Sprinkl helps your lawn weather the summer affordably
Sprinkl's new device conserves your water and your paycheck.
Depending on where you live, water conservation is a major concern come summer. Everyone wants a beautiful yard and garden, but watering them can cost -- and it's not always as environmentally friendly as we hope.
But a class of gadgets that control irrigation systems has grown over the past few years, helping users water judiciously, per the weather conditions of the day. The latest device to do so is called Sprinkl Conserve, and it stands out from the pack because of its relatively low $100 price tag (around half the cost of many competitors). Right now, despite some sacrifices to its feature set, the Conserve seems like a welcome entry to the market.
The Conserve works pretty simply. You attach it to your irrigation system control panel, then connect to it via a phone app. From there, the Conserve adds a few smart features: remote control, weather tracking and responsiveness, and mobile scheduling.
That means you can control and schedule the sprinklers with your phone while away from home, and set the device to automatically stop watering if it will rain on a given day.
Sprinkl's device has three big competitors: the Rachio, the GreenIQ and the Blossom. All three of these devices cost between $180 and $250, letting Sprinkl establish a new, competitive price point. Of course, all three also include major features that the Conserve doesn't.
For instance, each of them allows users to toggle individual zones of control, whereas Sprinkl only lets users toggle the whole irrigation system on or off. Likewise, competitors work with voice assistants and smart-home integration systems like Alexa and IFTTT, whereas Sprinkl's Conserve doesn't.
It makes sense, given the features, how Sprinkl's new gadget keeps its price so much lower than competitors, and that distinction adds welcome diversity to a small market. All that remains to be seen is how well it actually works.