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Our resident home and garden experts delved into the world of garden hoses online before selecting the top 6 available today for hands-on testing. Each model was taken through a series of tests on our urban homestead in Idaho or our rural desert property in the Eastern Sierra. We used each one to water home gardens, patio flower pots, and veggie beds; we even washed our cars with the high-powered hoses in the bunch and used others for patio cleaning. After hours of hands-on testing, we offer our well-researched and documented findings to help guide you toward the ideal garden hose for your home garden use.
Editor's Note: Our garden hose review was revised on February 10, 2024, removing some discontinued products from our lineup. We also added additional recommendations to our award section.
The Flexzilla 5/8-Inch is our top recommendation for a garden hose. It's remarkably lightweight, which is an excellent benefit for both working and storage. The Flexzilla's lightweight material remains very durable, showing the least structural wear and tear, comparatively, after many hours of use. We ran it over with a car and extensively used it in our garden each day to test durability. The collars of the hose and the connections were all high quality and showed little wear. This stood out as the only non-stretch hose that did not kink while under pressure and performed its job admirably with both high and low water pressure.
The Flexzilla is an excellent all-around hose that can withstand the abuse of everyday use, but it does have some downsides. For instance, it's more expensive than other contenders we tested. That said, this hose should last for multiple seasons. The bright colors show dirt and wear more than other models, but this is not a big deal for a utilitarian product like a water hose. The balance of lightweight durability, ease of use, high-quality components, and kink-resistant material earn the Flexzilla the top spot as our favorite garden hose.
The Flexzilla has memory-free materials, making it easy to coil.
The TheFitLife Flexible and Expandable hose is our favorite for its ease of storage and lightweight appeal. It is advertised at under two pounds, and our testers noticed the difference in weight after a day of hauling hoses through their 1/3 acre lot. The woven outer means that the hose does not kink or tangle when water is running through it. It comes with a plastic hanger that allows for easy storage. The FitLife measures eight feet when in storage; when under pressure, it expands to just over 24 feet, making it an excellent fit for anyone with limited storage.
Similar to other woven and latex hoses, the TheFitLife Flexible and Expandable did not perform very well with low pressure. Also, this hose shrank significantly when the water pressure was not fully on due to its incredibly small size in storage. Aside from these minor shortcomings, TheFitLife Flexible and Expandable is a great pick for anyone concerned with space and looking for a reliable, durable garden hose. If you're looking for a hose you can use at lower pressure, the slim Water Right 400 Series Slim and Light hose below is worth a look.
The FitLife hose features a on/off toggle at the nozzle.
Material: Polyeurethane | PSI Limit: Not advertised
REASONS TO BUY
Easy to manipulate and wind up
Slim diameter handles low pressure well
High-quality components
REASONS TO AVOID
Restricts flow to high-pressure connections
Moves around if used with high pressure
The Water Right 400 Series hose stands out for low-pressure needs, as it excels among traditional designs for being easy to move around and manipulate. After initially unpacking, the hose felt quite stiff, but within a couple of minutes of direct sunlight, it was easy to move around, uncoil and put where needed. The chrome-plated brass connectors are remarkably durable, showing little wear or bending from coupling and uncoupling or crush testing. Where the Water Right stands out above all other options is when used in low-pressure settings. While many other hoses became challenging to move or barely put any water out, it maintains the same water pressure. It is easy to use when connected to a submersible pump, a water catchment barrel, or a sink.
Because the Water Right 400 Series hose performs so well at low pressure, it presents challenges with high-pressure connections. When using a sprinkler, the lack of pressure is notable, and the sprinkler underperforms. When connected to a traditional outside hose spigot, the hose tends to jump around if the water is turned on to full pressure. The Water Right 400 Series hose performs the best when connected to low-pressure sprinklers, drip irrigation systems, or when connected to a lower-pressure water source. For our favorite hose that can withstand high pressure, check out the Flexzilla 5/8-Inch.
The Water Right hose has high quality, durable components.
For those looking for a hose that will last for years to come, look no further than the Continental ContiTech Premium. We tested the hot water-compatible version of this hose and found it one of the most durable options. We ran it over with our car, left it baking in the midday desert sun for weeks, and even had it freeze at night as temperatures dipped below freezing; this hose was completely unphased. Its traditional design is easy to use and recoil and is made from durable, high-quality rubber.
The stiffness of the Continental ContiTech Premium is an asset for durability, but it is also a potential downside for flexibility. It is a substantial hose, ideal for rugged conditions and folks who are hard on their garden tools. On the other hand, it was a bit kinky and challenging to uncoil when it initially came out of the bag, but once we had it stretched out entirely for a day or two, the tangles subsided.
This hose was a good match for the relentless sun and heat of one of our tester's desert garden.
Material: Polyeurethane | PSI Limit: Not advertised
REASONS TO BUY
Stores very small
Narrow diameter, low flow
REASONS TO AVOID
Doesn't provide high-pressure flow
Short
The Water Right Professional Coil is a compact, 25-foot garden hose. This is a great choice for folks looking to avoid tangled masses of hose around a deck or patio space. Its low flow and narrow diameter make watering pots and planters easy. Because it is so short (25 feet when fully expanded), we preferred to use it in small spaces where full expansion wasn't necessary.
With smaller size comes poor functionality in both length and pressure. The Water Right Professional Coil has a narrow diameter, 3/8-inch, which limits the amount of water that can pass through at one time. This model excels at watering small planter boxes, flowers, and other delicate tasks. However, the low pressure is less than desirable for washing cars or machinery. At a mere 25 feet in length, this garden hose falls on the short side. When fully expanded, the ideal operating length is about 15 feet which can be challenging for watering large yards. However, it's a prime choice for small spaces.
The Flexi Hose is an excellent option for gardeners who struggle with keeping a traditional garden house from kinking. This option performs well where a traditional hose is challenging to manage: moving a sprinkler often, turning corners, and navigating around garden beds and other obstacles. Unlike some other expandable choices, the Flexi Hose performs well at various water pressures, keeping its shape and putting out decent water pressure.
Sadly, the Flexi Hose collars and connections showed a good deal of wear from everyday use in our testing. After a watering session that included tugging the hose around the garden, the hose below the connection point was frayed and appeared to be leaking. Perhaps this is due to the lack of a protective collar, which seems standard on most expandable models. The brass connectors have a fine ridge, which makes them difficult to handle when wet to the point that our tester had to let them dry before disconnecting from the spigot. Those who struggle with watering the garden without kinking the hose might find the Flexi Hose an adequate solution, but the durability issues we experienced give us pause to recommend this hose wholeheartedly.
Daily watering sessions in the heat of summer gave us a lot of time to test each hose.
Credit: Bix Firer
Why You Should Trust Us
Our testing process took place on a small urban homestead in Boise, Idaho, and a desert property in the Eastern Sierra. The hoses were subjected to comparative testing and used for regular jobs, watering, irrigating, and tending to food plots. We also performed several objective and comparative tests. Durability, for example, we drove a car over each and assessed the connections of each. After both field and objective tests, we then evaluated each across essential metrics for a final score. Our recommendations are based on our hands-on unbiased testing process.
Bix Firer has a long history of putting gear to the test. Bix has worked in outdoor education for a decade, coordinating education programs and urban food gardens in the backcountry. He currently lives on a small urban homestead in Boise, Idaho. Bix has worked as a guide, line cook, janitor, and educator. A graduate degree in Anthropology has left Bix with a strong analytical mindset and a love of observational studies.
We attempted to kink each hose 100 times to test for wear and flexibility.
Analysis and Test Results
We discuss a wide range of hoses for home and garden use, some of which are the most popular and best on the market. After lots of testing on our urban homestead, we objectively rate each across four important metrics; durability, ease of use, quality of components, and flexibility.
Durability
Hoses are used outdoors in various conditions and in gardens, where they are subjected to wear and tear. Thus, durability is a key feature of a good hose. We tested the hoses through day-to-day use to test durability, irrigating our food plots, watering, and attached to sprinklers. We also compared them in head-to-head tests, including running the hoses over with a car, kinking and bending each 100 times, and tugging when connected to a spigot, noting the wear and tear on each. The Flexzilla stood out as the most durable of the hoses. The Continental ContiTech Premium was a close match to the Flexilla's durability. The light pink material on the Continental hid dirt better than the light green Flexilla.
We tested all hoses for durability and garden wear by running them over with a car. The Flexzilla stood up well to all durability testing.
Credit: Bix Firer
The Water Right 400 Series was the second-best in durability testing. It showed virtually no wear from our car test, and connections and collars also stood up to our testing with no signs of wear. This hose only came in second because it was more prone to kinking and showed slight wear at these kinking points. Expandable hoses tended to show signs of wear after daily use near the connections and collars and can suffer from UV damage after too much time baking in the sun, weakening the hose material.
All hoses were subjected to side-by-side durability tests and the wear and tear of daily use.
Credit: Bix Firer
Ease of Use
Hoses should be a seamless part of your garden setup. Storage, movement, manipulation, and connections should all occur without a second thought. Our testers used the hoses while at work and noted any points at which each of these aspects required attention. In addition to daily use, the hoses were tested for their water delivery capacity, timed to see how long it took to fill a liter, and tested for ease of coiling, as storage is a key component of use. The Flexzilla stood out as the easiest to use. The unique memory-free material made coiling a breeze, as well as moving the hose around when in use, both when under pressure or when the hose was off. The Flexzilla delivered water at a very median rate for the hoses tested.
The Flexzilla Garden Hose was our choice for best overall.
Credit: Bix Firer
The FitLife Expandable Garden Hose scored just below the Flexzilla and best among expandable hoses. Due to its short size when not under pressure, stayed tangle-free, was easy to store and coil, and never kinked. It's remarkably light, making it very easy to manipulate while under pressure. The only downside was that the short length made it a challenge to reach across plots and garden beds without crushing plants.
The FitLife Expandable is a great value for those short on storage space.
Credit: Bix Firer
Quality of Components
Otherwise, quality hoses can begin to fail due to the individual components. Protective collars, connections, and on-off toggles can be points of failure during day-to-day use. We compared each hose and components' materials to test these components, repeatedly tested all moving points, coupled and de-coupled all connections, and monitored all components during daily use. The Water Right is the best performer in terms of components. The chrome-plated brass connections show no wear after heavy testing and use, and the hard plastic protective collar was of high quality.
The Water Right has high quality hard plastic collars.
Credit: Bix Firer
The FitLife expandable hose performed well in the components metric, only falling short when the components were wet and challenging to use and when the included accessories showed wear and tear during our moving parts testing.
Components like on/off toggles by the nozzles added to ease of use.
Credit: Bix Firer
Flexibility
A challenge familiar to any gardener is wrangling stiff hoses through narrow workspaces and losing water pressure to kinks. A highly flexible hose helps solve these problems. Hoses were tested for flexibility through kinking tests, both under pressure and not, when coiling and use during irrigation. The Flexzilla performed the best in terms of flexibility. Whether under water pressure or not, the Flexzilla would not kink. The hose coiled easily and was easy to move around bends and tight spaces when in use. The memory-free materials also stood up to extensive attempts to force them to kink.
The Flexzilla was easy to coil due to its memory free design.
Credit: Bix Firer
In general, expandable hoses tested well in terms of flexibility, though many became frustratingly rigid when under high water pressure. The Flexi Hose scored second best in flexibility, refusing to kink. Unlike many expandable hoses, the Flexi Hose maintained flexibility even under high water pressure and was easy to coil and manipulate while full of water.
Our main contributor, Bix Firer, waters his urban homestead using one of the 10 different hoses tested in this in-depth review.
Credit: Bix Firer
Conclusion
Hoses are a necessary component of every gardener's toolbox. Their ease of use and components can simplify your gardening experience or create a headache for the home gardener. The wide variety of materials, components, and options on the market can make shopping for the right option a challenge. Our rigorous testing for durability, quality of components, ease of use, and flexibility can help give you the information you need to choose the right option for your home and garden.
