5 hours is about right with most oscillating sprinklers. They're not very fast, and most hoses deliver around 6 gallons per minute at good pressure (you can get more than that, but the pressure drops a lot).

I do have one sprinkler I cobbled together out of a spare riser and bits and pieces that delivers 1" of water an hour. However, it only does so over a 15' radius circle. The trade-off for speed of delivery is always a smaller area.

So 0.20 hours (or a bit more) is completely normal with most wide-range oscillating sprinklers. Even my irrigation system requires 3 hours to put down an inch across a zone.

My oscillator with my water pressure and my hose takes 8 hours to fill the cans. You're doing it right. One of the things I really like about the oscillator is that it does not provide a drenching flood of water that will run off before it soaks in.

The main argument against oscillators is that it throws a stream of tiny drops way up in the air and it evaporates before it gets to the ground. Bullsheets. They all do that to some extent. At a university they might be able to measure that. At home you just water for 10 seconds longer to make up for any loss.

Thx for the responses. I am blown away... I really thought I was doing something wrong. I can't believe I have to water that long. I have a corner lot house with about 5000 square feet of grass to water.

With two hoses and two sprinklers I'm looking at 20 hours of watering? I can't run the two sprinklers at the same time. .Ayeyeye.

{{gwi:107178}}

I use this sprinkler. I absolutely love it because of it's flexibility. I can water any area of my lawn without wasting water. When I have it set to get maximum coverage like I do when watering my back yard, it takes a solid 4 - 5 hours easily. When I water strips on the side of my house I adjust the travel, width, and pressure and it doesn't take nearly as long. At first I thought something was wrong and was ready to take it back and get an impact sprinkler. However, I talked to someone who basically said the same thing dchall said. The fact it takes so long means I won't have run off and the water can really soak into the ground.

Good luck!!

I have four of those sprinklers. One says Ace, another says Vigoro, the others have other names on them. Those are my workhorse sprinklers. The only adjustments I use are the side to side limiters. After a few years the outer plastic skids crack, but the sprinkler still works! And after a few years the little yellow plastic nozzles seem to deteriorate...but the sprinkler still works. Love that thing. It's about $20 no matter if you get it at Walmart or somewhere else.

Yup. It takes that long time! I used to use them a lot at first. I'd use several ones running at the same time over night and be done when I wake up.

The only downside is that it is very susceptible to high winds and I get it quite often in the spring in Dallas-Ft Worth area where I used to live. It's much less calmer nearby Austin as far as I can tell. Sometimes trees get in the way as they get larger and larger depending on the locations.

It's excellent one to slowly soak compacted soil. I stopped using it because I got tired of waiting for high winds to go away so I could use those sprinklers.

I use DrammTurret Sprinkler now (the swirly pattern in the middle is what I often use). No misting, just mainly heavy droplets. It's hard to find one like that.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dramm Turret Sprinkler