- If you have plants to water, a car to wash, or a sprinkler to connect so the kids can splash around this summer, then you’re going to need a good garden hose.
- The Craftsman Premium Rubber Garden Hose is our top pick because it’s a flexible, durable, all-weather hose that’s made in America and backed by a lifetime warranty.
I bought two absurdly cheap hoses shortly after my wife and I moved into our first house. I spent the better part of a year wrangling tangles and bends, trying and failing to make even coils after use, and soon enough, wrapping plumber’s tape around numerous dripping punctures, cracks, and tears. Long story short, if you buy a cheap hose, you get a cheap hose.
I researched and testes a variety of garden hoses to find the best ones for different needs. While budget is definitely a factor, if you need it for all your watering, washing, and summer fun projects, you’ll want something durable and easy to coil. The frustration of using a shoddy garden hose ranks up there with multiple paper cuts and burned out bulbs on holiday light strands.
For the smaller property, a coiled or expandable hose minimizes space occupied during storage.
A super-strong steel-plated hose might be great for the home with a dog who tends to chew on things, but might not be ideal for someone who has trouble lifting heavier objects.
Here are the best garden hoses:
- Best overall: Craftsman Premium Rubber Garden Hose
- Best lightweight hose: Water Right 400 Series Slim & Light Garden Hose
- Best coiled hose: Orbit 26380 50-Foot Coil Hose
- Best expandable hose: Aterod Expandable Garden Hose
- Best steel hose: Tardigrade 50-Foot Steel Hose
- Best irrigation hose: Melnor Flat Soaker Garden Hose
Prices and links are current as of 8/31/2020.
The best overall
The Craftsman Premium Rubber Garden Hose will last a lifetime - guaranteed - and it doesn't get twisted easily.
If I weren't already calling the Craftsman Premium Rubber Garden Hose a superlative product based on its quality, I'd call it a great buy simply due to its price. This rugged, capable hose could easily sell for double its price tag thanks to its durability.
It just might be the last hose you buy, in fact, unless you run over it with a lawnmower. And yes, I've cut short the life of a hose that way (OK, two), though thankfully not a Craftsman.
The thick yet pliant rubber used in the construction of this hose remains flexible and resists cracking even in temperatures down to 25 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit). It is safe for use with water as hot as 160 degrees, which is dozens of degrees hotter than you'll probably ever run through it anyway.
The nickel-plated brass hardware is crush-proof and corrosion-resistant, and the octagonal exterior shape of the couplings makes it easy to twist the hose onto or off of a spigot, sprinkler, sprayer, and so forth.
Pros: Exceptional durability, works in extreme temperatures, kink-resistant
Cons: Leaves scuff marks on some surfaces, only 25 feet long
The best lightweight hose
The 50-foot Water Right 400 Series Slim & Light Garden Hose weighs less than many garden hoses that are half its length yet it still delivers plenty of water pressure and volume.
If you think dealing with a heavy garden hose is no big deal, then you have clearly never dealt with a heavy garden hose. I had a 110-foot long monster hose a few years back, and I guarantee my neighbors learned new curse words listening to me haul the thing around our property.
Even many 50-foot hoses can weigh more than 10 pounds when dry, with any water trapped in the tube adding lots of extra weight. For many, a heavy hose can be a serious hindrance to gardening, cleaning, and other such projects.
With the Water Right 400 Series Slim and Light Garden Hose, weight is not an issue. This slender flexible hose weighs scarcely more than three pounds, so you can move about with ease while using it, distributing water anywhere you need up to 50 feet away from the source.
Made with sturdy, durable polyurethane, it also resists permanent kinks and is safe to use in sub-freezing conditions or in temperatures hotter than any yet recorded on earth. (Which was 134 degrees Fahrenheit, recorded in Death Valley, CA on July 10, 1913 in case you were wondering.)
It's also free of lead, BPA, and phthalates, so you don't have to worry about dangerous chemicals leaching into your soil.
Pros: Lightweight and flexible, resists permanent kinks
The best coiled hose
The Orbit 26380 50-Foot Coil Hose is ready to stretch out to its full 50-foot length when you need it and coil back up when you're done.
There are a few scenarios in which you probably shouldn't opt for a coil-style garden hose. If you need to use your hose for a sprinkler that rests on the lawn, this design is a bad pick. If you need to run high-pressure water through your hose, same story. For just about everything else, however, a coiled hose gives you the reach you need when you need it and stores away in significantly less space than a traditional rubber or vinyl garden hose, with no laborious winding or looping needed to stow it away.
The Orbit 26380 50-Foot Coil Hose is a great choice for your next coiled hose because it's a good price, it's of good quality, and because it comes with a sprayer head. For watering potted plants on a porch, balcony, or patio; for irrigating small patches of lawn or garden beds; or for spraying down a car in the driveway, this hose gives you reach and easy control, and then it coils itself right back up again when you don't need it anymore.
I do have to note that some users report leaking problems, many of which I suspect were caused by too much water pressure.
Pros: Self-coiling for easy storage, comes with sprayer head, lightweight design
Cons: Occasional leaking issues, not suitable for all applications
The best expandable garden hose
The Aterod Expandable Garden Hose extends out to a full 50 feet when water is flowing through it, yet contracts back to a mere 17-foot length again after use.
You've probably seen TV commercials for hoses like this, right? You hook them to a spigot, turn on the flow, and that "short" hose starts to stretch out, eventually doubling or even tripling the length as if by magic. Well, that magic is just the inherent elasticity of latex and the clever design of a knit polyester cover. The Aterod Expandable Garden Hose is one of the finest examples of these hoses around.
It delivers plenty of water pressure for most common residential and light commercial tasks, from car washing to watering gardens to hosing off decks or driveways, and it has a 50-foot reach when in operation yet measures just 17 feet long when "dry," so it takes up minimal storage space.
The Aterod Expandable Garden Hose features durable, rust-resistant brass fittings and has a convenient on/off valve built into the end of the hose. It also comes with a removable spray head with nine modes ranging from a light shower to a powerful stream. If you need a relatively long hose but don't want to deal with a large, hulking piece of hardware, this just might be the one for you.
Pros: Requires minimal storage space, features built-in shut-off valve, comes with a spray nozzle, lightweight and flexible
Cons: Extending and retracting processes wastes water, can crack if left in extreme temperatures
The best steel hose
The Tardigrade 50-Foot Steel Hose is durable enough to resist punctures from dog bites, rakes, and more while staying affordable.
If you have rambunctious kids or pets prone to cause hose damage, or if you need a hose for a high traffic area like a garden nursery open to the public, this tough hose is a fine choice.
Looking at the Tardigrade 50-Foot Steel Hose, you would probably think the most notable thing about it was the fact that the exterior of the hose is constructed entirely from bands of stainless steel. Indeed that's a fine feature. The hose resists damage from dog bites, crushing, and even encounters with tools like shovels or rakes. (Don't try mowing over it. It will still probably lose.)
On learning that the hose can easily tolerate high water flow such as might be used for pressure washing, you might think its capabilities were the real selling point. But in fact, it's the affordable price point that ultimately sells this hose. It's an excellent value compared to some other steel hoses on the market.
It also manages to be extremely lightweight considering its steel housing. The whole 50-foot hose weighs just under five pounds when dry, so positioning it on your lawn won't be a headache. Of course, that weight goes up considerably when you add water.
Pros: Low price, resists damage, high water volume, lightweight for a steel hose
Cons: Vulnerable to cracking at connectors
The best irrigation hose
The Melnor Flat Soaker Garden Hose delivers a slow, steady drizzle of water to tree roots, garden beds, planter boxes, or even to small patches of grass.
While all garden hoses can, of course, be used for irrigation of plants, flowers, turf, and so on, a standard garden hose is not referred to as an irrigation hose. That's a classification reserved for hoses like the Melnor Flat Soaker Garden Hose, which features a permeable exterior that allows water to slowly but steadily leak out all along its length.
This design allows you to weave the hose among rows of flowers or food plants, to coil it loosely around the base of a tree, or to snake it up into planter boxes or along the edge of a strip of grass or ground cover.
The Melnor Flat Soaker Garden Hose can be used in place of much more expensive and invasive irrigation systems, and it can be moved around or removed entirely as needed, unlike more permanent watering hardware.
While this hose is going to prove entirely ineffective for powering a sprinkler or pressure washing a front stoop, it's a superlative choice for keeping plants, flowers, trees, shrubs, and patches of ground cover watered and healthy.
Pros: Provides ideal irrigation, durable construction
Cons: Not suitable for use with sprinklers or sprayers
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