my garden hose is now officially more splices than hose. no lie, i have at least 7 splices in it.
what is a good one? i have harbor freight, ollies, ace hardware, and lowes handy. theres a wal mart too, but i refuse to go there.
50 foot, lives outside on a reel year round. in direct sun. usually gets shot off for winter, but sometimes i forget.
Goodyear
Go to lowe's. Spend too much money to get whatever they have with the longest warranty. Save your receipt & warranty info. Take it back when it fails in 5-6 years. That's what I did, they gave me a replacement hose that seems even better & was more expensive than the original one.
I buy them at estate sales. Usually pay about $2-$5 for one. First one lasted a year. Current one, the $2 one, is on year 2.
The stupidly heavy red rubber monstrosity. It’s the one mounted on concrete trucks. It’ll last for 4 years or so. Hoses all suck.
Flexogen, you can get them at home depot or target. Usa made, I've bought a few and this one is the best.
KyAllroad (Jeremy) said:The stupidly heavy red rubber monstrosity. It’s the one mounted on concrete trucks. It’ll last for 4 years or so. Hoses all suck.
Hey, hey, hey - I put one through college selling hoses....oh wait, suck = money in my pocket.
The black or red rubber hoses are great but a 50’ Long hose with decent brass fittings is crazy, stupid priced and at cost I take a pass and go to Home Depot or Menards.
Restaurant supply store
EvanB said:Flexogen, you can get them at home depot or target. Usa made, I've bought a few and this one is the best.
Interesting that you said Flexogen. I just bought a hose and it is Flexon. Same?
My 2 year old, cheap hose is crap already. It did not get stored properly over the winter and the whole thing cracked the green casing in many, many places over the winter. It was a crappy hose to begin with, I never liked it. I went cheap.
However, I came across this Flexon at Costco. My entire reason for buying it was that Costco is really good about returns. They keep a record of everything you buy with your membership card so therefore you do not need a receipt to buy. They have retained proof that you bought it.
I can't say that this Flexon is "all that" but it does have a couple fo nice features. Best part was 100ft for $22. I'm not sure if "contractor grade" is a compliment or an insult. In some things like flooring and fixtures, contractor grade is an insult like saying "good enough if your buying it for someone else to use, but not use yourself."
Online price is showing $29.99 Reviews are not that good.
https://www.costco.com/100ft-58-Contractor-Grade-Hose-w-Guard-and-Grip.product.100410065.html
What do you guys do to hoses that makes them fail? The current hose I have is probably 10 years old. Probably bought at Home Depot for minimal cost. I'm not particularly fond of it as it knots up easily and is a PITA to uncoil, but it still functions as a hose. The previous hose was purchased shortly after buying the house in 1992. I think I still have it somewhere and only stopped using it because the casing started to deteriorate and leave black stuff on my hands from handling it.
https://www.griotsgarage.com/product/retractable+pro+water+hose+reel+50+foot.do
Stupid expensive but well made. Two family members have had these for 20+ years and no issues. They are mounted inside the garage so limited exposure.
i haven’t bought one because of stupid expensive and apparently I’d rather buy a cheap hose every couple of years.
I bought 2 Neverkink brand ones from Lowes a couple years back. Heavy black hose with a yellow stripe, but not as heavy as the red rubber firehose type. They've been great. Only down side is that the hoses get HOT in the sun, so you have to run them a while before the water is cool enough to put directly on plants.
Ian F - My old ones regularly succumbed to UV rot here in the sunny south. They get stiff and then the outer layer cracks when you bend it, then it bursts under pressure at the crack. Maybe its a southern thing.
In reply to ultraclyde :
Ok. I don't leave mine outside when not in use. I'll usually drain most of the water out, coil it back up and hang it on a hook in the garage. It is subject to freezing, but I guess I get enough water out of it to not cause a problem.
I bought a retractable one from a place called Garden's Gate or something like that. Works well, retracts all 100 feet in one swell foop. It's a smaller diameter than standard but delivers enough for anything I require.
In reply to John Welsh :
Looks like that is a different brand. The Flexogen is made by Gilmour. I have the heavy duty gray version.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Gilmour-5-8-in-Dia-x-75-ft-Garden-Hose-10-5807GY/202250799
It has lived outside for at least 4 years now and doesn't show any signs of degrading. I'm sure there are better hoses out there but for the <$40 price point this one works well for me.
Whatever you do, do NOT get the Harbor Freight 'contractor grade' hose. [edit] Light grey with a green pinstripe. [/edit]
I bought one and it is too stiff to reasonably use or handle. I literally have to fight it into a 24" diameter coil. It's so stiff that it's actually difficult to connect to the bibb because it's always forcing the fitting to crossthread.
I've had it for at least 5 years and it hasn't loosened up even a little bit.
Over at Garage Journal, the opinion was the black hose from Sears was the best. Laugh if you wish.
I wish i know what brand the spliced one is. Its been at least 5 years in direct sun. Its black and heavy (thats what she said!) And i think 3/4 inside diameter.
Sonds like i need to skup harbor freight. And gilmer is the good brand? Theres some huge price difference at lowes in all the options.
Duke said:Whatever you do, do NOT get the Harbor Freight 'contractor grade' hose. [edit] Light grey with a green pinstripe. [/edit]
I bought one and it is too stiff to reasonably use or handle. I literally have to fight it into a 24" diameter coil. It's so stiff that it's actually difficult to connect to the bibb because it's always forcing the fitting to crossthread.
I've had it for at least 5 years and it hasn't loosened up even a little bit.
Wifey picked up a H-F one like this. Light grey in color. I think it's the heavy duty one. Stiff as a piece of steel conduit. Okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. It doesn't like to bend.
Best hose I've ever used, and still have, is a Craftsman in some kind of black rubber material. Very flexible. Heavy. It came with the house, so at least 19 years old. Amazing product.
I went with a Gilmour Farn & Ranch last year and its held up nicely so far but honestly I don't know that a year is enough to call it good yet.
Duke said:Whatever you do, do NOT get the Harbor Freight 'contractor grade' hose. [edit] Light grey with a green pinstripe. [/edit]
I bought one and it is too stiff to reasonably use or handle. I literally have to fight it into a 24" diameter coil. It's so stiff that it's actually difficult to connect to the bibb because it's always forcing the fitting to crossthread.
I've had it for at least 5 years and it hasn't loosened up even a little bit.
What I had before getting Flexogen, your right its like a hunk of conduit.
I just got this one from Teknor for $33 (100') and I'm really impressed. Only used it a dozen times or so, but that included dragging it around my concrete foundation several times and it didn't even leave a mark.
Heavy aluminum fittings, easy to grip collar for tightening on, love it.
Only complaint is that it is a bit stiffer than I would like. Mine is mounted on wall hose reel so it's fine, but I could imagine trying to coil it up by hand could be frustrating.
Most hoses seem to come with aluminum fittings. I use white plumbers tape on the hose spigot to keep the fittings from bonding to the spigot. YMMV,
The continental brand ones seem to last here even with all of the UV rays and other garage that I throw at them.
Earlier this year, I wanted to add a 2nd hose reel to my house for the backyard and garden. We only have one spigot so I split it off and ran an extension hose to the backyard. I bought one of those dark gray Never-Kink hoses at Lowes for back there. The thing was expensive and looked beefy, so I figured it was a good one. Lasted about 2 months before it burst at the nozzle. Really disappointing, considering I have another one of their hoses that's been great for a few seasons now.
I'm now using a "contractor grade" green hose of unknown brand that my dad picked up (along with a sweet all-metal hose cart) at his town's "swap shop" at the dump. This hose is damn near indestructible. I really wish I knew what brand it was so I could recommend it!
EDIT: Did this get bumped via Canoe? I done got duped!
You'll need to log in to post.
