Ditch Traditional Garden Hoses: There's An Easy Solution From Amazon That Saves More Space

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There is no shortage of nifty garden hose storage hacks that can make life easier in and around the yard. For example, you could build a hose storage unit out of wood pallets, and in a pinch, you could keep your hose coiled inside an old planter. However, such solutions still require space to store the physical hose, and if you're running a 100-foot hose around your yard, that's often much easier said than done. Instead, you might be better off investing in a flexible, expandable hose.

As an example, you can currently purchase a 100-foot Flexi Hose Expandable Garden Hose from Amazon for $89.99. Per the brand name, it's designed for flexibility, which helps to alleviate issues associated with older-style hoses, such as kinking. It's built for durability; in fact, it's endurance tested to 2,000 uses, and can withstand mercurial swings of between 41 and 113 degrees Fahrenheit. Most importantly, in space-starved gardens, it doesn't require you to accommodate a full 100 feet of hose. Instead, while it's designed to expand to 100 feet when in use, it retracts to around a third of that size, which makes it significantly easier to store. It also comes with an eight-pattern rotating nozzle, which doesn't add much to its storability, but is a nice feature nonetheless and proves garden hoses can be used for more than just watering your yard.

The first thing to say is that, with its 4.2 star rating (from more than 4,260 users), the general consensus is that the Flexi Hose is a quality product. However, there are some differences between it and a number of its popular competitors. For example, compare it to the zero-G 4001 100-foot garden hose, which shares the same 4.2 star rating. Firstly, the zero-G is cheaper by $20, which will suit spend-savvy buyers. It's also flexible and kink-resistant, much like the Flexi Hose. However, the zero-G does not retract or expand. In other words, you'll still have to accommodate the full 100 feet of hose, even when it's not in use.

As another example, this 100 foot garden hose from Flexzilla is, as you'd expect, flexible. It offers kink-free operation, with an abrasion-resistant cover and crush-resistant aluminum fittings (versus the brass of the Flexi Hose) that promise maximum durability. It's around $5 more expensive than the Flexi Hose, although it somewhat justifies that with a stronger, 4.4 star rating. But like the zero-G, it lacks the "expand and contract" functionality that makes Flexi Hose so useful in space-starved gardens.

The long and short of it is this: If you already have a decent retractable garden hose reel, then it could be worth either saving yourself $20, or investing slightly more for those premium fittings and additional customer feedback points. But if you don't have space for a reel, and you need your hose to play nice inside your limited storage space, then the practicality and price point of the Flexi Hose makes it an expandable garden hose worth investing in for your home.