# So You Want A Big Sprinkler........



## jbacker7 (Jun 29, 2021)

Hey guys,

I recently purchased a Big Sprinkler 1000F and wanted to share my testing experiences and numbers to support my findings. I was unable to find this type of a write-up from a residential user and hope that this will help some people out.

A little bit about my situation. My yard (10,500 SF) is split into 3 sections that I manage as 3 different yards. Note: This photo is from when the previous owners lived in the home. I do not have any toys, jungle gyms, trampolines, boats, trailers, etc. in the yard. I have also removed all of the small trees scattered around the place. I've got a hard border around the rock driveway and added rock beds to the front and back of the house. The image below the photo is a CAD generated map I put together by surveying my yard. The colors will help describe my approach to each section.





Blue Section - 2935 SF - Low Input - No irrigation on narrow south strip. I let it go dormant in the summer. May give some irrigation on wider east strip to help stay green for a good look when pulling into the driveway. Not worth pulling 150' of hose for all the time.

Red Section - 1209 SF - Medium Input - Does get ~3/4" - ~1" of water once a week because the garden is in the center of the section. I hit the whole thing on Saturday mornings with an oscillator.

Green and Yellow Section - 6293 SF (Yellow Back and Sides of House 1775 SF and Green Front of House 4518 SF)- High Input - This is the section of my yard that surrounds the house and the area that I really put my time and effort into. By purchasing a BigSprinkler my goal was to be able to water the Green Section, 4518 SF, from a single location in as little time as possible. My goal was to be able to put down 1" of water once a week in 4 hours or less.

Now a 4 hour watering session may sound like a lot to some people. To those people I say: Let's look at the numbers. To hit the majority of that 4518 SF from ONE POSITION I need a radius of 40'. I end up watering the rock bed in front of my house, but I'd rather do that than have to move the sprinkler. Not needing to move the sprinkler means I can be free to go do other things away from the house.

Area of a Circle = πr² = 3.14*40'*40' = 5,024 SF
One Inch of Water Over 5,024 SF = 5,024*(1/12) = 418.5 CF * 7.48 Gallons/CF = 3,130.4 Gallons of Water

Great, now we know it takes 3,130.4 gallons of water to give my lawn 1" of water from one position.

I want to put that much water down in 4 hours or 240 minutes.

3,130.40 Gallons / 240 Minutes = 13 Gallons / Minute Required

So now we know our two main targets in a sprinkler. We need a sprinkler that can throw 40' at a rate of 13 Gallons / Minute. That 13 GPM is a HIGH target to achieve actually coming out the end of any sprinkler. We better check the flow on our spigot with our planned hose attached.

Initially I tested 50' of 5/8" hose and came up just short of 10 GPM and 58 PSI on the hose. I tested by placing a pressure gauge on the end of the hose and turning on the spigot. So 58 PSI at 0 flow. Then I filled a 5 gallon bucket, divided my time by 300. A couple days later I bought a 3/4" hose and came up just short of 11 GPM and 58 PSI. I have city water. The main that comes into my house is 3/4" hits a 5/8" - 3/4" meter, travels through 3/4" PEX to my separate 5/8" - 3/4" Irrigation Meter, 3/4" PEX to my 3/4" true ball valve spigot. My volume and pressure are quite good for a city hookup spigot. I can't complain and I know that not everyone can achieve this performance.

Side Note: A lot of people tout 3/4" hoses as a great performance difference over a 5/8" hose. I just didn't really see a big improvement over 50' maybe 150' one vs the other would be a bigger difference, I don't know. I would not just go buy a 3/4" hose because someone else says you need it like I did. Try your 5/8" you already have and if you want to try to get more performance, then consider picking up a 3/4".

Now onto picking a sprinkler................

I saw on Big Sprinkler's website that two sprinkler carts are expressly advertised with the sentence: "This sprinkler will maximize your potential and is the largest that you can operate from a standard faucet and 3/4" garden hose." Ok, cool. It looks like my choices were between the 1000F, an impact model, and the 1000R, a rotary model using the Rainbird Falcon 6504.





Very long decision making process condensed, I've always been an impact fan because of the simplicity and versatility, I thought I could get a little more distance and flow, so I went with that. I do want to point out one key thing in deciphering these specs. Remember, I had 58 PSI and 11 GPM at the end of my hose? So if we go to the 1000F specs and look at the 58 PSI lines, the GPM lines close to 11 should tell me how far I can throw, right? WRONG. From experience, I have gathered that these numbers are reflective of the PSI and GPM at the sprinkler nozzle while it is running. Why is that important? Because that open nozzle will #1 drop your pressure and #2 limit your GPM quite a bit.

So where I thought "Ok, I have 58 PSI and about 12 gallons per minute. I should use the 6mm nozzle to get the most out of my distance and I should be able to get a whopping 58'!" That's just not true given my 58 PSI and 11 GPM. With the 6mm nozzle I am actually getting about 45' when I tune in my coverage and around 8 GPM. So if you go up a couple lines you can infer that I may actually be performing around 29 PSI and around 8.5 GPM when the sprinkler is running.

How close is 8.5 GPM to my targeted 13 GPM? Why only 65% of course. How disappointing..........

Well not really because consider this.... What's a small hardware store impact output at my house? 4.5 GPM. So even though I didn't hit my target 13 GPM I am still running almost double what I was previously. That is still a big reduction in watering time, freeing me up to go do other things, as well as a way to get more water down in the morning before it gets windy. I just have to run it a little longer than that original 4 hours planned or guess what? I can run it for 3 hours twice a week and get down that 1". Or 4 hours twice a week and get a little more. It's a lot easier with so much more output than a standard impact even if it isn't the Super Sprinkler I probably made it out to be in my mind.

I will also mention that these impact drops are BIG and the coverage is probably not as fine as many lawn guys would like, myself included. I would never put this on a newly seeded area. So I figured, what the heck, and bought a RainBird Falcon 6504 head that is featured on the 1000R as well. It's coming in a couple days and I'll try to share some of my thoughts as well.

In summation: Did the 1000F perform at my house exactly like I expected to per the performance charts on the website? No. If you buy one, no matter what, you're going to have to play with the nozzles and do some testing and see what works best for you. Does the 1000F perform at a level that is an improvement over the hardware store impact I was using? Yes. Does is make watering take less time? Yes. Does it make truly hitting that 1" per week a lot easier? Yes. Would I recommend buying the 1000F to a lawn owner in a similar situation? I would recommend going with the 1000R right off the bat and I have not even tested it yet. The drops from this impact are so big along with the amount of water that is dropped at the head and the amount shot off by the arm. I think the 1000R would be a more appropriate and versatile LAWN sprinkler.

Hope this helps some people in their decision about a Big Sprinkler. Let me know if you have any questions and I'd love to share my thoughts. Please share your experiences if you have any.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Pete from GCI Turf doing a few videos this week on the Big Sprinklers and the different options they have. Let us know how the 100R works. I've always considered getting a big sprinkler but questioned how much better it would be for me. I think my PSI is around 60.


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## jbacker7 (Jun 29, 2021)

Hey, can someone move this to the Equipment Forum? Sorry for posting in the incorrect place.

I saw that, ksturfguy, in hindsight I'm sure the JumboSled with the Falcon head could be a great option too. Lot smaller footprint for storage and easier to haul around than this cart. Maybe I'll try to just buy a base if I really like this Falcon head.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@jbacker7 I moved this to the irrigation folder.

I did not read the whole post, but I did notice this part. 3/4 PEX and 11GPM

You should not exceed 7GPM on a 3/4 PEX. https://www.irrigationtutorials.com/gpm-psi-municipal-water-source/ the velocity is too much.


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## jbacker7 (Jun 29, 2021)

Thanks @g-man.

The 11 GPM was wide open out of 50' of 3/4" hose hooked to my spigot. I never run water like that especially not for extended periods of time.

With the sprinkler shooting a functional pattern at my desired distance of 40' the flow is closer to 8 GPM. Which does exceed 7 but it's not 11.

I'll report my max GPM with desirable pattern on the Falcon as well.

Good looking out @g-man


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

if the main from the city is 3/4 copper, I would invest in changing the 3/4 PEX to 1in PEX after the meter. It almost doubles your GPM.


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## jbacker7 (Jun 29, 2021)

I received my Rainbird Falcon 6504 head in the mail yesterday. My personal performance notes are as follows:

Setup: 50' of 3/4" Hose - 11 GPM wide open - 58 PSI at the end of the hose. I tested by placing a pressure gauge on the end of the hose and turning on the spigot. So 58 PSI at 0 flow. Then I filled a 5 gallon bucket, divided my time by 300, and got 11 GPM.

Falcon Nozzle #6 - Distance: ~40' - 50' depending on how you adjust your pattern. Flow: 5 GPM
Falcon Nozzle #8 - Distance: ~40' - 50' depending on how you adjust your pattern. Flow: 6 GPM
Falcon Nozzle #10 - Distance: ~40' - 50' depending on how you adjust your pattern. Flow: 7 GPM
Falcon Nozzle #12 - Distance: ~30' - 40'. This is where I could see the opening was too big for my setup. I had to manually lift the sprinkler head to start it and while the flow was heavy, the pressure was low, and the drops were big.

So I settled on using the #10 nozzle. It is a bit hard starting, seems like it may require a helping hand to pop up most times. We'll see if that spring loosens up at all as time goes on.

I am a big fan of this head, much moreso than the Sime Funny impact head featured on the 1000F.

Pros: Great coverage. Great droplet size. Easy to adjust the spray pattern and not get soaked.

Cons: Requires a screwdriver to make adjustments. Finer droplets are easily effected by the wind as I am discovering this morning.

Overall, I can say without a doubt if I was looking at a Big Sprinkler for my lawn I would choose a Rainbird Falcon rotary model over a Sime Funny impact model. The impact models drops are very big, the coverage is not as good as the Rainbird, and when it comes to making adjustments I just get soaked. However, it's still a good sprinkler and I'm happy to have it in my toolbox should the need arise because it will definitely do things this rotary head will not do (namely high wind). I will say that these sprinkler carts do place the head high off the ground (18"-24" to the center of the nozzle). I do look at this and wonder if it's high enough to create a dry spot directly beneath the sprinkler head. For that reason I am probably going to call Big Sprinkler and see if I can purchase a Jumbo Sled base without the head. I think that will ensure better coverage close to the head and also make this thing a lot easier to store and move around.

Like I said, I'm happy to own a setup for both the Rainbird Falcon and the Sime Funny impact head. In that order.

If I was going to recommend a Big Sprinkler product to you guys for your lawn I would probably recommend them in this order:

Low Flow and Low Pressure Users

1. Heavy Duty Sled Base with 3/4" Rotor - I saw Pete with GCI Turf had better luck with this rotor on his low flow / low pressure setup. https://www.bigsprinkler.com/catalog/lawn-garden/heavy-duty-sled-base-sprinklers/rotor-sprinkler-5-lb-weighted-sled-base

2. Heavy Duty Sled Base with Impact Head - I have 0 experience with this, but you can go watch GCI Turf's video on YouTube about it. https://www.bigsprinkler.com/catalog/lawn-garden/heavy-duty-sled-base-sprinklers/impact-sprinkler-5-lb-weighted-sled-base

Higher Flow and Higher Pressure Users

1. Jumbo Sled with Falcon Rotor - https://www.bigsprinkler.com/catalog/portable-sprinkler-stands/jumbo-heavy-duty-sled-base-sprinklers/jumbo-sled-base-rotor

2. 1000R Cart with Falcon Rotor - https://www.bigsprinkler.com/catalog/portable-sprinkler-stands/wheeled-sprinkler-carts/1000r-wheeled-sprinkler-cart. I don't know if the cart is really worth the weight and size to haul around and store for a regular lawn.

3. Jumbo Sled with Impact Head - https://www.bigsprinkler.com/catalog/portable-sprinkler-stands/jumbo-heavy-duty-sled-base-sprinklers/jumbo-sled-base-sprinkler. I rate this above the 1000F again because of the logistics with the cart in a home lawn. They feature the same head I believe.

4. 1000F with Impact Head - https://www.bigsprinkler.com/catalog/portable-sprinkler-stands/wheeled-sprinkler-carts/1000f-1-wheeled-sprinkler-cart

Hope this helps someone save some money. Let me know if you have any questions and please share your thoughts or experiences as well.


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## Vtx531 (Jul 1, 2019)

As long and detailed as this thread is- Why is there not one single pic of a sprinkler? :lol:


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## jbacker7 (Jun 29, 2021)

Haha I thought about it, but have you ever watched a video of a sprinkler or seen a picture of one running? What a let down....... Jumbo Sled should be here tomorrow. I'll post my thoughts on it as well.


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## jbacker7 (Jun 29, 2021)

I received my Jumbo Sled and installed the Falcon Rotor.

The performance is nearly identical to the 1000R. Maybe the distance is slightly less with the Jumbo Sled, I suppose because it's closer to the ground. I simply had to back out my "distance set screw" just a little bit when I put the head on the Jumbo Sled, not a huge deal. The flow in GPM is the same between the units.

Overall when it comes to the Jumbo Sled w/ Falcon Rotor vs. the 1000R I'd say the performance is close enough to be considered identical. When it comes to deciding between the two, your major consideration should probably be what is better for you to store / haul around. To me, for a residential lawn that would give the Jumbo Sled an edge. The Jumbo sled is also the cheaper option which is nice.

My recommendations above still stand.

And for @Vtx531, here are some pictures of my lawn and a sprinkler. It's a work in progress. (My lawn and photography skills)


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## jbacker7 (Jun 29, 2021)

*Update as of 8/26/2021*

I have completed my overseed and am returning to my routine watering twice a week. I have some thoughts that are worth sharing in regards to overseeding and specifically using a battery powered timer with each sprinkler. Please remember that these are my subjective opinions and they are subject to change from my initial post as I gain experience with these sprinklers.

1000R Use with Battery Timer

In my inital post I sang the praises of the 1000R and the Jumbo Sled with the Rainbird 6504. I am not totally contradicting those thoughts, but I do have to share that when using a battery powered timer, I found that my flow was restricted enough to not allow the Rainbird 6504 to pop up in the 1000R configuration or screwed onto the Jumbo Sled. Being unable to use an expensive sprinkler for a crucial lawn care operation (seeding / overseeding) was a bit disheartening. It's a great sprinkler and works well for me directly hooked up to the spigot, but not being able to use it for seeding or overseeding with a battery powered timer is really tough. I feel really let down in my time of need. To be clear, that is not the sprinkler's fault as I am asking it to run with less flow and pressure than I can give it. It is my fault that the sprinkler is not performing the way I want it to. However, I did feel obligated to come back here and share my thoughts with anyone interested so they can understand this risk before purchasing. It is very likely that if you are a residential homeowner trying to use this sprinkler for everything like I have that you might not have the flow / pressure it needs to work 100% of the time.

1000F Use With Battery Timer

The old, dependable impact came through for me yet again. Using this sprinkler with a battery timer that restricted flow was a non-issue. I was able to use the smallest nozzle size it came with and still achieve the distance I needed and more while still putting out an acceptable volume of water. I did have to go down a nozzle size from the 6 I was using, but that is really not a big deal. This was a great asset to have for my overseed, however, I'm still scared of the large drop size on a complete renovation. Maybe time will tell how it will work. I just don't know for now so I can't comment.

Overall Thoughts as of 08/26/2021: While the Rainbird Falcon 6504 models do offer smaller drop size and probably more even coverage, the spray is drastically effected by the wind and it takes as much flow as you can get from a residential spigot to pop it up. I can not recommend using the Rainbird Falcon 6504 models with a battery timer. This head is great when all the stars line up for a homeowner, and you have perfect conditions, but it may not be the dependable standby that will serve a homeowner best. On the other hand, the 1000F, proved to me yet again why I am such a fan of impact sprinklers. They are infinitely adjustable (especially with all the nozzle sizes Big Sprinkler sends with the 1000F), they can spray into the wind better because of their larger droplet size, and there is no issue with failure to pop up. As of today, my personal preferences are ordered as follows:

1. 1000F - The option that is going to offer you the most power and versatility. It is pretty bulky.
2. Jumbo Sled w/ Sime Funny Impact Head - A slightly less powerful option still with great versatility, but compact.
3. Jumbo Sled w/ Rainbird 6504 - Nice and compact. Great coverage. Good versatility. Will not perform with a timer. Takes a certain amount of flow to pop up.
4. 1000R - Same as Jumbo Sled w/ Rainbird 6504 but pretty bulky.

Again, I know this is a change from what I have posted above. I have gained a considerable amount more experience with these sprinklers and I want to document it so you can be as informed as possible, understand the pros and cons of each product, and buy what will work best for you.


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## TurFMuncheR8 (Jun 22, 2021)

jbacker7 said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> I recently purchased a Big Sprinkler 1000F and wanted to share my testing experiences and numbers to support my findings. I was unable to find this type of a write-up from a residential user and hope that this will help some people out.
> 
> ...


You'll notice a difference between 5/8 hose and 3/4 hose if your water main coming to your house is large enough. I had a 1.5 inch put in (which is used mostly for multi unit buildings around here) because at the time, I figured why not. 1 in is the norm but if we already had things torn up, do the 1.5. Now, I can run two 100 ft lengths of hose plus whatever is running inside the house with zero drop in pressure noticed.


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