Orbit 58322 Traveling Sprinkler, Green (Traveling Sprinkler)

The media could not be loaded. To be fair I've only had this thing for about a week... but boy has it been a good week. I live in a very dry climate but I have to grow certain kinds of grasses for my tortoises. I purchased this thing because I just couldn't get to installing a sprinkler system this year. It actually does a really good job of following the hose and watering the lawn.I think there could be improvements made to the way it follows the hose, but honestly it works really well regardless. I would definitely buy again. Well worth the money. You can adjust how big of an area you want watered based on the angles of the spouts. Because I don't have a ton of water pressure, mine moves really slow. I set it so that it's watering everything far away from it so that it's not muddy by the time it gets to the watered areas in front of it. It works well for our dry climate. The body of it is made of metal and is actually really heavy and seems well made.Because our water pressure is a little low it also doesn't cover a ginormous area, but it covers enough for us. I love how it's designed to turn itself off when it goes over the ramp. So far I haven't had any mishaps where it does not turn off. I will try to update next year because most gardening equipment here in New Mexico doesn't last more than a year

This cast iron tractor was originally invented by John “Jack” Wilson in 1930 and it was called the "Automotive Traveling Sprinkler" in North Platte, Nebraska. A patent was applied for in Oct 19, 1937 and approved on March 1, 1939. Throughout 1930 to 1941, Wilson was an engineer and custodian at the senior high school and frequently used the invention to water school grounds. Wilson applied for a patent on October 19,1937 and it was approved March 1,1939. The inventor’s description : "A purpose of the invention is a sprinkler that is movable over a lawn. Due to water being forced through the sprinkler, the sprinkler is moved along the route of a hose through a motor-like interchange,".The Tractor Sprinkler was easy to set up and use. I had the Tractor Sprinkler running and functioning immediately out of the box. Very little assembly is required. One of the most striking features of this machine is that if ANY part breaks or fails, ever, you can simply replace that piece for a very little cost. I am 56 and have never had any of them fail on me, ever. They are heavy and work so incredibly well. I do recommend this for your lawn and it saves you so much money and time with anything else. It has a perfectly operation out shut off feature so you can let the Tractor run on it’s own and know for certain that when the cycle is complete, the Tractor Sprinkler and water has shutoff right where you want it to. Perfectly. You get a very nicely watered lawn to your exact desire, where you want it and also, when and where you want it to stop. No wasted water running forever, should you forget. This systems is excellent in that you do not have to worry about shutting it off after the cycle is complete. The Tractor will easy follow the exact trail of hose you lay down out for it to follow and watering all along the way. The diameter of the water or spread area is easily changed or adjusted. It is really the easiest, most reliable, accurate and precise watering systems without having a Professional install a in ground irrigation systems which could cost you a lot more than it’s worth. This Orbit Tractor will last you a lifetime. I certainly like mine.

Update 9/28/2019: giving back the star i took away. Orbit support and warranty covers this unit for 6 years and sent me a replacement drive unit. this makes it even better!Update 9/24/2019: Taking 1 star back from my first review. Update at the two year mark Sept 2019. I use the heck out of this thing and the drive mechanism has failed at the 2 year mark. Just as I aerated and overseeded the lawn ARGHHHHH!!!! Amazon wanted $48 bucks for a replacement part (Orbit has it direct for $25 with shipping). I decided to buy a whole new tractor because I need it here in 2 days more than I need the extra $30 bucks I'm spending. I saw some other reviews where the plastic parts were breaking, wasn't strong enough to pull 75' of hose, etc. I didn't experience any of that. Most of the issues I had were my error, really. Making the turns too tight is a huge mistake. You need a nice sweeping arc. Last week the tractor got caught up on a good size root in the lawn, and sat there spinning on it - I could have avoided that root. Thats probably why the drive unit failed. A couple other times I hit a low spot in the lawn and it got bogged down and sat there chugging along in one spot for a while. Again, probably contributed to early drive failure. I'm going to be more careful with the new unit and see if I can't get more than 2 years out of it.I love this thing. I just can't justify putting in an irrigation system and this thing works as planned and expected. The shut-off mechanism works like a charm. Be mindful of a couple things if you plan to purchase: 1) No tight turns! Need to be gradual sweeps. 2) Hose needs to be straight leading up to the shut-off stand. Otherwise the tractor will not line up properly and will not shut off and may even continue onward. 3) Don't try and go past 150-200' of hose. The tractor may not be able to drag all that hose around. I came out one day and the tractor got "stuck" in one place, the wheels were churning into the ground and the water was still flinging everywhere. 4) It's slow, even on the faster setting. That's not a bad thing because you want your water coverage to be good. By my watch it takes about an hour to travel 50' on fast.The arms adjust so you can water smaller strips of lawn which is another plus.I chose this model over the other one on the market because of the color. The yellow will show more dirt and debris than the green one will.