Orbit Traveling Tractor Sprinkler

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.

Works great and thick metal. Easy to set the coverage and the stop works well to shut it off where ever you put it

I have a half acre to water, and no in ground sprinkler, so when I over-seeded and patched this year, I decided to get the tractor sprinkler I had often thought of getting. It works well enough, though even on high it travels slower than expected. I have not measured it's travel rate (specs are in the manual, which is a plus), though, so only docking half a star for that. When I measure it, I'll consider updating this review if it turns out the rate is actually up to spec. I dock another quarter star because the shutoff valve is inconsistent - sometimes it sticks shut, sometimes it doesn't, making for an annoying surprise when it's moved after running in an area. I find that using lightweight hose to work well, so that there's less weight to drag, but that does have potential downsides (see below). I advise paying attention to warnings in the manual. For example, don't run it over bare ground, since the high torque drive will bury the rear tires in the mud once the dragged hose gets heavy enough. Pros: + Drags 175+ feet of hose without problem. I have no doubt it'll handle the 200' that the manual quotes as a maximum + Covers an amazingly large area easily + Very durable (so far) + Very good manual (for a product these days, anyway) Cons: - Need to be very careful about hose placement. Use very gradual curves or it'll jump the hose, and also make sure to heed the manual's suggestion of a straight run before and after the shutoff ramp! - Must still keep an eye on it, since there are plenty of ways for it to get "stuck", resulting (best case) in possibly extreme over watering in the area it went off trac. Using lightweight hosing can make some of these more frequent, but I've had it happen with "old style", high quality hose, as well. Examples include: jumping the hose track, overshooting the shutoff ramp, stalling due to kink in dragged portion of hose, etc. All in all, I'm pretty darn happy with my purchase.

I figured I'd leave a review on these but I wanted to test them out first. I purchased them in 2018, a pair of them and they are built like a tank, well at least the body of it is. I laid 14 pallets of St Augustine grass and it had to be watered half inch every other day. These tractors did the work. I did buy some inline timers to put on the water hose so I could put everything in position the night before and have the timer turn it all on at about 4:00 in the morning.. I set up to where by the time I was leaving for work they were done. I recommend them. Also they're quiet when they're out there water in your yard so you don't hear anything.. like some of those sprinklers you can hear them all the way you don't really hear these. And if you're not working the yard with them they look cool just sitting somewhere in the yard. So this is the 6th or 7th year I've owned them and they're still as green as they were when I bought them no such thing of a flake of a pain off of them or any kind of signs of corrosion or stain from water or anything. Just be ready to do some heavy lifting cuz they're definitely are not lightweight, which is a good thing.

I'm glad I read many reviews of this traveling sprinkler before purchasing the Orbit 58322. It is true that you need to keep three feet of hose behind the sprinkler before you loop the hose back to the hose connection. Ours just refused to move if you had a less generous loop. It travels our 100-foot hose without a problem. I've been careful to keep curves at a radius of 10 feet, and to make sure there was three feet of straight hose before and after the shut-off ramp. I am a bit concerned that the plastic shut-off ramp that snaps over the hose will break over time as the plastic becomes more brittle from UV exposure (although I am storing the sprinkler and ramp in my garage to extend its life). I'm using 5/8-inch-daimeter hose and I think trying to snap the ramp over 3/4-inch hose would be very difficult. I have newer sod, so I also keep the traveling sprinkler centered in a row of sod, and avoid the seams as much as possible so the tires don't get caught in a rut. I like the weight of the cast-metal sprinkler because it doesn't jump off the hose, and the adjustable sprinkler wands allow me to keep the water on my property by rotating the wands to the radius that fits my yard. The spray pattern is a circle with no spray in the middle, but with the sprinkler travelling, the entire lawn is well watered by the end of its route. And the sprinkler has shut off properly each time I've used it; just make sure your hose has three feet of straight section before and after the shut-off ramp. But, given those caveats, the traveling sprinkler works great! On the down side, I originally had the sprinkler set on HI speed and then decided to try it on LOW, but there was too much standing water at the low speed. When I changed the control back to HI, the sprinkler will still only travel at LOW speed. I'm reluctant to take the cover off of the gear box for fear of voiding the warranty, so I'll try spraying some silicone lubricant in the transmission from the speed controller and decide if my sprinkler is defective. It should not have this problem after only three uses. I'll update this review sometime in the future to explain how this issue is resolved. Otherwise, this is a great solution to watering my lawn.

I first thought the tractor sprinklers were a cute gimmick. I have used a lot of different sprinklers over the years and have been disappointed with each of them--unable to get a full year out of any of them. The reviews finally convinced me to purchase an Orbit Traveling Tractor. There are numerous things to keep in mind with this type of sprinkler--some good--some items of concern. First the good. You lay your hose where you want it to go and it goes. I goes up hill, down hill and around side hills. You start it and forget it. The watering pattern is excellent. The adjustability, range, and rotational speed all seem ideal. Plus, I believe it will last for many years. Items of concern. It is slow. Do not think you will water your lawn in a morning. However, you can lay your hose where you want it to water, start it, let it go and not worry about it. Second, your hose connections need to be the standard connections. Larger connections will shut the water valve off when passing over them. Great purchase! No regrets!

SUMMARY (since this review is so long): I think this works fine if used in straight lines with a 100ft or less hose and are able to keep an eye on it while in use. I think it will last a reasonable amount of time if the sprinkler is always lifted from and placed parallel with the ground with two hands (not letting the arms hit the ground), always putting the sprinkler away after using it (not leaving it in the sun or inclement weather), and don't overtighten the compression fittings for the arms. If 100ft or more of hose is to be used, the sprinkler needs to turn during use, or you are looking for a "hands off" solution, then continue reading below. WHAT: "Orbit Tractor 58322 Traveling Sprinkler, (Pack of 1), Green" WHY: My backyard is something around 75ft by 100ft. Watering it by hand takes hours. Using a sprinkler I have to move around is prone to over/under watering and interrupts whatever I am doing to move the sprinkler. I wanted something that would provide even coverage and water distribution while also being "hands off" once set up. PROS: - Works great when used in straight lines or with hoses 100ft and under - Angle of the arms is completely adjustable to set how wide of an area to water - Two travel speeds allows for lightly watering in high speed or double the watering in low speed CONS (explained below): - Easy to "derail" and start traveling unconstrained through your yard - Arms can come out of the spinning T coupler and waste a lot of water - Sometimes doesn't stop when running over the ramp that is supposed to shut it off - While the body is cast iron, the wheels, stop valve, spinning T-coupler, and "motor assembly" are all plastic This sprinkler easily gets pulled/pushed off of the guide hose in a few situations. Turns have to be gentle and somewhat large (I found 5ft radius or larger works well enough). If a lot of hose is being dragged behind the sprinkler (75-100ft or more total in my case), it is likely that it "derails" even with big gentle turns. I can clearly see the whole sprinkler getting pulled and tilted to the side with the dragging hose. This is with my lawn cut at 2.5-3in. What I found is pulling the loop of hose that is getting dragged so that it is in front of and alongside the path will greatly decrease the likelihood of the sprinkler "derailing" as long as the length of hose it is dragging is kept at or under 50ft in total. On two occasions, I have had one of the arms pop out of the spinning T-coupler on the top of the sprinkler. That results in much less travel speed, coverage, and the sprinkler just dumping a ton of water out within a few feet of the sprinkler. Considering that the whole spinning T-coupler that holds the arms in and attaches to the body of the sprinkler is plastic, I don't dare to use tools on it to tighten the arms in more than I can do by hand. The arms are just straight metal pipes and it is a simple compression fitting that holds them in. There is nothing that holds the arms captive to the sprinkler if the compression fittings are not completely tight which is unfortune as simply adjusting the arm angle is enough to loosen the fitting where the arm could come loose during use but not enough to be apparently too loose. On two different occasions now, I have had the sprinkler not stop after reaching the stop ramp. The first time I checked on the sprinkler only to find it had traveled past the stop, derailed, and was still running. The second time I found the sprinkler to be sitting on the ramp not moving but still running with the back wheels digging up the grass and the stop valve only partially depressed resulting in the sprinkler spinning at a lower speed. This is with my lawn at 2.5-3in of height and the sprinkler on flat ground. Perhaps this has something to do with water pressure, I really can't say for sure, but I usually see 60-65psi at the wall with the sprinkler running (though 100-105psi when shut off). As for all of the plastic parts, I am certain they will fail long before the cast iron body does. If I don't pick the whole sprinkler up with two hands, just lifting it by the front handle often results in the arms hitting the ground thus putting undue stress on the plastic spinning T-coupler. The hose attachment, while brass, is connected to the plastic drive mechanism so I suspect that any sudden yank on the hose to either side of the sprinkler could result in that snapping the plastic housing. The fact that an entire drive mechanism assembly with wheels is readily available for purchase is not a good sign to me in terms of long-term durability. POTENTIAL IMPROVEMENTS: I think there are numerous improvements that could be made to turn this 3-star product into a 5-star one. Firstly, change the front wheel design so that the wheel sits behind the pivot point (like a shopping cart wheel) instead of being directly below the pivot. That will improve its ability to follow the hose without getting pushed over it by the back wheels. Second, widen the track width of the rear wheels. With the wheels close together, simply dragging the hose behind the sprinkler after a turn causes the whole unit to tilt towards the side with the dragging hose. By widening the back track width, side-to-side stability would be improved and also help keep the front wheel from "derailing". Third, provide some means of holding the arms captive to the spinning T-coupler so that they cannot pop out of the sprinkler during use even if the compression fitting is not completely tight. Fourth, improve the stop ramp and stop valve design for more consistent and reliable stopping. OVERALL: As seen in the summary at the top, I think this sprinkler is going to work fine and last a good amount of time when treated well and used in constrained situations. Once you wish to go beyond 100ft of hose or add turns, the idea of a "hands off" solution really goes out the window which is unfortunate since that is exactly my use case and why I got this sprinkler to begin with. I plan to do several modifications and improvements to the sprinkler and will report back on my findings.