I was very skeptical of this new water sprinkler when I saw it.

As it happens the guy lives a few streets away from me so I went by his house to look at the lawn. I was expecting to see any of a number of issues with his lawn but was surprised to see he does have a very nice lawn as do his two adjacent neighbors. The three of them have the three nicest lawns on the block. Keep in mind that we are under water restrictions in San Antonio. If you find the videos on the guy's website and watch them all (hang on through the sound issues and slow pace at times) you will get a good idea as to the extent of the guy's research into his watering issues. He's been very methodical.

I checked his math. He claims he used to use 37,000 gallons per month to water in the summer. Really? That's enough to fill a swimming pool. Well, he has 1/3 acre of turf. Divide it out and he only applied 4 inches of water per month. Nothing wrong with that especially considering his indoor use is included in that amount. Now he claims to be using 2,700 gallons per month simply by switching to his new invention of the Hover Sprinkler. Divide that out and he's using almost 0.2 inches per month, again including indoor usage.

I would debate some of the claims on his website. Without picking them apart, there are things I like and things I don't like about the sprinkler. What I do like is that it puts the water right on the grass with no wind drift. The negative that comes along with that is the possibility of erosion from a hard stream of water so close to the soil as well as the inability of the soil to soak up the water applied that quickly. But if your soil is receptive and you have dense roots, those two issues should not be a terrible concern. I also like that you can apply the water without missing any part due to inherent design flaws. Every other home sprinkler comes with design flaws that either waste water or do not put it down evenly.

The main thing I might not like, and I need to really talk to the guy about this, is that the quick wash of water cannot penetrate deep into the soil and you could essentially end up watering daily. He says on his video that he waters every other day but he waters a different part of his lawn each time. If this is correct, how long can his grass go before he gets around to it again?

Then the secondary thing I don't like is the reliance on a human going out and watering every day or other day. You become tied to the lawn and cannot go on vacation.

Anyway I wanted to introduce this idea to Bestlawn.info. These sprinklers are literally flying off the shelves at the few nurseries where he is supplying them. He's selling hundreds per week. I think there is something to them. If nothing else, it might make an excellent applicator for organic liquids like molasses, milk, and Bestlawn Soil Conditioner via one of the other hose end attachments available on the market.

Make your own with an aluminum L and a small drill bit.

Actually, then get jazzy about it and attach to a traveling sprinkler base...

It would be very easy to make your own with PVC. I have made similar items for washing a dog.

I dont get it- if you want to water properly {deep}, you want to lay down enough water to reach 6 inches or so deep into the soil- watering .2 inches doesnt cut it, and walking the entire property to lay down enough water is just crazy......another gimmick.

The dude is a tool. I wouldnt buy anything from him.

So one year, 2009 during extreme drought, he used a ton of water. Next year he hand waters the top of the soil in addition to rain we probably got since 2010 we got rain early in the year. He saves tons of water and its all due to the "amazing" sprinkler. He then claims that his one sprinkler saves more water than a truck load of low flow toilets. LOL. Thats like the company I work for saying that the motion light switches they installed saved thousands of dollars in electric costs the same two years. Maybe it was the fact that 2009 was the hottest year on record here with 60 days of 100+ degree weather, and 2010 was much cooler (less than 5 days 100+ if I remember right) with rain. Also like the local AC companies showing electric bills comparing the two years and crediting the difference to their high effeciency AC units

Another thing, it also looks like he migh have zoysia. Did you get a good look at it when you drove by David? If so he can get away with watering lightly and frequently due to that. He wasted all that water in 2009 for nothing because his grass didnt need it.

We all know watering lightly and frequently works, its just not good for the health of the grass. He's training shallow roots, and encouraging weed growth.

I do have a neighbor who hand waters twice a week, and he has decent results as well. I wonder how many gallons he uses per month. I imagine watering 1" and soaking the soil down to 6" could be slightly wastefull if the grass roots are not dense enough to use all that water at that depth. Watering only the top could be more effecient, but at the cost of the health of the grass.

Josh, when I went by it was too soon after our recent, 2-inch shower to really evaluate the watering. Now as the effects of that storm are wearing thin, I will be driving by again. His lawn is St Augustine in very full sun (south side).

HanLawn, I am right there with you on your concerns. Shallow watering is a bad habit and, frankly, I don't want to make time to walk around my yard every day. A friend of mine with a completely neglected lawn bought a hover sprinkler. That's how I found out about them. I am watching to see if there is any improvement at his place. I can say that there is already improvement if a simple sprinkler (gimmick or not) causes him to get off his duff and pay any attention to his lawn. With our drought and the water restrictions, hand watering is allowed any time. Most hand held watering devices don't put out much water. This thing puts it down heavily, evenly, directly, and quickly. This device could be valuable for people like him to get through the worst part of the drought until the rain returns.

Hello All,

I have enjoyed your Hover Sprinkler comments.

I try my best not to come off as a tool, but I suppose I do. I will work on that.

The Hover Sprinkler doesn't magically save water, it just directs water downward cutting out one leg of the evapotraspiration cycle.

I invented it to personally save water and I thought that is what most people care about. Turns out they really care more about green grass, so that is why it's selling so well.

I haven't checked my math lately but 0.2 inches can't be correct, I put down lots of water every time I water. My lawn has many different personalities. There are areas with rock walls, and buried stones, and rich soil, and thin soil, shady areas, and areas that are never shaded, it's a huge yard for my area and I have learned its personality by using the Hover Sprinkler. All areas require different amounts of water.

2009 was our last big drought year here in San Antonio, (2011 will be worse than 2009 I think). I first used the Hover Sprinkler during the drought in 2009, that was when I had the huge water savings compared to the previous wet year of 2008.

Mr Hall, its impressive the amount of work you've done researching the Hover Sprinkler. Because of that, I would be happy to give you one for your evaluation. Please come by my house any time and I'll give you one and maybe you can then share your results here.

Thank you,

Grant "The Tool" Pitzer

Haha, nice 1st post!

MrTool...brpff...mrffff...BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA Nice screen name.

Hey Grant. I don't know if you did some homework here or if you just have a knack for this, but all too often we get business owners joining and trying to be anonymous as they promote their wares. That is a shortcut to a bad bestlawn experience.

While you're here, please look around and take advantage of your expensive membership. This really is the best online forum for lawns on the Internet.

Maybe I can come over and visit next weekend. I'm on the other side of Broadway in the trees. Looks like Sunday is busy with church and volleyball, so maybe Saturday. Please PM me. There is a direct PM button on the side of these messages.

Mr Hall, its impressive the amount of work you've done researching the Hover Sprinkler. Because of that, I would be happy to give you one for your evaluation. Please come by my house any time and I'll give you one and maybe you can then share your results here.

I see what you're trying to do there, MrTool.

Mightyquinn wrote:From watching the videos it seems like a good idea if all you were allowed to do is water by hand. I think if I had restrictions like that I would look into investing in one.

yep, I agree. If you're stuck hand watering no matter what, in a hot place like Texas, then it doesn't seem like a bad deal at all. David's point on the math was valid, and I don't know how much water it saves over water with another hose-end sprayer, but I wouldn't have a problem plopping down a few bucks to try it out.

I'm looking forward to Dave's review in the future.

David,

I’m excited for you to come by my house! I’ll give you the grand tour of my lawn.

Even though we are deep into Texas’ worst drought, my lawn is in the best shape ever, its growing very fast. No weeds, no fertilizer, no weed killer, just pure Hover Sprinkler.

This morning I took a quick video of my lawn http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6gDiKKH5yk. I know I sound like a Tool in the video, I’ll try to work on that.

The video makes my back yard look a little brown; I think it’s the shade affecting the camera. You’ll discover that it’s as green as the front yard when you get here.

Come as soon as possible so you can start evaluating your Hover Sprinkler.

Thanks,

Grant

Nice screen name! LMAO! Hey dont take my comments too personally buddy!

As I pointed out Im just not buying the fact that hand watering is better for the lawn than a good soaking. Sure you can use less water, but what about the depth of the root system. I like to use an open hose end with my finger to control my hand watering, no water waste there either. That and I dont have time to hand water every day.

If David does some extensive testing Id be very interested in his results. Id trust his opinion. Never know, maybe Ill become a beliver and drive to your side of town to pick one up!

BTW, I heard your ad on the garden show on the radio this morning. Thats where Id spend my marketing dollars too!

Josh, I have one for you. Grant gave me 2.5 of his Hover Sprinklers to try out. I had you in mind when I accepted the second one and told him I wanted someone else to try it. If you don't want to wait, surely you can find one closer. He has them in all the nurseries but not the box stores. I stopped by Fanick's Nursery and they have them hanging on every free nail sticking out of anything all over the nursery. They told me they were selling 100 Hover Sprinklers per week.

The biggest performance issue with the Hover Sprinkler is the water comes out too fast to soak in in one pass...at least on my soil. Every situation will be different. I do like the 4-foot wide swath it puts out, though. I use it like this - walk the dry areas quickly once and then come back to them after an initial dousing. Using it like that, I kinda like the thing.

I have all kinds of hand held devices that make sprays of all different shapes and kinds. This one has a much different appeal.
One: it hovers! It is not exactly weightless, but it balances and gives you the feeling that it weighs much less than it does.
Two: by twisting your wrist just right, you can make it sweep back and forth like magic.
Three: It puts the water EXACTLY where you put the boom. The wind is absolutely not a factor.
Have to admit it is growing on me. I'd be interested in your operational test report. PM me.

Whether you water every day will depend on all the same factors that go into how long you water on your weekly schedule - those factors being wind, temperature, humidity, shade, sunlight, clouds, soil structure, soil quality, grass type, mowing height, etc. I am using the Hover Sprinkler to water where my oscillator sprinklers are missing. Apparently we don't have the same water pressure we had a few years ago when I first started with my 2-sprinkler system of watering. I'm no longer getting full spread reach to the sides, so I'm using the Hover Sprinkler to get me through the week on those dry spots. As you know we (according to San Antonio's water restrictions) have to do those spots by hand. Since the areas are fairly small it does not take much time. But then if I take too much time there is runoff to contend with. My soil does not absorb water that fast.

Sounds nice, although for me that would be for garden watering (if I didn't already have an automated system). For that it would be perfect on a garden that doesn't have easy to knock over plants.

Since I'm only watering two or three times a year, a manual watering system might make sense even though I have an in-ground irrigation system. However, with the grasses I have, if it's not getting the water deep into the soil, it wouldn't work for me (some of the grasses I grow have very little root mass in the top 6-12 inches).

I'm curious to try one of these. As I've mentioned a few times, I have a couple of areas I have to hand water at least every other day in the middle of summer. Have these made their way up to DFW yet?

Looks like Austin is the farthest north. They do ship.
http://hoversprinkler.com/retailers.php

I'm tempted to try one of these on my NY lawn. I have no trees and it's been a total drought as of late. my pressure can barely run 2 sprinklers at a time, on a 14,000 sq ft. lawn.

Dchall_San_Antonio wrote:Looks like Austin is the farthest north. They do ship.
Click here for more information

Thanks, David. I didn't realize they had a website. $40...? For what little hand-watering I do, I think I'm going to have to pass.