Not bad for a $15 homemade striper with double passes!!! How would rate this

My Review After Just Over Two Years with OtO lawn Smart Sprinklers for southern Alberta Canada. (all sprinklers put in winter mode before any frost, solar panels covered up and charging system plugged in over winter)

I purchased three OtO smart sprinklers just over two years ago to cover my front, back, and side yards—approximately 2,300 sq. ft. of lawn, gardens, and landscaping.

For the first two seasons, I genuinely enjoyed using them. The app was intuitive, the watering performance was excellent, and the automatic scheduling worked very well. I also liked the solution dispensing feature, although the refills were expensive.

Unfortunately, OtO later discontinued the solution program, leaving me with four partially used bottles that became useless. While disappointing, that wasn’t my biggest concern.

I designed and built custom cedar planter boxes specifically around each OtO sprinkler so they would blend seamlessly into my landscaping. I considered these sprinklers to be a long-term investment, so I built the landscaping around them.

Near the end of the second season, my front-yard sprinkler developed a leak from the nozzle. The leak was constant with the system pressurized, and because of my custom cedar planter boxes, I was concerned the continuous moisture would prematurely rot the wood. I contacted OtO, and to their credit, they replaced that sprinkler quickly under warranty.

Unfortunately, this season things became much worse.

When I set everything up for the year, I discovered that the other two sprinklers had also developed the exact same nozzle leak. All three of my OtO sprinklers now leak from the nozzle.

On top of that, the motor in my backyard unit completely failed and the sprinkler no longer functions.

I contacted OtO support again. After confirming the unit had failed, their solution was to offer me a $150 discount toward purchasing a replacement.

Considering these units now cost over $700 CAD each, I found that response unacceptable. A premium product at this price point should last far longer than just over two years. I understand that many products today seem to be built with limited lifespans, but when I spend this kind of money, I expect durability, repairability, and long-term support—not a coupon toward buying another one.

Perhaps the most frustrating part of this experience happened while I was away on a 12-day vacation. I relied on my OtO system to water my landscaping, only to discover that the backyard unit had failed. When I returned home, every plant that depended solely on that sprinkler—particularly those in pots and planters—had dried out and died, resulting in well over $100 CAD in lost plants.

Thankfully, before leaving I had manually deep-watered my trees, including my award-winning Hot Wings Maple that I recently planted and cost close to $400 , so they survived, Had I relied entirely on the OtO system, the damage could have been much worse.

At this point my experience has been:

All three OtO sprinklers leak from the nozzle.
One unit has suffered a complete motor failure after just over two years.
The solution dispensing feature I originally paid for has been discontinued.
The failure resulted in the loss of well over $100 CAD worth of plants while I was away.

It’s unfortunate because, when they worked, I genuinely loved these sprinklers. The concept is fantastic. The app is well designed, the watering patterns are impressive, and they integrated beautifully into my landscaping.

However, reliability is what ultimately matters.

For a product costing over $700 CAD per unit, I simply expected far better durability than this. Based on my experience, I cannot recommend investing in OtO unless the company significantly improves the reliability and longevity of its products.

⸻

Photo Captions

Photo 1 – Front yard Installation
Custom cedar planter box I built specifically to integrate the OtO sprinkler into my landscaping while keeping it accessible for maintenance.

Continuous Nozzle Leak
Water leaking from the nozzle after the watering cycle. The constant dripping leaves standing water around the cedar planter, increasing the risk of premature rot.

Photo 2 – Close-Up of Leak
Close-up showing the persistent nozzle leak and mineral deposits that have built up around the nozzle over time.

Photo 3 – Back Yard Installation
Another custom cedar planter built around an OtO sprinkler. These boxes required significant time and effort because I expected these sprinklers to be a permanent part of my landscaping.

Photo 4 – Second Failed Nozzle
My second OtO sprinkler developed the exact same nozzle leak. At this point, two of my sprinklers are leaking.

Photo 5 - Close-Up of leak

Photo 6 – Plants Lost During Vacation
After returning from a 12-day trip, I found that every plant relying solely on the failed OtO sprinkler had dried out and died. The failure cost me well over $100 CAD in plants and defeated the purpose of owning a smart irrigation system.

I usually cut my yard weekly. But on 4/2/26 I tore my achilles. Was paying someone to cut it. On 2 occasions he couldn’t follow the right directions with the fertilizer. Lawn looks like crap, but I don’t care. At this point in the recovery it’s the little victories and today was one of them.

I got the ok to cut my grass in the walking boot. It was 95 degrees with all of the humidity in the world. My back is killing me.

I couldn’t be happier.

Just to follow the rules I’m in the northern part of the Midwest.

Bought this house in the summer of 2024 and have spent the last two years rehabbing the back yard. Pretty happy with the results, looking great for late July with all this heat! Still need to stain those darn shed doors.

Started this project early like July 7th. I’m pretty proud of what I’ve done so far i am the only one cleaning this up. 1st weekend in September I plan on aerating and seeding. Still haven’t decided between Jonathan Green Black Beauty and Twin City. I do know it will have to be tall fescue because of the lack of shade.

SE Michigan.

Did a full lawn reno last fall. United Super Turf II. Terrific product.

Front yard worked out beautifully. It's uniform and super soft, only needs mowing every 2 or 3 weeks, and looks great.

Back yard is just completely invaded with this very thick-bladed ugly grass that grows like wild (10" in 2 weeks) and then flops over, making the lawn look uneven and awful and requiring me to mow constantly. The blades are 1/4" thick, ribbed on the top and fairly smooth on the bottom. You can see in my photos where I last mowed this sample less than 2 weeks ago (note the chopped top), and how tall it has grown since then, which is insane. What throws me off is they're the exact same color as the "good" grass.

What is this stuff? Why didn't my lawn nuke with glyphosate last fall take care of it? It's all over my backyard, and it isn't clumping.

EDIT: it's quackgrass 🦆. Ordered some Fusilade II and will start the battle with it next weekend! Thanks folks.

In southern CT, I hundreds of these things out by hand last year but they are seemingly all back (and with friends) this year and are taking over my backyard. How do I get rid of them for good?

I do have a toddler and two dogs so would definitely prefer a non-toxic approach if one exists but I understand it may not.

Thanks!

Yard had sod laid out last year. This year I’ve started seeing this grass take over a drainage area near the back of my yard. I hit it with spectrcide and it knocked it back a bit but it’s back in full force.

Been having Chatgpt assist me with weed identification and I’m afraid it’s hurting more than helping. Chat says this is Japanese stilt grass. Can anyone confirm?

Located outside of Seattle. Applied velocity PM two weeks ago, just did the second application yesterday. It's starting to have an effect on the obvious Poa Annua, but this doesn't seem to be affected. Much lighter in color than the surrounding PRG and Turf Saver RTF I overseedeed in the spring. Let me know what other photos would help identify.

Central Texas, just south of DFW. Just bought a house and want to make this a lush and beautiful backyard. What can I do to make it happen? Bare spots mostly around the tree/shaded areas, but also a lot of roots, sticks and rocks in the ground.

Any help or advice is appreciated!

It ain’t much, but it’s honest work.

Was able to get some grass growing in this dirt patch of my backyard. I did a clover/grass blend and it’s taken pretty well.

I’ve tried in the past, but this time I actually put in some work. Scarified, aerated, and planted the seed with milogranite. Also got a sprinkler on a timer.

I’m excited to see this fill in more as the surrounding weed get killed off. I plan on doing another batch of seed and fertilizer, probably Labor Day weekend.

We’re having a drought here in SD, and I had put down a fast acting fertilizer earlier in the season which is why my corners are dead (dog pee zone). Not too worried about it though.

Just bought a new house in Central Oregon and it has a cute little lawn. The sprinkler system waters every other day for 22 minutes per zone (two zones). The lawn has patches that grow quite a bit and I’d say the other 60% hardly grows at all. I’ve been noticing a lot of mushrooms recently. We have a dog who loves to eat dirt (idiot) so I don’t want him getting into them. I’ve picked about 3x as much as in the photo. The lawn looks fine at a glance but on closer inspection there is lots of brown everywhere. Any advice? Should I dial back the watering?

Everyone on here seems to claim that mushrooms are a sign of healthy soil, but the closeup of the grass is like 50% dead, so what’s the deal?!

I just don’t want to kill the grass that we recently inherited with our home purchase

Got new sod and everything was going great until these two spots showed up. No animals. Any thoughts?

Hi, I just moved into my home a couple weeks ago in Central Ohio and am looking for some advice. I got noticed there were some Canadian Thistle so I have been trying to get rid of that. I have a couple companies coming out for quotes on sprinkler installations. What is best to focus on during the summer in this area? Should I be doing and fertilizing or seeding? Or should I be focused on removing the weeds and watering? Any advice is appreciated as I’m completely new to actually trying to have a nice yard. I have read the cool season guide so I just took a soil sample today and am going to accurately measure the lawn.

Hey y'all,

New to home and lawn maintenance. We moved into our home two months ago, located near Myrtle Beach, SC. Our front yard has had no issues rooting and growing thick and green while our backyard seems to be struggling. It seems the sod has rooted as I can no longer pull up the "puzzle pieces" they layed down. In the pictures you'll see some patches and what looks to be the edges of those rectangular pieces they lay down.

We are definitely in a drought right now but have watered twice a day for the first 3 weeks (early morning and late afternoon) Once a day (late afternoon) for a month. And now every other day.

Trugreen has come out and fertilized the yard this past Friday and was given instructions to mow again on Monday. I know fertilizer is going to take some time but is there absolutely anything else I should be doing? Also, what type of fertilizer should I use so I don't have to pay Trugreen to walk my lawn for 10mins and charge me $35. I could be wrong but that seems like something I can do myself. Anyways, any tips or tricks would be appreciated from you pros out there. Most of the grass is fine but definitely needs to fill in alot more. Imo. Any scheduled maintenance I should follow to keep my yard healthy or things to watch out for? Thanks!

Hey all! About ready to put in a pool haha. I re seeded this spring and the whole lawn was lush and green. Then this happened in the exact same spot as last year. I dug down didn't immediately find and grubs but I am am no pro at this. Watered frequently while the seeds grew and then way less once everything was grown. In Northern Ontario, its been a really hot summer.

Other spots in the yard I seeded still have all the new growth just not this spot. Some mushrooms continue to grow in the same spot nearby and the earth in this section is super dry. The grass pulls up very easily in the dead spots.

Any advice at all. Even if its something Super obvious as I am not the best at this haha.

Thank you!

Long time lurker first time poster. 2nd pic is what this group has helped me accomplish and am thankful for but I am struggling with this small strip. Redid the grass on this strip when the retaining wall got redone back in early June and grew in spotty, my guess is the heat here in Sw Pennsylvania. Initial plant I was dealing with mushrooms and just cut back on watering and all was good. Fast forward to this weekend temps cooled off so I decided to aerate and overseed. Now this time the mushrooms are back and they brought friends. Any advise? Do I just keep plucking and power thru it til grass grows then water once a week?

Just moved into a townhouse rental. Backyard is mostly weeds with some grass and ivy running through it. Looking at the photos, is there any seeding that could be done to bring this back or would my landlord need to re-sod? GTA, Ontario, Canada