TEMPO Communications 521A Irrigation Sprinkler Valve Locator Tool | Irrigation Wire Tracer, Underground Wire Locator (Professional Grade)

I rarely write reviews. But after using this product, I feel obliged.TL;DR: Took me 5 minutes to locate a buried pipe, and that included installing the batteries!Now to the full review:I needed to locate a buried gas pipe on my backyard going to the pool heater. Local utilities provide free locator service for their own lines in front of the house only, so I decided to do it myself. After researching several brands, I decided to go with Tempo. Contacted their pre-sales support via email, and got a prompt reply comparing several products for the job.Got myself a Tempo 521E, and was pleasantly surprised with the quality. With the exception of the battery compartment of the receiver, the device is very well made. The bodies of receiver and transmitter are of high quality and feel sturdy.Searching with a null antenna is a breeze – it’s where the signal disappears, so you don’t have to guess if it’s a bit louder or not. My 10 yr old daughter wanted to help, so I gave her the receiver, and she easily located the buried pipe along the path in less than 10 seconds!So kudos to the guys and gals at Tempo for releasing such an excellent tool! Thank you!

Get the 2025 upgraded version. This thing is amazing; there is a learning curve to interpret the beeping, but once you get it figured out, it’s a breeze to use. I found 15 missing valves in a couple hours (40 acre property). This saved me a ton of money and time; highly recommended!

So I had my doubts about getting this unit. I had always used a similar (albeit smaller) unit that was made by one of tempos competitors, and I always heard mixed things about tempo from other irrigation contractors that use them regularly.. but this particular issue I'm having is a deal breaker.So the terminals (+, -) in the battery compartment look like someone went in there and a single loop of stripped 26awg solid core wire and called it a day. I do a lot of electrical engineering work in my free time so I figured "hey, no huge issue.... I can see that's not the best way to do that, but I'll make due, all they have to do is contact right? so maybe just wiggle them around till it powers up..."Well after about 5 minutes I get an intermittent signal. Later that day I needed to use the unit again- same thing. Keep in mind this is a job that's often done soaking wet, water getting on everything during the most inopportune times. I don't have the time nor patience to bust out a Philips and roll D batteries around like slot machines hoping the thing will work.Look I hardly ever review anything, i don't know if I've ever had this bad of an experience and shared it though. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't such an integral part of the machine's function. Worst part about all of this is there's actually a notecard tempo includes with the instructions (printed separately in the box) that basically says to "try wiggling the batteries around"So this is a known problem and they still let me spend $700 on it. amazon wont let me do a return since I was a few days late. please help me tempo communications. I mean do you guys really want me to go in here fix it myself?

Good product

I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because it DID NOT come with the batteries promised in the description, and the D-cell battery compartment makes it difficult to properly install the batteries. Once the batteries are installed, it works great. I found two valves (one had a bad solenoid) within two minutes, one of which was buried 8 inches underground and I would have never found it by probing into the ground. The instructions are simple but accurate, the unit did exactly what it was supposed to do. It’s light weight, and the ground stake and case are sturdy.

It super. works very well

Time saver

This worked great. Hooked it on to a 230 foot steel fish tape and was able to locate the missing pipe line. Saved me a lot of time and money! Also works great for sprinkler control wire.