Customer Reviews

Ames True Temper 2380500 True Temper Hose Wagon

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I bought this thinking it would probably suck since the price was too good to be true, but much to my surprise it is a very well-built, solid, product. It was a breeze to assemble, and there were even a bunch of random extra bolts in there which I assume were backups. The wheels are excellent pneumatic tires with smooth ball bearings.

The only thing that I might beef about is the angle that the hose connects to the reel, it's at such an angle that my hose always kinks at the connection when I wind it. I'm going to order a kink-free hose and see if that does better. Otherwise, I'll just have to be careful when I wind it to see if I can avoid the kinkage.

I ordered this hose cart as a birthday gift for my husband. As other reviewers mentioned, the box arrived completely beat up with one large hole. It needs to be shipped in a heavy-duty brown cardboard box - not the thin cardboard you would expect to see it in on the shelf of a store. The directions were confusing, and differed from the list of parts included (ie, the partlist said 1 of a certain type of screw was packed, and the assembly instructions referenced 2 in assembly). In the end, we had to buy additional parts from the hardware store, and my husband probably spent 3 hours trying to assemble it. But, it is high quality, and appears very durable.

As other reviewers have noted -- this is a very nice product. Tough, works well and I should be able to avoid replacing those plastic hose rollers every year.

But the complaint about missing screws is spot on. How hard can it be to pack the proper number of screws? There must be a factory in China someplace where, after a production run of these reels, the workers look at the leftover pile of screws and wonder if something wasn't right with the screw count.

So -- I would recommend the product -- but be prepared for a trip to the hardware store to get the proper fasteners to build the thing.

UPDATE - After using the product lightly for 1.5 months, it has started to leak badly out of a factory installed fitting. It's not something the buyer can fix. If I could figure out a way to lower this rating to 1 star (or less), I would.

UPDATE #2 - Didn't keep the box so I can't return to Amazon. Tried contacting Ames customer service, but all you get is an answering machine promising a call back in one business day -- which never happens. So if I could figure out a way to lower this rating to negative stars, I would.

Built fairly well. Chrome bolts and nuts are starting to rust after only a few weeks of outdoor use.

First, this reel came in a bright green color, not grey like in the picture. No big deal, but not as pictured. Wheels went on without any trouble with the wrench provided. The first problem was with the two carriage bolts that fix the hand crank to the reel shaft. The bolt heads are square, but the shaft holes are round. So the bolts won't fit in the holes and stay secure while the nuts are threaded on. I made it work with vice grips holding the bolt heads, but never did get the bolt heads to pull into the holes. Irritating, but still no big deal. When the cart was completely assembled, the female brass end of my garden hose would not thread onto the male threads on the reel. The steel reel threads are very poorly manufactured and started to gall the brass threads on the hose. Faced with the decision to send the contraption back or try to fix it, I filed on the threads for about an hour and finally got it to work. I trusted the Ames name, but I wouldn't recommend this imported product.

The product comes in a light duty cardboard box -- the kind you would expect to be unloaded from a pallet in a big home center store, not shipped by itself by UPS, Fedex, etc. Amazon just places a label on the box and ships it as is -- so naturally it arrives pretty beat up. Shame on them. The reel itself seems to be very good quality. There are issues with the assembly -- the directions vary from the actual product somewhat, so you need to improvise.

Sturdy, no plastic, easy to put together (in fact, I supervised as an 11 year old did so). The four wheels move smoothly and made it easy to move to its location. Recommended.

Very sturdy, easy to assemble, great value as I have seen this same model upwards of $169 plus shipping. Wheels make it very easy to move between backyard faucet and front yard. This hose reel is great and holds A LOT of hose. I think I have well over 300 feet of hose on mine. I don't think you will be disappointed.

The wheel axles were not in the box. The box was not damaged so they were probably never placed in the box in the first place. No phone number on the user's manual. Found the phone number on the internet and got an answering machine. It says made in China on the box.

Received this 1.5 years ago. Has been under the deck semi-protected from rain. Green paint has completely flaked off, creating quite a mess, and the metal underneath is completely rusted. Won't be long before the metal is rusted through and this goes to the dump. Looks like gardeners supply sells one nearly identical, but it is powder coated, which is generally immune to the weather. Unfortunately, it is unavailable now.