Customer Reviews

Gilmour 999ZS Extra Large Coverage Sprinkler

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Two of three impulse sprayer heads fail to reverse at end of travel. The rivet head that secures the reversing assembly strikes the upper adjustable stop preventing complete travel and reversing action. Appears to be a marginal design flaw. Filing off a portion of the movable stop worked but then stop was to weak to hold it's position.

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).

I personally purchased two of these from a retailer and am absolutely amazed at how great they are. We have city water and the pressure is NOT good enough for two 3/4" hoses running at the same time but when one sprinker is on it will shoot 35 feet easily. Almost covers our entire 80' wide lot. They are made of all metal and have lasted two years without any issue on either. If I needed more I would definitely purchase more, highly recommend. Don't waste your time with the plastic ones as they will cost you more in the long run. I lube (litle silicon spray) them up once a year at the beginning of ths season for maintenance and that's it.

I meant 5 stars ***** - oops

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.

The sprinkler goes only clockwise .Wont turn back at the end of the cycle. It came without manual and they charge for online manual or support.

Gave one star because they dont have 0 star. recommend to stay away from this product and this company.

Gilmour makes the best lawn sprinkler that I have ever found. I bought my first one about a year ago. A peice was lost or broken. They replaced the sprinkler head, no questions asked, no cost to me. I bought another one for our Church. This is a great Americaan product, with a tremendous service policy.
You can't beat the product of the people who run the company.
Rodney P. Dempsey
Shelbyville, KY

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.

Up until they broke, these were good sprinklers. We live in central Texas, and have reasonably good dirt, but both of these sprinklers ended up snapping of the larger main spike while being inserted into the ground. Note that the sprinkler is designed with a platform for you to use your foot to push it into the ground, but the spikes appear to be relatively low-grade aluminum, and simply snap off if there is any resistance. Both went in the trash within a season.

This sprinkler has excellent coverage which is what I was looking for. However, the first time I used it the tip of the large metal spike broke off as I was pushing it into the ground. The company was quick to replace it. However, the same thing happened with the second sprinkler I was sent. Not very happy.

Nice and very well designed, however, this particular sprinkler requires a very large water supply to work properly. I suggest if you are purchasing one for residential use, get the smaller one. It is an excellant product.
Don Prue