Is thirty bucks too much to spend on a hose nozzle?
My instant answer was YES!!!! … until I tried these two. Now, I think I may have bought two of the last hose nozzles I’ll ever own. Find below an excerpt from my recent article (rant???)
I am so over cheap hose nozzles …
Home Depot, Sears, even our REALLY good hardware store here in town all sell awful hose nozzles. They are made of really crappy plastic that rots after a few months in the sun, or they’re made of cheap metal, or the components of the nozzle rust rendering them useless. There’s also no point in keeping a stock of them on hand because then you’ve just spent a bunch of money to own junky equipment, further perpetuating the cheap hose nozzle industry. FEAR NOT!!! Good quality hose nozzles are available and not as expensive as their $30 price tag would have you believe …
How frustrating is this?
I started looking into this after walking out to the patio to hose it off only to pick up ANOTHER of the many cheap hose nozzles I’ve bought over the years. I turned it on and got soaking wet only to find out that the sun had done it’s magic on another nozzle. I thought to myself, “how wastefull is this to get in my truck, drive to wherever, buy another cheap nozzle, come home and restart my patio cleaning project”. I’ve now burned an hour, been aggravated because I’m wasting my time on this project, burned more holes in the ozone by driving my truck to replace this useless nozzle and spent another 5 bucks on the nozzle and probably the same on the gas to get to and from the cheap hose nozzle store. (Maybe I should buy a Prius and forget about the those nozzles completely.) This “cheap” hose nozzle is really starting to cost me some money … by the time I purchase the another “cheap” nozzle, I’m knocking on the price tag door of a good nozzle.
To read the rest of the article click here and definitely let me know if you buy one of these, hate one of these or or can recommend another brand /model you really like.
Replies
I think these are better for me. http://www.amazon.com/Dramm-12380-Heavy-Duty-Adjustable-Nozzle/dp/B001DGII5O, but I never tried the thirty smacker versions.
I just like all brass nozzles, I've been dissapointed by plastic and pot metal too many times. I do like the ball shut off valves when I use the twist nozzles.
I bought a couple Dual-Flo nozzles at Sears off the clearance table, and they are slick! Especially handy when paired with a ball shutoff. Unfortunately I doubt they have any durability, but I'm guessing as they seem well made. I paid 3.99 for each at Sears, but I guess they are 25 buckaroo nozzles. http://www.gardengatestore.com/dualflo.html
Brass and Sears
Mark,
I'm familiar with the brass nozzle you are recommending ... I've used them here in South Florida and I think the proximity to the saltwater and or our city water make them really difficult to twist off after a while, especially when your hands are soapy ... I've never seen that Sears nozzle ... looks pretty cool and still less than thirty bucks ... maybe they looked too weird for the general public and Sears discontinued selling them, hence the clearance table.
Thanks for your suggestion ... stilling looking for the perfect combination of price and function ...
Brass, man, brass.
I don't really know what you expect from a nozzle, but I've been happy with these two "classic" nozzles:
http://www.leevalley.com/en/garden/page.aspx?p=10369&cat=2,2280,33160&ap=3
http://www.leevalley.com/en/garden/page.aspx?p=10374&cat=2,2280,33160&ap=3
...and they're way less than thirty bucks.
Is thirty bucks too much to spend on a hose nozzle?
Nope, not if you want quality.
Scott stole my thunder. Heavy brass Lee Valley keeps me going.