Nelson Rain Train 13,500 Square Feet Cast Iron Outdoor Lawn Traveling Water Sprinkler for Yard, and Garden, with Auto Shut Off, Yellow

I now own two of these. Let me tell you a little bit about my sprinkler journey over the last few years. My yard is fairly small. I figured it would be fairly easy to grow and maintain a lawn in such a small area. I had no idea how difficult it would be to water. After trying just about every sprinkler design on the market with less-than-satisfactory results, I was still hesitant to buy this because what I was expecting out of it was somewhat ridiculous for something so heavy duty. My backyard is the larger area, so I bought one for the backyard first. My backyard area to be watered is about 40x15.. It's not a huge area, but it does have a slight L to it, which means that it was tough to water. Not so for the Nelson Rain Train. It takes that corner like a pro, and it delivers water into all of the nooks and crannies better than any other sprinkler in existance. So I decided to try it in the front yard. Now let me explain how ridiculous this is. My front yard is about 8X20. It has walls on two sides that I don't like spraying excess water on due to the water stains it leaves behind, and that corner is a beast to get water to. Rain Train to the rescue! Seriously, in order to adequately water my front yard, this thing has to ravel about six feet. I actually let it run a bit more than that to make sure I get that corner good and wet. I still spray a lot of water on the walls, but it's down about a foot above ground level, so it doesn't get on any of the windows or fixtures. The major advantage of this sprinkler is that it offers the ultimate in adjustability. The moving circular spray provides the ultimate in consistency as well. That's a major problem with most sprinklers. It also seems very solid and sturdy in its construction. Yes, there are plastic parts on the motor, but it's protected form the sun by a pretty thick shell of brightly colored cast iron. It has a bit of heft to it as a result, but the weight is important because it helps the wheels gain traction. There are a few cautions with this sprinkler, though. For starters, you want to make sure that you have good vegetation on the ground that the sprinkler will be traversing. It's not good to have the sprinkler sitting and spinning in a single mud spot, as that could seriously flood part of your lawn. Also, make sure that if you use the shut off ramp, you follow a couple of important protocol. Make sure you anchor the ramp with the provided spike. If you don't, I find that the tractor just moves the ramp. Also, make sure that the ramp has a good foot and a half of perfectly straight hose on both sides. If the hose is curved leading into the ramp, I've found that it's pretty easy for the front wheel to jump the ramp, and now you have a runaway tractor. If you put a curve immediately after the ramp, the tractor might not be centered well enough to activate the shutoff valve. Also, be careful with water pressure if you decide to point the spray arms slightly downward to decrease distance. If you put a high water pressure into a spinning apparatus like that, you end up with something that falls just short of a pressure washer. You can scalp your lawn this way. Final assessment is that not only is this a solid buy. It is absolutely the best sprinkler money can buy. I was actually planning on buying a different brand for my second one to see if I could compare them, but when I saw that the prices were so close, I decided to go with the gold standard. I've also talked a friend into buying one. He has a fairly large yard for his dogs, and he has to go out and move his sprinkler three times to get the whole yard. There goes his morning. Now, he just sets it and forgets it... Though you will want to check on it periodically just in case. But if you carefully plan the route, which will become second nature after a while, I find that the possibility of the train derailing are quite low.

More than ten years ago, I purchased an Orbit Traveling Sprinkler for our acre of lawn. It has worked relatively well. The motor of a traveling sprinkler is its spinning arms, driven by garden hose water pressure. As the arms spin, they drive the rear axle and spiked wheels through a small transmission. The transmission is a simple set of gears, that allow for the selection of two forward speeds, or neutral for stationary use. The front wheel of a traveling sprinkler straddles the garden hose that feeds water to the spinning arms, guiding the sprinkler where it should go. I use two 100', 5/8" hoses that can reach all corners of my acre from my main yard water source. You can use more or less hose depending upon the size of your lawn. Generally, I lay the hose on the path I want the sprinkler to travel, and turn the end that is connected to the sprinkler back on itself, forming a loop of hose behind the sprinkler as it sits astride the hose. When the water is then turned on, the sprinkler travels back along the hose towards the water source. There is a small plastic ramp that comes with the sprinkler, that clamps on to the hose at the position you want to turn the sprinkler off. The ramp depresses a shut-off plunger valve on the underside of the sprinkler as it passes over. This is very handy in case you forget it is out there and running; because it will invent its own path if it runs out of hose to travel on. The Orbit sprinkler has worked dependably for longer than I had expected. But I think it might be better suited to smaller yards than my own. While most manufacturers boast that their sprinkler will travel 150' - 200' per set, the Orbit would struggle with those distances, even when traveling in a straight line. 75' - 100' of filled water hose is quite a load to be dragging through the grass. It would not negotiate even a broad 90° turn on the hose without over-turning if the trailing loop of hose was very long. I got in the habit of checking on the Orbit sprinkler often when it was running. It did not require much of an anomaly to cause the sprinkler to stall, dig a hole, or turn on its side and stop. It travels slower than I expected it to. Knowing all of this about it, I simply made it an hourly chore to see how it was doing. I also got in the habit of pulling the trailing hose loop out from behind it to form a longer path going forward, and to take the load off of it. This pretty much eliminated stalls and over-turning events. It seems to have been slowing down a little lately. If I put it into high gear it would sometimes stall, and I would find the sprinkler arms stopped, spewing streams of water into puddles. In low gear it would rarely stall. Because of all this I stopped using its shut-off ramp, because I knew I'd be out checking on it soon anyway. Concerned about the Orbit Traveling Sprinkler, I began looking into other solutions. While doing so, I found a Nelson 'Raintrain' traveling sprinkler on Amazon (free shipping) for less than I remember paying for the Orbit. I have used it for a couple of days now, and am very impressed with it. Out of the box I noticed the Raintrain is much heavier and sits higher off the lawn. Its hose connection is accessible, where the Orbit is almost impossible to get a hand on for connecting the hose. When I connected it up and turned on the water, the first thing I noticed was the sprinkler arms were spinning much faster than those on the orbit, even in high gear. I went out to check on it after the first hour, and it had traveled further than the Orbit would have in three hours. Of course, faster travel may mean less water delivered to the lawn. I set it up on a 150' straight run and it performed without a hitch, moving just as quickly towing a 75' loop of hose behind as it did with just 3' of loop. I then set it up on a 25' straight, followed by a 100' sweeping turn, something I knew from experience the Orbit could not do, and it again performed without a hitch. Last evening I disassembled the Orbit transmission to see if there was something causing it not to perform well. Everything was in good shape; but I did find a slight nozzle blockage in one of the sprinkler arms, which would cause a slowdown. It was not sufficient enough a blockage to be apparent to the eye while it was running, as it seemed there was plenty of water coming through both nozzles. I am reassembling it now to see if it runs a little stronger. I am posting this for anyone who might not know of these traveling sprinklers, or for anyone considering purchasing one. The Orbit Traveling Sprinkler is a good unit, but I think it might be better suited to smaller yards, 1/4 acre or less) where not many path turns are required. It's a little lighter and easier for mama or one of the children to pack around. The Nelson Raintrain is a performer, better suited to larger yards, and can handle curves better. They are both good units for their design. My confidence is building in the Raintrain, so that I am not as obliged to make hourly checks any longer.

I remember my grandparents using one, so I decided to try one. It works exactly as it says and does a great job. I use the slow movement, which works perfectly for my watering schedule and restrictions. It will go off its track if you don't set it up correctly; that's just a given with a product like this. I use metal hoses on mine, and I haven't had any issues with it going off its track. This is the second one I received. The first one started to make a squeaking noise from the spray arms. I was told this could happen because of water pressure damaging the base of the spray arms. I contacted customer service, and they sent me a new one. Great customer service and warranty are offered by the company. The new one hasn't had any issues. The only complaint is how fast it rusts on the bottom. I've only had it for a month, so I was surprised it rusted so fast. I always take it off the grass and let it dry on concrete, but it still did. All in all, this is one of the best water sprinklers that I have had. Set it up and walk away. The stopper has worked for me every time, no issues. It's a classic, and I do recommend this product.

I have been wanting one of these for years. I finally purchased one 2 summers ago after pouring over reviews for months. My expectation was that the Nelson 1865 might last a season or two, during which I would gain personal experience sufficient to invest in something more durable. I am now pleasantly surprised. The major sign of wear is some fading to the yellow paint due to sun exposure. I don't put it away often enough. Otherwise, no mechanical failures. It has been great fun to just watch or play with on a hot day when needing to cool down. It is frankly mesmerizing and relaxing after a complicated day at work. The large wheels have no difficulty on low or high speed moving smoothly through grass that is at least 3-4 inches in length. I typically choose the slow speed for a deeper soaking and water once or twice a week. Most of the time it navigates well over a coupling used to repair the hose. On rare occasions if the hose-coupling protrudes too much it trips the shut-off value. The sprinkler has only failed to stop once with the included brake. However, I will admit it has had some spectacular crashes when the operator forgot to set the brake ramp (a separate plastic component that is included). In one of these crashes it attempted to crawl up the side of the plastic rain-gutter extension piece in my back yard. The crash resulted in a roll over with one sprinkler arm projected straight up and the resultant spray travelling over 25-30 feet upward in the air and arcing more than 30 feet forward over my steeply sloped side lawn. An amazed young boy attending a party next door spotted a beautiful descending stream of water pouring along the side my house from far overhead, complete with a full spectrum rainbow. Of course, he couldn't see the tractor "wreck" in my backyard. With an utterly incredulous look on his face, he came over to ask whether my house had exploded and was leaking or whether it really was raining from just one hole in the sky!!! Occasionally the sprinkler arms need to be tightened. Even without such crashes, they typically require repositioning on nearly every use. The reason is that its spring-loaded shut-off valve is located below the main body. It stays closed once it has been triggered by the brake until all water pressure is out of the feeder line, or the hose has been disconnected. Thus the act of reopening the spring valve generally requires that I turn the sprinkler on its side. The valve can be cranky. So the process is a mild annoyance. This situation might be improved by putting in an extention to the hose attachment leaving my hand a little more room to manuever next to the body of the tractor. I guess I have not been bothered enough to worry about it. Overall. I feel like I indulged a childhood pleasure to purchase it. No regrets. There are clearly numerous creative opportunities for special effects and light shows. Thus far, after nearly 2 seasons I don't see any need for a replacement.

This is a great product. Sure, it weighs 17 pounds, and to the neighbors it probably looks like I'm hauling around a big yellow child's plaything, but it gets the job done! Yes, I've had to replace the gearbox (just once, so far). Yes, I've come out to find that it had jumped the hose and was trying its best to escape the confines of our yard. Yes, I've come out to find that it had "thrown a rod", and was hence spewing water onto a small patch of grass. I can't say I've been the best owner to it, though. It once sat in a corner of our backyard for over a year, unused. Sitting there under the hot Texas sun. Neglected. Or what about when I set it on "Neutral" so I can drag it around the yard on the end of my hose? I'm sure that doesn't do its hose connection any good. Poor guy. But it works! Set it and forget it. Plug and play. I despised the other sprinkler choices. An oscillating sprinkler? Umm, no thanks -- it covers too wide of an area and doesn't put sufficient water down, given that our Texas wind carries most of the water over to our neighbors yard. The RainTrain lays down water where I tell it to lay down water. What about one of those stationary "square area" sprayers? Haha, do you think those little tiny itty bitty droplets of water actually make it to the ground before they evaporate in the hot Texas heat? The RainTrain delivers big heavy purposeful drops of water that land on the grass, not in the air. What about one of those rotary sprinklers? Same problems as the other two. And they all have to be strategically positioned at various points around the yard at various times and I have to remember that they're running or otherwise I'll leave them on overnight and water all the lawns downhill from us. The RainTrain moves where I tell it to move and stops when and where I tell it to stop. I'm more of a real-time guy. With the RainTrain, I don't do the "turn it on, see how far the water is thrown, turn it off, adjust it, turn it back on, see how far the water is thrown, turn it off, adjust it, repeat..." I turn on the water, walk out to it (while its in neutral), gently apply pressure with my hand to the top of the rotor until it stops and then manually adjust it there and then. Once I'm happy, I set the transmission to the forward gear of my choice, release the rotor and let it do its thing. Sure, I get my pant legs wet, that's why I wear shorts. Do you have one? No? There's probably an "Add to Cart" button or something on this page, usually toward the top. Click that, checkout, wait for it to arrive. Your life will change. The grass will be greener (probably because more water is reaching it with the RainTrain than with any of the other so-called "sprinklers" that you may have used). Neighbors will be nice and talk to you ("What's that?" they'll ask, pointing to your RainTrain, because, you know, it IS a conversation piece first and foremost). You'll be more relaxed and at peace with the world (because you'll be mesmerized by the RainTrain as you watch it go quietly about its duties). You'll lose weight and/or build muscle mass (from carrying around its 17-pound heft between watering applications). You'll be richer (time is money, and this saves you a lot of time, which means it saves you a lot of money). It will make you want to be a better person...well, maybe not, let's not get carried away.

I had seen these before, but did not know how the worked. After I learned how they are fantastic. You just put the front wheels over the hose and it will follow the hose as it propels itself across the lawn. It has a mechanical shut off that works well, although I have had it hang up on it, so I would not want to leave it going and be away for a long period of time. It has a very easy way to increase or decrease the sprinkling distance - just rotate the spray heads up for more distance or down for shorter watering distance. I liked the first one I bought so well I bought another one for our lake cabin - where I water by pumping from the lake - have not had it plug up once. It has 2 speeds - Hi & Lo. When on High it will cover about 75 ft in 50 mins - this is somewhat dependent on water pressure though - at that speed, I think the manual says it puts on roughly .3 inch of rain/water. For me at LO speed it covered the same distance in about 1.5 hours and it put on about 1 inch + of rain/water.

We ended up buying two. These are great! They do the work. Once you place them there set. They really saturate the grass. Durable and easy care. Way better than sprinklers.

I purchased this sprinkler 5 years ago and just got it out of the box. The lawn is completely level, without any obstructions and i made sure it was set up properly before use. I was excited to see it work and it worked well for a few days, then not only did the stop plunger pop out, making it useless because of the design water now pours down out of the bottom and it wont move. This is a part that can not be purchased because it is part of the manufacturing process and I was told I would need to buy an entire gear assembly to fix it, which is over half the cost of the sprinkler. The hose connector also popped off, for no reason that I can figure out, except nothing was really holding it on. (See photo.) This also can not be fixed. There are no threads on the unit to connect anything. The only solution again is to buy an entire gear assembly. Why? So that can fail as well? Good idea for a sprinkler but poor construction and follow through. Don't waste your money.

Me encanto! Estoy feliz con mi compra! Es pesado y muy bueno para regar!

Mycket bra pris

Idéal pour éviter une installation d’arrosage intégrée sur un terrain peu large et long

Recommended by our garden chap for a newly planted lawn. Works well, just as well we have a bore hole in this dry spell! Grass seed coming up nicely..

Great sprinkler for big lawns. It crawls and waters as it goes. Two speeds. Very good spread of water. Nice and even as it goes. If something goes wrong you can get replacement parts too. My mother has owned one for 10 years. Thing is still going. Built really well.