Rainbird esp-me3 options

I bought a house a few years ago that came with the rainbird esp-me3 controller and the link wifi module. One day I was in the app store looking to update the rainbird app and saw they have a "rainbird 2.0" app, I downloaded that but was unable to use it due to only having the "link" module and not the "link 2" module... so with that being said... is it worth upgrading to the newer link 2 with the newer app? The current app is terrible, and always times out or says theres too many connections and I need to wait....

I'm open to another brand or model, I only have 5 zones. Bonus points if it integrates natively with home assistant.