Gear sprinkler? All sprinklers?

[Prismseed]

Seen them in stores lately and my pulsating sprinkler is leaving a bit to be desired (granted was only 3 bucks at a dollar store)

So tell me a bit about gear sprinklers and all the others. Outside insight is awesome.

[Marcia in MT]

Although there are a lot of gear sprinklers in use around here, I think people are not considering the amount of wind we have -- I see a lot of sidewalk and street watering, and water going the opposite direction of the spray travel! Depending on your situation, you need to consider the size of the droplets in the spray -- larger droplets have a better chance of falling where you want them if it's at all windy. Plus, they don't evaporate as fast when it's hot.

I don't like oscillating sprinklers (the fan type), as they seem to go bad at the gear end too often, even the more expensive ones.

I bought some higher priced impact sprinklers and have been very happy with them. They don't show any wear at all even after 4 years of heavy use, and handle fluctuating water pressures better than the cheaper ones -- those will go around but not return with lower pressures, and will wear out/break after a couple of seasons.

So I'd recommend decent impact sprinklers. A bit pricy, but definitely worth it.