A decent garden hose ,,,,

[A.Steve]

About garden hoses.

I've an outdoor tap - and my pressure washer requires a hose to connect it to the tap.

I've got some (old - perhaps 20+ years old) hose... with joins... This hosepipe is robust (except for at the joins) but is also heavy and difficult to coil/store. I can get my pressure washer to work with it - despite it leaking at the joins... but it is cumbersome and the leaks are undesirable.

I bought a cheap lightweight hose as a replacement (it looked a bit like this one). I found this much more convenient to coil/store... but it only lasted a day before the hose itself split and failed. This cheap hose was replaced - but the replacement didn't last any longer before it similarly split and failed.

I'd like a decent hosepipe that doesn't leak. I'd like it to last - though I'd prefer one that is easier to handle than the old-fashioned hose that is extremely stiff - especially when it's cold. I'm aware of the trick of running hot water through the hose - but this isn't convenient as I only have a cold tap outdoors.

Can anyone recommend a good quality hosepipe? Ideally I'd like ~30m of hose that can be easily coiled and stored... I'd like it to be robust - but I'd also like it to be flexible, convenient and easy to use.

Any ideas?

 

[StephenOak]

I needed to replace my main hose and, after looking around, I bought

Ultraflex Hose | Hozelock Ltd

Flexible, anti-kink hose which is easy to use and manoeuvre around the garden. Key Benefits Include: Robust, flexible, anti-kink hose Soft & Flex™ technology makes this hose light and flexible Weather proof with UV and frost protection

www.hozelock.com

I wanted to be able to get half-way down my garden so I needed a 50 metre hose. Some that looked okay were not that long.

I bought it maybe two years ago and it has been fine. I have it on a reel so unwinding it not that hard, but it is 50m long so it inevitable weighs a fair bit. In cold weather it is less stiff that the previous one, but noticeable stiffer than in the summer.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

but it only lasted a day before the hose itself split and failed. This cheap hose was replaced - but the replacement didn't last any longer before it similarly split and failed.

That was my own experience of them - almost single use.

I now use the not too expensive reinforced dark green pipe, which has never been a problem, apart from in the cold weather - or when it needs to be more flexible, Some softer, yellow hose, which is similar to post #2.

 

[A.Steve]

Thanks for the replies... The cross-section of that Hozelok hose makes it look similarly cumbersome to the (joined) hose I have right now.

Are all the 'fabric' hoses as useless as the cheap one(s) I bought from ebay?

 

[aveatry]

I can vote for the hose lock one. I have it on a reel, yes its heavy but does not kink and I have had it for about 10 years although I had to cut it 3 inch shorter near the gun last year as it was damaged and had a bludge that was squirting water.
I don't think you can get non cumbersome and also robust hoses.

 

[Drillbit]

I bought a hose from Aldi a few years which had a floppy rubber inner hose within a tough fabric sheath; it expands slightly and taughtens in use. It doesn't kink and is very easy to put away. The nearest thing I can see online is this Gardena, which is a good brand:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gardena-Liano-Textile-inch-weather-resistant/dp/B0BNLMGVS9/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=flexible+garden+hoses&qid=1706479158&refinements=p_89%3AGardena&rnid=1632651031&s=outdoors&sr=1-2

 

[cdbe]

I've got a couple of spring retractable ones (one for the front and one for the back) one is a hozelock and the other a homebase copy.

They're not cheap (but can be picked up on eBay etc for less). Best things I ever bought for the garden especially as my wife is into gardening and waters every day in the summer.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I bought a manual wind reel, intended to be carried around, but which I mounted on the wall, above one of my garden taps. Fixed on the wall, and ready plugged in, with a 50m hose on it, means it's handy for both garden watering, and fire fighting should it be needed. Aside from that, I have a second tap, with a shorter hose on it, handy for washing the drive and the car etc.. A third tap, I installed last year, has an automatic drip watering system on it, to water the flower beds.