turnipgreen said:
So Spilchy,
Now that you have the reel, how good does it work? You have the hand carry one right?
Well, she arrived a couple weeks ago in full fashion - fire engine red. After a brief, easy assembly of a couple parts, she was up and coiling my 100' hose. Yes, she is the hand carry one as shown in the picture.
The fixtures are solid brass made in the USA. The entire unit is heavy gauge metal and painted with a heavy shiny fire engine red coat. The hose that goes in the faucet is a heavy duty industrial grade grey hose with a nice brass coupling at the end. It's really a piece of quality craftsmanship that comes with a 10 year warranty. It is slightly heavy and even heavier when coiled up (weighs around 45lbs maybe). It is a LOAD with the water still trapped inside. So I just drain it first then coil. It coils nicely. I step on the base and then crank away. However, there is no guide for the hose so you have to kind of train it a little while it's coiling. That's the only pain about it. But it comes out smooth a as a whistle. There are no wheels. It sits next to the facuet. It is also tip proof. It won't fall over. It's over all size is very compact and fits snug on the trunk of my Civic when I go onsite. Oh, also, you see how the hose coils around the outside? Well, there is a spring in there that's about a foot long. It prevents that piece of hose that goes into the fixture from kinking. Very clever. Also, pressure is very good. But, I mostly use a free flow to remove suds. It's strong enough to hose down wheels, wheel wells and the intial rinse of the exterior.
I like it very much. It will last forever. In fact, some of the neighbors came over and we all stood around it grunting in approval. It was a hit with the fellas. They all thought it was an air compressor from a distance. Everyone dug the color.
I'd give it a 7 out of 10, the only cons are its weight and lack of a hose guide. But it's not enough to dampen my overall satisfaction.
I may retrofit some wheels on the bottom so I can roll it to and from my garage. We'll see. I may just get a little dolly.
