Ok.. Just to followup on my own post.. I ended up buying an SL1600 controller from my local irrigation supply place for a bit over $100 and have been pleasantly suprised with this controller.. It's definately a cut or two above what the normal run-of-the-mill controllers have to offer from your local Home Depot.. This controller helped me to diagnose two open wires in my cabling and I've also found it doesn't exhibit that 2-5 second lag that cheaper controllers do when you tell them to shutoff the water -- this one is pretty quick on the draw. It seems to be well thought out from a engineering and maintenance perspective with easy plug-in modules,etc. Overall, I'm very happy with this unit so far.. I've yet to get the ET module for it that will provide live weather data so it can dyamically adjust the programming depending on season, rain, etc. That's on my list, but I've found that you can get it online for a fair amount cheaper than the local irrigation place has it for (e.g. on the order of $50-$60 cheaper)