You can not go wrong with either brand. Hunter is very focused on providing quality irrigation products, but Rain Bird is a very good brand also.
If you truely want a very good Sprinkler System I suggest you request the following products:
<b><u>Hunter:</u></b>
ICC-800pl or PC-300i <b>Modular Controller</b>
Rain-Clik <b>Rain Sensor</b>
I-20 or PGP-Adj <b>Rotors</b>
Pros-04 (for lawn area) and Pros-12 (for flowerbeds) <b>Pop-Up Spray Heads</b>
HPV-100G or PGV-100G <b>Valves</b>
Hunter Pre-made Swing Joints to connect all heads to underground piping
Febco or Watts 1" <b>Backflow Device</b>
<b><u>Rain Bird:</u></b>
ESP-4Mi <b>Modular Controller</b>
RSD-Bex <b>Rain Sensor</b>
5004-PLPC <i>plus series</i> <b>Rotors</b>
1804 (for lawn area) and 1812 (for flowerbeds) <b>Pop-Up Spray Heads</b>
100-PGA or 100-DVF <b>Valves</b>
Hunter Pre-made Swing Joints to connect all heads to underground piping
Febco or Watts 1" <b>Backflow Device</b>
You can visit The Recommended Products section on Sprinkler Warehouse's website at the following link:
http://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/partsrec-res.asp