Gilmour 819603-1001 196SPB Impulse Polymer Sled Base Medium Duty Adjustable Pattern Master Circular Sprinkler

I bought 2 of the Gilmour 196SPB Pattern Master Impulse Sprinkler on Polymer Sled Base about 2 years ago because I have very irregularly shaped lawn areas and no other sprinklers were able to be fine tuned to vary the distance of water thrown around these various areas. That meant I was wasting lots of water with the other types of units I tried. I also tried linking three small sprinklers up in a row so that I could set each one to throw the water different distances and angles, but by the time the water got to the 2nd and third units, there was limited water pressure left. So I saw this Gilmour Pattern Master, and thought I would try a couple of them. It's been two years of using them, and they have been terrific, just what I was looking for. Overall, excellent units.Setting the sweep. As other reviewers have said, setting them up takes a few minutes to get used to how much of a 360 degree angle sweep you need, but after a minute or so of experimenting, and getting yourself wet while you watch it work up close and adjust it while it is working, you can fine tune the sweep it throws to within a foot - very precise. I had something approximating an "L" shaped area to handle, and put the sprinkler in the intersection of the "L" in front of a bush, pointing out at the lawn with the hose hidden along the shrubs. Many other sprinklers on the market allow you to set a sweep, so that is no big deal. I had several of them, and they all did a good job at the variable sweep. But read on to the next step below to see what Gilmour did so well to introduce variable distance throwing...Setting the Distance for each angle. Once you get the sweep/angles it throws water at the way you want, you then adjust a variable pattern of how far it throws the water within the sweep angles you set in the earlier step. Gilmour controlled how you do this very cleverly. All you do is push up or down the plastic ring at the various angles as the sprinkler goes around its path. To learn how it works, just push up from beneath the sprinkler every 15 degrees or so pushing the ring up all the way for some angles, and half way for other angles. Again, it will take a minute for you to watch it go around its sweep and to master how to set those adjustments affect the water output with trial and error, but once you see how it works from your test, you will then quickly be able to set the distances around the sweep angles by properly pushing up from underneath in several places from underneath the ring. Depending on your water pressure (mine is on a well pump, so not very strong, maybe gets up to 40 or 50 lbs of pressure), you can fine tune the distance it throws in this step very accurately. I have some parts of the sweep where I adjusted it so it throws the water 35 feet, and other parts of the sweep where I set it to throw the water only 8-10 feet, with lots of variation you can set in between.Durability. Yes, it is made of plastic, but would have to be to allow for their little plastic distance variation ring to smoothly be adjusted up and down. I had no leaks where you connect the hose to it, so that part was solid, and I have connected and disconnected them several times each watering season. The unit is lightweight, though, and it does vibrate some when it is working, and it could actually shift its position where you originally place it, so you may want to do what I did, and stake it down. The vibration does not change the settings you made, but could literally make the entire unit move an inch or so, thus throwing off the sweep angle because the whole unit moved. I took a coat hanger, made a U-shaped stake, and staked it down in two places. That worked great and it stayed put all season, and I reused the U-shaped hooks from the coat hanger the second season. But you can figure out various ways to resolve that minor issue. I am into the third season of using them, and except for the one my lawn tractor mowing deck edge hit by accident in my first season (which did break the unit, no surprise, and I bought a replacement) they are still going strong and have not broken now that I have learned to avoid them with the tractor! My watering season is about 5 months, and at the end of the first season, I disconnected the units for the winter and store them in the garage, and marked them with permanent marker to indicate which location in my yard each is for, and I marked them with an arrow pointing to a landmark on my yard so I would know exactly where to angle it on the yard when I place it down the following year. That way, I would not have to readjust the settings again.Competition on the market. I see that another mfg, Nelson I think, makes something similar too, but the Gilmour got better and more reviews, so I went with the Gilmour and after nearly three seasons of use, have no complaints. I am considering buying 2 more for other sections of my yard based on the success of these, or to have at least one backup in case I have another tractor incident with one. I am not sure why more companies do not sell these.Summary:Pros: Reasonable price and it does exactly what it is described to do. Color blends in with grass. Saves water by your being able to fine tune sweep and distance in a variable way. Holds up well to time (my third season using them). Quick delivery from Amazon. Adjustments stay put nicely, and can be readjusted without fear of breaking those adjustments. After trying at least 7 or 8 different sprinklers I finally found the one that meets my needs and has lasted into my third season and is still going strong. I recommend the unit highly.Cons: It would be nice if Gilmour include little stakes or something to stake them down, since they do jitter a bit while being used, and over time may shift the unit's location on the lawn a bit.

This is not only the best sprinkler I've ever had, but one of the best things I've ever bought on Amazon, period. It is pure genius. After using it for a couple of weeks, here is my overall appraisal:This "pattern sprinkler" is a huge time-saver. My lawn is a normal sized suburban yard, but for some reason it used to take me forever to water it (which makes me disinclined to do so). With my succession of previous sprinklers, in order not to be watering the street, driveway, or house, I have had to move the sprinkler all over the place. Between back and front yards, I have had to move the sprinkler 11 or 12 times at minimum, and even then there would be a lot of crossover, so that certain areas got double-watered. With this device, I only move the sprinkler five times, max.PRO:- Saves time and water. Precise allotment of water from roughly 45 feet to within 5 feet in a 360 degree circle. Basically what this means is you put it down in one spot, set the two rotation controls (or just let it spin in a continuous 360 degrees), and then set the distance limiter setting which has about 30 points on the circle that can be set from 45 ft to less than 5 ft each. Then, let it run. You then can have the water going full blast 45 feet across the yard, pulling back when it goes across the front of the house, going out a little further before the driveway, a little further more at the street, pulling back at the mailbox, and then going back to 45 feet out. Just incredible.- Quick to setup for each move. Once you see how the distance limiter buttons work, you can set them in 30 seconds or less each time. The rotation limiters are simple levers you just move.- Very lightweight, but seems durable.- Low price.CON:- It's made of plastic (thus the low price) so if you slam it on hard ground or concrete it is going to break. This problem could come into play if you are moving it, and winding up a lot of hose in your arm, and then carrying it all with the sprinkler hanging out at the end. You need to be careful and not just throw it all down on the ground.But believe me, after watching this little baby run you are going to want to be careful with it anyway.I think if they made one out of aluminum or some exotic substance and charged $150 instead of $19 I would be the first one to buy one. With this plastic model, I will just make it a point to go buy a new one if ever or whenever this one breaks.

I bought my first one last summer and this year bought two more. I am on a well with about 40psi and it works awesome for the amount of coverage it gets. I like how you can change the distance by popping the red tabs up or down changing the angle of the spray making it so customizable. I used the first one I bought all last summer and so far this summer, leaving it out all of the time and so far it's held strong.

Das Teil ist toll und sehr flexibel einsetzbar. Der Regner sprüht nicht nur den üblichen Kreis, sondern kann durch zwei Stopper auf einen Beregnungssektor eingestellt werden. Außerdem kann die Wurfreichweite flexibel auf die örtlichen Verhältnisse eingestellt werden.

So at first out of the box i didn't see any set up instruction but its a sprinkler so no biggie right??? well i hooked 1 of the 2 units i purchased up and turned on the water and it basically just dripped out the front, no pressure no movement. So i tried the 2nd one I purchased with the same result. Frustrated i went to the box which says to watch videos on Gilmour website which i did.. and low and behold they both work great!! issue was operator error lol. This throw water far and can even be adjusted to mist areas and control weather water is heavy or light in different directions. i normally have and inground system but not having one at this house yet this is the next best thing i have found and i have a big yard. Would buy again!!!Update. Contacted Fiskars/ Gilmour Canada and they are replacing the entire head for sprinkler as i lost screw and was looking for a replacement and there are none on website. Great product good customer service!

I like the fact you can adjust the spray distance. Very good for odd shaped yards

We tried several sprinklers but none comes close to this one. This allows you total customization which is perfect for any space, regardless of shape. We are very pleased with this sprinkler this far.