Travellers have a medium to high capital cost.

There are high pressure losses to the reel hose, therefore, high pressure is required 3.5 - 13 bar. This is why the system is relatively expensive to operate.

Cannot be used for frost protection.

These systems can cause water runoff and soil erosion if not operated properly.

Downtime while moving the system between the hydrants.

Not suitable for chemigation/fertigation.

Not applicable on heavy texture soils that have very low water intake/infiltration rates.

High winds will distort sprinkler application pattern and reduce the uniformity of the application.

Large droplets (especially if pressure is too low) may damage crop and destroy the structure of surface soil particles, which can reduce the soil infiltration rate significantly and cause runoff.