New Premium Service
I am OUTRAGED to know that I can no longer access my controller unless I am connected to my local network. Your new policy is definitely directed at enhancing your profits at the cost of customer satisfaction. All of the enhancements you indicate as part of this plan are basically unnecessary. I plan on filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and the California Attorney General’s Office. This is price gouging and not supporting a product as it was originally intended. Expect a negative review on Amazon and any other on-line web site where your product is sold. I will be replacing my controller ASAP!
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Doesn't look great. At https://www.rainmachine.com/products/
Mini-8 is listed as End of Life
Pro is listed as Out of stock
Touch HD-12 is listed as Out of stock
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@Mjb I have no doubts!
If you have made such a move it, is because you are desperate ...However this is not fair, you cannot change the "rules" and share them as a "new feature" (wtf!)
I would have accepted it if they said "we have a problem, please if you can help us". But not like that, because you get the opposite.
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Back when I bought mine in 2017, I did a lot of research and the Mini-8 was the best thing on the market for my situation at that time. A casual look at rough equivalents this morning leads me to think that would still be true today. While $30 a year for a service that was sold as integral (& hence implied to be lifetime) for the product when bought is very annoying, I am more concerned about whether the service will continue for long even if I shell out for it. I don't use the remote access very often, maybe a few times a year just checking on whether everything is working. And I've caught my RainMachine crashed more than once over the years. Plus for network security reasons, I put all of the IoT junk like this on a separate VLAN from my computers, which means it's a pain to directly access via its web interface even when I am at home. So it is valuable/convenient to me to be able to access it via a Cloud Server on a phone or PC when I do want to access it (or have the Cloud Server report it offline for hours/days when it's crashed.)
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@Mjb, same for me...
I access remotely only a few times a year, so to increase security, from now on I would say that I will have remote access via VPN (only 1 click from ios)Add one thing: this move makes no sense, who needs remote access when so many people work from home now.
I think that honesty, even in critical situations, would have paid off with the trustworthiness of the customers. -
I am outraged as well. I had bought 2, one at my house and my moms years ago. I will be replacing my controllers no doubt. RainMachine is going to squeeze $ out of their customers!!! Also I live in NJ. So I am going to be paying for this service for 9 months out of the year when my system is OFF!!!!!! Ridiculous!!!!
I am paying $29 for a year! I love how RainMachine says that’s ‘it’s only $2.41/month! It’s off for 9 months out of the year.
Let’s pay for something if I’m not using it right? In todays world!! Throwing my $ out the window.
Oh wait. Let me sign into my controller in December to see my next runtime. Hahaha. What a joke. -
So, you all thought you could get a feature for free for life?
I bought this because of its cloud independency and I am not stuck with a service that run through Amazon or Google or Microsoft servers.
I am using my rainmachine when I am away directly. Look into their app and you will find how to do that.
They even released a fix for this two day ago :))
Stop it, and look for safe alternative. It is there.
But yes, commodity comes with a price and if you take the free commodity and you dare to ask for a price, you are bad.
Woke generation al over the pace. No offense! -
This action from RainMachine is really disappointing. I purchased my unit due to the offered features at the time, and now they are deciding to remove some of those features unless I pay them a "premium" yearly fee. That's outrageous. It is not only about remote access but also about different firmware updates, mobile notifications, and smart integrations. This is a simple bait and switch; at the bare minimum, the current owners should be grandfathered in, but let's be honest, why would anyone buy a RainMachine if they have to pay a yearly fee when there are other options available? I believe this move is meant to get money from current owners who are already committed to the product.
I'll rather throw my unit in the garbage and purchase a different controller than pay a yearly fee for the features that were part of the product I bought.
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I would be devil's advocate, because why not, I don't have your issues with my device.
Simple, I do not use cloud, like I said.
But you Luis for how long do you have your rm device? All this time have you ever heard about the possibility of your device could be compromised because it is connected to a third party server, yes, for you to get your notifications and iot stuff?
Smart integrations? There are plenty smart integrations that are not cloud based. Just search for it.
And if I remember when I bought it, nobody told me that cloud remote access will be forever free. Heck, I can tell that it is not, myself. It can't be since it is running though bigger players, but don't mind them, you can access it directly for free.
Now... go to rachio :)) they are 100% working based on cloud. -
@Mark, it looks like this service may be required for automatic schedule adjustments based on weather. Do you currently use that?
Take a look at the Premium Service page. Based on this info, we will be back to manually changing schedules or just watering the same amount all the time.
Hopefully they clarify this further.
Here is the quote from their premium page as of June 3rd:
https://www.rainmachine.com/premium/
"Schedules automatically adapt to weather changes so you get better results and save water and money."
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I'm not sure what you mean Mark. If they are choosing what services or features to charge for they can restrict it easily through new code.
Just because it doesn't use the cloud doesn't mean they may not want to make it a "premium" feature.
And that is also why I stated, "Hopefully they clarify this further"
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Just to follow up, they will also be restricting "Advanced Watering Reports" to the Premium Service.
Is that a new feature or the existing watering history enhancement they added. Do those require the cloud? I don't know, but the point is they can easily pick and choose what features they charge for.
Again, I hope they clarify.
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@mark when I looked for an alternative to rachio or greenIQ (bought from stihl) rm said "this is not cloud based, you can download the source code and use it independently from us" ..
So if they change this "rule" surely someone will offer a modified firmwareOne more thing: remember the words of: www - rainmachine - com/blog/blog-2013-archive.html#Cloud-independent-by-design
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Does anybody know if this is per account?. Because I have two sprinklers timers at two different locations. Would each controller have to pay the $29 per year or is it per account register to that email?. A lot of questions.
Again this is very frustrating for someone that only uses a controller three months out of the year the rest of the nine months my controllers are off for the season. -
@Charles, is per account. You could have old devices, but if they were associated with the email account, they are covered.
Check the FAQ #6 from premium page here: https://www.rainmachine.com/premium/
@Irrigatore - yes, that's from 2013 and there are people using 2014 devices since then... oh man
@BB - I think Advanced mean Advanced, right? -
If you're like me and never used the remote connect function, then this basically means nothing *except* apparently people like me will no longer get feature firmware updates. I use mine with Home Assistant, this won't change. Weather will still download, schedules will still run, and adjustments will still be calculated.
There's another thread where it was said that new hardware is delayed to 2023 due to component sourcing issues, so this feels like a last ditch effort to keep the lights on. Through all the ragequits here I haven't seen anyone actually cite anywhere that promised free remote access for lifetime.
If you want to get rid of your RainMachine then sell it to someone who does.
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@mark: "yes, that's from 2013 and there are people using 2014 devices since then... oh man"
what does it mean? you can't be a car manufacturer and decide in 2022 to charge extra for wheels sold in 2014!
Churn out new products, new software with new options (paid if you want it) etc etc, but don't charge further for things you already sold as such, and as far as I'm concerned, paid more than other brands at the moment
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The amount of time we have owned the device is irrelevant, and just because some people don’t use some features like cloud-based access doesn’t mean everyone else should be ok with the change. Also, people shouldn’t disparage others for having different privacy concerns.
I researched the device and purchased it based on a set of features, and Rainmachine is deciding to charge me for some of those features now. In my opinion, that’s not the right way to do business. If the business model is not profitable anymore, then create new features or offer new services instead of taking away some of the features we have used for years and start charging for them.
Hopefully, the company reconsiders the change or at the very least clarifies the questions raised in this post before the official launch of the premium service.
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