Giraffe Tools Garden Hose Reel Cart with Wheels, Stainless Steel Heavy Duty Water Hose Reel Cart, 200 ft of 1/2 Capacity, Mobile for Outside

This Hose Reel is more expensive than many others but, the quality is much better. Rust usually destroys (my) the cheaper ones in about 4 or 5 years. After about 1 year of use the item looks brand new.

Not sure why everyone here is having a hard time putting together this hose reel. Instructions weren't the best, if you have half a brain & some simple tools it will take no more than 30 minutes to assemble. Exactly the product that I was looking for. The plastic reels are junk, the painted ones will eventually rust. I have one acre to maintain & with this hose reel with 200' of 1/2" hose I can be mobile & not have loose hose at every hose bib location.

The media could not be loaded. True but only if you are not doing it right. So, how do you do it right?ASSEMBLE: I didn't read the instruction booklet which comes in the box. It's just about intuitively obvious where the parts go. The hose reel itself is mostly assembled right out of the box. If you have the cart version like I purchased then there is some assembly required but it was just obvious what goes where. Not mechanically inclined? Well, there's a video of how to assemble the cart system right on the Amazon product listing. Watch that video first before attempting to assemble the cart version and you'll be just fine. It took all of 25 minutes to put everything together.LEAKS: I discovered the leak that everyone was complaining about and of course was disappointed I had to deal with it. And, the leak is a result of the slotted brass hose fitting they want you to attach your garden hose to. You can see the video I posted gives the appearance that the leak is coming from the brass fitting on the other side of the reel. It's not; it's the result of water leaking past the soft rubber hose washer they supply which allows water to shoot through that above mentioned slot in the brass then out the other side. This is easy to deal with. The problem is the soft rubber hose washer they supply and want you to use on your garden hose. It easily warps due to the aforementioned slot in the brass. The easy fix is to use one of those hard red garden hose rubber washers that you pay 50 cents for at the local hardware store. I still used the soft black one they supplied but put the hard red washer between it and the brass fitting. Hand tighten until the water stops leaking. End of story and no more drama.KINKS: I've read the reviews complaining about how the hose kinks and restricts water flow as the hose is run from the brass connection then has to bend to the clamp they provide. This is a non-issue if you simply route the hose to give it a little more room to bend before the clamp. You can see my picture illustrates there is no kink if you route it properly. The assembly video on this website could have been a little bit better with regard to showing proper routing of the hose. Other reviewers suggested using a 90 degree fitting so that the hose aligns with the direction hose would be reeled but that would cause a more significant issue. A 90 degree fitting, while correcting the hose direction, would still require a quick bending of the hose onto the reel which again would cause pinching. Just stick to routing the hose like I Illustrated in my picture then it'll be perfect.I deducted one star on my rating due to the lack of proper guidance for hose routing in the video and for not supplying a good hard washer that would have eliminated any drama regarding the "leak" issue. I haven't used the new hose reel for long so my rating could possibly go down if I find any flaws.

Giraffe Tools clearly brags it uses solid brass connectors on this unit, compared to using cheaper aluminum fittings that other companies use on their products. What a bold face lie by Giraffe Tools. The reality is the high-end Giraffe Stainless Steel unit has cheap brass plated aluminum fittings. My goal was to get a hose reel with solid brass fitting to use with my solid brass hose and faucet fittings to prevent different metal induced corrosion (i.e., brass and aluminum will corrode when mated). Bottom line, stay away from companies that provide false descriptions of their products.

This Giraffe hose reel (I purchased the stainless steel model) is built very well. Sturdy tubing, great brass fittings, and overall high quality components. The hose-reel-guide system works very well. I am an engineer and I appreciate well-built tools and equipment. I had a question about the assembly, and the customer service was impeccable. I had been looking for a sturdy, well-functioning hose reel for my heavy 5/8" rubber hose (150') and this product certainly fits the bill. My kids will fight over it when I die.

Great hose reel BUT, it's disheartening that the stainless steel hose reel I invested in is already showing signs of rust after just six weeks outdoors. Quality should endure, especially with stainless steel known for its corrosion resistance. This experience falls short of expectations. Caveat emptor!!!

Short review: this stainless hose reel will hold +/-100 ft of 5/8" garden hose and function normally (reel in/out, maneuver around, etc.)...but barely.Longer review: the box arrived from Amazon intact, but the contents inside were loose and jumbled. I assume this unit was sent back by a previous buyer as there were some wear/tear/bent pieces, and parts were disassembled beyond what the instructions showed for assembly steps. Ultimately, all the parts were in the box and fit together correctly. Once together, the reel works...but my opinion is it won't last long. The handle is attached to the frame by push-to-connect tabs leaving lots of wiggle/play every time you move the hose reel. This will wear quickly...I may drill through the handle and add some through-bolts for stability. The hose winding mechanism is made of plastic, and doesn't really work all that well (it skips/binds/loosens). Again, I may have to make some modifications or just disconnect the mechanism altogether.Verdict: this hose reel will do the job for maybe a summer...I bought a stainless steel unit hoping for a reel that would last a long time. We'll see.

My husband loves this hose reel! Looks great, made well . Not hard to put together.

Much better than anything you can buy at your local hardware store.