ok well i will start this off by saying that the hunter valves are crap in my personal opinion. alot of guys in the industry dispute this claim, and i think that is only because hunter givess kickbacks to big buyers every season. now on to the issue of the rainbird valves, i never took a liking to any of the models at all. i've had them all apart(as well as almost every other valve in the industry) and i just find that the interior design is a little goofy, and the diaphragms seem to be cheesy and a slight bit thin. now with all of that said and out of the way, the only valve i recommend to anyone is the Irritrol 2400T. this is a valve design that everyone has tried to immitate because it has proven, for many MANY years, to be the superior valve design. i mean, why else would this valve stick around for longer than i've even been alive.