Giraffe Tools Retractable Garden Hose Reel 1/2 Inch x 130 ft, Super Heavy Duty, Any Length Lock, Slow Return System, Wall Mounted and 180 Deg Swivel Bracket

Works well and easy to install.Have had it installed in our backyard to water our garden daily for about 3 months. The retracting mechanism works as expected and keeps things tidy. It is a huge time-saver and the has a very long reach. It comes with sturdy hardware for installation and seems to be built to last.

Let's face it, this is for lazy people who couldn't be bothered to hand-crank the hose, so they rather spend an extra $100 or more to get this thing, safe in the knowledge that the hose will always be neatly put away at the end of the day, because it takes no effort.To unreel the hose, you simply pull on it. When you stop pulling, it will pull back about a foot or so and then "lock", so there's not a constant tension on the hose. To reel it back in, pull the hose out for a foot or two, then release the tension and it will reel it back in. I suggest you "walk it back", otherwise it will slam the ball at the end of the hose against the unit. The spring inside this reel is quite strong, you also notice that as you pull it out to its full extent.The instructions have a full-size drill template on the back, that makes the installation a little easier. HOWEVER, you'll have a hard time finding the correct concrete drill bit for the included screws / anchors, because they're for metric drill sizes, so I went to the hardware store and bought a "beginners kit" that had screws, plastic anchors, and the correct bit. This made the installation more painful than it needed to be. If you're mounting this into wood, then you don't have that issue.To make the installation a little easier, you can loosen the small screw on the swivel base, then lift the unit from the base. Once the base is screwed to the wall, just lift the reel in and tighten that little screw.Once mounted, the entire reel can swivel roughly 180 degrees.The package includes a leader hose to hook it up to the faucet, however the connecting port is mounted horizontally, which is a bad idea. To reduce the stress on the port, and to avoid kinking the hose, I bought the following 3 items which make it a "better" installation, and also makes it easier to follow the instruction manual suggestion to shut off the water before reeling in the hose:- 90 Degree Hose Elbow CAMCO 22505, search for: B003BZD03K- Kink-Protector Hose, search for: B07N6Q141P- Inline shutoff with long lever, search for: B089QXNJNFIn my view, the elbow should be part of the package, particularly at this price. Anyhow, I mounted the elbow to the reel to make it a vertical connection. Then I mounted the kink-protector hose to the elbow and attached the shut-off to the kink protector hose. Finally hooked up the (included) leader hose. This prevents any kinks in the supply hoses, and it allows me to shut off the water right at the reel, without putting physical stress on the water inlet connection, which did not look too sturdy to me, and it certainly wouldn't be fixable if you broke it.

Overall, I like it.Mounting on a 4X4 was fine but you're going to have to angle the included lag screws in a bit--the bracket's made more for mounting on a 6X6 OR mounting to an existing wall. That being said, the 4X4 worked just fine and is plenty sturdy. Took me about 5 minute total to mount it.I wanted a longer one, but opted for the 100' because of the metal bracket. Once I got my hands on the bracket I realized plastic would have been okay since the "metal" bracket is either cheap pot metal or, possibly, aluminum. Works fine but doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in how long it'll last.Make sure you've got some teflon tape on hand for the connections--despite being brass, they're not at all tight but with a four or five wraps of teflon tape, they seal up nicely.The unwind/rewind mechanism take just a few minutes to get used to. Getting the hose to lock into place when you pull it out is sort of hit and miss, but you get the hang of it quickly. REwinding, on the other hand, is a breeze and WAY better than having to crank a hose reel. I let it re-wind through my hand so there's no grass getting into the mechanism.My only complaint is the nozzle which is complete junk. I swapped it out for a Craftsman nozzle and it works very well.

Excellent product. Makes watering so much easier and no hoses laying around. Best Buy for the convenience and money

I’m loving this 130 ft unit. The length meets my needs. So far functionality is excellent and works as expected for the areas I needed this for. It retracts and swivels with ease. Feels very sturdy and locks in place nicely when you’re done with the hose. I did have to hire a handyman to attached to the masonry of my home and it looks pretty impressive.

This has been a big disappointment! We were gifted a giraffe hose for Christmas about 5 years ago and absolutely loved it! We recently moved and ordered a second giraffe hose so that we could have one on each side of the house. The old hose is constructed of a much thicker material and has noticeably better water pressure. The new hose is very thin and flimsy feeling and the water pressure is very frustrating to work with. It seems as if the diameter of the hose is smaller than the original hose, as well . When trying to water our garden, we just cannot get any kind of distance with the spray on the new hose. Clearly something has changed in manufacturing in the last few years and this will not be a repeat purchase for us. We will look into other brands to get something that will be a little more effective.

So glad I got this. Was a Mother’s Day present. Two months later and about to buy another one. We were getting new hoses every year. They got holes all the time, were heavy and hard to put away. This works great and only takes a minute to put it away every time. If you are still using traditional hoses it’s time to take the leap!!

This is a great hose. Build quality can be better. I’ve had it for 6 months now and it works great. It does take some work to install if you have vinyl siding. I installed a 4x4 to mount it. I’ve pressure washed my fence and this long hose was perfect to get around. Love the easy reel in feature.