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Watering Equipment – Reviews

Before I bought my house I thought cats went in a litterbox. Well some do, but my yard is apparently more appealing to Leo, my neighbor’s cat, who is old and incontinent.

If you are reading this you know that none of the sprays, repellants, etc do anything at all and should be removed from the market. But dog-gonnit, the Scarecrow works.

There are a few minor things you should know, however. First, if you care about the Scarecrow leaking, be sure to assemble the unit with Teflon tape. Second, the Scarecrow is entirely plastic, right down to the spike that you drive into the ground. Not a big deal perhaps, but if your ground is hard you won’t be hammering the Scarecrow into the dirt. Finally, if your yard is good sized you’ll probably need two so crap avoidance has its price.

–And don’t forget to run your hose in such a way that you can turn the water off before you approach the Scarecrow, because it will spray anything in its path; birds, the mailman, anything. This raises some interesting possibilities if you are plagued by door to door salesmen.

Rachel Baby

My husband and I were very disappointed to see that neighborhood rabbits had eaten our bean and pea plants to the stem after only two days of being in the ground. We wanted to keep the rabbits out of the garden area without chemicals, unsightly chicken wire, or traps. We purchased the scarecrow and absolutely love it! After replanting, our bean and pea plants are healthy and growing. The scarecrow seems to be doing its job of letting the rabbits know they are not welcome in the garden area. I have told friends and family about our happy results. I would recommend this item to anyone looking for a solution to unwanted intruders.

BAM

First off I would tell anyone that this product truly works. If you have any hesitation, my review along with all the others should be proof enough.

I purchased the Scarecrow Sprinkler last year after coming back from vacation to find a brand new shade garden I had planted completely decimated by local deer. We have a family of about 8 deer that I try to keep away, but my neighbors have other agendas. They “feed” the deer with corn which attracts them and frustrates me more and more [if Contech invents a neighbor deterrent, please let me know ]

After mourning the $500+ I lost in plants and shrubs, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I started with “deer-b-gone” or some sort of “organic” deer repellant. It washes away, isn’t cheap, smells bad and flat out doesn’t work.

I then came across the Scarecrow and decided to give it the old “college try”. Well folks, IT WORKS. No more deer, but uh-oh a flaw. Just like others, you have to remember that the Scarecrow is there or “BAM” YOU WILL GET HIT WITH A BLAST OF WATER. It has gotten me, my kids, my wife, a landscaper, our exterminator and one of our neighbors.

LADIES and GENTS..I have the solution to this problem!!!!!
What I realized is that the deer only do their dirty work from dusk to dawn. I thought what if I can get my sprinkler to only work during those hours and shut off during the day. Then I researched to see if there was a water timer that allowed for extended watering times. Say hello to this Orbit timer from Amazon.com Orbit Lawn & Garden Hose Digital Watering Timer And Valve #62001to use in conjunction with the sprinkler. It has completely flexible functions that allow the water to only turn on from say 8 pm to 8 am. It only turns on the water flow to the sprinkler. It will only use the water if the sprinkler motion sensor is set off so no wasted water. At 8 am, the timer turns off the water flow and NO ACCIDENTAL MIDDAY SHOWERS!! Then it kicks back on at 8 pm for another night of protection. These are the times I used but I may need to adjust a bit since I do sometimes make early or late strolls through my garden. You can set to whatever times you need to have it on and off based on your own situation.

So there you have it. Use this product in conjunction with a flexible timer and you get the benefit of excellent deer/pest protection while avoiding many of the minor flaws mentioned in other reviews.

Thomas Trenchard

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Watering Equipment – Reviews


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Watering Equipment – Reviews

I have only had this item for about two weeks but it is working out great. I believe the product is well built and it does exactly what it intends to do. I like to call it my poor man’s sprinkler system. It works just as well as a sprinkler system since I hid my hose under my xeri-scaped rock bed. Just be sure to buy a “Y” valve for the faucet so you can still have a hose attached that you can water stuff on your own. I also like the manual setting where you can just push the button and change the amount of time whenever you want if you just put seed down,etc. to help moisten the area immediately. I will recommend this to all my friends.

J. Mullick

I have a Gilmour 9400 and like it, but thought I’d try this since it was cheaper. I like it better than I expected. Much simpler. Don’t need to read the manual to use it. You can program the time of day for it to water and duration, but you can’t program specific days. You pick how many days a week to water. It assumes you want the first day of watering to be the day you set it. So if you set it to one day a week it will water today and then 7 days from now.

As with all water timers, make sure you bring it in during the winter or it probably will be leaking all over the place next year.

Chris Marx

Perfect item! Surprisingly solid design for the price. Simple navigation. Enough settings, but not too much to make it too complicated.

Previously I purchased one item to test on my back yard, then after using it for a few weeks, I decided to purchase the same model for my front yard. Now I don’t have to worry about watering.

I thought it would be useful to give a few more details about watering options:

HOW LONG: 0 – 240 minutes with 1 minute interval.

HOW OFTEN: every 6 hours, 12 hours, 1 day, 2 days, 3 days, 4 days, 5 days, 6 days, 7 days.

MANUAL: 0 – 240 minutes with 1 minute interval.

Manual mode is managed by a dedicated button, so using it does not affect your automatic settings and they remain unchanged.

When set to start in manual mode, it gives a few seconds before starting. I find it quite useful as my hose outlet is on the other side of the yard, and I have enough time to get of the way.

I used this timer for about a month, so it is hard to say if it will last long. But considering how it appears, I have a strong feeling that it will. Overall I am impressed and can strongly recommend this item to others.

P.S. This is my first review on Amazon, I just thought this product deserves a few minutes to tell people about.

Craig Garner

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Watering Equipment – Reviews
No reviews available for this item.

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Watering Equipment – Reviews

When they say “if you have a problem with your Flexgen hose, simply cut off both ends and send them post paid, along with your name, address, and length of the hose to Gilmour, and they will send you a new one free” they really mean it. I received a new replacement hose in ten days. They even paid UPS charges!

Emeritusx

I’ve a great big landscaped yard.

I own nearly a quarter mile of hose of almost every description. I’ve gotten good service from almost every brand – but only consistently good service from two; Craftsman all rubber, and Gilmore Flexogen. Ergo, those two are all I buy anymore.

I’m obsessively intolerant of leaks anywhere.

The Flexogen hose is the lightest and easiest to handle hose I own. The Craftsman may be a tad more durable, but being black, gets a bit warm in the hot sun.

I’m sure I’m at least partly wrong, but most of the complaints I’ve read here sound more like operator head space and timing problems than a problem with the hose. I’ve some over six years old and never had the need to test the guarantee.

To mitigate tangling problems with any hose, I suggest using 50′ lengths and LR Nelson’s Brass Quick Connectors (I also gave 5 stars). Further, I discourage tugging on a hose to get to that “last flowerbed.” An extra section of hose is much cheaper than what the plumber is going to charge to replace broken hose bib pipes. I always leave a little loop of hose next to the bib and won’t allow myself to pull hard enough to remove the loop.

If you place any hose on concrete and run over it, sooner or later, it will fail. I don’t treat my stuff that way.

I just ordered two more Gilmore Flexogen hoses from Amazon to replace another brand that age has made a bit brittle. Good price, free shipping. What’s not to like?

Stephanie Manley

I do own this hose, it’s fine, holds up well. But I’m writing in response to the cancer references. Please, do some research before you write comments! When I looked on Google:water hose cancer, I found the information I need to know when buying water hoses from any manufacturer.

The warning for this hose is there because of California’s Proposition 65. Proposition 65 limits exposure to chemicals that are identified by the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm. These chemicals or elements may be naturally occurring or synthetic. Not all manufacturers are listing this specific warning, but those that sell their products in CA are required to. They all list whether or not the hose is safe to drink from.

ALL non-drinking water safe hoses carry two potential elements that put them into this category: brass (if they have brass fittings) and lead that leaches from the hose into the water.

The following is from an ABC News Report:
"Consumer Reports says the problem is that many hoses are made of polyvinyl chloride, which uses lead as a stabilizer. That lead can leach into the water." "In all, Consumer Reports checked 16 different hoses to see how much lead could leach into the water. Testers cut off two-foot sections, then the hose sections were filled with water and plugged. They went into an oven overnight to simulate a day out in the hot sun, and afterwards, chemists analyzed the water.

Consumer Reports’ Jim Nanni says some had very high levels of lead, "In some of the hoses, we measured 10 to 100 times more lead than the government considers safe coming a faucet."

However, the hoses that were labeled safe to drink lived up to their claim, leaching only minuscule amounts of lead.

To be safe, Consumer Reports says before you drink from a hose, let it run for a minute or so. That will flush out any water that could have been contaminated by lead."

There are other reasons to not drink water from a hose as well, unless it is a hose labeled "drinking water safe." This type of hose is sold for the use on boats and campers.

kevinthomas

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Watering Equipment – Reviews

The best part of these is that they are brass and not plastic. They are very heavy duty and do exactly what they are supposed to do. The only drawback is that they are not interchangable with other types of quick connect fittings. That said, I purchased a whole bunch of these (they sell a two-pack of male fittings – you will need more of those). Female attach to the spigot and male attach to your various sprinklers and nozzles.

The number one rule is that plastic and hose fittings dont go together. Plastic threads will fall apart VERY quickly – stick to brass fittings.

I am very impressed with this.

Mary Elizabeth

If you need a quick connect/disconnect fitting, these are the units to get. Solid brass, not the cheap plastic knock-off look alike you might have seen. These really last. I use them at home and on my RV for connecting the water supply. Totally leak proof.

Update – December 2009

These all brass unit get all stars. I have used them for years and have never had an issue/problem with any of them. I also use them on my RV water connection. I leave the male end always connected to the RV water line input connection. I leave the female connected to the water hose I use to connect to the RV park water faucet. To protect the RV male connection when not in use, I adapted an extra Nelson Brass Hose ‘female’ Quick Connector end with a cap screwed into it to keep the connection clean. Zero leaking connections and this makes it far easier hook-up to the RV park water.

I tried cheaper units and some of the plastic (?) rubber (?) units. Garbage. These are 100% quality and you can not beat the price.

B. Lee

We have 3 different faucets and maybe 10 various watering attachments and we use these at every point of connection. They are sometimes hard to find locally so I stock up in case they ever quit marketing these brass connectors.

I use a pair of plumbers wrenches and fresh washers when I intially set them up and then they are trouble free.

dgilliam

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Watering Equipment – Reviews


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Featuring 7 different spray patterns, this Orbit water sprayer has soft-dial turret guard. Constructed with an insulated hand grip, operating this turret hose water pistol works with hot or cold water. With an easy-to-use rear trigger, water flow is easily controlled for optimal lawn or garden watering. Made of durable plastic, this Orbit garden hose nozzle sprayer is built to last for many years. This water turret spray nozzle is effective and simple to use.

Features and Benefits

• Contoured comfort grip is insulated
• Rear trigger allows for more economical watering
• Sturdy plastic construction allows for years of water spraying
• Soft-dial turret guard makes adjusting 7 different spray patterns effortless

Soft dial turret guard
Contoured grip for comfort fit
7 patterns for individual watering needs
Insulated hand grip helps prevent hot or cold handle

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Watering Equipment – Reviews


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Watering Equipment – Reviews

I’ve used this nozzle for about a year with super results. My outside water pressure is close to 90 pounds PSI and will blow most nozzles apart. I do recommend removing nozzle during freezing weather since ice can rupture the interior movement. Nelson replaced mine at no charge. Great product!

V. Gibson

For those of you that break everything that isn’t metal, this is the sprayer for you!! Unfortunately, I’m on my second one since the first one was run over by my wife in her 4-Runner. Amazingly, it still worked but the handle was bent over so badly it would not turn on or off all the way. In the unlikely event of a roof fire, it shoots so far that you probably won’t need a fire department because you’ll be able to put the fire out yourself. (Please call the fire department anyways.) Great for washing the car. You conserve water and blast away dirt w/o a pressure washer. Just be careful when watering plants, it’s stupidly powerful and can blow the dirt away. Have fun!!

R. Reed

I saw one of these at Sams club one day for $9.95, and picked it up on a whim. It works great. Not only is it higher volume than the typical sprayer, it also separates the volume control from the spray pattern. This is because the tip turns to change the spray pattern, and there is a separate valve to turn it on/off. So you can set the spray pattern to what you want, then control the volume with the valve. It makes it easy to quickly water flowers without beating them up.

The only problem is, my wife keeps taking it to the back yard hose, so I have to go get it every time I wash the car.

Brian Pattison

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