What heads works best?

[PapaKen]

Thanks for the tips. I am just starting the process. We bought the house across the street from from us that has sprinklers for our daughter. Now I want them for our yard. The man that installed that system has gone out on his own. I had him give me an estimate and I also did the system design through Rainbird. Daughters house has MP rotator heads. Rainbird uses there brand of course the 32 and 42 SA. What gives the best coverage ?

[turf_toes]

I’m partial to Hunter

[PapaKen]

Thanks turf_toes. Guess I didnt word that correctly. I havent learned all the correct names yet. Daughters house has heads that shoot out several small streams that are moved. The ones Rainbird showed was one big stream that moved. Which of these give the best coverage?

[turf_toes]

Depends on your system and your yard. Have you asked your installer?

[PW405]

I've used both the Hunter MP Rotator and the Rainbird R-VAN nozzles. These are the spray nozzles that attach to a typical "pop-up" sprinkler head that usually have nozzles that spray a fine mist. These sprinkler heads generally have 1/2 Inch threaded connections on bottom.

The "rotor" spray heads generally have 3/4" connection, and the part the pops up sprays a single stream of water over a circular pattern.

In comparison of the rotary nozzles for pop-up spray heads, overall, I liked the Rainbird nozzles better. They are easier to adjust the spray coverage - both left/right stop as well as distance. It can all be done by hand. Additionally, since I already have Rainbird 42SA and 5000 rotor spray heads, the rainbird R-VAN's are designed to match the precipitation rate - roughly 0.6"/hour. The Hunter MP Rotators were less - about 0.3" per hour if I recall correctly.

In my experience with the 3/4" rotor spray heads, I have only had a single Hunter brand head when I moved in - and while they are generally well respected - the ease of adjustment on the Rainbird 42SA's sold me due to the (not advertised) "slip clutch" feature - which lets you adjust the left stop easily a few days after install . Plus they were more easily available to purchase near my home. There's a professional supply store where I can get a smorgasbord of Rainbird parts.

However, in my experience, the Rainbird 32's which are a a 1/2" rotary spray head were awful. I installed two and they both broke before end of the season. The Rainbird 42SA or 5000 has proven to be very rugged and long lasting.

Additionally, some parts are interchangeable. You don't have to lock in to a single brand. For example, on a few of my Rainbird pop-up spray heads, I used Hunter's misting spray nozzle because the spray pattern gave me better coverage in a few spots. When I was testing the Hunter MP Rotator nozzles, I used them all on Rainbird spray heads.

Let me know if you have any other questions, I've manually dug up and replaced every single sprinkler on my entire system, as well as the controller. Not too difficult to DIY. The valves are the only part that I have yet to replace!

[PW405]

To answer your question more directly, which I suppose was:

Hunter MP Rotator Nozzles VS. Rainbird Rotor spray heads (42SA).

You'll find that you probably need a combination of both types - large rotor spray heads and pop-up misting/multi-stream rotating nozzles.

I LOVE rotor heads (regardless of brand) because you can reach a large area with a small number of heads, AND, another factor that is almost always overlooked until you see them in action: the HEIGHT of the spray is important for coverage!!! A rotor nozzle will spray a jet of water ~8' high or so, whereas pop-up rotating nozzles (both Hunter MP Rotator and Rainbird R-VAN) only reach about ~18" of height.

I have some Irises in a few spots in gardens and they 100% block the spray pattern from the pop-up heads. A rotor sprayer allows the water to fall more vertically.

On the flip side, rotor spray heads are harder to dial-in and get accurate coverage - especially along long, straight paths. In my front yard, the longest part of the yard that faces the street has 2 Rainbird 42SA heads. I've painstakingly dialed them in so they don't overspray the street and waste water.

For the sake of even coverage - it seems almost every contractor overlooks this - but if you get any brand of rotor sprinkler, be sure to have the contractor change the nozzle to the correct flow rate. Rainbird installs a 3 gallon/min nozzle in their rotor models by default. This is intended for a 180° coverage. If you use a 3GPM nozzle to cover a 90°, now that part of the yard gets 2X the water as the other parts. Change to a 1.5 GPM nozzle for 90° area. Thankfully, this can easily be fixed without needing to dig anything up.