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This is my first review after hundreds of Amazon purchase over many years. Why was I so compelled to put in my two cents? In short, I read several reviews for this new product, supposedly a big innovation from earlier models, more features, technologically superior. Was excited to receive on one day overnight and set up (I have a non-stop battle with squirrels pilfering our vegetable garden). This seemed like a humane solution to the problem after reading dozens of blogs (this type of product an effective deterrent to many gardeners plagued by those pesky tomato loving rodents).
Opened the 3 units to set immediately set up my water sentries, deftly hooking up hoses and valves for full control. Followed the instructions to the letter, turned on the water and bam...chaos.
Unit #1: Turns on every 30 or 40 seconds, rapid fire (as I assume and have heard the unit operates), off after 5 seconds of bursts. Changed the sensitivity, pattern kept repeating. Stood in front of the unit, had neighbors and their pets move in front of the unit at various sensitivities...still the same period no reason bursts.
Unit #2: Turned on after dancing in front of the sensor for 30 seconds non-stop (squirrels are a little quicker so a 30 second delay...enough said). This one didn't shoot rapid short bursts. Operated more like a regular sprinkler head lazily moving left to right and back again. 5 seconds of water? No. After 5 minutes, I shut off the valve. Tried a half dozen other times...once letting it run for almost 15 minutes before shutting it down, just to see what happens.
Unit #3: Somewhere in-between #1 and #2. Turns on after long delay, short bursts like it should, but never turns off.
As an industry exec in lawn and garden manufacturing, I'm frankly shocked at the variance in performance from one end of the spectrum to another. I read a few reviews that complained of some of these issues on single units, but the sheer spectrum of inconsistent problems across 3 units blows me away. What happened to quality control before a new product release? This product should have been troubleshot to the limit given the new tech deployed. What kind of product manager and company puts a product on the market with such obvious flaws, in such a consumer-responsive social environment? I'm in awe. If this were my line, the product manager and his boss who sanctioned early release of a product fraught with problems like the 5266 would be fired in an instant. This is how companies drown loyalty that takes years to build up.
Again, my first review ever, but I was so compelled to shoot one over the bow after Havahart wasted so much of my precious time and money. My advice to anyone considering the 5266, call the company and ask if there are problems. Don't take the 5 "perfect" reviews on their website at face value. Wonder if those were even real.
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