My place has a small front lawn, and at first I used a variety of wig-wag and whirly sprinklers to water the grass. The "original" underground sprinkler system used steel pipe which was rotted out and I stopped using that shortly after moving in.
However, in time I started planting roses and trees and the cute sprinklers couldn't do the job very well any more. Then I sort of arrived at a compromise: those ratcheting type sprinklers, running off two garden hoses stretched to the front of the grass patch. These project pretty well and keep the grass up front nice and green. By the house the water gets blocked by roses and the magnolia tree, but this is not readily seen from the street. Works for me.
Eventually I'll dig up the lawn, lay down plastic watering pipe, install valves on a timer, and then re-sod the lawn. Maybe after I retire...
