Customer Reviews

RSH125 Crate 125-Foot Water Powered Retractable Garden Hose Reel

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I normally do not write reviews, but in this case I think that it is necessary.
My wife & I are avid gardeners and there is probably not a day during the gardening season that we do not use our garden hose.
I purchased a Robo winder around 5 years ago (could be 7 or 8) and we were extremely pleased with it. We left it outside all year round and only disconnected the inlet hose during our Illinois winters.
We also purchased a 75 ft unit that we have also performed the same maintenance on, which is none and also found this unit GREAT.
Finally had to replace my Robo Winder with new version RW-12581 and found this new version faster and much, much smaller and more compact then my trusty Robo Winder.
I was even able to install a small sprinkler to the discharge hose to water those neglected areas instead of dumping the discharge water down a drain.

I had looked at all of the alterative units (electric, hand windups) and this unit is simply the BEST.
I wish that everything I purchased worked as well.

Merv Hagen

It does work, but that is about as good as it gets. The quality of the materials used is quite low. I found that you sometimes have to pull pretty hard to unwind the hose which can be annoying. The worse problem is that I had this product for about 2 months and it already has a serious internal leak. These were summer months (no freeze occurred). My next step is to just throw it away and start over with a better product.

I've been using this ReelSmart model heavily for a year now, with no wear & tear at all. Because I wasn't willing to drill anchor holes in my nice new concrete slab, I've been using it unanchored, with a heavy piece of garden statuary sitting on top to weight it down (and camouflage it as a table). I also left it out (under cover) all winter -- a fierce, cold one this year, No leaks, no problems, no degradation of materials. Because it's unanchored, unreeling works much better if I stand at the reel and pull out as much as I need -- when I do it from a distance and at an angle, the box travels a bit. But if I had the heart to bolt it in place like the directions told me to, unreeling wouldn't be an issue. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a second one -- in fact, I visited this site to do just that. I've also got a professional gardener doing some work for me, and he is flat-out in love with this thing!

Have had it for about a month - maxed it out with 125 ft of hose. While the rewind is slow - it is slow and steady. Yes you have to make sure it does not kink as it is being rewound otherwise the mechanism will stop - but other than that has worked fine.

Can't address durability - but so far so good.

Update summer 2009 - Item quit rewinding - lever broke twice - durability is not there.

This unit does work well. The overall design and concept is sound, but there are a few issues:

1. Unit does have to be fully secured to the ground because you do need to pull hard to unravel the hose initially.

2. If the hose if fully unraveled, make sure you dont water near the unit so that the water the discharge hose spews out can be used to water nearby. If you have 100' of hose, the discharge hose will spew water for about 5 minutes until the hose if fully retracted.

3. And finally, the main reason this unit gets only a two star: Cheap plastic threads. Our hose burst a few weeks ago. Just an old hose, had nothing to do with this unit. However, I'm an engineer and pretty good with tools and mechanical stuff and I had difficulty getting the garden hose threaded on the main reel the first time around. The attachement swivels, but the angle is very difficult to get threads properly aligned with those of the garden hose. When you tighten, the cheap plastic threads can easily strip. This causes permanent leaking and makes the until completely useless becasue the garden hose attachment fitting is extruded into one piece with the main hose reel. Far as I can see, can't relplace this fitting without replacing the whole "guts and gears" of the system. I've called and e-mailed regarding warranty, but we'll see what happens. Just wish someone would have been smart enought to angle the hose fitting so that threads can easily be accessed or at least made them from material that is not as soft and not strip as easliy.

Ok, We thought we had finally found the solution to reeling in the hose! We bought one, tried it, loved it, and bought 3 more! Alas, a lack! The lever to flip broke after just one summer's use. This is the essential lever to rewind. We mailed the company a check for the replacement part. The check was never cashed, and the company never responded. We cannibalized one of the more infrequently used ones. After a few months, that lever also broke.

Now we are researching hose reels that work, are not much hassle, and that are built with quality materials. Maybe you could buy this hose reel if you plan to use it just once or twice a year. Might last you a bit then. :p Me, I feel robbed.

Rewindable hose reels are common but, when I saw one where the water going through the hose creates the power to rewind the hose I figured " This I gotta see". It works, It's pretty cool too. It has a discharge hose so you can direct the water that winds the hose anywhere you want to. I send mine to my wifes plants, so I don't forget to water them.

I just received the hose reel which I bought through Amazon. I used a Visa card with which I could double the warranty period. There was no warranty information listed on Amazon for it, but I figured it would be in the manual. Wrong. Zip, nothing, nada. O.k., so I called the manufacturer. Remarkably, the representative was clueless ... she referred me to the manufacturer's web page which, again, had no information about the warranty (if there even is one). You have to wonder about a product for which there is either no warranty or the manufacturer isn't inclined to publish and disseminate it.

Just ordered a second one for the front yard faucet. Have had one in the back yard for a year now. Works great! Makes watering a pleasure rather than a pain when putting the hose away. A great addition to the yard.

Works like a charm. 100 feet of hose in less than a minute. All I have to do is throw the lever! Worth every penny.