I was recently given the opportunity to try out the Hozelock Superhoze – An expandable hose, so thought I’d share my experience in this review!
This particular Hozelock hose is fairly new to the market when compared to most of the range, it only came out in early 2017. The marketing budget has obviously skyrocketed now because you see them everywhere you go!
Let’s dive right in to the review:
How does the Hozelock Superhoze work?
If you aren’t familiar with the “expandable hose,” to put it simply, it is a hose pipe that is almost scrunched up and when filled with water it expands to a longer length. Like a piece of elastic that contains water!
The Hozelock Superhoze expands up to 3 times its original length. So if you have the 30m version, it would be around 10m in length before any water goes through it, then gradually fills up and expands to the 30m size.
When you turn the water off, it gradually shrinks back down again to its original size as the water leaves the hose pipe – fun to watch!
The most innovative thing about the expandable hosepipe design is that you cannot kink it! This is the main reason that people tend to buy one.
How does it feel?
Like any Hozelock product, it feels incredibly high quality. It feels robust and like it is going to last.
The Hozelock Superhoze does come with a 3 year manufacturers guarantee – something that should ultimately show that Hozelock are pretty confident on the quality and life of the hose.
The first think you notice about it, is when you pick it up it is incredibly lightweight. In fact, the Hozelock Superhoze only weighs just over 1kg. 4 times lighter than a regular hose pipe of a similar length!
You can use it just like a regular hose, the only difference is how it appears differently when in use versus not in use and most importantly, how it is stored.
How does it compare with similar designed hose pipes?
I purchased the X Hose hose pipe during the first month of its release. It was and still is a product that is shown everywhere in a lot of shops with stands, videos playing and on TV.
It should be noted that when I bought the X Hose it was also much more expensive than it is now!
To cut a very long story short, the X Hose broke on my first try using it – the water did not reach the end of the hose, it ballooned up near the tap connector and it kind of “exploded” off the tap causing the hose to split and the connector to snap. I took it back, I got a refund, I never bought one again.
Reading about it now, I presume that they have improved the design and quality somewhat, but that experience (one that others appear to have had as well as other faults) was enough to put me off not buying one again.
There are plenty of reputable expandable hose pipes on the market (note that X Hose has one of the worst ratings (enough said about X Hose…)), but after trying many out and having a good feel and play with them, I don’t think any expandable hose pipe compares to the quality of the Hozelock Superhoze.
Hozelock produce high quality products, I love the range of fittings and attachments that you can buy for any Hozelock hose. They are made to last and they have the ability for you to repair a broken component of a hose pipe without having to throw the whole old one away and buy a new one. I once dropped the end of my hose pipe on concrete causing the nozzle to shatter – so simply bought a new one. A feature that you won’t get with many other brands.
People giving Expandable Hosepipes a bad name!
Earlier I mentioned it was important to how you store your hosepipe. More precisely, it is important how it is stored over the winter months.
You don’t need to use a hosepipe over the winter, so why do people feel the need to leave it outside or in a place where the cold can really get to it.
A huge selling point of hose pipes such as the expandable variety, hozelock auto reel or any reelable hose for that matter, is that is is easy to store.
But a lot of people tend to leave a hosepipe out on the ground all year round, sometimes including the winter. It gets walked over, ridden over by bike or car wheels and then it ends up splitting or leaking. Then individuals tend to blame it as being faulty by the manufacturer!
Another common theme is people storing it outside or in a garden shed over winter then complaining that it has leaks or isn’t working like it did the previous summer. The issue here is that if it is -10 degrees outside, it is probably not far off being that in your shed. If left outside, it can be prone to leaks from exposure to extreme temperatures and even crazy things like mice chewing the hose pipe itself can cause leaks – unfortunately not manufacturing defects.
Almost every 1 star review you read of a hosepipe is normally written after someone has stored their hose away, gone to use it again the following summer, and then found one of the above problems with it.
If you invest in a hose pipe, it is important you store it away safely and look after it!
Final opinion – why get this versus a conventional Hozelock hose?
The Hozelock Superhoze is ideal for those with small to medium sized gardens. Perhaps those who are fed up of kinks, having to trace back down the length of hose to find the cause of the problem around a corner or plant pot!
Maybe you are taken with the idea of getting an expandable hose pipe, you like the thought of how it expands and shrinks down and the non-kinking functionality. When many have invested time and money into a specific type of product – they stick with it!
If you have owned an expandable hose pipe before and want to invest in a new one, the Hozelock Superhoze is the perfect hose pipe for you!
If you have a larger garden and have no worries over concerns about owning an expanding hose in particular, I would recommend opting for a product like the Hozelock Autoreel (review here) which is an exceptional conventional hose pipe.