Durark 50ft Heavy Duty Expandable Hose (Black), Upgraded Brass Fittings and Shut-off Valve, Toughest, Flexible, Expanding Garden and Utility Hose (50 foot) - Extra Washers Included

UPDATE:After a year and a few few months, it exploded. I'm not surprised; these hoses are a great idea that needs some serious improvement! Perhaps someday technology will give us a hose that lasts longer.Meantime, I contacted the seller, HQNAS, and they promptly and cheerfully sent me a replacement, in two days. So, I'm happy, for now!First off, in the interest of full disclosure I did NOT get this hose for free or at a discount for my review.There are a lot of exploding hoses out there and it would appear that they all are the best. And the reviews back up that claim. Then again, almost all the reviewers got the hose as a promo for their "unbiased opinion". Yeah, right. Give me free stuff and I'll be sure to tell you how much I like it!So here is my review. I bought this hose because of the user comments. Very few-if any-got free stuff for their review.So far, I am very pleased with this hose. It does everything it's supposed to. I am a little surprised there is no kind of stress relief at the fittings but frankly don't know if it's needed.I treat the hose with care. I don't try to drag it with other hoses attached. I let the water pressure off after each use.So my expectation is that this hose should last a long time. How long? I'll get back to you. If it holds up well, my rating will go up to 5 stars.Like so many other folks, I am grateful that somebody invented the "exploding" hose, as I call it (unfortunately, a lot of them seem to in fact, explode!). My old arthritic wrists are sick and tired of dealing with conventional hoses.My congratulations to this vendor for putting out what I hope to be a quality product.

Hose leaked profusely between the 2 brass fittings at the end that attaches to the faucet/hose bib on first use. If not for that (which was a deal breaker), the rest of the hose seemed as advertised, and seemed like it would have been acceptable. In the process of returning it for refund.Addendum: After I returned the hose and received a refund, I was contacted by the seller (Steve at HQNAS) to follow up. I hadn't expected this. He offered to replace the hose at no charge, which was a very nice gesture and gladly accepted. When the new hose arrived, it did not leak at all and seems to be functioning very well so far. Kudos to customer service at HQNAS.

I originally gave this product a favorable rating, not so much for a great product but for great customer service. My first hose began leaking at the joint at the end fitting attached to the faucet. HQNAS sent me a replacement overnight - pretty impressive. My replacement hose was working OK until today, when the hose body began separating at the same joint. I realized that this hose is not really 50 ft; I have to stretch it to get it to about 30 ft; I did see a number of reviews about this issue, but I knew I didn't need a full 50. But in order to extend it to 28 ft, the angle of the hose at the faucet causes additional lateral stress at the joint and eventually dooms it to separate from the body. Guess I need a '75' foot hose to get a working 28 feet so that the hose can hang more vertically thereby reducing stress. Anyway, it's too late for a return to Amazon, and I don't want a 50 foot replacement under the lifetime warranty. Guess it's back to the old fashioned style.

I have owned 2 other similarly styled hose - you saw them at Home Depot or on the infomercial as well and wanted to buy one. The Durark hose has held up well so far. The ends are solid, no leaks, and while I didn't take the time to measure the hose to the inch, I would say it easily lives up to the 50' of usable hose. I use this for hosing down the porch, watering plants, and beating children; I would not recommend it for beating children as it fails miserably in this function.The water pressure is certainly not as strong as a typical hose, but you are not buying this because you want subdue an angry mob, you buying this because you are a weak or lazy person who wants to get water from point A to point B - so long as those points are within 50' of one another - and don't want to haul 50+ lbs of hose around your house. The water pressure is good enough for light duty jobs up to perhaps washing a car, however don't expect this to blast off love bugs in the middle of summer.The quality seems to be there - time will tell - and it has already outlasted the two other similar-style hoses I have owned. From other reviews I have read here, Durark seems to have pretty good customer service; hopefully I won't ever have to test that.I bought it. I'm happy. Would buy again if it manages to last a whole year; I believe it is up to that task.

UPDATE: I've used this hose twice a week for 3 months and today when watering I felt a spray on my back. There was a small hole in the hose and it was spouting like a geyser right out in the open. I've been very careful with this hose so was really surprised. However, it has a lifetime warranty, that is if you can find the company. I looked for Durark on the web and found lots references to products but no contact info. Also, couldn't find HQNAS. Very Strange. So I called Amazon and was told that the only thing that they could do was to refund my money. I wouldn't advise buying this as I'm not sure that the company if in fact exists.=============================I always read the negative reviews before buying. One person stated that the throughput hoes are very small. Yes, when one looks into either end or the hose they are but I assume that is just to regulate the flow of water into the hose. Once the hose is filled with water, less than a minute, the throughput is fine for hand watering, etc. I don't know how it would work with a sprinkler.It is very light and easily portable although the shutoff valve is very stiff and I had to use a wrench at first. However, I think that it locks in place so if you don't quite completely shut the valve, it is not a problem. It does require a bit more care than a heavier hose. You are told not to leave in the sun or filled with water when not in use and of course, one shouldn't tug on it when going around corners.