Sprinkler problems and alternatives

Being a steadfast fan of automatic sprinkler systems, I was very unhappy when one of my circuits dribbled instead of sprinkled. At first, I thought it was blocked sprinkler heads -- replaced them all. Now I think it's a bad valve. I'm too chicken to disassemble and rebuild a valve, even after watching several YouTube videos on how-to.

What are good alternatives to automatic sprinklers? Hand-watering with a hose and a sprinkler thing on the front. Tedious and probably uneven. In the Northeast where I lived for many years, people used oscillating sprinklers or other temporary measures because it rains every few weeks so you don't need to depend on a big-deal system. The ground freezes so an in-ground system would be hard to maintain. When I was living in Phoenix, I had a drip system. OK, OK, it saves water and is more PC (politically correct) than spraying water into air as much as 50% (or more) evaporates before it falls to the ground, but it DIDN'T WORK. My trees couldn't put down deep enough roots. I could have increased the drip period but the ground is pretty impermeable caliche. The trees got top-heavy and fell over. That had a bad effect on the fences. When the drip system leaked underground, it was undetectable until it flooded the street. No, I am not a fan of drip systems. So, what to do that works well, is easy to maintain and is also PC, and not as expensive as fixing the existing automatic sprinkler system?

Soaker hoses seem to fit the criteria: good for plants, inexpensive, easy to install and PC. I bought enough 5/8 inch-diameter hoses to loop around my flowers and trees in the area where my sprinklers died. I dug shallow trenches to lay the hose in, topped with compost then wood mulch. I ran the water with low pressure for hour-long sessions thinking the moisture will spread out and and soak deep down.  Used this system all this Spring and Summer as well as hand-watered when I got worried.

None of my plants died, but they also did not thrive. I guess such systems are more effective for beds of veggies that have shallow roots.

Now that it's started to rain here, my flowers are blooming even though they don't get as much water from the 10-minute light showers as they had from my soaker hose system. The flowers seem to wave their petals at me while chanting "nay-nay-nay-na! Rain is better than soaker hose."

So, next idea is to get a portable sprinkler system to reproduce the automatic sprinkler system. Or bite the bullet and hire a pro to fix or replace the broken valve. Any other ideas?