Interesting concept. One of the main features of an irrigation system is that it's automatic. In my opinion, going out every half hour and moving the hose would become old real fast. Have you looked at the tractor type sprinkler? At least it runs by itself.

Many years ago, (1990?) my city put in watering restrictions. After one summer of staying up all night to move sprinklers around every hour twice a week, I decided the $3,000 cost to install an underground sprinkler system was well worth the money.

I installed one of these watering made easy spriklers a few weeks ago. I purchased it at Lowes, seems like $30. I have not used it much because of rain. But the quality seems good and it puts out a nice water pattern. Installation is simple. So far I like it, I wil try it for a while longer then might add another. Someday I will have the $3k for a inground, but this works for now.

Ummmm, that head going to cover 30-40 feet.

Do the math.

Get the book on lawn sprinkers by Scotts at HD. Rent a trencher or pipe plow. You can get it done yourself for 500 dollars with manual valves.

I am always amazed at what folks are willing to go through to manually water the grass.
Manual watering wastes water, time and money. And the quality of lawn is typically poor.

$3000.00 for 1/2 acre of grass may be high ( I don't know all that is included in the bid ). Search for a better price or better yet, do it yourself. Look at non-digital controllers. They will work better and last longer and its all you need.

The only other suggestion I would make if you do not want to go automatic is to truck in gravel and cover up the lawn.

We started a 1 acre lawn from seed this year and have tried several different manual watering techniques. Now that the lawn only needs watering 1-2 times a week, we are using two of the tractor style sprinklers hooked to an automatic timer. This method seems to be working very well.

My husband sets the hoses and tractors up at night and the timer turns them on at 4:00 am. He checks their progress in the morning and they park themselves on their little ramps when they are done.

Ok, so the product saves you the trouble of finding your sprinkler head and doing something to anchor it (mine "walk" if I don't weight them down with a brick).

But you're still stuck with running the hose to them and manually turning the water on, and remembering to turn it off.

And right now, we're under water restrictions that only allow me to water Tues and Fridays between 6 o'clock and 8 o'clock.

While I'm not completely finished, I'm so glad I've gotten enough of my irrigation system installed so far that I've been able to keep my lawn alive during this heat wave/water restrition period without having to babysit lawn sprinklers twice a week between 6 and 8 o'clock.

Given the "work" involved in watering the lawn even with these time savers, that's still alot more work than maintainence of an irrigation system that's been properly installed.

Now I will admit that the installation of an irrigation system as a DIY has taken my ALOT longer and a lot more work than I ever immagined... but then again, I'm an engineer and I'm installing a complex system (lawn irrigation with several drip irrigation circuits all laid out such that the system doesn't have to be winterized, just simply drained).

We'll getting ready to set this up in our front yard. We'll also purchase the timer that's available with this product and leave it connected all the time.

You know, when faced with water shortages, you could consider getting rid of your lawn. LAwns do turn water into nothing.

I installed 9 "watering made easy" sprinkle heads for my 6500 sq ft yard. I use 2 hoses and 2 timers. I water my yard 3 times a week at 1/3 inch per watering. To do this I quick connect 2 hoses to 2 sprinkler heads the evening before and set the timers to come on at 500am for 2 hours. At 700 am i move the hose from the sprinkler to another sprinkler and let the timer run it till 900am. I do have to do this every day of the week. It takes about 10 or 15 minutes a day to do once you get the routine down. I have been using the sprinklers for about 3 weeks so far and they have done well. I tried the watering tractor and it was alot more work and it would go off track. If my lawn is successful and i can afford $3500 then I may have an underground system installed.

Mike

I'm glad to hear that it's worked out for you. This past weekend, we installed five of the "watering made easy" sprinkler heads in the front yard. A couple of years ago we landscaped this entire area and it's covered with lawnscape fabric and mulch so cutting through this for an underground system was not something we were interested in.

Although this is a new system, it's worked well so far for us. We did not have to plant these deep in the ground (four of them went into our raised bed boxes) as we don't have a lawn in the whole place. It's used to water hydrangeas, daylilies, hostas, regular azaleas, native azaleas, ferns and elephant ears.

Gail

I read of few of these comments. I have to tell you. We have used several of these in our front and back yard over several years. Love them, Love them, Love them. I look at my yard and two of my neighbors yards that are lush and beautiful. I look at my neighbors with sprinklers..including my mothers, and they are yellow and have many dead patches. Although it is true that hauling hoses is exhausting at times.... it is a good work out and I don't really mind it. I see water sprinkler systems waste just as much water in areas that don't need water as a manual sprinkler. Of course, mowing your grass higher helps greatly on the amount of water it needs. I will reach an age probably in the next 5-10 years that I may have to break down and install a system. Until then... Watering made easy is a great solution. My mother got an estimate to have her backyard done and they never showed...so I installed a few for her and will do one more...just with what I have installed so far...the grass is so much greener.