I'm not going "low water/low maintenance" so please keep that in mind. In other words, I want to keep my sprinklers.

I have 9 stations with half a dozen (give or take) heads on my property.

I live in sunny southern California. Seems like I'm always replacing heads that have cracked failed. Either the shaft that pops up and/or the retaining head/cap. I don't mind pay once, cry once.

So what do you suggest?

Plastic or brass?

Brass.

By all accounts brass should last longer. Kind of like comparing my 1911 from WW1 to a glock. Not sure I want to shoot a glock that is 100 years old.

Plastic, especially that baked in the sun over time, has a limited life span. Is there a quality plastic that would hold up like brass? Probably, by why would a manufacturer make such a product? Costs more, sells fewer. Let them break - customer comes back for more.

Depends on the water. My parents have a well and something in the water kills the brass or zinc sprinkler heads. They corrode and stop working in 6 to 9 months. The plastice ones last for years (at least 5) in the Florida sun. These are the above ground rotary flipper types. The plastic pop ups, both rotary and spray, are going on 18 years with occasional replacements because the lawn guys run them over.

Plastic for sure. Brass is yesteryear technology when it comes to irrigation. Virtually everything is plastic.

We had a large yard with an obscene amount of inground sprinklers as per the design instructions on the sprinkler website.......never again. Hate digging up these things and replacing parts etc. when they break....and they do break.

Next move we're going to put in 4 above ground oscillating sprinklers that will cover a large area just like the old days.

Sounds like you used the wrong sprinklers M.Ten

I’ve got both, 12 zones covering almost 3 acres. 1/2 inch adaptrrs on 3/4 inch pipe, 95% Rainbird brand. I seem to replace them at an equal rate so I buy whichever is cheapest at Lowes.

Our in-ground sprinkler system is nearly nineteen years old. Eight zones. Hunter plastic pop-up oscillating and mist heads throughout. About two dozen or so are 3 GPM oscillating heads. I still have maybe a half-dozen of those that are the original heads.

The ones that have failed have usually been one of three causes: Physical damage, leaking seal around the pop-up cylinder, stops oscillating.

During the spring through fall months, essentially about as soon as the ground thaws until just before it starts freezing, the system runs up to three times per week. Normal schedule is about four hours for all eight zones.

I get them going and replace malfunctioning heads in spring. (As soon as it gets warm enough to play in the mud and water, anyway.) We pay professionals to blow the system our in fall.

S**T ton of info guys. Not giving into xeriscape yet. I'm going to try brass for now and see where that takes me.

I have 24 zones that cover 2 acres and consist of about 175 Hunter heads. They are PJP and PJG heads. The system is run every other day from May to Sept.

I usually replace 4-5 heads a year due to various reasons.
Mike