Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have a very large yard, tired of moving sprinklers and too cheap to install a sprinkler system. I'm in Texas, with a predominately Saint Augustine grass yard. After several weeks and some learning curve, I'm able to use this sprinkler successfully. The sprinkler housing is very heavy and feels strong and sturdy, made of cast iron. There are some plastic components which worries me in the Texas sun, but they have performed okay so far. The instructions were very detailed and easy to follow. Basically there are 2 speed settings (hi=fast but less water, low=slower but more water), and you can twist the arms up or down to change the distance it throws. Also, it has a bump button on the bottom that is supposed to work with the plastic stop ramp. The stop ramp feels cheap and flimsy, not sure how long it will last. The sprinkler itself feels like it will last at least several years. Here are some tricks to prevent problems: 1. Mine gets stuck in bald spots, where there is not a thick grass mat on the ground. In those spots, the ground gets soft from the watering, and when the wheels reach that spot, they will eventually spin out and dig a rut, just like getting your car stuck. On areas with a nice continuous grass mat, it works flawlessly. I resolve this issue by snaking the hose along the thickets parts of the grass to avoid the bald spots. If I have to run it over a bald spot, I have to peep out of the window every 10 minutes to make sure it's not stuck there. 2. For every 1 foot the sprinkler moves forward, it add 6 inches of water-filled hose to pull behind it (cause it's a loop that keeps getting larger). Thus after a long stretch, the hose it's pulling gets heavier and heavier, with more drag against the ground. This increases the issue mentioned above with getting stuck and spinning out. So in theory, you could set it to run 100 feet and forget it, but in reality you need to check it. Mine goes about 50 feet before I have to reposition the hose to prevent it from stalling out. 3. The bump button works for about 50% of the time. Once, I laid the leading hose across another hose. When the sprinkler got to the crossing hose, it struck the bump button and prematurely shut off the sprinkler. A couple times, I came out to find the runaway sprinkler happily watering about 3 feet past the bump ramp and off of the hose. 4. In theory, you could snake this thing around a bunch of curves, working between trees and corners. However, because of the growing length of hose it drags behind it (see No. 2 above), if you have too many turns, or the turns are too sharp, then the hose will start to rub and drag sideways against those objects, and the sprinkler will end up getting stuck in one spot. Overall, I am happy with this product, and it has made my watering much easier, but it is definitely not a "set it and forget it" device - there are too many things that can go wrong so you need to stick around and watch it occasionally.