Why Is It the Best Water Timer?

When you’re looking for a water timer, there are a few essential things you’re asking for. You want it to work well, you want it to be accurate, and you want it to last. You don’t want to bother with reprogramming it because it forgot what it should be doing. And you don’t want it not to have the time interval you need and cause you unnecessary water timer problems. If you can get everything mentioned above, plus a waterproof construction with a brass swivel, and get it for a decent amount of money, you’re winning on every field imaginable.

And, honestly, you are getting it with the Orbit timer for sprinklers. It’s a magnificent product, one that you literally buy and forget it’s there – it just gets the job done. Additional things such as rain delay and oversized features for ease of use are all just bonuses. Why are you still thinking and reconsidering? If it suits you, just buy it!

2. Melnor 4 Zone Water Timer – a Great Option if You Need More Zones

The Orbit water timer above is amazing, but you can only run a single zone with it. If you need more, the Melnor water timer might be a much better choice. It doesn’t limit you to a single zone, instead, you have four to set up to it, so let’s take a better look.

This is, universally speaking, one of the easiest operating sprinkler timers on the market nowadays. You will find many people that agree with this, as you really don’t need a lot to be able to set up and operate the Melnor 4-zone digital water timer. You can set up up to four zones, and each can water either automatically, or manually, by twisting a knob. And it’s excellent that you can program each independent zone manually. If you aren’t new to Melnor products, it also works with the AquaSentry Soil Moisture sensor. This is excellent if you want to automate things completely.

For those programming needs, you have a pretty large screen. Even though really simple, the device gives you plenty of functionality. The Melnor water sprinkler timer display will show the whole program at a glance. This is excellent compared to other products with smaller screens, where you have to scroll through pages and pages to see what you’re setting up. And it’s not just the screen – the multi-function control button is rubberized and fairly large, making it easy to operate.

The build quality of the Melnor AquaTimer is, at first glance, pretty good. The device is water sealed and rubberized for grip and durability.

3. Dig Water Timer – the Battery Life Champion

One thing that stands out with the DIG irrigation timer, it’s the battery life. If you are the kind of person that doesn’t want to change batteries all the time on their irrigation products, this is the solution. Instead of opting for smaller AA batteries, the DIG timer makes use of a single 9-volt alkaline battery. It lasts for a year.

Let’s take a look at some of the other features. The DIG sprinkler timer has a flow rate of up to 6.3 GPM. The irrigation kit is made to be connected to a faucet, or a garden hose. From that point, you can either use it with a drip irrigation or a sprinkler system.

How Does the Dig Sprinkler Timer Perform?

Performance is crucial with any product, and so is the case with the DIG. With it being very easy to adjust, you can get quite a few things. There are four start times per day, where the duration is from a minute, up to 12 hours, and 59 minutes. What this does is, it lets you use it in a wide variety of situations, as you find convenient.

4. Nelson Watering Timer With Lcd Screen – a Simple Budget Entry in the Market

With many electronics and devices around our homes, it comes a time when you simply don’t want to spend more than what’s absolutely necessary and only want the most basic functionality. If this is the case with your irrigation sprinklers, you should look at the Nelson water timer.

Sized similarly to the Orbit, our champion, the Nelson sprinkler timer comes with a couple of buttons and an LCD display. There’s a metal coupling that swivels very easily, which is pretty good. However, we’d prefer it if it was brass, for durability reasons. We haven’t had any issues with our unit, but we didn’t get to test it for too long, either.

The display doesn’t show any information. It alternates between the current time and your next scheduled program. Fortunately, setting up the Nelson timer is really easy, and you won’t really need the display for much afterward. You won’t be reaching for the water timer instructions here. It’s really intuitive.

How Does the Nelson Sprinkler Timer Fare?

This depends on you and your needs. If you’re after a simple water sprinkler timer that does the basics and doesn’t cost a lot, this one is good. It runs up to 360 minutes, which is something you won’t find with many other products, and it’s easy to set up and adjust. If you don’t need the advanced functionalities or smart features of higher-end products, this might be a great option.

5. Orbit 2 Outlet Hose Faucet Timer – the Champ’s Bigger Brother

In terms of specifications, this timer is similar to the Orbit sprinkler timer with a single outlet. The watering frequency can be set from 6 hours up to 7 days. This gives you a lot of versatility, something not many other hose timers can offer. The swivel connection lets you install it easily, and it’s as simple to set up as the single outlet one. Again, you have a watering duration from one to 240 minutes. The one, two, or three-day rain delay options are here too, and you can do manual watering without interrupting the programming.

Is It as Good as the Other Orbit Faucet Timer?

In terms of performance, ease of use, and durability, it is every bit as good. As we said earlier, if you loved the first one, but need two zones, this is absolutely the one to get. However, in terms of the price-to-performance ratio, it just doesn’t have the same value proposition. For the same amount of money, you could get a 4 zone sprinkler timer. You might not need four zones, but that’s a much more complex device, yet it costs more or less the same.

6. Gardena Water Timer – the No-display Mechanical Solution

As in any other category, there are some purists who think that they don’t need a display. Just a good old mechanical Gardena water sprinkler timer. And if you’re one of those people who don’t need a water timer electronic device, this might be great for you. However, we’d suggest that you give it a good thought before you purchase it. Let’s see why.

The Gardena water distributor timer is an extremely simple device. We couldn’t blame you for thinking this isn’t a timer or controller – after all, the Gardena timer has no display and no buttons. That means no easy way to figure out the adjustments, and no real advanced programming features. Again, this might appeal to purists that think that they don’t need a display, but it’s far from convenient.

Why Do We Say You Should Give It a Good Thought Before You Purchase?

As far as the features go, there isn’t much you can set. The watering time is between 5 minutes and two hours, and you can also set the water flow. However, that’s pretty much it. There are some garden situations where the 5 to 120 minutes limit just doesn’t cut it, making this Gardena water distributor timer very inconvenient.

7. Claber Water Timer – a Simple, Yet Fairly Advanced Timer

Claber is a fairly well-known brand in this industry. The Claber AquaUno Video 2 cycle is a good representation of what they can do with their irrigation timers, and it comes with a price that supports that fact. Claber timers often come with a premium price, so this is no surprise, but is it worth it with the Claber Aquauno? Let’s take a look and find out.

The Aquauno is an interesting device. It comes with a regular hose connector, just like you’d expect so that you can use it with your current setup. You can program it up to 7 days in advance, and as its name suggests, it supports two watering cycles per day. The watering duration can go from a single minute to 23 hours and 59 minutes. It also has programs that operate sequentially, either on any or all days of the week. This is the kind of advanced programmability that makes its price worth it.

Why Isn’t This the Best Water Timer on Our List?

Even though the Claber water timer is amazing and has a lot of features, it isn’t the best.

8. Hozelock Water Timer – Last, But Certainly Not Least

We’ll wrap up our list with the Hozelock water sprinkler timer. Hozelock is a name that pops up every once in awhile in garden water timers reviews. Fortunately, it’s not in regards to Hozelock problems, but instead to their Hozelock water systems and timers that are usually high quality and easily adjustable. This is also the case with the automatic water timer we have today, so let’s take a look.

The Hozelock water timer comes with dial and button programming. This lets you, as a user, easily set up things such as current time, watering start time, duration, and frequency. There’s an audible confirmation that the program is accepted. An interesting feature that not many others offer is the ability to re-set any element of your program without actually needing to reprogram the whole timer. You can choose between ½, ¾ and 1″ inlet sizes with the included adapters. This is also a thing you don’t see very often, and comes in handy.

However, as far as water timers for garden hoses go, the Hozelock is pricey but does offer some interesting features.

Let’s Talk a Little History

Now that you know your options let’s see where the irrigation timer originated. They first appeared in the 1960s. Back then, they were used for large-radius lawn sprinklers. At the time, they had their own electronically operated valve. This is still the case with some golf-course sprinklers. However, these timers were large and had a lot of mechanical parts. It wasn’t until the 1970s that compact sprinkler timers became common. The controller Lawn Genie introduced at that time was really small and proved popular for many years. However, it was difficult to reprogram, and unless you had each valve running for an hour, it didn’t operate valves in immediate succession.

Later on, Rain Bird introduced a timer that had an electromechanical programming interface. It proved to be pretty easy to operate, and it didn’t require time gaps to omit stations from the program sequence. This was a timer that became standard in numerous situations during the 80s, and as far as weatherproof timers and waterproof timers go, it proved itself as extremely durable. You can even find some that are still operating today. And in the late 80s, a brand known as Hydro-Rain introduced the hybrid. It had electronic programming, and a visual programming interface with a single selector dial. This turned out to be the best irrigation controller design, and you will find many drip irrigation timer models that use the hybrid system today, as it’s by far the most common one.

A Buyers’ Guide

As you saw in the list above, there are plenty of models and plenty of configurations. If you don’t know what you need, what you need it for, and what to buy, it’s easy to make a mistake. We don’t want you to do that, so we have a buyer’s guide for you. What you should know, for starters, is the difference between a timer and a controller. The timer is commonly a hose-end model. You attach it to a ¾ inch hose thread or the standard hose faucet. A controller, on the other hand, is more often the unit that connects to a valve manifold system. It can either be alternating or direct current, and it’s important that the valve and controller are matched to the same current. Let’s answer some basic questions.

What Kind of Water Source Do You Have?

If your main water line has a manifold valve system you’re working from; it’s a controller you need. The controller should be wired to one or multiple electronic valves. These valves control each zone, and as we mentioned above, it’s important that you have the correct current. An AC valve goes with an AC controller, and a DC valve goes with a DC controller, make sure you remember that. If, on the other hand, you’re working with a hose bib as a water source, you’ll need a hose-end or garden hose timer.

What Kind of Psi Are You Working With at Your Water Source?

It’s fairly common for timers and valves to require a minimum PSI amount in order to work correctly. For example, hose-end timers commonly ask for at least 7.3 PSI. However, there are some models that only require a fraction of that, and can work with PSI as low as 2.9. You could make use of those in situations where you have a low flow, such as with a gravity setup.

As far as the relationship between controllers and PSI goes, it isn’t a direct one. Controllers don’t operate on pressure, but instead, the valves they control. Therefore, a valve needs a much higher pressure to work correctly. A low-pressure valve requires a minimum of 10 PSI, while others may ask for at least 20. You might think all of this isn’t important, but if you’re looking for the best water timer, you’ll need to know your PSI if you want to get the best hose timer possible.

How Fond Are You of Programming Things?

Way before Bluetooth and Wi-Fi were introduced, this was a really big issue. However, since the models that we mentioned above don’t have neither of the aforementioned technologies, and are instead budget options, this is still a thing to discuss. With Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, all you need is your phone, tablet, or computer, and an app that’s actually pretty intuitive. But with a regular, non-smart automatic sprinkler timer, you’ll need to program it yourself. A garden water timer varies in difficulty from model to model. Depending on which one you opt for, you might have a really easy time programming it, or you might get stuck for hours until you figure out what you need and how to set it up.

Are You Irrigating One Zone, or Multiple?

If you’ve looked at multiple battery-operated sprinkler timers, you’ll find that most of them are actually meant for a single run of tubing from a single hose bib. However, this isn’t the only option. Models such as the Melnor water timer above can water four zones instead of one, with some even going up to 24 zones. If you need one for 24 zones, chances are you already know what you need and aren’t reading this guide, but the more you know, the better.

Do You Need a Rain Sensor?

A rain sensor is nothing more than an additional function that helps you save water and protects your plants. If your garden is in the open, it might be good to take a look at this functionality. If it rains, it won’t water your garden. Besides saving water, this will also protect your plants because overwatering them is just as bad as not watering them enough.

Wrapping Things Up

As you saw above, there are plenty of contenders for the title of best water timer. However, aside from our obvious top choice, the Orbit water timer, all of them are second place. If you don’t get the Orbit, choosing between the other options is merely a preference, and trying to get as much necessary functionality as possible.

You’ll want to note that ‘necessary’ part in the previous sentence. Things such as paying for the Melnor 4 zone water timer when you only have a single zone are a waste of money, which isn’t something that you really need to do. However, if you intend to introduce more zones in the future, it might be a decent investment, one that will actually save you a bit in the long run.

All things considered, it’s completely up to you. We did our best and gave you quite a bit of option, and it is on you from now on. You have the choices; you have a well-put-together buyers’ guide, all you have to do is an order! Regardless of which one you order, chances are you’ll enjoy it, and it will serve you for years to come.