Orbit B-hyve XD 4-Port Smart Hose Timer
Four hoses on four schedules off one spigot, so a yard with no in-ground system still gets watered on time without anybody standing there.
Spec check
| Zones | 4 outlets, each on its own program |
|---|---|
| Control | Bluetooth to the B-hyve app, about 150 ft; the buttons on the unit work with no phone at all |
| Control from anywhere | add the B-hyve Gen 2 Wi-Fi hub (21027), sold separately — plugs in indoors, 2.4 GHz only |
| Hub range | 50 to 150 ft from timer to hub, depending on how much brick is between them |
| Power | two AA alkaline — not rechargeables, the lower voltage drops the connection |
| Fittings | 3/4 in standard hose thread, swivel inlet, four male outlets |
| Pressure | 10 to 100 psi |
| Warranty | 2 years |
Most of us do not have an in-ground system. We have a spigot, a pile of hoses, and a sprinkler that gets dragged to whichever corner looks the worst. That works right up until you are out of town in July, or you forget, and two weeks of good green goes backwards.
Four hoses, four programs
You buy this one for the four outlets. Each gets its own start time, run length, and days, so the front, the side, the new sod, and the beds are not fighting over one timer. Our timers live on brass splitters at the hose bibs, three of them covering the yard, and nothing has to be unscrewed and dragged somewhere else to water a different section.
The buttons work without a phone
You can program the whole thing on the face of the unit. There is a manual run button for when you just want water on something now, and a rain delay you can set at the timer when a system is coming through. That matters in a yard: the day you need it is usually the day your phone is inside on a charger.
Add the hub and you can run it from anywhere
By itself the timer is Bluetooth, so you pair with it standing in the yard. The B-hyve Gen 2 Wi-Fi hub plugs into an outlet inside the house and puts the timer on your Wi-Fi, so the app works from the shop or a deer camp two counties over. It also unlocks WeatherSense, which delays a cycle when rain is in the forecast. We run a hub and leave that part switched off — the schedule is what we were after, not a lower water bill. Two things to know: it wants 2.4 GHz, and figure 50 to 150 feet from the spigot to the hub depending on the brick in between. One hub carries all of your timers.
The verdict
For a hose-and-sprinkler yard, this is the piece that turns watering from a chore you remember into a schedule that runs. Buy it for the four zones, and buy the hub with it if you ever leave town in July. Run alkaline batteries, and pull it off the spigot before the first hard freeze.
Skip it if
You only ever run one sprinkler in one spot. Four outlets and a splitter is hardware you will not use — a single-outlet timer does that job.