You’re out getting drinks with a friend when it starts to rain. Meanwhile, at home your sprinklers are set to turn on, despite the downpour. Should you: a) race home to turn them off and avoid wasting water and money; or b) forget about it and order another round of martinis?

Actually, we choose option c): Why not just pull out your smartphone and turn your sprinklers off from your seat at the bar?

When it comes to watering your lawn, a relatively new product is winning accolades from our clients. Called the Rachio Smart Sprinkler Controller Generation 2, the tech product allows you to monitor your sprinklers straight from your phone, enabling you to react to conditions in real time and increase water efficiency.

The company notes that the controller can be installed in under 30 minutes, with “no special tools or expertise required.” After installation, you can control watering from the Rachio app on your smartphone, or directly from the controller. You can also integrate it with platforms such as Amazon Alexa, Google assistant and others. (As in: “Alexa, water my lawn.”)

Even more impressive, you can set up the system to automatically adjust your watering schedule based on local forecasts; customize watering times by zone, taking into consideration soil density, sun exposure and other factors; shut itself off if a leak is detected; recognize “flow abnormalities” and more.

The product is made in Colorado. Better yet, Rachio claims its product has saved 27,482,871,800 gallons of water-an accomplishment everyone can appreciate.

Photo Copyright: mblach / 123RF Stock Photo