Gilmour Extra Large Coverage Sprinkler #999ZS

Discount Price: $29.65

Features:

• Extra large water jet for 50% more coverage than standard impulse heads.
• Trip lever for full or partial coverage with reversing full circle setting. Deflector dial to set distance.
• Patented impulse arm saves water by eliminating back and side splash.
• Long lasting metal head construction.
• Three prong spike with extra-wide foot step. Heavy-duty die cast zinc base construction.

Customer Reviews:

good for soft ground only [Posted on 2006-08-03]
This sprinkler works well if you can get it in the ground. There are a lot of rocks in the ground where I live. It's a pain trying to find a spot without a rock. The tip of the big spike broke when I hit a rock.

Great Product [Posted on 2007-01-11]
I bought two area sprinklers before this one that were cheaper--one on-line and one at Home Depot. They were both horrible. This product is very good--heavy and all metal, it does not wobble and has very good force. Easy to adjust the settings for distance and spray. It is worth the money.

Make sure you get the gold top (all metal) version. High quality. Works as advertised. [Posted on 2007-06-16]
I bought the Gilmour 999ZS (gold, all metal version. The green one has a plastic top part) for my large backyard; I was tired of using a smaller (side to side) 3700 sq ft. coverage Melnor metal sprinkler (I will continue to use that for my smaller front lawn, which is what I bought it for in the first place).
The smaller coverage one obviously had to be moved halfway through the cycle to cover the other half of the yard; even then it didn't quite reach everything.

I placed the Gilmour in the center of the yard and it works really well.
It feels solid and works smoothly.
I found it very easy to use: I turned the dial on top to max (all the way to the right), flipped the lever up (full circle mode) and then - this part, in my case, may require fine tuning later - I adjusted the knob on the side which controls how fine or thick the stream is).
The best part is that this knob can be adjusted whie the sprinkler is running, so you can see the effect of the fine tuning as you're doing it, instead of having to turn off the water, adjust it, turn the water back on and so on.
The three solid spikes were easy to push into the ground.
The construction quality seems to be top notch and I don't see this thing breaking anytime soon.

The only things I am looking for from others are:
1) Recommendations on the stream setting (small knob on the side that can be turned with one finger to control the thickness of the spray).
How far to the right (i.e. number of turns) should it be set (I realize this is hard to explain in writing).
I will continue to experiment, but wanted at least some general feedback on how fine or thick the stream should ideally be.
(It seems from my limited experience with this sprinkler - just started using it today - that turning the side knob to a finer setting reduces the distance, even though the top knob is supposed to control the distance of the stream. However, I need to double check that).


2) How long to run it when it is being used in full circle mode (i.e. lever flipped up)?
I was planning 2 - 3 times per week, for about one hour or 40 minutes respectively.
(I bought a Gilmour 9400 electronic timer (two actually - one is for my front yard) which I will use in conjunction with the 999ZS, so it can water my lawn before I get up for my shower (water pressure would be spread between the two otherwise).

The large yard's friend [Posted on 2007-06-27]
This is my second large area Gilmour sprinkler. The first was all plastic and, although well made, failed to stand up to rough use. This all metal version is excellent. In fact, it arrived, via UPS, is a totally crushed box yet neither of the sprinklers (still partially inside) were damaged. Major improvements include the adition of a locking mechanism for the partial circle trip lever and stainless steel arc control stops. The unit easily covers 9000 sq feet, when attached to a 3/4 inch hose.

Click here for more details and discount information...