★★★★★ 5
Impressed so far
Style: Standard Grip, Size: 25ft, Color: Chartreuse
I have a large back yard, a pool and a stationary hose reel bolted to the house that holds around 250 feet of hose (depending on the hose). During the summer especially, we use this hose a lot. The reel had 200 feet of pretty good quality, heavy duty residential hose on it. That hose lasted over 20 years but was starting to show it's age and had been repaired several times. What's more, my wife hated the stuff. Her primary complaint was how heavy it was. She really struggled to drag it around the yard or wind it back on the reel. So it was time to replace it. My criteria: brass fittings, reasonably heavy duty and durable, decent price. Her criteria, lighter! So I searched the reviews and looked at damn near everything amazon sells and picked this stuff. I ended up buying two 50 foot hoses and one 100 foot hose.
So, here's what I think. The hose ends are heavy duty brass and well crimped. The little bits of plastic sleeve on each end are just branding and don't provide any other useful purpose. This isn't a criticism, just an observation. I cut them off. As others have mentioned, the female fittings are crimped a little tight. This makes it somewhat difficult to tighten them without twisting the hose. I put a little white lithium grease on mine and held the things in my hand - twisting back and forth until they lubed up and loosened up. No harm, no foul, I'd rather a little tight than loose. Once that was done, I connected all the sections and stretched the whole thing out in the yard. I connected one end to the faucet (hose reel), slapped a nozzle on the other end and turned on the water. It was a warm summer day, I let the hose fill with water and then went down the entire 200 foot length untwisting and straightening it all out. Then I left it bake in the sun for a couple hours under pressure. After that I turned off the water, and started inspecting the hose. I have about 80lbs of water pressure, left under pressure and cooking in the sun, the hose definitely swelled a little diameter wise, but no bulges or anything untoward. Connections all looked good, no leaks or malfunctions. So, I turned off the water and took off the nozzle and started winding it up on the reel. Now right away I could tell that this stuff was more pliable and significantly lighter then the hose it replaced. I carefully spooled it up on the reel and threaded a brass shutoff and brass quick connector on the end. That was the middle of June, 2023. It's now December 2023.
The verdict. I like the stuff, and more importantly, so does my wife. From my perspective, I like the color, it's easy to see and find in the grass, I don't trip over it or worry about not seeing it before I run over it while cutting the grass (you can laugh, but that accounted for one of the previous "repairs" I mentioned earlier). Now, when you pull hose off a reel, it tends to come off pretty straight, which automatically alleviates a bunch of twisting and kinking issues. Still, as you drag this stuff around the yard it keeps its shape pretty well and doesn't twist up or kink. It's flexible and yet "stiff" enough to drag around corners without issue. The hose itself has definitely faded a little colorwise, the end that gets the most use is less orange then the hose that spends most of its time wrapped on the reel, but not unduly so. After a summer of use, I'd have to say it's held up well, without any signs of terminal wear and tear. What does my wife think? She loves the stuff. It's much easier for her to use and wind back up. She really is the primary user, she does 90% of the pool "stuff", plant tending, gardening and watering. If she likes it, I'm good. So, we'll see, in a couple more years, if this hose doesn't hold up, I'll come back and let you know. For now I'd have to say, if you need a new hose, try this stuff.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2024
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