Pope Snap Shot Timer

DO NOT BUY - fails, wastes water – Purchased about 3 years ago. Failures (resets) started about 2 years ago. Sometimes doe snot turn on, sometimes does not turn off; both unnacceptable. Mounted inside a protective box away from the weather. Time for the bin. Next unit WONT be a POPE. Show details

Not Happy Jan – I purchased 5 of these from Bunnings, 3 in Aug 19, 2 in Dec 19, almost straight away the manual option started playing up, now it’s stopped on all 5, it’s not the batteries it’s a design flaw, there are many negative reviews on these when you do your homework, off to find a more reliable option even at much greater cost, really disappointing. Show details

Simply not worth the money – I purchased the timer in Jan 2020. It worked for a short time, and then kept on switching itself OFF. unfortunately I thought it might be the batteries but this was no the case. So waste of money there. No amount of reprogramming helped. I guess I should have read the reviews. Not worth buying. Show details

Poor product – Bought 2 of these timers (silly me should have read reviews first)both timers do not start manually when wanted .Reset device and still nothing. If I stand there and push start stop for 10 minutes it may just kick in.Worked fine for the first few months and started the problem and gradually got worse. Disconnected the back one and will do same to… Read more

front. Waste of money and like others I have no receipt. I have changed batteries several times and reset quite a few times. Not a bad batch but more like a bad product. "Once bitten twice shy"Will be looking for other brand timers!!!

Good and Bad – Have about 6 of these now but have had to return 4 for replacement due to going haywire. For some reason or another those duds were all green (with one mauve). I have had one red one operating now for over 2 years without a hitch but the several green ones failed between 1st start and a week or so. They are such a great idea and very useful in… Read more

application also very economical on batteries but I am frightened to buy another green one. UPDATE March 2021 - Had a gutful of this item... have to replace 10 of them now as they are all breaking down.... very expensive lesson.

Totally Unreliable, Keeps Resetting Itself – I have two of these units bought about a year apart, both utterly unreliable though one is a little better than the other. Same resetting issue as other users. One resets on a daily basis while the other gets maybe a week or so. I came back from overseas last January to find all my plants dead. DO NOT BUY ONE OF THESE. Show details

avoid – had 2 units, both keep on resetting after about a year like other reviewers unit. almost killed my hedges in summer, i open one unit up out of curiosity expecting water ingress and corrosion but saw nothing, the PCB look brand new, so it's just poor engineering. avoid Show details

Time these were withdrawn from sale! – Such an easy timer to program, but so unreliable. I persevered with these timers because I thought I’d purchased from a bad batch! Twice they didn’t shut off and cost me extra on my water bill. I got sick of returning them to Bunnings! I wrote an email to Pope, inquiring about the faulty timers and received no response. Don’t waste your money! Show details

Very disappointed – After having install brand new batteries, and completed the setup, I find that despite the unit being set to start watering at 7pm for one hour, the unit is allowing water to flow all the time. I may as well have left the hose connected to the tap. Show details

Awful Product – I purchased one from Bunnings yesterday. It did not work. Display indicates all is working. However no water. Took it back today for replacement. Bunnings provided a new one without any fuss. The new one is exactly the same. Indicates all ok. No water flowing. It will go back tomorrow. I will get a different brand device. Dreadful product. No stars. Show details

Product Failed - Keeps Resetting itself – Like a whole lot of other unhappy customers, my Pope Snap Shot Timer has developed a resetting fault. The problem started a few months ago and was intermittent. I replaced the batteries and it has failed completely to stay working now, and it is a few weeks over the 12 months warranty. I am very disappointed with Pope. I would like a refund, but… Read more

I doubt Pope will be obliging as the warranty is expired. I am as disappointed with this product as with anything I have ever bought in my life.

So very very disappointed in this product – After buying the timer at the start of October 2018 based on how many Pope products I have in my garden (wands, hose sprays, tap fittings etc) that I hadnt had issues with, I am so very very disappointed to have wasted money on it. It resets itself. I thought maybe it was me but I followed the instructions and checked the battery (battery says… Read more

80%) but it keeps resetting (flashes, displays every icon on screen and then resets) having trusted this product I now have a semi-dead garden after being away and am back to hand watering. I wont be buying Pope products - time to move product loyalty to another brand after reading how many other people have had the same or similar issues. Products such as tap timers aren't necessarily cheap and are a little bit of a luxury product in the garden - when it fails it costs a heap of money and heartache.

Faulty Product that is not worth the angst – I have now owned 5 Pope snapshot timers and one multi-timer so can can speak with a high degree of experience. First up, each one functioned well for a few weeks to a couple of months. After that the problems started with the timer system randomly switching itself off and requiring resetting. In this state the water system didn't operate at all.… Read more

This would possibly be OK if I was around all the time. However, I am frequently away for extended periods and timers that exhibit such random behaviour can be fatal for the garden. Several times I have lost sections of my garden because of this. I have used other timers in the past and none have consistently failed like these products. You might ask then why I have tried 6 timers. Well the fact is I initially purchased 3, and when these failed I took them back for replacement - which thankfully the retailer did without charge. Pope - this is not a one off. I have several gardening friends who have had similar experiences. This is a systemic hardware issue that you need to resolve with your supplier. In the meantime I can only conclude by saying that these products are not fit for purpose (as per the definition of the relevant Act).

Useless product – Fell apart when I tried to connect it to the tap. Turns out that none of the four screws that hold the case together were inserted. Just empty holes. Took it back for refund and will have to find alternative product. What a pity! It seemed to be a very easy to use timer. Show details

Display Flashing Often Even With New Batteries – I've had mine for a couple of years now and I've had the same problem ever since I bought it. Initially I used rechargeable batteries and the flashing started, even though the device said battery was 100%. Then I read that these batteries were not recommended, so I thought that was the problem. I popped in Energizer batteries and they worked okay… Read more

for a while, for a few months, and then it started flashing even though the battery read 100%. Thinking that 3 months was a fair run I replaced the batteries. Thereon after the display has randomly been flashing and the timer needing to be reset. Recently I had only just replaced the batteries and only a week later it started flashing. Whaaat!! I think it gets worse in summer, or rather its more of a problem in summer, possibly due to the heat. I'd say there are a couple of factors behind the timer issues. One being a device problem, considering that the battery always reads 100%. It has never ever shown anything below 100%. And the other is the heat/weather factor. Extreme heat (and cold) does reduce the life span of batteries and considering that the Pope timer (and batteries) are outdoors in direct sunlight and heat I can only imagine this may be affecting the batteries and causing them to fail and thus triggering the timer to go into reset mode.

The timer is good when it works. It's very easy to set up. Very user friendly options too. It was easy to connect up to my retic too. The orange coloured timer matches the other Pope hose attachments I have so it all looks great together. Thus I've given it a rating of 2 stars. If it weren't for the problems with battery and resetting all the time I would highly recommend it. Considering that it costs $60 I can only advise to save your money and buy something else. It's too unreliable, especially if you're traveling and relying on the timer to do your watering for you while you're away.

Useless support, not working after 1 year – The timer stopped working after replaced with new batteries, keep showing 0%. The support just told me to buy a new one if it is over 1 year old. This product is a scammed like what others said. Please recall this product as it does not worth the money you paid for.  Show details

Waste of money – I bought this due to me going away. I thought it would do the job of watering the garden. I gave it a trail run once it worked perfectly. The next time it was due to turn on nothing happened. I checked tap was on it showed on the screen it was on but no water. I believe the solenoid is faulty. Took it back to Bunnings for a full refund. Totally a waste of money.  Show details

POS. Why can I not select ZERO STARS? – Don't buy this product! Considering the price tag, you would expect it to be reliable for many years, however it has stopped working. It stopped working while I was away for Christmas and now my home brew hops are dead for this season. Taking it back to Bunnings right now.  Show details

Good Design - Faulty Quality – Timer is well designed and easy to use - but it randomly stops working every few weeks. This happens when we are away some times and everything pretty much dies, which is really disappointing. I have to keep checking how the plants are looking - any signs of drooping and the timer has usually stopped working again. Screen flashes. Just press the select button to reset and it works again - but very annoying to have to keep checking.  Show details

Pope snap shot timer – Crap timer works for a tad then just stops and the screen starts to flash. Replace batteries and the item works until the end of cycle and the same problem returns. Have tried different batteries but the unit still fails to work on continuously. With so many people having the same issue pope should do a recall.  Show details

Disappointed – Bought 2 to replace 2 Holman timers which had failed. Both worked fine, so I bought 2 more. After 2 months 1 kept reseting (batteries 100%) every time it reached "Water Start". Replaced it (thanks Bunnings). 2 months later another failed with the same fault. Replaced it. Now a 3rd failed, with a blank screen, would not reset, no buttons working.… Read more

Removing and replacing battery compartment, screen lights up with all lights, then again a blank screen, same with new batteries. I travel a lot, and rely on the watering system to keep my garden alive. Will have to find a more reliable timer. Any recommendations?

With all these bad reviews, what is Pope doing about it?

Continually Disappointed – This product seemed to be the answer to my garden watering prayers however, over the last 3 years I have returned the product at least 7 times due to varying faults. I discovered I could live with the described by others failure of the timer flashing and then not working by checking every now and again. However, when the display shows that it is… Read more

watering and no water is coming out, that's when I head to Bunnings to exchange yet again. I do this in the hope that one day this normally reliable Australian company may fix the issues and this wonderfully designed product will work for longer than 6 months. Thanks Bunnings for making the swap hassle free.

Unreliable product – This product does not work reliably . I have about 6 of them and all have failed . Initially will run OK then After a period of time The display will flash and timing function will stop . You continentally have to check if they are operating. Will start operating if you reprogram. The battery in these units was all OK

Poor product – Had three of these timers in 9 months. ALL failed. Very unreliable - after a short time they all failed to manually water, even after resetting timer. All faded at various times to water on auto control.

Absolute Rubbish – This timers look nice and are marketed as easy to use, however they are utterly unreliable and keep flashing on and off. Typical Chinese rubbish packaged and marketed by a well respected company who should be ashamed of themselves

A dud device – Same problem as Max, R and franky. Great design, easy to set, clear display, *but* after a few months both devices I bought started to reset themselves. You'd wonder why the watering hadn't happened then see the display is just flashing as though someone had reset it. Batteries new and showing at 100%. You can do a hard reset and it starts again but after a few days it will have the same problem. Total waste of money.

Have over a dozen of them; one failed after the other... only 3 still work after a good year – In short: I agree with what others have said: flawed, unreliable; stay away. I would have given it zero stars; however, this is not possible as at least one star has to be given. Initially I had a bunch of Orbit tap timers; they failed one after the other. The irrigation shop then recommended the Pope Snapshot Timer. The 8 Orbits got replaced… Read more

with the Pope Snapshot timers. I ended up getting 12 of the Snapshot timers. Most of these timers made it past the first six months, but one after the other started failing. Some got replaced under warranty. I bought a few spares, to replace whatever failed.

I am utterly disappointed, in particular due to the zero care factor the company has shown by not responding (not even acknowledging) the detailed report of issues I provided them with.

How do these timers fail?

The most prominent problem is the display starts blinking (after it must have internally reset for unknown reasons), despite the batteries being functional, new and near fully charged; the battery status shows 100%; or the batteries have been recently replace with new ones.

We measure the voltage of the batteries we take out and the ones we put in; hence, can tell, whether the battery would be at fault or not.

The timer can be reset, as in going through the circular menu, to set time, etc. just to fail again a few days later. Replacing the batteries does not fix the problem. The timers, once they encounter this problem, will not get back to normal, and are considered 'non-functional', dead, useless.

Another issue is display going blank. Here the display simply doe snot show anything. It may still function (watering) but nothing can be seen on the display. Some can be brought back by squeezing them.

Occasionally a timer will pop out its battery compartment, still having contact and functioning, but not water sealed any more. Pushing it back solves the problem.

Batteries usually last for 12 to 18 months -- which is good. But quality batteries need to be used; starting with a no-load voltage of 1.6V. The batteries no longer function at around 1.47V. Still good for a flashlight, but not these timers.

I reckon we had 20 of these timers, and given the failure rate across the sample, these seems to be a fundamental design flaw with these SnapShot timers; (my guess) most likely related to temperature in general; not so much sun exposure. We have units in shaded areas, partially shaded and mostly exposed to the sun. The failures occur at any location / condition.

We have to control the timers multiple times per week, to make sure plants are watered appropriately. Not something that should be required when automating this task in the first place.

i would neither recommend this product to a friend, nor to an enemy.

Not Reliable - Expensive Lesson after killing my "Green Wall" – I have 2 of these timers and both keep resetting themselves and need to be hard reset and reprogrammed periodically. I thought I had fixed the issue by taping over the battery cover, but while we were away for four weeks both failed and my "green wall" is now a "brown wall", and I've lost many hundreds of dollars worth of plants which have taken years to grow. This product looks good but is not reliable at all.

Flawed model – I bought this product twice because I like the design so much. The first product failed straight away - it kept resetting itself and needed reprogramming constantly. I exchanged it for a new one which lasted a little over a year or so before doing exactly the same. Nothing to do with the batteries - they are fully charged. I've bought a different… Read more

product now but very disappointed as it's such an easy to use product. I've seen another similar review about this model but posted under a different model.