Biggest Issue I see with your lawn is the slope. The Spreader Mate definitely makes the spreader top heavy. The issue I have in my lawn is the shape. It's great for square/rectangular areas but I have long arc/triangular areas due to my u-shaped driveway. This makes it difficult to use for me because I can either overlap too much, miss areas, or ignore the driveway and apply chemical straight over it. I don't see any areas like that in your pictures but if you have something similar in other areas of your lawn, it is something to consider.

 

Good point @bmac1996acc. I might have a few challenges like that but luckily my yard is mostly "squared off". I do have some slope in the back yard due to a drainage easement but it's mostly flat outside of that.

Thinking I might have to be strategic and just do the front yard/sloped area, with less than a full tank so it doesn't topple over. 🤷‍♂️

 

I don't see any issue with using a Spreader Mate/Lesco on your lawn. I have used one for the past several years and I have areas that are far steeper than your front yard.

Your yard is the perfect size for the a single fill of the spray tank at about 1 ga/M rate. Highly recommend. You will see that I recently sold mine on here, but that was only to move to a larger machine as I am managing a lot more turf now.

 

Was planning on the boom version with the 5gpm pump based on the research I've done.

This is my preferred configuration. 5 GPM gives a bit more flexibility on nozzle choice, especially if you want to up the application rate to more than 1 gal / 1M. The reduced battery life will be negligable, especially on 8M of turf. (I do > 1 acre with mine on a single charge, plus mixing and cleanout.) The boom is pretty hard to beat. Folds, nozzles are individually controllable (on/off) and parts are easy to get. My front and side lawns are pretty steep. Worst case, hit that strip with it at about 50% capacity in the tank and knock it out in 1-2 passes.

Pro-tip: In tight/narrow areas, or where you might want to spray lengthwise along those swales, fold the boom, and run just the two center nozzles. If the boom is not able to stay parallel to the ground, the outer nozzles can get too high/low and adversely affect coverage.

Pro-tip 2: Zip tie some chains off the ends of the boom for row markers.

Lesco 80lb Spreader + Gregson-Clark Spreader-Mate | Page 16 | Lawn Care Forum (thelawnforum.com)

 

Thanks for the tips/info! I haven't pulled the trigger yet but probably still will. Only negative for my situation is I have two different strains of Bermuda (419 and tahoma 31) for my front and back yard. So different rates of PGR for each. If it was all the same and I could do the entire yard in one fill, I'd 100% have pulled the trigger already.

Even with that, I know there are plenty of other uses and positives with it so I'll probably still pull the trigger soon.

 

Very tempted to pull the trigger on one of these. My yard is only about 8k square feet but I really do not enjoy spraying with the backpack sprayer. Sure seems like the GC will make that process a good bit easier.

My front yard has a bit of a slope (but small at only 2k sqft +/-). Wanted to see if anyone thought that it wouldn't be very compatible to use with the GC?

I welcome any thoughts or recommendations? It's obviously an expensive purchase so I want to make sure I'm not going to regret it. I do already have the Lesco 80lb spreader at least.

Was planning on the boom version with the 5gpm pump based on the research I've done.

Thanks!

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Zero issues I see with the spreader mate here. I have a similar slope, while a full sprayer can get heavy, I think you’ll learn the path and such as you go. If your front is smaller and a full 8 gallons is too much, you can split your blend and do it twice.

as for odd areas, it’s not really the sprayers fault, none are going to fix having triangular areas or soft turns that aren’t straight. That’s user error/input and again, you’ll learn as you go.

I have 6500 and I absolutely hated spraying until I got minea few years back. Now I just hate mixing and measuring it all up, spraying is the easy part!

 

spraying is the easy part!

Exactly!

 

Anyone have a bead on the gaskets for the banjo strainer ? Mine is in pretty rough shape. It’s the 1/2 inch banjo with the clear bowl. I’m not finding it on GCs website and the ones I bought thinking it would work, will not. I have $30 in orings and shipping and nothing to show for.