Ecowitt Combo Pack (Gateway + Sensor) Reviews

No more poking the soil with XLUX soil moisture meter that's one of the best manual ones which doesn't have any batteries but very accurate and very reliable device. Tried using the bluemat $98 sensor but for the price I expected it to have more features unfortunately, it only shows the moisture level but pressing the button that's on the unit and has no app or Bluetooth or Wi-Fi capabilities but this Ecowitt WH51 (& WH51L) models are godsend and everyone who wants to dial in their watering habits and make it super simple and extremely accurate, then look no further and grab yourself up to eight of these sensors that would connect to one GW1100 Wi-Fi gateway that connect to Wi-Fi and to your app and you have access to view the current moisture level right on your app as well as their website and you can set up alerts to come into your phone's app and to your email whenever the soil moisture level reaches your specified level which is 25% for me but you can set it up however you like, notifies when the battery reaches your specified battery level which is for me 0.3 volts, whenever the room where this gateway is located reaches a specific temperature or humidity because it has that temperature and humidity sensor on it, whenever your sensor or gateway gets disconnected or loses internet, and the best thing about this is the sensors work on a single AA battery that lasts easily over a year. A full battery has 1.6 volts which is fully charged. I have had the sensors for 7 months and my battery level in all 12 sensors 1.5 volts which is mind-blowing that I still have so much battery power left after more than half a year. I really don't have enough words to describe how useful and accurate and easy to use this system really is. Like I said, hands down the best gadget for your moisture level needs in today's market and surprisingly very affordable. I noticed someone left a review that they don't recommend these devices because apparently he couldn't connect the hub/gateway and obviously couldn't connect the sensors to it and left 1 star and a bad review saying that the company is located in China and he couldn't get anyone on the phone to help him. I do agree that it would have been better if they had a phone number or a live chat to be able to help right away instead of back and forth emails, however, whenever I had questions I sent an email and always got a response under 24 hours and it's pretty detailed and easy to understand. On top of that folks at Build-A-Soil I'm sure would be Happy to try and guide that individual to help him connect his device if he only gave them a chance to do so. On top of that, there are a few videos through Google from other people showing how they set up their device. Plus there is an owner's manual that's also pretty easy to understand and it's a pretty simple setup. It clearly shows pictures and text on how to plug in the gateway and hold the button on the bottom until it starts blinking fast at which point you go to your Wi-Fi and choose the indicated channel and then once connected just switch back to your original Wi-Fi channel and voila, the setup is complete. It shouldn't take more than 2 minutes to connect the Wi-Fi and then 2 minutes per each sensor by inserting the battery and within 90 seconds it automatically shows up on the app and then you put it in water to make sure it reads moisture between 90 and 100% to make sure it works and once you see the moisture level go up between those numbers then the sensor is set up and move on to the next sensor repeat those same steps and then rename each sensor so you know which sensor is in which pot/bed, field location, lawn location, etc... I think Jeremy and the BaS team for introducing me to this sensor because I am not sure I would have ever found out about it if not for BuildASoil. I bought the bluemat sensor like a week before I purchased these Ecowitt sensors and after using these for one week I still had time to return the bluemat and I'm glad I did because there's just no comparison, it's like night and day. The bluemat is good when combined with their automated irrigation devices which is what it was really designed for to make sure the irrigation doesn't add too much water or too little but regardless if you're using automated irrigation system or not, you should absolutely get these Ecowitt sensors because they will make your life so much easier and instead of poking your soil with other sensors or lifting your pots everyday which is somewhat accurate but no way near accurate as the accuracy you get with these sensors, and all you do is wake up and open up the app and look at your sensors' moisture levels and immediately know what needs to be watered or soon will need to be watered and no need to waste time to check each container and you can confidently move on with your day and do the things you need to do without worrying that the soil dries out or irrigation is adding too much water, etc... Every single person I talk to who grows something regardless of what it is, I recommend these sensors to every single one of them and every single one of them who listened to me and purchased it, thanks me every time we talk 😂. Even an older 73 years old man who's NOT technology savvy was able to set up for of his devices and the gateway from the first try. He was really paranoid and was worrying that he will have a problem setting it up because he hates the phone and all those applications and computers and prefers using pen and paper lol but after setting up these units he was so happy and so grateful he listened to me and like I said every single time we speak he thanks me with a very long and genuine speech how I made his life so much better because he was constantly over watering his plans and sometimes waited too long to water and the plants would obviously start drooping and that was really frustrating him but now his life is super simple and his watering habits are spot-on and he told me he hadn't had a single drooping or wilting problem and he is able to finally keep his plants healthy from seed to harvest. This made me feel so good to be able to help a guy out who had so much trouble with watering his plants. I know this was a very long review but I did it on purpose in hopes that this review will be very helpful some and will also change their life for the better 😉👌😎🪴 Happy Growing and stay lit 🗣️💨

Running 30 gallon pots these meters take a lot of guessing out of when to water.

Was able to adjust my watering to optimum levels with this little toy highly recommend

I love these so much a made videos about them lol. I'm not sponsored in any way either. https://youtu.be/R5zAVWkZyQw?si=-bIuiHjVYxJRUCp3

This is a great product for monitoring your moisture levels in your pots outdoors or indoors. Never have to guest or pickup a pot again to see if your plants need water, they take the guess work out. I find them very helpful, my plants in 5 gal fibric pots increase water intake as the plants advance into flower, the water uptake is can be as much as a gallon of water per day in the last few weeks of flower, these are great tools to ensure your plants are receiving the H2o they need.

Great to have metrics on my soil via my phone.

Love being able to check my pot moisture levels “remotely” ! No need to unnecessarily open the tent, maintaining your ideal climate.

hands down the best purchase a new grower can make. i have four 90 gallon beds, six 15 gallon bags and i have these in all of them. i was wayyyy further off on my watering then i could have ever imagined. i even liked the product so much i made a video. explains how simple and easy they are to use. enjoy!

Definitely a must buy https://youtu.be/GVabuwSY_0E

Game changer for me!! Have 2- 4x4 beds and didn’t realize how bad I was under watering. Now I can easily keep my levels between the recommended 25-40%. . Plus it’s nice to keep up with humidity and temps on my phone. I love it the ladies love it great product!!

Perfect for maintaining the perfect moisture level in a large bed of soil

I always know what the moisture is in my living bed

I tend to over 💦 water all the time. I bought 8 sensors. So cool, I can monitor each plant. :) John

The sensor is a little short and it makes me wonder how wet the bottom of the bigger beds get. Really helpful for timing waterings and allowing dry backs. If they could double the sensor depth I think it would be even better but I love the security of knowing where that top 6” of soil is with moisture.

Homegrower with a travel addiction, I love to leave the garden on autopilot. This in combination with blusoaks and the AC infinity controller 69 and I can keep details in graph format from all over. Plus, if my bed gets over or underwatered, which happened once, I can call in a friend on a 1 time basis instead of daily checks, etc.. This gives the no-till grower a lot of flexibility, and setup is so simple! Definitely worth a try

Great product now I know exactly when to water. No complaints works as advertised a lil tricky to get set up but good product

I'm going to use 30 Gallon containers this year and these will take the guess work out of watering.

It makes watering so much easier

letting the % drop from 40% to now at 33% is cool to see and how the plant growth is acting and i can already see how i might do mini more frequent waterings now vs bigger less frequent waterings in flowering without fear of flooding my closet in my big bed of soil..

Still learning how to understand the science behind it all. Love Buildasoil's products and the "Do it yourself mentally."

I have a set of 4 moisture sensors. They were so easy to understand and get linked with my wifi and labeling each one for my different plants. Thanks to seeing Jeremy on YouTube with the 10x10 grow and how easy it seemed to stay on top of watering. My first grow in the living soil medium and I am hooked. Appreciate BAS and their supplies and equipment.

These things are awesome. I put one in my bed and some in pots. Pretty positive my pots are doing better then my last grow because the sensors. Sensor says it's low all you do is have to water. No guess work or nothing.

A big help getting the moisture right in my living soil

Honestly never really used moisture meters because they never seemed needed, my finger always worked great but this thing definitely made my life easier!! probably going to get 2 more for the other 2 20 gal pots it’s cheaper than most meters and it has a humidity/temp reader as well

I found the Ecowitt combo pack to be a great value and has certainly stepped up the game in terms of soil moisture management. I've found it to be a very good tool to hone your hand watering skills as the analytics paint a great picture for when you're trying to establish volume per frequency cycles as you work through different container volumes. I see it being equally beneficial for automated system set ups in a similar capacity. I'm hoping that I get some longevity out of the soil sensors but none the less; it's a great system and tool to have in the arsenal!

It's great to be able to check my garden from anywhere since it goes through wifi. It takes a couple hours for the sensors to acclimate to their environment but afterwards they are a great resource in the grow.

Easy to set up and use. Seems great so far.

I love that it is WiFi and not Bluetooth. Jeremy's exciting in the YouTube series had made these very easy to use. It was incredibly easy to connect everything using the app. I strongly suggest to use the app for setup. It basically makes setup automatic besides connecting to WiFi. In regards to my watering, what I discovered is I was underwatering due to over watering my first grow. I over corrected and that is bad for growth. Since using these my plant growth has exploded. What a difference actually knowing the moisture level makes.

I'll start with my setup, two 3x3 soil beds in a 4x8 tent. I placed 1 sensor in the middle of both beds. And at first I was shooting for the percent Jeremy was recommending, 25-35 percent. Here's where it got a little tricky for me. I am a chronic under waterer and my plants were showing all the signs of being underwatered, even after I had maintained the 25-35 percent for 3 to 4 days, but it was falling off quickly into the low 20s every day, that's when I realized I had to do a serious deep watering, so I proceed to do so, and they shot up to like 47 48 percent, and I thought i had Over did it, then it settled back into that 32 35 percent range BUT this time it held steady at that reading for 2 or 3 days without reupping water. So My point in this big ramble is that I believe your soil should have optimum moisture from when you first set these up, if the readings are falling off quickly for you once your water soaks in I'd water until you maintain that 32 percent ( Jeremy said in a video is shoots for 32) for an extended period of time not just overnight, of course this all depends on what stage your plants are in aswell and how quickly they're drinking. Anyways that's Mt ramble great product.

I've started using Blumat's and was wondering what my soil moisture was so I could optimize their use/setting. One of my plants was dead nuts on from the recommendations given by the blumat rep. However, my other plant was way off with a soil moisture of 60%!! After using the Ecowitt system, I've been able to see my soil moisture and tweak the settings so I'm in the optimum moisture range of 35%. I would've totally missed this without the Ecowitt system. Now I know exactly how to adjust things to have optimal soil moisture. Thanks Jeremy and the BAS crew!! You're AWESOME! Never going back to bottled nutes again!

Works perfect, gives an idea of moisture level to be able to compare !!

At last, the lazy man's way to check soil moisture! It was easy to hook up to my cell phone because my wi-fi router is 2.4 GHz capable. It will not work on 5 G folks. It was a 1 2 3 process once wi-fi was established. Ecowitt has other modules you can buy such as temp/humidity. Just get the correct frequency and you won't have issues. BTW, it works over the internet too on an Ecowitt web page.

Game changer!! I always had concerns if I was over/under watering and these take the concerns away. Know exactly what the % of moister in your soil is. I would definitely recommend

I think this is an excellent product. I am keeping my 4x4 Grassroots Horizon Soil Bed at the optimum moisture level and the plants are loving it.

I really like this product. I have a 4x4 grassroots living soil bed and i have the sensors positioned on all 4 quadrants with 4 plants. This has really made a difference in keeping the correct moisture in my bed. the best part is you can access your sensors from anywhere you have an internet connection. Another great product from BAS!! Also thank you to the viewer who recommended the product.