Customer Reviews

Nelson 1865 Raintrain Traveling Sprinkler

5 star:		(159)
4 star:		(59)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

We have used one of these for about ten years with great success. The tractor can even follow the hose around gentle 10' radius curves. The little ramp clips on the hose and has a folding ground spike to keep it from slipping. When the tractor reaches the ramp, it pushes a shut off valve on the belly of the tractor. Very simple and effective. Part of our ramp finally snapped off, but it still works. We've never had a problem with the tractor. The adjstable spray wands allow you to regulate the size of the area covered. I suppose it can drag about forty feet of hose before it slows it down. That probably will vary depending on the depth and density of your turf and how straight the path is.

You won't be disappointed; this is a time-tested classic!

After hearing so much about this unit, and seeing a couple of them in my neighborhood, I decided to give it a try, even though the price was higher than I ever expected to pay for a lawn sprinkler.

I now know why so many people like it. It is very effective in watering the lawn, without spraying water high up in the air (less chance for evaporation, and not affected by wind as much), and it has hands-off operation once you set it up.

Adjusting the spray diameter is easy, and using the hose as a way to set the travel path for the sprinkler to follow is a great idea. The adjustable speed allows you to decide how much water to apply and how much ground you want to cover in a period of time.

Inspecting the yard afterwards shows that the ground is nicely saturated, and not needing to go out and move hoses is a welcomed change. This sprinkler is worth the purchase price!

I've had my Raintrain for a little over a year now. I was initially very enthusiastic about it, but over time, I grew less satisfied with it.

Pros:
>For some reason, it's mesmerizing to watch. After I get it set up, I always watch for a few moments to make sure the water throw is adjusted properly, and then I find myself watching it longer than necessary. There's just something cool and relaxing about how the arms spin and the wheels turn and how it slowly moves along. From talking to some other people who own this and similar products, "sprinkler watching" seems to be a common phenomenon.

>The coarse spray is ideal for use in windy areas. You'll get a lot less drift and evaporation using this than you would with a finer-droplet sprinkler.

>The adjustability is impressive. I have a long, 4-foot swatch of grass that would be difficult to water with most other sprinklers, but on the Raintrain, I can point the arms way down and keep the water where I want it. But I can also point the arms way up and throw the water for at least 50 feet.

>It's quiet. The only sound it makes is the water hitting the grass.

>The shut-off feature is very handy and worked quite well (initially).

>It stands up well to neglect. I left both my sprinkler and the stop block sitting outside in the sun and snow all winter, and come spring, they seemed no worse for wear. Also, you are supposed to disconnect the sprinkler and let it drain after each use, and I've never done that, with no apparent effect yet.

Cons:
>This thing is really heavy, as it needs to be, but when you're hauling it out to the north forty (okay, the back of a 6500-square-foot lawn), it's a little cumbersome.

>The hose connection is awkwardly placed. It's in the somewhat narrow space at the back between the wheels, so I find it a little difficult to get a good grip on the connector. There are also two inexplicable protrusions in the body of the sprinkler right next to the connector, and this makes it even harder to grip. This is why I never drain my sprinkler like I'm supposed to; I hate connecting it.

>The connector always leaks, even after I put in a gasket, and the hose sometimes loosens while it's traveling.

>Getting the water to throw just the right distance is a pain. You have to turn on the water, see where it's throwing, turn it off, walk out to the sprinkler, adjust the arms, walk back to the faucet, turn it on, see if that's right, and then repeat until you have it where you want it, which might involve several tries.

>The water is thrown in a circle, but only to the outside of the circle. This is easily seen if you have the sprinkler set where it will be thrown on concrete. You can see the arc of the circle and the dry area inside it. The way the Raintrain gets all the ground covered is by advancing this outline through the yard. For this reason, the stationary setting on the sprinkler is useless. It will water the outline of the circle only.

>Because of the circle outline problem, the area at the beginning and end of the course will get half as much water as the rest of the yard (the beginning of the course will only be hit by the trailing edge of the circle, and the end of the course will only be hit by the front edge). To compensate for this, I turn off the water, pick up the Raintrain, and move it back at both the beginning and end so that the areas get covered by the half circle twice. This creates a lot of extra work for what I was hoping would be a labor-saver.

>I found that the Raintrain doesn't deliver nearly as much water as it says it will. The farther you throw the water, the less depth of water you'll put out (because the same amount of water is being spread out over a bigger area), but when I had the arms adjusted for a pretty narrow path, I only measured about a quarter inch of water (even on "low gear," which makes it travel more slowly). This likely explains why I've struggled so much with keeping my lawn green since I got the Raintrain. With stationary sprinklers, you can leave them running as long as necessary to achieve the water delivery you need. But with the Raintrain, if you need more water than it delivers, your only option is to lay out the hose again and start it over, which is a lot of extra work.

>While the sprinkler seems overall pretty solid and durable, I knocked a big chip of paint off the "nose" when I set it up on end to attach the hose, and the bare spot rusted immediately.

>Laying out the hose for a straight line is simple, but if you want to do any curves, it takes a lot of practice and trial and error to create a path that won't make the Raintrain "jump the track." The tightness of curve it can handle depends on several factors, such as the height and density of the grass, the softness of the ground, and any small bits of yard debris the wheels might go over.

>The stop valve on the underside (which is triggered by the stop block) stopped working on mine during its second season. Now when it runs over the stop block, it slows down, and the arms start turning more slowly, but it doesn't actually stop. This greatly reduced the handiness of the Raintrain for me.

Overall, this is a fun sprinkler, and it has its uses, but I've decided to try something else this summer. The Raintrain is just too cumbersome and time-consuming to set up for my particular needs.

This would be a 5-star item except that Nelson apparently likes to make money by selling replacement gear boxes. The gears are made of cheap plastic that won't even last one season, for me. I've examined the broken gear boxes; the broken gear is always the same one. Seems like Nelson could greatly improve the reliability of the unit without significantly affecting the cost if one or two of the plastic gears were replaced with brass or stainless-steel.

I recently reseeded my lawn, and as such I need to water all of it every day. I saw this in a local hardware store - I didn't even know traveling sprinklers existed. This is the perfect tool for the job - before this I was using 2 sprinklers at a time and moving them every hour or two to try to cover the lawn. Now I just lay out the hose at night, turn it on in the morning before I leave for work and it slowly moves along, waters the full lawn, then shuts itself off when it is done. It is nice and heavy and hasn't had any problems as far as traction or staying on track. Highly recommended for anyone with an area to water that is too large for a single conventional sprinkler.

Since the specs are kind of light on this page, here's some details: the maximum hose length (i.e. maximum travel distance) is 200 feet when using 5/8" hose, 275 feet when using 1/2" hose. 5/8" hose is recommended. Mine has a shut-off ramp you can place on the hose to have it shut off automatically - it isn't clear if the product offered here has that or not (but it can be ordered as an accessory). Depending on the sprinkling diameter you set and the rate of travel (high or low) it will deliver between 1/4" and 1" of water along the path. Sprinkling diameter can be between about 15' and 55' depending on the angle you set for the arms.

I own (and have used heavily during the summer months for 20 years) a "heavier-duty version" of this Nelson sprinkler. The older model actually has a sand ballast bag inside the sprinkler body so it can maintain traction while pulling a long length of hose. Unfortunately, it finally just wore out to the point where parts are more than the cost of a new sprinkler. Since that model is no longer available I am purchasing this Model 1865. Neighbors on both sides of my property currently use a Model 1865 and are getting good service from them, so I'm confident it will provide dependable duty as my other one did.

One important point that no one else has mentioned is the excellent availability of parts. I have kept my other model running for such a long time by occasionally replacing worn out parts. I think some dealers may carry a small inventory of parts, but I simply call the factory and they send the parts I need right away and at a reasonable cost. The sprinkler comes with a good "exploded view" drawing and parts list so parts and numbers are easily identifiable.

I thought this would be great for my yard but I set it out and it would move only about one foot per hour. I contacted Nelson and they sent a new motor which I installed. Now the sprinkler doesn't move at all. I suspect my water flow is not sufficient to drive this thing, as my house is about 55 years old with iron pipe that is somewhat occluded.

DO NOT BUY THIS ITEM unless you have a newer house with no flow or pressure problems. And don't buy from Amazon unless you are sure it will work because Amazon has a poor return policy.

UPDATE September 23, 2009: After replacing the motor under warranty I still didn't get sufficient water through the arms to move the sprinkler. So I took it apart, again, and discovered a manufacturing defect in the "T" that the arms come out of. The hole had not been drilled through all the way. I called customer service and they are sending a new one out. In the meantime I drilled it out myself and am happy to say it is working as it should. The rating system won't let me change my rating from a one star but I would now rate the sprinkler as a 5 star. Of course, the season is over now so I'm somewhat less than thrilled, but looking forward to spring.

We have used this product for nearly 20 years in two different homes. It is difficult to find in stores, I believe, because it is expensive. It is more than well worth its cost. We have replaced the hose coupler once, last year; it exceeds all recommended usage limits. I love this product and am purchasing one for another home. It will pull several hundred feet of 3/4 in hose up gradual grades in clay based soil. Set out your hose, turn on the water and forget it!

Positives: Good sprinkler - can adjust spray from small area to a large area - the two speeds are nice depending how much watering you wish to do - pulls well at the end of the hose or end of the run - strong gearbox
Negatives: seems to be alittle top heavy - can't put sprinkler on too much of a slope or it will turn over - water shut off button underneath the sprinkler sometimes shuts sprinkler off or nearly off on uneven ground - we have a new yard which has not settled completely - it is uneven in places - sometime the sprinkler can hit a high spot and either turn sprinkler off or almost off - I temporarily remedied the problem with a removable piece of short garden hose approximately 1/2" long slit along the side so to wrap around the stem of shut off button to prevent it from shutting off knowing that this is bypassing the automatic shut of feature

I moved into a new house recently, with a big yard that's half sod and half recently-seeded dirt. Like a previous reviewer, I've been spending most of my free time moving sprinklers around.

This travelling sprinkler was a gift from my father-in-law. It looked like a novelty product that the kids would play with, but it's become one of the most useful lawn care devices I've ever owned.

I set mine up as soon as I get home from work and let it spend a few hours watering the sod while I have dinner with my family, take the kids to their sporting events, etc. It does a great job and gives excellent coverage, with very little effort from me.

One note: as it says in the fine print on the side of the box, don't use this on a recently seeded patch of soil. I tried that before I saw the warning and the tractor got stuck in the mud and dug a trench across the back yard. My fault completely, but watch out that you don't repeat my mistake!