There has been lots of talk on the forum about the Irritrol 700 Series valves being a good replacement to the OEM Orbit valves. They have a much better strait through design witch should cut down on the ballast fill times significantly. I purchased 3 new valves from Sprinkler Warehouse and decided to put them to the test.

I have the stock Gravity III ballast system with Rule 2000 pump. I used a stop watch to see how long it would take to fill all 3 bags. Before I started, I made sure there was no water or air in all 3 ballast bags.

Center: 13:24
Left: 15:24
Right: 16:09

Total fill time: 16min 9sec

I also timed each bag individually.

Center: 7:01
Left: 7.17
Right: 7:54

After installing the new valves I filled all 3 bags to see how much faster the fill time would improve. I was SHOCKED by the results!!!!

Center: 13.28
Left: 14.31
Right: 16:11

Total fill time: 16min 11sec

So there is zero improvement from the upgrade. I didn't bother timing each individual bag on the new valves.