Although its not the best brand, I have an Orbit 6 station remote control timer (They sell a 12 zone too, can't comment on that one). It's worked wonderfully in my yard for the last 2 yrs and still does. It is instant on/off, and communicates instantly with the timer/valves (only a 1/2 second delay if even that) I use it all the time to quickly flush heads for only 1-2 seconds The range used to be about 200ft line of site, which was fair, but I've boosted it to 1000+ft even not in line of site using a 10 ft piece of copper wire hanging on the ceiling spliced onto the original 6" flex antenna wire. Now, the remote works flawlessly anywhere on my 2 acre property, and I can water from down the road too!
Battery life is great, and I only use "2" 9v batteries each season. I use the remote almost every day to water the lawn when it turns a little brown from those 100*F days, and to water the gardens. Sometimes to chase the deer away from our tomatoes too!