Gardena(31169) Mechanical Water Timer with Flow Control

Seems to work very good for a season, at least. Doesn't leak at all, and seems like it's solidly built.

I ordered two of these for my garden. One worked perfectly, one was defective -the timer would not move or tick. But both attached to the faucet easily and did not leak. After some difficulty with CS, I am being sent a replacement for the faulty one. hopefully these will last more than a year. The previous ones I had from Orbit were terrible, because they leaked a lot from the dial, so completely unfixable - but the timers worked! Assuming these last decently, and the replacement works, I would recommend these because the thread mechanisms are so smooth and well designed.

I paid. For me, not a free-product. Real usage.After only three uses, my expensive Gardena mechanical water shutoff timer stops working. Won’t shut off.My city has mandated that everyone must “immediately” reduce water usage 20%. No recommendations – ‘Just do it.’ Thanks to this ‘water saving’ timer, I waste too much water. I have been cited, must pay for excessive water use plus their mandatory administrative fees & penalty costs. This hurts.And, worst part is, thanks to this timer, they are right. I waste a lot of water.To backtrack: this timer gets lots of free-press, great reviews and expensive. What is not to love? Must save precious water for our only world to survive.For my four orange and one guava tree, I connect the timer on my newly installed low-pressure drip hose that is covered with mulch. I’m proud.Initially the mechanical timer works great. Turn on water, timer assuredly clicks down to zero, gently shuts off water. Great! I am happy!First failure. Twist the timer to 60 minutes then back to 40. Timer clicks but sounds weak. It sounds anemic. Give it a shot. I leave to go shopping. Timer counts down then sticks on the 5 minute mark. Water is still flowing. Floods my fruit trees for 2 hours.Maybe I did something wrong?Second failure. Next week, try again. Set it and I can hear the now a very weak anemic timer clicking. I go away. This time it sticks at 40. My trees are flooded for 14 hours. I hold my head down, close my eyes and do face-palm. My neighbors are happy because I am watering their property.I can manual move the dial but that is silly. Maybe it is paranoia: I have to keep one eye on it. Is it still counting down? Yes, weakly and slowly. I’m sure you understand that I don’t trust it.A final test. I run it dry. Watch it closely. Still sticks at 40. Turn on my water faucet. Of course, faucet & valve are still open so water flows freely. Sucks. Useless.I quit. Another useless product got-ya. Paying more gets the same results as the cheap ones. The cheap ones fail to work and these expensive ones do the same. Even my electronic one from another reputable company failed after one use. Says low battery every time and shutoff failures. They don’t work.I’ve had enough. Getting way to expensive to save. Back to using my cheap but reliable egg timer or phone/tablet timer.I’m usually good at keeping the original packaging but this time, because I threw away the original box, no returns. If you try it, keep it with your growing mountain of boxes.I stopped looking. Too frustrating. I hope this review helps others. Thank you for reading this.

I have used these types of timers for 30+ years (you turn the water on - they cut it off after a certain time/gallonage) - perfect for so many situations - turning the water on when you're going to work, turning the water on before dark (and you don't want to get out in the yard after that), and just plain half the work - it keeps up with the time and you don't have to.Now, why is this a better "wheel" than the others? I used to buy the $10 - $12 kind and just "understood" I would have to buy 2 new ones (1 for front and 1 for back) every year. If you tried to make them last more than a year, they leaked, and sometimes they leaked before the year was out. I have kept records since I started using this model in 2008. They last from 5 - 10 years for me, with NO leaking! It is definitely worth the difference in money to get some that you just don't have to worry with. I live in East Texas and you never know what our winter/spring (sometimes snow in April, ha!) will be, so in November I turn off the faucets, in December I cover them (with those styrofoam covers) and then when I need to start watering the lawn, I take off the covers and put on the timers (it depends on how much the Lord waters for me - smile!).

We have approximately 175 rosebushes in nine different beds that have soaker hoses in them for irrigation. Several beds are hooked together forming five separate circuits. To irrigate, a hose is connected to each individual circuit, and duration of flow is controlled by a timer at the faucet. The timers we have had experience with all had one common problem. At the end of the timing cycle, the timer would shut off with a huge hydraulic shock that could be heard throughout the house. BAM!!! That sort of hammering can't do the plumbing any good. So I did some research and found the Gardena timer reviews had no complaints of hammering at shutoff. I purchased this timer even though the cost was twice as much as that for the last timer I bought, and it was absolutely worth it. It is very accurate, easy to use, and when it shuts off, you can barely hear it. We use it a lot, so time will tell how durable it is, but I suspect that it will last a long time, since it appears to be well made.