Craftsman black rubber hose

[sikeward]

Sadly to say. It is no more. I went to my local Sears tonight to exchange a broken usa made rake for a crappy made in china one. while there i had a $25 gift card to use. I though I would pick up another hose. Walked over to the hose section I was surprised to see it packed with different lenghts of hose. Since the rest of the stores shelves are bare. When I looked closer at the hose there it was "made in china" **** there is now nothing left at sears that is useful to me. Talk about a nail in the casket.

On the flip side I did find a made in the usa master thread restorer kit. Always wanted one and figured I'd better get one before the store was no more.

Anyone know of a comparable black hose?

 

[2ndGearRubber]

Is this the hexagonal style one? My father has the same hose, and it has been a beast, enduring all levels of abuse.

 

[Jim c]

Those black rubber garden hoses from sears were one of a kind and seemed to really hold up better than pretty much all other hose types in my experience. Sad to hear they are no more. I wonder if the Chinese made version would be anything similar to the USA version.

 

[Cruzan80]

If you search, people have pointed out the difference in visuals. IIRC it is round vs hexagon, and brass colored vs nickel colored ends. My local Sears still has several USA ones last I checked.

 

[PR1Gneon]

I bought the Craftsman USA made hose at Ace Hardware.

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[Wamsutta]

Same exact thing happened to me. I took the Chinese hose back the next day and got me a gift card for $26.99. I then took the gift card and used it to buy a USA made 2D-cell MAGLITE.

 

[OccupantRJ]

I saw it coming and bought the few USA hoses I could find within an hour drive of me.

 

[Odd-job]

Was looking for them too. Ended up with a few continental ones I found in Home Depot. Made in the USA.

 

[mudflap]

I switched to the ones that recoil when you take the pressure off a couple years ago. The ones with the metal ends last forever, and 300ft fits in a 5 gal bucket... Are you guys saying the chineese can crank out Millions of High tech, high quality computer phones.....but they cant make a decent garden hose....?

 

[exmaxima1]

The 50' USA hoses were on sale for $19.95 a few months ago at Sears. I already have a few of them and they are durable but HEAVY. I recently bought a 100' Flexzilla and it weighs about what the 50' Sears rubber hose weighs. My water powered hose reel has no problem with 100' of Flexzilla, but could barely handle the 50' Sears black rubber.

 

[Jim c]

Flexzilla is a pretty nice hose. Light green color, real soft rubber type of material and rolls up real nice and easy. I just don’t know that it is going to have the durability over the long term like this craftsman black rubber hoses. They were almost timeless hoses.

 

[OccupantRJ]

I have had a Craftsman in use for over 35 years, always stays outside year around.

 

[sikeward]

I didn't really inspect the new black hose. The whole made in China thing was burning my eyes. It has more of a shinny appearance than the dull black rubber. And I can't remember if it was round or octagon shaped. I have a flexzilla that I use indoors. There is no way that hose will hold up as long as the black hose. But it is lighter and more flexible. Guess it all depends on what the application is.

 

[Wamsutta]

If the Craftsman USA made rubber hoses ever get impossible to find, there's Thermoid. I have one Craftsman USA made hose left and I have one Thermoid 3/4 x 50 ft. hose. The Thermoid makes the Craftsman seem like a toy in comparison. The thing is HEAVY.

Watering my yard with the Thermoid is more like a wrestling match. If I ever get another one, I'll get a 5/8" instead. I got mine from California Rubber Products in Fresno CA while there on business. The place is a ******** industrial rubber products supplier/manufacturer.

http://www.thermoid.com/our-products/black-heavy-duty-contractors/

 

[TarheelMechanic]

Anyone know who make the USA black hoses for Craftsman?

 

[Negen]

I bought some of the 100' flexxzilla hoses from Costco and they are nice but kink up too easy. I am thinking about cutting them in half's.

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[theoldwizard1]

I know at least one of my Craftsman hoses is over 30 years old. Probably over 40 ! I leave the out all winter and they freeze rock solid.

 

[thooks]

I have two green hexagonal 50’ Craftsman hoses. Bought them in about 1996. Been outside ever since. Still work great.

 

[dscheidt]

Anyone know who make the USA black hoses for Craftsman?

Dramm, I think. The certainly sell hexagonal EPDM hoses that are made in the USA...

 

[finn]

The Flexilla pretty much instantly made the old black rubber hose obsolete.

I moved the black hose to the woodshed wall, where my kids will bring it to the landfill from when i’m gone.

Not sorry to see that heavy old thing replaced with better technology. We broke two hose reels because that old thing is so heavy.

 

[rick carpenter]

We have a few of the Craftsman black rubber hoses and I always intended to get a few more. Our sprinkler system is just buried sprinkler cans in the yard with the black hoses left out all day every day connected via quick connects. Except for mower blades , they will stand up to anything.

 

[stupidjet]

lowes has black usa made craftsman hoses

 

[swshawaii]

^ Are they the old style hex shaped rubber hoses with nickel plated fittings? As with many Craftsman tools, they use the same model/part numbers regardless of country origin. As previously mentioned, the newer round rubber hoses with brass colored ends are inferior in every way. Junk IMO.

 

[Zexx]

As a maintenance guy with sears (back when they had them) I used the USA hoses for the annual/seasonal PMs on the HVAC at Kmarts and Sears stores. I would leave them up on the roofs out in the weather and the sun, only issue I ever had with them is you would get black all over your hands when pulling and coiling them. usually 300+feet was left on each roof, coiled in my case. The black probably was not from the hoses either, but from the old roof membranes... has anyone been in a sears and didnt see water stains in the ceiling tiles? Landlord owned roofs ****, as did every roof contractor I had to deal with.

 

[HenryAZ]

Goodyear (now Continental) used to make the Craftsman hoses. You can still buy them from Amazon and other sources. We have some of the black rubber ones that have laid in the AZ sun for over a dozen years and are still going strong. Nothing better, IMO.

 

[6PTsocket]

I bought the Chinese Craftsman before the local Sears hardware folded. It sat out all winter and seems to be OK. Time will tell. I would have gone to Lowes, had I known.

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[krole]

My local Ace still has a number of the hex hoses left, just checked this morning.

 

[bushmechanic]

Is this the hexagonal style one? My father has the same hose, and it has been a beast, enduring all levels of abuse.

A while back they changed the fittings, and ruined the entire product line.

I would not buy one that was made in the last decade, or so. They are fragile.

 

[Arkansas COB]

Have 3 of the Craftsman Premium Rubber hoses. Oldest one is about 6 yrs old and the other 2 are 2 yrs old. Never a problem and never a kink and they get abused really bad. Stay outside year round.
Just ordered 2 more on line last week. 26.99 ea plus 9.89 shipping. When I went to check out because of past purchases the last few years I had some kind of cash points I didnt know about so after cashing that in the total cost including shipping was 42.87. I smiled.

Should be here tomorrow.

COB

 

[bushmechanic]

Have 3 of the Craftsman Premium Rubber hoses. Oldest one is about 6 yrs old and the other 2 are 2 yrs old. Never a problem and never a kink and they get abused really bad. Stay outside year round.
Just ordered 2 more on line last week. 26.99 ea plus 9.89 shipping. When I went to check out because of past purchases the last few years I had some kind of cash points I didnt know about so after cashing that in the total cost including shipping was 42.87. I smiled.

Should be here tomorrow.

COB

You should have had your paws on of of the units from the late '90s and early 2000s. Those connectors are absolute bricks of brass. Very, very nice.

They got mighty thin after a while; to the point where I broke several and just gave up. Lately, you can just look at the things and tell they're not nearly as tough as they used to be.