Rain Bird BVAL50-1S Drip Irrigation 1/2" Barbed Valve, Male x Male

This review is for a variety of products all in one. This spring (2013) my wife and I put in 2 4'x20' raised bed gardens in the back yard for growing flowers and veggies. We live in Tennessee and the middle of the summer is hot and dry. I wanted a way to keep the plants watered and decided to convert a "spray zone" of our irrigation system to drip. I set up the garden with short rows that run the width of the boxes. I designed the garden with lots of short rows that run the 4' width of the boxes. Imagine a railroad track. The rails are the "feeder lines" that run the length of my setup, and the drip lines are the railroad ties that cut across the width of the garden (parallel with the rows of plants). I needed "feeder line" to bring the water to the drippers, and a variety of connectors to put it all together. I planned it all out on paper first, and then made sure I purchased enough parts. I purchased the following products for my setup:Rain Bird Landscape Dripline System 1/2-Inch Emitter Tubing With 18-Inch Spacing - 100-Foot Roll (5 stars)Rain Bird BT50-4PK Landscape Dripline System 1/2-Inch Barbed Tees, 4 Pack (5 stars)Rain Bird BE50-4PK 1/2-Inch Barbed Elbows (5 stars)Rain Bird EC50-Rain Bird GS50-10PK Landscape Dripline System 1/2-Inch Galvanized Wire Secures, 10-Pack (4 stars)2PK Landscape Dripline System 1/2-Inch End Closure Fittings (5 stars)Rain Bird Landscape Dripline System Spray Head To Drip Connection Kit (5 stars)Rain Bird T63100-BULK 1/2-Inch 100-Feet Landscape Dripline System Blank Tubing Roll (5 stars)These parts were all high quality, and I am extremely pleased with the setup. I cut all the tubing to size and layed it all out prior to putting it all together. It is very difficult to fit the tubing over the barbs, but once on it stays in place and doesn't leak. My hands ached after putting a bunch of the tubing together, so I ended up using leather work gloves which made things go a lot better.A few things to note:1) I don't have a rainbird setup, and this kit fit in great with my existing irrigation system.2) The tubing is a bit stiff and can kink easily, but works very well, so be careful when connecting things.3) The tubing and barbs are not the same inner diameter as stuff you can get at plumbing supply or home improvement centers. That means you can't mix and match, which is ok with me.4) I used some teflon plumbers tape when attaching parts that screw in.

How I arrived at my overall rating: ***** (5 star)Value ***** (5 star)Purchase price: $6.08Quality/Durability ***** (5 star)Duration of use: 2 yearsEase of Use/Assembly/Install: ***** (5 star)Was skeptical that it would work as well as compression connectors, but these have held up great! These even work better than the connectors with the screw cap over the barb.Usefulness/Appearance/Fun Factor: ***** (5 star)LOVE that these fit different tubing diameters! Ultra usefulWould buy these again.

Worked great to truffle water flow on garden fountain

This is a good quality product, but I could could not fit it on the 3/4 inch tubing I was replacing my old furnace tubing with. It stated that it would fit tubing up to this size, but I was just not strong enough to get it onto the tubing. A man may not have had this problem, because men are usually stronger than women. I really tried, but ended up reusing the ones that were on my old tubing. I kept them for possible future use on even larger tubing.

Easy to use.

Good product. Does what its supposed to do. I had a slightly off sized irrigation line, which I didn't discover until trying to connect to my standard 1/2 inch line. This does the job and connects the 2 together.

We bought a new house and the backyard sprinkler system was broken beyond repair. Even with professional help, I was unable to locate the sprinkler valves for the back yard. So instead I set out to research and install my own drip irrigation to automate the watering process, mostly because I am way too lazy to water my backyard every other day. I chose the rainbird family of products because of the positive reviews and the plethora of options.I chose drip emitters for the trees and shrubs in my yard. I chose 1/2 in tubing for the systems backbone. Then 1/4 in tubing to run out to the individual plants, flowers, trees, shrubs... There are two ways you can install them. You can install them straight into the 1/2 in tubing, like I did. The other way is to install a 1/4 in coupler into the 1/2 in tubing, then run a 1/4 tube to the plant. Then connect the drip emitter at that end. I chose this configuration because some people complain about the water pressure pushing the emitter off the end of the tubing. I bought these fittings to route the water up a slope, across the hill, and back down again.These elbows are solid. So seepage or leaking.+ Good price.+ Very easy to use. Use these to route your 1/2 in tubing. Also make sure to buy the Rainbird special tool to flare the end of the 1/2 in tubing before connecting it. I personally dislike special tools, but they are only a couple bucks each. I saved a ton of money by doing this project myself ($250 total cost), so to me it was worth it to get this specialized tool.+ Very happy with the performance so far.- Nothing thus far.I am very happy with the performance of these elbows. Ill update this review as necessary.

Good low pressure water shutoff