Orbit 56281 Oscillating Water Sprinkler for Lawn and Garden with Metal Base and Custom Pattern Dial (Waters up to 4,000 Square Feet)

Wow. I own two of these now and use them for deep watering my grass. We have an irrigation system but about every two weeks I put these sprinklers on (back and front) and water my lawn deeply (for about 2-3 hours). (I live in the desert and grass requires more water than I want to run through the irrigation system as our system uses drops for the gardens and heads for the grass, and I don't always need to water the gardens.) TruGreen Chemlawn provides the fertilizer, etc., that my law needs and the representatives that come continually comment on the quality, thickness, and lush green look of my grass (and no weeds!). These sprinklers make huge arcs, and are sturdily made (not all plastic), and don't leak at the connection. Also, their little water spouts work great, no water spouting off in weird directions (like toward my windows!). The adjustability of the "arc" is great as sometimes I want to water a half a yard/garden at the time, but also keep from sprinkling my neighbors dirt. I recommend.

There is another sprinkler I prefer to this one, but the one I prefer is very unreliable. I won't even mention the name, because it doesn't deserve the publicity. This sprinkler, however, is solid. Good coverage. Easy to adjust the spray to get overlooked areas. I've ordered two, and they have both worked perfectly. Not a problem, nor a glitch. A good, solid, well-constructed sprinkler that has yet to let me down. I'm using the pair on a lawn that was started from scratch after a year of construction killed every blade of grass on the lot, and our yard has returned remarkably fast. The landscaper was shocked to come by, after a week, and see how far the lawn had come, and a great deal of the credit goes to these two sprinklers. They've been great. Rocked the job. And I suspect they will endure for many years of yard maintenance, as they are of seemingly very solid construction. I would not hesitate to buy again, to recommend, to praise to the heavens (though I suppose to the Earth, seems more apropos.) No hesitation. A great sprinkler.

Returned item. I had this item in the past, purchased elsewhere. The water flow and direction are good. It covered a large area.

I bought a similar one from this manufacturer years ago and really love how well it still works and I love the features on it e.g. I can control how wide it sprinkles and can turn on and off individual nozzles. I wanted a second sprinkler but they no longer make the one I have so I got this one. It is as sturdily made as my old one I have but I can no longer adjust it in as small an increment. And there is no longer the feature of shutting off individual water nozzle.

This was my 2nd time trying this model Orbit oscillating sprinkler, after having a cheap Melnor one. Every one of them stopped oscillating at some point, which basically makes the sprinkler useless. I should have known better to buy this same one again, I thought maybe the first one was just a fluke since otherwise the sprinkler seems pretty durable and well-built. Plus it's a decent price, the first one had worked fine for a year or so, and I could use the old one to replace any broken spray nozzles etc. But alas, it seems "not oscillating" is a feature, not a bug for Orbit. The worst thing is it works more often than not, once you whack it a few times. But if you leave it run for a few hours as I normally do, I've twice now come back to a stationary sprinkler and a flooded portion of my garden. Otherwise it does its other functions fine. The adjustability is adequate. It has a good heavy base to keep it in place. I just wish I knew, how much do I need to pay for a sprinkler that actually oscillates as it says it does. $50? $100? At this point I might pay it, if someone would just tell me. This Orbit one is a good price, but I've often said "there's no limit to how cheap something can be, if it doesn't have to work." UPDATE - 8/17/22: I got a replacement unit from Orbit under warranty. But it has the exact same problem, even from the first time using it. Now I have 2 sprinklers that both get stuck in one position. Maybe if I get 2 or 3 more, I can set up a an array of multiple stationary sprinklers to cover my entire garden :). Or maybe Orbit needs to figure out the real problem here. I believe there is some problem with too much slop or backlash in the red adjustment levers, they get pushed slightly out of position when the internal oscillation switch contacts them, then the switch doesn't trip or partially trips, and the motor gets stuck. When it's stuck, touching the adjustment lever even slightly trips the switch and it starts moving, until it gets stuck again. On the upside - Orbit's warranty replacement is super easy. They send a replacement, and you don't need to ship back the defective unit or wait for a replacement. Nice job on their part. Too bad they need to use the warranty process so often. UPDATE - 7/14/25: I've now got a cadre of 4 non-working sprinklers, since Orbit keeps sending me new ones that still don't work. Since I could, I tore apart the first one to try to diagnose why it gets stuck oscillating. (Note - you can't do this without destroying the sprinkler.) My conclusion - DON'T BUY THESE ORBIT SPRINKLERS. They design the exterior frame to look durable with die-cast metal, but all the interior mechanism is cheap plastic gears and switch dogs. It is nowhere near as robust as it looks on the outside. The oscillation control relies on a plastic switch dog (attached to the red levers you can adjust), contacting a tiny plastic toggle lever. That toggle lever switches the direction of the gear motion. But the toggle lever often gets stuck partially toggled, which then means the gears aren't moving at all. Tap the red lever just a bit and the toggle switch will kick over and start moving again. It's likely a tolerance stackup issue with the multiple plastic pieces of that mechanism that don't quite align perfectly. Shame on this company for trying to pass off their product as super durable and robust, when in the end it's just cheap plastic in every way that really matters.

I used this sprinkler to water my lawn and it worked beautifully. It was easy to adjust and I look forward to watering my yard with it for years to come. The price was excellent and I selected the metal sprinkler so I don’t have to worry about being able to use it for just a few years. This sprinkler should last a long time, so it was an excellent choice for a good price.

Solid and durable. It’s the second one I’ve owned in twenty years.

Works great, adjustment is easy and it is sturdy

Great high quality sprinkler, metal so it should last forever. Highly reccommend paying the extra for a good one.

Great quality, exactly what I needed, something that worked consisrently as expected ,