Who makes good garden hose?

[Draftpick1]

The Continental hose has worked well for me.

Continental Premium 5/8 in. Dia x 50 ft. Commercial Grade Rubber Black Water Hose 20258074 - The Home Depot

Premium Commercial Grade Black Rubber Water Hose from Goodyear Engineered Products is designed for small to medium sized landscape jobs.

www.homedepot.com

I might have this hose and it's 6-7 years old, kinks like a SOB, i want to replace it.

 

[Chumly]

Have a Flexzilla 25' and the mentioned Continental ContiTech 50 footers. The continental are beasts it seems as the sun up here kills anything left out it in it and those 3 are still doing great. Older Briggs/Crapsman black hoses left my hands black and these haven't yet.


Will they kink? Don't we all!? The flexzilla is just easier to handle if you just need to grab a hose for a common task. Doesn't get caught up much but probably more to do with it just being a 25' hose. I am Mr. Murphy...if I'm running a hose around, it'll catch on everything unless I tried to catch it on something, then it'll never catch.

 

[CTyankee]

I've had one of those Craftsman rubber hoses for almost 10 years and it's still like new. Probably because it's spent most of those 10 years straining the hose hanger on the wall. I don't want to wrestle with what is equivalent to a large python every time I go to wash my car. My main go-to currently is a marine/RV potable hose I picked up for about $25 IIRC. I've had good luck with various brands of those cheap "shrink" hoses too. But I've come to put hoses into the same category as non-stick pans...consumables. I can usually get at least 2-3 serviceable years out of even a cheap hose just by not abusing it. Keep it inside out of the weather/cold/sun and drain and coil it up after I'm done with it. JMO...YMMV.

 

[Chumly]

I don't want to wrestle with what is equivalent to a large python every time I...

Now you're just bragging...


I love the reviews how shrink hoses don't work. Pure...damn...comedy!

 

[M635_Guy]

Eley hoses are nearly inappropriately good

I have an Eley hose too, and it makes me pissed off with my other hoses. Not cheap or light, but awesome.

 

[GeoBruin]

I have an Eley hose too, and it makes me pissed off with my other hoses. Not cheap or light, but awesome.

You must be talking about their rubber hoses right? The Polyurethane hoses are literally half the weight of a rubber hose. Plus they're more durable, non-marking, they don't kink, and they're drinking water safe if that matters to you.

 

[M635_Guy]

You must be talking about their rubber hoses right? The Polyurethane hoses are literally half the weight of a rubber hose. Plus they're more durable, non-marking, they don't kink, and they're drinking water safe if that matters to you.

I forgot I actually have both. You're definitely right that the Poly is much lighter than the rubber, but strictly-speaking I don't find the Poly one "light" vs. some other hoses I have that are ****. It's not onerous, and I'm 100% fine with it for the quality.

 

[Steve_P]

The Continental hose has worked well for me.

Continental Premium 5/8 in. Dia x 50 ft. Commercial Grade Rubber Black Water Hose 20258074 - The Home Depot

Premium Commercial Grade Black Rubber Water Hose from Goodyear Engineered Products is designed for small to medium sized landscape jobs.

www.homedepot.com

I have that and HATE it. Yes, it's high quality, USA made, the ends are very nice..... but mine does nothing but kink. I've never had an all rubber hose, and, maybe coincidentally, I've never had a hose that kinks as easily as this one. So I think I'll stick with a higher quality green vinyl, or whatever, one next time. I've got a Gates green vinyl, or something that was the top of the line at the time, that's 25 yrs old and it almost never kinks. This one is a disaster IMO.

 

[Voi]

Those bastards...
I'd much rather have that than lime green

They've had a reddish brown option for years. I have one at the cabin & a lime green one at home. Much prefer the reddish brown one.

Wife is indicating they stopped making the reddish brown one at some point after we bought ours. That explains the lime green one here.

 

[WNYflyer]

Have used two of these for more than 5 years in the garden, power washing vehicles and the house. Lightweight, work great. Nice ends. Easy to pull in and loop around a holder. Readily available at Lowe's, and "assembled" in the USA.

Bought one of those last year for my elderly mom due to the light weight and so far so good. Been messing with my current hoses and both have basically a weak section that kinks all the time so went to Lowe's last week and picked up two for myself. How long they last who knows but hopefully I won't be swearing because it kinks.

 

[Legion Prime]

We use two 100' hoses. One for front and one for back. Three years in a row from blue and orange 'big box' stores I've bought at least one of the most expensive 100' "lifetime guarantee" "professional/contractor grade" "never kink" that they have and every year I need to buy at least one new one because of horrendous kinks. I need to buy two this year. I have less than zero good advice for this thread. I'm just in to see the replies.

EDIT: Before that I had two black rubber 'Craftsman' hoses from, Sears that lasted several years, but they don't exist any more and I've not yet found anything equivalent sold locally.

Check out Ace Hardware, I had 2 of the black rubber Craftsman hoses that were fantastic (I think I had bought them on reccomendations I'd read here IIRC). However last spring I brought them outside (took them inside in Sept LONG before temps dropped) only to find the portion of the female ends that gets crimped into the hose had separated completely on BOTH of them. Ace swapped them out for me no problem, tomorrow I'll have to go bring that reel up and see if they did that again. In the interim I had bought a Continental hose and it's been fantastic. It doesn't coil quite as OCD nicely as the hexagonal Craftsman hoses but if that's all I have to complain about . . .

 

[Ilikeike]

I have that and HATE it. Yes, it's high quality, USA made, the ends are very nice..... but mine does nothing but kink. I've never had an all rubber hose, and, maybe coincidentally, I've never had a hose that kinks as easily as this one. So I think I'll stick with a higher quality green vinyl, or whatever, one next time. I've got a Gates green vinyl, or something that was the top of the line at the time, that's 25 yrs old and it almost never kinks. This one is a disaster IMO.

I couple of people have commented that they kink,
It must be how I roll mine up and un-roll them because I’ve never had a kink issue with mine.

 

[HenryAZ]

The Continental hose has worked well for me.

Continental/ContiTech is the new name for Goodyear rubber hoses. Goodyear also used to be sold under the Craftsman name, not sure anymore.

They are all we use in the harsh AZ sun. I've had them lay out full length for a dozen years or more in this harsh environment, and all they do is discolor a bit (red turns pink). Handled correctly (reeled or coiled), they won't kink.

Interestingly, I recently went looking for a 100 ft. Continental, and found I could buy two 50ft pieces at considerable savings.

 

[Legion Prime]

Yup, that's why I bought two 50' Craftsmen when I was just going to connect them both on the same reel. The two 50' came out to I think about a third less than a 100', it was cheap enough I had to add a nozzle to my order to bump it up for free shipping.

 

[Re-Tired]

Eley all the way.

 

[Outahere]

$152 for a 75ft poly 5/8" garden hose from Eley !

5/8-inch Polyurethane Garden Hose

The highest-rated and most durable hose available. Drinking water safe. Lightweight and kink-resistant. 10-YEAR no-leak guarantee. Lengths from 6 to 200 ft.

www.eleyhosereels.com

 

[Re-Tired]

Once you go Eley, you never go back.

 

[dnschmidt]

Flexzilla. It's a hose and it works. That checks all of the boxes for me. My only ***** is that the vivid green color has now faded to a lame greenish yellow. But the Arizona sun does that to a lot more stuff than just garden hoses.

 

[M635_Guy]

$152 for a 75ft poly 5/8" garden hose from Eley !

5/8-inch Polyurethane Garden Hose

The highest-rated and most durable hose available. Drinking water safe. Lightweight and kink-resistant. 10-YEAR no-leak guarantee. Lengths from 6 to 200 ft.

www.eleyhosereels.com

Clearly not a "buy once, cry once" club-member...

FWIW I'm often not one either, but the Eley hoses I have are better than any hose I've ever owned in 30 years of home ownership and are lasting for years longer than any hose I've ever had too. Granted my 5/8"x75' hose was a bit over $100 when I bought it 4+ years ago, but has outlasted 2 other hoses in the meantime (I was feeling poor after spending over a hundred bucks on a single hose, so I got the nicest one I saw at HD for $40+ for the other side of the house. It lasted a couple years. I replaced it with a "premium" "contractor" hose from HF for another $40 and I've never liked it - kinks easily, thin walls, etc. Four or five years ago I added another spigot to the house and brought out the Eley rubber hose I bought close to fifteen years ago that had been stored in the garage. It is still in fine shape and working great.

 

[Ton ton]

I would recommend Virginia rubber company. Manassas, VA. They have a decent selection of garden hose. Not the cheapest option. But if you want quality, they have something to fit your needs. Known as Varco Supply. 866-872-1224.

 

[Houdini5150]

Have had a 3/4 contractor hose from Harbor Freight that has been in the AZ sun for the past year. Has been fine. Just picked up a 5/8 and a hose reel for the backyard.

 

[tester19]

Until you have used an Eley hose you can't understand it's superiority. After 30-40 years of different hoses I found this brand and it is expensive but it looks like in the end it will be FAR cheaper because it will outlast all the other hoses by many times. Now they claim it's a non-kink hose and it just about is!

Nothing is kink free but combined with the very light weight it is a pleasure to use. You forget quickly how long you have had a hose and after 2-3 cheap replacements the cost is now above what the Eley would have set you back.
.
.
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[mogandave]

Not sure if you can still get it, but I like the bulk blue Goodyear air-hose and just put water-hose ends on it.

Not to be glib, but if you're having issues with hoses kinking, perhaps you're not coiling them correctly. Coiled correctly (over-under) the hose will pull out with no twisting and no kinks.

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

Flexzilla is all we buy now. We pick up a new one every year at the local hardware stores 50% off sale. We have I think 4 or 5 of them now. Won’t ever buy another brand. I am glad to see they have a different color out now though.

 

[sgf13]

Went with the Sears Craftsman all rubber hoses. They kink fairly easily but are durable, flexible, and affordable (lifetime warranty but without a Sears around that doesn't really matter). Don't know if they are available anymore, maybe Lowe's or Ace carries them?

I 100% agree on the Craftsman rubber hoses. I dragged them all over concrete. I have some going to goat pens that ultimately sunk underground and are still going strong after years in the sun. I have about five of them in 50' & 75' lengths. The newest one I own is 20 years old. Sears used to put them on sale once a year during a spring sale. I think I paid $25.00 for the 50' hose back then.

 

[Outahere]

For Flexzilla fans, the 5/8" x 100 ft hose is $59 at Amazon (lowest price in 30 days).

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0080JA346/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[gatewaysysop]

Had the never-kink brand for a while, they were okay and fairly resistant to kinking, but they broke down eventually. Been very close to pulling the trigger on a Flexzilla hose but keep reading reviews about mold & mildew problems with them. Seeing some hanging on houses around here I see where the reviews aren't far off.

Went with the Sears Craftsman all rubber hoses. They kink fairly easily but are durable, flexible, and affordable (lifetime warranty but without a Sears around that doesn't really matter). Don't know if they are available anymore, maybe Lowe's or Ace carries them?

This. I've used these for many years now, and they hold up great even in the brutal AZ heat. Mine sit out all seasons and still look and work like new. As for kinking, the nice thing about these is that due to their rigidity and hex shape, I can unkink it from 20 feet off by just twisting the hose in my hand a couple times.

The only drawback I can really speak to is the rubber makes your hands dirtier than other types of hoses, but I don't usually do my yard work without gloves, so it doesn't bother me. I'd buy them again in a heartbeat if I had to, no question about it. I went through plenty of others in the early years of owning this place, but these are looking like the last hoses I will ever have to buy.

 

[CJM8515]

contintental and goodyear hose user here, i wont use anything else. they do kink, but they are very heavy duty hoses

 

[CHRIII]

All of my hoses are Craftsman black rubber and I've had them for years. Yes they will blacken your hands, but they are tough and as someone said earlier, if they kink you can turn it over with your hands and get the kink out.

 

[American Locomotive]

$152 for a 75ft poly 5/8" garden hose from Eley !

5/8-inch Polyurethane Garden Hose

The highest-rated and most durable hose available. Drinking water safe. Lightweight and kink-resistant. 10-YEAR no-leak guarantee. Lengths from 6 to 200 ft.

www.eleyhosereels.com

That really doesn't seem that egregious to me? If that hose can make it at least 10 years, I'd be worth it. I can barely get a year out of the cheap vinyl hoses before they start developing pin-holes or just constantly start kinking.

Not to mention the fact that many modern cheap hoses are now coming with aluminum hose ends that weld themselves to your spigot (those aluminum ends should be straight up outlawed)

 

[Terra Nova]

Good news, stopped at the local Ace hardware today and they have the Craftsman rubber hoses. They look pretty much the same as the ones I’ve got. Price is up ($39.99) but what hasn’t gone up….

 

[never rest]

I've had no problems with the Continental USA-made rubber hoses kinking. I store them on reels which might help with that, no idea. But they're the best hoses I've had and all I plan to buy unless something changes.

 

[CSRPenFab]

Had 200' of Flexzilla neon green at the old CA house. It was good, very light weight if that's your prime concern. The bright green looks like **** after about a year of sun and dirt.

We moved to Idaho last year and I wanted something a bit tougher. I've owned 3 Eley hose reels, so I knew where to go. 150' Eley poly hose will probably outlast me. I left it outside all winter (drained of course) and it still looks new. No kinking and good flow too.

 

[Brandon_Lutz]

I like the Goodyear/Continental hoses with the swivtech ends on them. I've never had one kink on me and worth the price IMO.

 

[csp]

I have a several years old flexzilla that's full of pinholes. I expected more from them when it was purchased.

 

[Brandon_oma#692]

I picked up one of these last night. Made in USA and economical.



It is ran from the yard hydrant in the barn to the chicken coop. I also am using 2 old 25' hoses that were in the barn when I bought it last year. It fit my needs since it is not getting picked up or moved until I need to plow snow. I only turn on the water when I'm using it though.


We just started planting the garden last weekend. My Dad brought up around 500 feet of random hoses he bought on sale and some used hoses. So far I am only dragging one around. The rest are hooked up to sprinklers or soaker hoses.

Everywhere I'm using water is over 100' from a hydrant.

I need to get my hose that is the same as a flexzilla and the hose reel from my old house for dragging around because it is much better. The cheap ones are fine if you aren't moving them much.

 

[Daveyclimber]

Goodyear or continental.

 

[Bubba Fett]

Maybe I need a rubber hose.

 

[Chumly]

I couple of people have commented that they kink,
It must be how I roll mine up and un-roll them because I’ve never had a kink issue with mine.

I think it is, and that it's a 50' hose. I've yet to find a 50' hose that doesn't kink when just pulled out when not on a reel, be it air, water, electrical, or just rope. With patience and a bit of lay-out I know it won't kink. But having Mr. Murphy on my side, something else will go wrong. Just catch the hose on something I couldn't try to catch it and I'm walking back and fixing the minor issue.

So I guess I don't know what kink-free is and why I made a bad joke about having a kink we all get. You can kink any hoes if you just pull 'em out and put it to work.

I enjoyed the comments from the Autoshop/Body teachers back in HS (back when we had trades) who knew who raised me and that I could roll a hose back up. Washing my truck or watering the garden isn't fighting a fire, I just pull the hose and it kinks...big deal, I'll go back and correct my impatience. Anyway, reels help but I still bet you can kink the un-kinkable garden hose or at the very least, catch it on something minor and it becomes one of those late night ads where the world falls apart because you don't have some $19.99 thing on TV ad.

 

[Wiz02]

I had multiple pin hole leaks develop after a couple months of use last year on my 3/4" HF contractor hose. Plus it didn't work on my hose reel, too big and heavy. Very timely thread!