However as a Union Millwright that makes a living with my tools and works with. Agreed: Eleys brass, commercial-grade quick connects are the best on the market. I thought I had better luck with the members mark ones from sams club. We have several hose stations scattered around the property fed by underground pipe. Gardena are very popular in Europe and have been available there for years. These oxidize and lock it up, which ruins it. Been using all metal ones x 6 yrs. Its very well build. I had plastic Gardena ones before and I remember them not being very good. Quality is top knotch. I installed the first one about 4 years ago, and its been rock-solid. Once they corrode a bit they can become hard to connect requiring wire brushing o-ring replacement etc. I have one from about ten years ago and put both on a gram scale, it was half the weight. On the minus side: The o-rings need replacement annually. Just use teflon tape when attaching the brass fitting to the hose end. much better than what i could find locally. The connector breaks, and you have to replace the whole thing, which tends to be quite expensive. BTW, did you ever figure out who makes the best hose washers? Ace Hardware used to sell the Nelson repackaged under their name, but now theyve changed to a different design (the O-ring style). I prefer the brass quick disconnectors because they dont reduce water flow as much. You seem to be the only tool blog that even cares. I dont want to replace washers every year. Dixons work adequately, dont leak. Despite undamaged fabric, never frozen, no abuse, . Its a good system. I dont unscrew anything any more. And the brass ones are half the weight also. The all brass ones are better than nothing, but can be frustrating too. Unfortunately, the flow rate is only designed for 1/2 hose and is further reduced by the couplings with water stop function. They are all garbage now quick releases and theyre okay. But, they also sell real brass online at least. Literally not even a drop. Used to be Orbit was good. Plus they now corrode onto the threaded hose fittings! After using a small portable Gardena hose reel for washing cars trouble-free for years I finally replaced our crappy main hose reel with another Gardena reel and hose. And another thing, which doesnt really apply to garden hoses, but eh. I found that kind to work better than the style where the seal is on the female side. Life is too short. Bought 5 more just last week so every hose & accessory can have an adapter ready. Have spent more up front for the eley hose reel, but have had no frustrations with them for several years. As I recall the Orbit I bought at the home store were the anodized aluminum. Maybe Ill pick up a few to try out first. I have had the brass fittings for about a year Theyre no cheaper than brass ones to purchase either. Tool Reviews, New Tool Previews, Best Tool Guides, Tool Deals, and More! Which quick releases should I go for, plastic or matel one? Love ELEY connectors, and Chris, no they do not stop the flow when disconnected. The farm runs year-round. Salt air corrodes everything. As I said above I do Like their products. for the main hoses i cut the existing fitting off. I agree Ive used their hoses, connectors, and reel and have had good luck so far the past 4 years of homeowner use. Cam lock fittings are the way to go. Real brass tends to be heavy. I ordered a Hozelock water splitter last year, but havent attached it yet as Im still waiting to find a second hose reel thats not reported to leak all over the place. Do you have proof of their products being u.s.a made . Ive tried Gardena, they dont last very long. https://www.amazon.com/Gardena-36004-Garden-Connector-Starter/dp/B00004SDY5/. The nice part is nearly every sprayer or sprinkler from Gardena comes with a female connector, so when they fail or get destroyed due to abuse I typically have a back up ready to go. So far so good. Seem to be working well for us so far. Both of which say made in china ? I standardized the farm on Dixon brass QCs 5 years ago. I also have good experience with cheaper quick connect that I got off Amazon. Over here in Europe Gardena style connectors are the standard and all the other brands copy them it seems. Plug the quick connect into a 3/4 inch line under high water pressure with ease. I like the Eley too. You have to buy new parts almost every year that they become brittle and break. And its so much easier when using a garden spray for chemicals to go from a regular nozzle to a spray gun. Pricey but worth it, quality is very impressive. I have tried all the other metal brands, Orbit all brass is the best. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Are Garden Hose Quick Connector Fittings any Good? With us in Germany the Gardena couplings have been available as standard in every private garden for over 50 years. When washing the car, I can easily and quickly go from a fire hose end to a high-pressure nozzle or to a foam gun. Its all pricey, but Im already throwing out the old hose cart I had and its only 6 years old, rusted through, and leaks everywhere. Generally, garden hoses are connected to a water spigot at one end, and a sprayer or other kind of nozzle at the other, usually with threaded fittings. I used silicon tape on the connections, and put their quick-connects on everything. Those certainly look robust. I wouldnt really call them quick connects, but I use any of those we have as the nozzle itself. Dixon is US-made and of similar design. Do the Eley connectors stop the flow of water when disconnected? The best ever hose reel that Ive tried is also made by Gardena. Required fields are marked *. Interesting Ive been using Gardena quick connect for years, and they always leak. So look like they are doing well. Xaver It seems that each brand has a different size quick connector. My quick connectors were getting a little gummy this spring in their 3rd (?) The home center has washers at $1.06 for 10 or $2.96 for 20 of another kind. I feel that pricier washers are made from better stuff, but its going to take time to determine it, and I really need to figure out a way to test it. Once you go Eley you cant go back haha. Pun intended) issue is always the less connections the better. Ive used Eley with a lot of success. The connections with you are 5/8 and 3/4 Unified Thread Standard I absolutely concur. I only use it on potable water & use big-box plastic on the flush lines. I stick with horticultural suppliers like AM Leonard and Dramm. I also have my backflow preventers tested at that time before I turn on the water and bring the hoses back out. They are more expensive but I think worth it. Your email address will not be published. The release ring will sometimes get stuck a little and will not disconnect. I keep hoping to buy yet another set and that maybe it will be the one that doesnt leak, but no luck yet in fact, sometimes they leak right out of the package. Super durable, dont restrict flow, simple, and easy. Im really bad about leaving the hose out on the driveway, usually without a nozzle/wand in it, so i do make sure to have the metal connectors for drops, drags on the concrete, and the occasional run over with the car. If you are going to screw a couple of lengths of hose together for the summer, and not take them apart until the fall, they make less sense. Eleys are superior, easier to release under pressure, easier to operate with thick gloves. They also are easier to deal with in tight spaces, like where I use a dual fitting manifold on a spigot a few inches above a deck. Or at the faucet where youre not having to carry the extra weight. Ive used the brass quick connectors for 15 or more years with ok success, by no means are they stellar. Of the newest ones I think the Dramm ones seem to hold up but are not 100% leak-free if you apply some sideways off-axis load to them. With a quick connect the seal relies on how well the mating parts and the o-ring fit together. Pay a lot once, or pay a little every few years. And not expensive at all. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. The leader hose that came with my hose reel thats a different story. The more points of connection that you make the greater the possibility for wear and leaks. We had Gardena ones growing up (my dad actually bought them in England while there at a horticulture conferencehe was an agronomist). https://www.acehardware.com/departments/lawn-and-garden/watering-and-irrigation/garden-hose-connectors/7439797. Though the nipples narrow the amount of water entering and exiting, I have not noticed any problem with water force even wide open. Come spring, and they are leaking all over the place. I had tried the Gardena plastic connectors, with one of their sprinklers, and it leaked and then broke when dropped on the driveway. The selector clicks freely with a quality feel, and the flow control can be operated with one thumb while spraying. It seems like an interesting examination whether a soft sprayer and higher powered sprayer with fast-fill option, will serve my needs better than a multi-functional sprayer with rotating spray pattern component. Funny I have the exact opposite experience. Its 18v battery powered and can reliably retract the hose with a push of a button. All my hoses, bibs and watering tools have Eley connectors on them. The Gardena ones seems sturdier. The homebrewing hobbyists like them a lot, and you can find them at brewhardare.com. No idea why. They tend to be an interesting opening for certain hole-nesting insects. Heavy thick brass= good but hard to source and for the price Id rather just unscrew hoses the old-fashioned way. Not any more. I figure that Ill try the plastic components first, and if I like the idea but not the construction Ill give the cross-compatible metal components a try later. We bought a bunch of the Green Thumb Brass Quick Connector Set for Hose connectors on Amazon. I see no reason to experiment with another brand, Im sold. 1. Here at the house Ive used the brass ones and think that this year, they all get replaced with some of the either high-grade brass or the high-grade plastics. I just looked at Eley and I know what Im buying next time. I have the Eley hose reel. The couplings are designed from Messig and flow rates also over 3/4 . Given the cost of the connectors, its a nice little freebie. Quick connectors make sense if you need to routinely break or add hose sections. Best ones are Orbit 51187N. Ill echo the Eley fan comments I have 2 Eley hose reels, and an assortment of their quick-connects, sprayers, and valves. This is the exact one that I have https://aquorwatersystems.com/shop/hose-quick-connect-kit/. I am curious because I use these for the last 4 years and they have been excellent: https://www.amazon.com/Rainmaker-Quick-Connect-Fittings-Adapter/dp/B078NQDVSB It can be reconnect while under pressure with very little effort. Here is a link to what has worked for me, though I found the same ones at ACE hardware under a different name: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BLQNMR7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1. Stuart, while youre on the subject of sprayers, Id love to hear your thoughts on hoses. Regulars and new visitors come from all kinds of backgrounds., Itd be interesting to know what percentage of people on this website go to work in a suit and tie, First Review: Leatherman Free Multi-Tool is Amazing (P2), The Best EDC Screwdriver with Bit Storage? I havent used Gardena before. Are garden hose quick-release connectors any good? I have a 50 Flexzilla and a longer one on the way for the back. Hozelock for me were crap, used their connectors once more poorly made. I have read some complaints about Gardenas plastic quick release connectors, but they also offer a metal + plastic starter set, and metal connectors sold separately. I us Siroflex on my RV. Eley hose, reel, brass quick disconnects. I find it less frustrating to pay out the entire length of the nice Eley hose from the nice Eley reel and run it from the back yard to the front, than just using the kink-prone disaster hose from a big box store attached to the front yard bib. Hi Gardena all the way for typical home use. Verlauf Some great suggestions in the comments. In theory, you get good quality hose connections and add on quick-release ends that make things modularized and easy to change out. Pricey, but not a big deal, and I like that theyre said to be made from lead-free brass. Im guessing its just a rebadged SKU from someone else, and probably available cheaper, but its a damn fine piece of equipment that is, or is damn near, buy-it-for-life. They are not perfect but they leak the least and last the longest. Their connectors and watering devices used to be carried by Home Depot before they became more expensive than the metal or brass fittings. Keep the O-ring lubed once a season with the Eley grease and they perform flawlessly year after year. Of the plastic ones that Ive tried (Vigro, Melnor, Orbit, Gardena and Swan) I think the Gardena ones seem decent. Quick release connectors or fttings create easily detached and swappable connections. They might be 50% more up front, but much cheaper in the long run and a pleasure to use. Nonononono orbit is junk. The plastic of the couplings is not particularly UV resistant. In fact that was the only option that they had at the time. I got yelled at a lot for not sourcing the much cheaper home center stuff. Get Flexilla hoses and a hanger. Plastic. For those of us who have harder winters with strings of days in a row below freezing we take some winterizing precautions and then some spring renewal steps that have become routines. Although they have apparently changed to the O-ring design (per postings on Amazon decrying the change as for the worse), their website still shows the older ones, which are still available from vendors on Amazon. I actually think the plastic ones are better than the metal ones. My current garden sprayer isnt that good when it comes to a soft spray, which is easily forgivable because its one of those multi-setting handles. You need to use teflon on the threads. It makes hooking up water lines so much easier. Right now, Im focused on Gardena, shown above and below, and also Hozelock, which are said to be perfectly compatible with one another. My son has a Gardena aluminum / plastic manual hose reel and hose from the 80s that still going strong. Again the old problem with the metric u. imperial system. Over the years Ive tried brass quick connectors from Nelson, Melnor, Gilmour Orbit and Dramm. Great fittings too. Only a couple years old though. I have never tried the plastic ones. Check out ELEY Hose Reels. (Like $10 for female end and $4 for a male end) If you use hdpe pipe for water look at Plasson agrifit couplings. I bought a 5 pack of brass connectors off Ebay last year, they have been by far the best I have used so far. I am guessing it might have to do with the actual connector than the different in style. Over the years, we have replaced all our hose ends with plastic quick-connects. However Im already too heavily invested in Eley. The plastic ones break way faster then they did 10 years ago The Eley one seem like a solid choice. Amazon appears to be on of the only suppliers of Gardena products. Should I want to also use my cheap multi-pattern water spray nozzle, all Id need to do is add in a quick-connector adapter. Or Gardena branded ones. I dont really get why the garden hose quick connects suck so bad, but maybe the lower pressure isnt ideal for such connections? The shape of the plug changed some. We also replaced our brass twist garden nozzles with 100% plastic twist nozzles less than 2 bucks each. About $8 on Amazon, but you can find multipacks for less per set. I use the ones from Eley Hose Reels and they are very high quality and dont restrict flow. Their hose reel is the best IMO. Obsessed Garage offers some in brass and stainless. Ive used the Gardena fittings for 10+ years and never had a problem. and then may still not seal 100%. They look like the Eley where the seal is on the male side. No leaks. Ive been pleased with Water Right. Eley quick connects + reel, combined with underhill hoses. Ive had my reel and connectors for 5 years and still works great. Sections: DIY & Home Tags: lawn & gardenMore from: Gardena, Hozelock. Good comments on this thread. Been too busy lately so havent got time to swing by. Even the aluminum post is super-high quality. I have good memories of Gardena in EU. Mostly the tube kind, sometimes the Forestry flat hose. Still better than screwing connections on every time. I also put teflon tape on them to prevent sticking to the hose and have been very happy with their performance. They are made in the USA and are a lot lighter yet still feel quite sturdy. I honestly have no idea, I dont believe in gatekeeping. On the second summer one now sprung a leak. In Portlandia they remain outdoors all but true Winter and bringing them all in is probably the main cause for extended life as well.
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