As Racchio dont supply to the UK, and RainMachine has been sold out for months, I am looking at a replacement for my Hunter X-Core 4 zone controller. I need 8+ zones, smart weather integration and ideally Homekit integration, (could be through Indigo HKB) or Alexa at the least to turn on manual zones.
Along with possibly using the 8 zone ethernet relay board, I have found this. https://www.netrohome.com/.
Does most of what I want and its much cheaper than other alternatives (big plus), but its cloud based that is not ideal (especially as a relatively new company - although based on their having to upgrade server to support new customers, hopefully growing well) and it doesnt accept wired sensors. It does however have some interesting wireless sensors that can measure drainage of soil and more accurately determine watering schedules.
I was wondering if anyone had any experience of this (happy to use the referral scheme if so) and also worth pointing out they do a subscription service with free hardware for US, which is interesting.