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Hunting for the best garden hose is anything but straightforward. The packaging will shout about a hose's flexibility, manoeuvrability, durability and more. Add in anti-kink, anti-twist, anti-crush and anti-algae claims and it's hard to know where to start.
The best garden hoses need to be flexible enough so they're easy to use, but also tough enough to withstand years of rough treatment. We've discovered which are easiest to install, reel up and drag around your garden.
We put the most popular garden hoses from leading brands such as Hozelock, Gardena, B&Q and Wickes to the test, so that we can tell you which ones will last and be a pleasure to use. We've also tested hose guns and lances.
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Hoses | Cheapest price | Manoeuvrability | Anti-kink | Durability | Where to buy |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Excellent | Excellent | Excellent | |||
Excellent | Excellent | Excellent | |||
Excellent | Excellent | Excellent | |||
Excellent | Excellent | Excellent | |||
Good | Good | Average | |||
Good | Average | Average | |||
Average | Excellent | Good |
All the hoses we tested are listed in alphabetical order below.
Only logged-in Which? members can view the best hoses from our tests.
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Only available at B&Q: £16.
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Guarantee: 5 years
Weight per metre: 81g
Lengths available: 15 metres
Only available at Amazon: £11.46
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Guarantee: Not stated
Weight per metre: 99g
Lengths available: 15 metres, 30 metres, 50 metres
Only available at Screwfix: £29.99.
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Guarantee: 1 year
Weight per metre: 148g
Lengths available: 15 metres, 20 metres, 30 metres, 50 metres
Cheapest price: £29.99 available at Gates , Amazon (out of stock)
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Guarantee: 20 years
Weight per metre: 146g
Lengths available: 15 metres, 30 metres
Cheapest price: £50.99 available at World of Watering (30m), also available at Amazon (out of stock).
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Guarantee: 30 years
Weight per metre: 146g
Lengths available: 20 metres, 25 metres, 50 metres
Cheapest price: £18.13 available at Amazon, also available at Wickes.
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Guarantee: 10 years
Weight per metre: 106g
Lengths available: 15 metres, 30 metres, 50 metres
Only available at B&Q: £29.
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Guarantee: 25 years
Weight per metre: 121g
Lengths available: 15 metres, 25 metres, 50 metres
Only available at Amazon: £13.15.
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Guarantee: Not stated.
Weight per metre: 91g
Lengths available: 15 metres, 30 metres
Only available at Wickes: £8.
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Guarantee: 10 years
Weight per metre: 115g
Lengths available: 15 metres
We tested hose guns from Karcher, Flopro, Hozelock, Verve and Gardena and found two Best Buys. Only logged-in Which? members can view our hose gun test reviews below. If you're not yet a member, you'll just see our scores in the table below but won't be able to see the results. Join Which? now to get instant access to our test scores and Best Buy recommendations below.
Product name | Overall score | Spray pattern (typical water pressure) | Spray pattern (low water pressure) | Performance | Flow control | Ease of use | Resistance to impact | Resistance of moving parts to wear | Overall durability |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
72% | |||||||||
72% | |||||||||
71% | |||||||||
71% | |||||||||
71% | |||||||||
70% | |||||||||
69% |
USING THE TABLE OVERALL RATING The more stars the better. Rating ignores price and is based on: overall performance, 35%; ease of use, 35%; durability, 30%. Performance is a combination of the strength, reach and shape of the spray patterns at both high and low water pressure, with higher weighting given to patterns most relevant to gardeners and low or no weighting given to patterns that aren’t relevant. Date tested: June 2019.
We bought the most popular 15-metre or 20-metre hoses from the biggest brands, as well as cheaper alternatives and put them through these tough tests:
We rated each hose on how easy it is to set up and attach to a standard reel, Including attaching a spray gun to the end of it and attaching the hose securely to the reel.
We also rated each hose on how easy it rolls onto the reel from straight in front and also from a 90-degree angle. Each hose was rolled onto a reel 10 times in total from various angles.
Each hose was:
After each of the durability tests, the hose was reconnected to the water supply and inspected for any leaks.
The hose guns were tested for:
See our reviews of the best secateurs.
While we were testing regular garden hoses, we also tried out the Hozelock Expandable Water Hose.
Which? members can log in to read our thoughts on these types of hoses below. If you're not a member, sign up now.
Cheapest price: £39.25 available at Wickes, also available at Amazon, Toolstation
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Guarantee: 3 years
Weight per metre: 48g
Lengths available: 15 metres, 30 metres