Rainbird Select Contractor Trip in January.

[hoskm01]

Originally Posted by Tom Tom

..........esp-smx?

Thats what I was thinking. Maybe more?

[Mike Leary]

Originally Posted by hoskm01

Im a big fan of the 5000, especially with the PRS. Prob my favorite head.

The fact that it will retro into the "T-Bird" bodies is a plus.

[hoskm01]

Originally Posted by Mike Leary

The fact that it will retro into the "T-Bird" bodies is a plus.

Yes. And the UPG to retro to PGP's is nice too.

[Mike Leary]

Originally Posted by hoskm01

Yes. And the UPG to retro to PGP's is nice too.

Only pikers use PGPs.

[hoskm01]

Originally Posted by Mike Leary

Only pikers use PGPs.

Hence my retrofications with 5k's.

[Mike Leary]

Originally Posted by hoskm01

Hence my retrofications.

Nice sentence structure!

[hoskm01]

Originally Posted by Mike Leary

Nice sentence structure!

My creative word juices were flowing.

[allinearth]

I would love to use more rainbird for the fly ins, etc but I jst can't bring myself to do it. They were nice enough to send me to Tuscon a few years ago. The trip was as others described. Just don't think they have the best product most of the time. Plus home depot sells them.

[hoskm01]

Originally Posted by Earthworker

I would love to use more rainbird for the fly ins, etc but I jst can't bring myself to do it. They were nice enough to send me to Tuscon a few years ago. The trip was as others described. Just don't think they have the best product most of the time. Plus home depot sells them.

They sell a different line at HomeDepot. We dont buy at Homedepot, and RB wont recognize anyone for buying at HD.

At any rate, I like RB quite well. We will always have a split jury on RB vs. Hunter.

What is your "best product"?

[JimLewis]

Well, we all just have to agree to disagree on the "best product" thing. I'm convinced RB has the best product in most areas and at least equal product in the rest. But that's subjective.

I agree with the home depot thing. That used to really bug me. But the thing is most of the stuff they are selling there is a sub-standard version of the good stuff we sell. And yah, it sucks to think that a client doesn't "need" us to get their heads. But you know what? There are always going to be do-it-yourselfers. There were before RB was avail. in HD and there will be in the future. And do-it-yourselfers are going to find a way to do it themself without hiring a contractor anyway. So if they have a system that has all hunter pro-sprays and they take one out to replace it and go to HD to find one, and one isn't there - it's not like they're going to just drive back home and wait until Monday to call an Irrigation Contractor to go get one for them. What they're going to do is ask for help and the guy there is just going to say, "You know what? Any old spray head will do. You don't HAVE to replace it with the same brand. Just use this RB or Toro spray head. You'll be fine."

And before RB was selling their stuff at HD, the same stuff was happening to them. People would go to HD to find a replacement head and the guy there would say, "Oh, you don't have to replace it with the same brand. All spray heads are the same. Just use this Toro or Weathermatic spray head."

The thing is - you gotta realize that there are two types of homeowners;

1) Those who will do it themselves and
2) Those who don't want to mess with it, and will hire a contractor.

The people in category 2 are the ones we're all working for. And their numbers didn't change when RB started selling heads at HD. The people in category 2 still don't wanna mess with it. Doesn't matter if they can buy it at HD or not.

Sometimes we imagine that it makes a big difference, when it really doesn't. It's not like all the people in category 2 were all of a sudden jumping up and down when they started selling RB at home depot, saying, "YES!!! They sell Rainbird now! I can quit calling that irrigation tech. I know and start doing all this myself!!!" That's not happening. At least not very much. So we all really have nothing to worry about.

And when you think about it, one of RB's best qualities is their name recognition. EVERYONE knows that name. So if you're selling RB products, it really lends you a lot of credibility to be selling a name everyone knows. And adding RB to the HD line just further reinforces the brand imaging that RB already had. So it's actually a good thing. The more people see the RB name everywhere, the more sought after they will become. And the more sought after RB stuff is, the easier it is to sell. So it actually helps us in that way.

My 2 cents.....just a different way to look at it.