Aiper IrriSense 2 smart irrigation system review: Smart but uneven

To use Region mode, you must first define the boundaries of the region. This is done in the app through a process similar to what you’ve encountered on some competing devices. You turn on mapping mode, and the sprinkler turns on. Then, using a simple remote control system, you can set the water pressure to the right level, targeting the edge of your garden and not the fence; Once the water is where you want it, drop a pin to mark the boundaries of the watering area. Next, rotate the nozzle on top of the sprinkler a few degrees and repeat, adjusting the strength of the flow to cover the desired area. Repeat over and over until you reach 360 degrees and drop pins to visually represent your entire garden. The company says the maximum area supported is 4,800 square feet, with a spray reach of 39 feet.

ScreenshotAiper App via Chris Noll

In the app, you can see this map of the area being generated in real time. The process is quite intuitive except for the last two points, where the Aiper system makes it difficult to complete the 360-degree circuit. If you look at the completed map in the screenshot below, you’ll see a small piece of courtyard that no amount of manipulation could get Aiper to close.

Watering operations can be started on demand or on a schedule, and interestingly, you specify not the amount of time to run but the “water consumption limit,” which is measured in inches of water you want to apply to the soil. While it is almost impossible to measure how accurate this is, qualitatively, I felt that these estimates were correct in my testing.

In Zone Mode, the IrriSense 2 delivers water by spraying a jet in one direction, rotating clockwise through 360 degrees until it circles the map you selected before returning and doing it again in a counterclockwise direction, repeating this cycle until the desired watering depth is reached.

While the IrriSense 2’s spray system is officially described as a gentle “mist,” it’s actually more of a jet, especially when it has to reach the far parts of the yard near the end of its range. This results in more water being delivered to the edges of the yard than to the central part of the designated area, but this is a common problem I’ve seen with rotary sprinklers like this. To account for this, the IrriSense 2 doesn’t just run at full speed throughout its operation. Instead, repeated cycles reduce the resulting pressure little by little, until the final cycles are little more than a drop of water arriving just a few inches from the unit. (Note that canceling the run early means that only the outer parts of the area will receive water.)

Photo: Chris Noll