I'm in the market for a new sprinkler and don't want to buy some junk one that doesn't work well.
I was looking at a tripod sprinkler but the ones that I could find in town got some pretty mixed reviews.

http://www.amazon.com/Orbit-58288-3-Arm-High-Rise-Sprinkler/dp/B001RCTX4E/ref=sr_1_1?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1343701316&sr=1-1&keywords=telescoping+sprinkler

This one caught my eye as the design of the sprinkler mechanism looks to be more robust than the relatively complicated typical sprinkler head.
The thing I don't like is that it's not a tri-pod design and I could see it tipping over, especially as the soil around the base becomes saturated but id does get really good reviews.
And it is about half the price as the others.

I have always liked the quality of the Rain Bird products. I rigged up my own sprinkler stand using one of their impact head sprinklers and some PVC.

If you look in Lowes or something like it, the sprinkler and threaded adapter should be in the same section. Then I headed over to the PVC isle and got a length of pipe, an elbow, and a garden hose adapter. I glued the PVC together, mounted the sprinkler on top, then zipped tied it to a T-post. By adjusting the color coded nozzle and screwing in the little impact part, I was able to adjust the spray to get decent coverage on my garden (which is about 30x50ft, so just a little overspray on the sides.)

http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?partNumber=8523-147-P5-R+PLUS&langId=-1&storeId=10151&productId=3104409&catalogId=10051&cmRelshp=req&rel=nofollow&cId=PDIO1

I was reading one of my homesteading books last night and it talked about a few different methods of watering and the author thought the western notion of spending money to throw water into the air only to let it fall
back down again was a bit silly and to me his logic makes sense. That got me into looking at drip irrigation which led me to some crazy pvc contraptions.
It definitely looks dooable but also a big time sink and huge pain in the ass. I was also looking at using T Tape.
There was a Utah State University study done about drip irrigation
that claimed up to 75% reduction in water usage as well as a 90% reduction in time spent watering and weeding as less weeds grow because you are not watering the entire garden.

My goal is to be as self sufficient as possible someday and a system like this would work well with my windmill/well watering setup I wan't to have at some point as it operates at low pressures.

ones i used in aircraft hangars worked pretty good

AFFF 3% @175PSI

i have a combination of rotors, spray, and drip irrigation. rotors cover an assload of area, spray is best for shrub areas, and drip puts the water right where it's needed at the base of the plant. i don't see a lot of application overlap. you can't drip irrigate large areas efficiently.

ar-jedi