looking for good hose

[Kali]

anybody know where I can find a super good quality hose? I HATE the cheap garbage that rots in the arizona sun in two years, and I am on a low pressure gravity water system so those stupid, hard-to-splice "kink-resistant" ones with the ribbing inside have not impressed me in the least.

My all time favorite two hoses are the 20 feet of inch diameter gasoline dispenser hose my grandfather acquired from somewhere a good 30 years ago, only problem is it gets quite hot. The other is a real "garden-style" red rubber hose that somebody gave away to us like 20 years ago and it must have been at least that old then. Still going strong! Can one find those anymore? I love that hose.

[MajorChode]

1. Look for good quality rubber hoses, not vinyl

You can still find good quality rubber hoses at most hardware stores and bigger garden outlets.

I have 3 rubber garden hoses that I bought at Sears over 20 years ago and they are still going strong. I leave them outside all year long and I live in Texas. Vinyl hoses will break down in the sun after a couple of years and will be worthless. Vinyl hoses also tend to be thin and will kink easily.

Pay particular attention to the quality of the hose when you buy. The hoses should be thick rubber and not kink easily. The connectors should be made out of thick brass or stainless steel and there should be a quality connection to the hose which looks something like this:


On this particular hose, the connector itself is made of brass and as you can see is nicely weathered compared to the brass quick-connect that I have attached to it. However, even though it's well weathered, it still works like new.

Some hoses have additional stress relief material at the point of attachment, but this is not really necessary if the hose is well made. As you can see, my hose has no such additional material and is still going strong. During the growing season, I use my hoses almost every day, and although I do take care of them, they do see some rough use.

Rubber hoses come in different colors and I'm not really sure if this makes much difference. My hoses are all black. They do leave black marks on my hands when I roll them back up, but it washes off easily.

Brass quick connectors are another story. Some are great and will last forever, some are complete crap. As with the hoses and many other things, you get what you pay for.

[beac]

2. Lots of rubber hoses here:

http://acehose.com/mcart/index.cgi?code=3&cat=6