Garden Hose to end all Garden Hoses

[jmsieglaff]

So far (it's only been a month) but I've been very pleased with the Giraffe hose. It is very flexible yet seems strong, if that makes sense. The hose hasn't kinked where water stops. I've had it kink a bit but then kept walking with the hose and it corrected itself. I did take care to straighten the hose out and carefully reel it in when I unpacked the hose. It definitely feels like a material unlike any of my previous hoses. I've used it more than I typically would have in April because we had a very dry April.

[JRinPA]

I see two kinds of giraffe, No-Kink and Hybrid. Did you get the No-Kink?

[JRinPA]

A 130 ft giraffe retractable might be a good fit for the nozzle side at the comm garden. One gardener has a similar product at home that they think is great. Close to $200 but it is not my money and would be user friendly. I have to remember to keep that in mind, it is not primarily for my use. There is a convenience factor to consider.
These hoses (on the giraffe retractables) are their "hybrid" hose. I like the 180 swivel mount, looks like it should mount to a 4x4 post with no problem.

It sure has been dry, as dry a spring as I can recall. Peas are still only 2" tall.

[jmsieglaff]

I see two kinds of giraffe, No-Kink and Hybrid. Did you get the No-Kink?

It says Hybrid on the hose itself, but the marketing bullets also say no kink.

[Simmran1]

The Zero G from Lowe's is what you're looking for. Is very flexible, dosen't kink, and is lightweight, and also doesn't leak. I have (2) 50' ones
and the newer one (2020) is even better.

[worth1]

I just bought 2 50 foot red rubber hot water hoses made by Craftsman at Lowe's today.
Rated at 180 degrees and 300 psi.
We shall see.

[bower]

The industrial strength hose at my friend's farm is so flexible, you can bend and pinch it to interrupt the flow on purpose, and it doesn't leave a kink or do any harm.

[habitat-gardener]

I was at the local independent garden shop last week and the person who was watering flats of seedlings was chatting with someone about the hose she was using: Flexzilla. She said it's the first hose she's tried that doesn't kink. (They don't sell hoses there; it's a small place.) But The Wirecutter says it degrades over time
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/revi ... rden-hose/
and chose the Dramm ColorStorm Premium as its top hose.

[jmsieglaff]

We have been very dry so far this growing season, in fact we are in a moderate, bordering on severe drought. With that I have used my new hose a lot this spring and summer. Thus far I have been extremely happy. The hose is very flexible, yet strong and doesn’t kink, it seems like it will and then self corrects. The fittings are solid and look to last. Nothing to know yet about longevity, and won’t know that for a long time, but the start is as good as I could have hoped.

[JRinPA]

We picked one up for the comm garden. That 130 ft giraffe on the retractable reel. It is the "hybrid" hose. So far so good, a few weeks in. The hose is light and flexible. The reel works well and can reach everywhere. After about a 100ft is out, the stretch of the hose is rather substantial. The load to pull it builds up linearly, and some gardeners feel like it might break when they pull that hard to toggle the reel. I took it all the way out multiple times and to me, it works as expected. We just need to put up some strategically placed stakes with PVC around them to use as roller guides around pond and plots.

It is a really good fit for our comm garden. The hoses cannot be left out or left connected, so it was a lot of work for someone to untangle 200+ foot of old linked leaky hoses to water their plot. Now we have a two reel system. Both mounted inside the garden, back to back on the same post. One manual reel to take 100 foot of hose on a straight shot back to the spigot. On the other side, the retractable 130ft to reach practically anywhere in the garden.

I have two issues with the 130 ft giraffe retractable I want to mention. The hose seems fine. What I don't like is the actual nozzle that came with. It is light with 9 settings and a firehose style actuator. It is fine for MIST or watering with SHOWER as most of the comm gardeners like to do. It is pretty and color coordinated but it doesn't have a setting for FULL or BUCKET FILLER. No setting at all with a 100% flow rate. This is with an already skinny 1/2" hose with fitting clearances only about 3/8" or 5/16". With the nozzle on and set to RINSE I timed it at about 2 min 40 sec for 5 gallon fill with the fastest setting. That is marked RINSE, but is the same as what most nozzles call JET. The high pressure output stream will float the hose off the ground and is way too high pressure to be called a RINSE. I'm going to need to put a cutoff between the nozzle and hose end just so I can unscrew the nozzle to fill barrels, and then use the cutoff to be able put the nozzle back on.
In other words:
The old 5/8" hose at 100 ft would fill 5 gallon in about 1:20. WAS OKAY
the +100 ft of 5/8", plus the 130ft of restricted 1/2" in about 1:40. IS ACCEPTABLE
the +100 ft of 5/8", plus the 130ft of restricted 1/2" + included nozzle on seemingly highest output RINSE, about 2:40. TOO SLOW!

Another thing I want to pass along, the mount for the retractable appears to be made to mount to a 4x4, but the mount is actually slightly too wide. It would probably mount on a true 4" surface. I have to think that makers think 4x4 means a full 4" across. But for a 3-1/2" wide dimensional lumber "4x4", the mounting holes are too far apart, putting the screws dangerously close to tearing out the sides, and the plastic would be proud of the wood. So I had to screw a piece of 2x4 onto the 4x4 post to make it wide enough to mount the reel. Not only was that pretty inconvenient, it will rot out sooner, and doesn't look clean at all.

Make the mount fit a standard 4x4 post and give the included nozzle a full flow BUCKET FILLER setting, and I'd say 5/5.

[MissS]

[mention]JRinPA[/mention] That is the best review of a garden hose that I have ever seen! Very clear, concise and detailed.