I have a Rachio 3 and in loving it! I have a question though about the Weather Intelligence Plus feature. I’m wondering if it’s recommended that I use Weather Intelligence Plus over a PWS that’s less than a half mile from my home. I’ve tried to search the forum for an answer, but it seems like the topics are always on regard to setting up a PWS in your own yard. Since I don’t have my own PWS, I’m curious if using one within a half mile of me would provide me with the potential for more accurate weather data then Weather Intelligence Plus. Weather Intelligence Plus sounds super fancy and high tech so I’m inclined to want to use it on cool factor alone lol, but if I’m potentially better off with a local PWS I’ll switch it over.
I have a gen 3 and had it on weather intelligence plus and worked good until summer when summer storms are hit or miss in areas. It report I got rain and wouldn’t water and didn’t receive a drop at my house on multiple occasions. If you have reliable PWS near you then that’s what I’d use. I went head and bought my own and had them add it to Rachio options so I have definite location data. PWS are affordable if your looking for that
I would use the local PWS if it’s precip recording looks good. From what I understand, Rachio now uses only the precip data from the PWS, getting the rest of its weather intelligence from all the other sources. So knowing how much rain you received close to you would be a good thing.
