OK, I put the sprayer together today and tried her out. My initial impression is a good one. I think it will serve my needs. Again, it is made by Fimco, purchased at TSC. The tank holds 25 gallons and it is equipped with both a gun and three nozzle "boomless" boom that is capable of spraying a 30 ft path.
The gun is activated if you pull the trigger. There exist a lock out device on the trigger to keep it/you from accidentally spraying it when not needed. Other than that, the gun is always ready to go.
The pump quickly pressurizes the lines to about 42 PSI. There is a pressure release valve attached that is connected to a short hose which redirects released liquid back into the tank. This is how you adjust the pressure on the gun. Let's say you want only 20psi instead of 40. You slightly open the pressure release, thus bleeding off the extra pressure faster than the pump is capable of building it. This is a Simple design that seems to work quite effectively.
Someone said that maintaining a constant flow rate with these ATV tanks was difficult. With this unit, you simply open the pressure release slightly as you engage the gun. This causes the pump to run continuously, which overcomes a pulsating effect you will experience if the gun is used at full pressure. For example, at full pressure, the pump stops, but it starts as soon as the gun is used. The pump is fast and able to rebuild full pressure while gun is being used. It rebuilds full pressure and then shuts off again, only to start up again, only to shut off, only to restart, only to shut off, only to restart, and you get this funky pulse to the spray pattern. Well, slightly bleeding off a little of the pressure causes the pump to run continuously and deliver a smooth spray pattern. Additionally, the required bleed is very slight, so you really don't loose force coming out of the gun. Toying with the bleed valve is not needed when running the rear spray nozzles.
The rear spray nozzles are mounted on a short 3ft boom. The one in the center sprays down and covers something like 6 ft. The nozzles on either end spray down and out. They cover the 15 ft or so to each side. Each nozzle can be turned off, so you may run only the center if you like. The end nozzles pivot up or down. Each click in the pivot cycle equals 15 degrees. The instructions tell you to run the end nozzles at one click up or 15 degrees above horizontal to achieve the advertized spray pattern. Well, I toyed with this and decided that I like to set them at horizontal or even 15 degrees down. Actually, I think that 15 degrees down offers the best spray pattern. Sure you loose some of the fan effect, but even at 15 degrees below horizontal (or one click down) the nozzles deliver a 16 plus foot spray pattern. This pattern is very concentrated and strong also. I felt that elevating the nozzles in a slightly elevated position created a course dropplet pattern on either end. Maybe this would work, but I've found that grass requires a "good" spraying of roundup to kill it. So, I will probably opt for the 16 ft pattern when clearing areas for my seed beds.
Hope to actually put it to work next week.