Spent $75 on a fancy 'smart' plant sensor that told me my cactus was thirsty for a month straight

I bought this little gadget that promised to text me exactly when my plants needed water. It stuck in the soil of my office cactus and just kept sending alerts every single day. I followed its advice and nearly drowned the poor thing! Turns out the sensor was faulty and reading everything as dry. My cactus is now recovering from root rot, and I'm out seventy-five bucks. Has anyone else had a tech gadget give them hilariously bad advice for a living thing?

3 comments

3 Comments

faith_thomas1mo agoMost Upvoted

My friend's automatic cat feeder dumped a week's worth of food at once because of a software bug. Her cat looked like a furry balloon and the vet bill was way more than the gadget cost. It makes you wonder if the tech people even test these things with real animals. What's the worst case of bad pet tech you've seen?

ray_miller841mo ago

After my smart feeder overfed the fish, I went back to a simple plug in timer from the hardware store. It just turns the pump on and off, no apps or sensors to mess up. The fish have been fine for years now on that dumb schedule. Sometimes the old way is the only way that works.

val_williams1mo ago

Honestly I used to want all that smart home stuff for my dog. But after hearing about @ray_miller84's fish, I get it now. My neighbor's fancy water bowl glitched and her cat went thirsty for a day.