The 11 Best Expandable Garden Hoses

The zero-G hose is not strictly speaking an expandable hose. The manufacturer takes pains to make sure you know that it’s not expandable with a warning on the packaging. For this 2023 update, we tested a 25-foot zero-G, and it’s true that it doesn’t expand or retract. Instead, the zero-G inflates when filled with water and deflates when emptied. When deflated, it doesn’t shrink in size, like an expandable hose does, so it will be the full-length you purchase. But when deflated, the zero-G goes practically flat and can be easily wrapped tightly around a hose rack or into a neat, compact bundle.

The surprisingly lightweight (it only weighs about 1/4 pound) zero-G has a flexible inner core to prevent kinks, and its outer jacket is made of woven fiber that can withstand 600+ PSI without bursting. When filled, the hose expands to a very dense 5/8″ and feels sturdy and puncture proof like a well-made rubber hose. The connectors are made of high-grade aluminum with brass fittings that are apparently crush-proof up to 900 pounds.Read more…

Also, as is not the case with many hoses, the zero-G is safe to drink water from. Unlike most of the expandable hoses we tested for this update, the zero-G is made in the U.S. and has a substantial reputation and won’t be suddenly going out of stock.

Despite its confusing marketing, the XHose Pro is definitely a higher-end product in the expandable hose category. As mentioned earlier, the XHose was the first expandable hose on the market and has been poorly copycatted ever since. Sometimes called X-Hose, Big Boss XHose Pro, or XHose DAC-5, this “As Seen On TV’ hose has a latex core and and outer jacket made from what the manufacturer calls DAC-5 (trademarked) fiber, which, from our research, seems to be a highly durable polyester.

The X-Hose has all the best qualities of an expandable hose: lightweight, tough inner core, compact, and fitted with high-grade brass connectors. We did find, however, that the faucet connector (and its on/off lever) was much thicker and stronger than the connector for a sprayer attachment.Read more…

The XHose holds up to 500 PSI, and when filled with water flowing, the hose had some pliability and its spray was less powerful than the zero-G hose. The XHose does not come with a sprayer, so you’ll need to purchase one separately. But that said, the XHose Pro is absolutely a top-of-the-line expandable hose.

The Flexi Hose was the most expensive hose we tested, but we rated it one step down because of its small cheap nozzle. However, it does have high-quality, solid brass fittings that didn’t leak while watering the lawn. The Flexi Hose has four latex inner cores, which may need increased water pressure to work properly. As with other hoses, the core is protected by an outer layer of 3750D fabric to prevent abrasions and punctures.

The Flexi Hose was designed to withstand hot outdoor temperatures up to 113F, so it should be stored in the garage or a shaded area to prevent the sun from destroying the outer fabric’s integrity. The Flexi Hose is available in 25′, 50′, 75′, 100′, and 150′. The 25′ hose is available in black, bright blue, brick red, and grass green.

The double-trademarked Original Pocket Hose Silver Bullet proved to be more of a hassle than what it was worth. The company is very cagy about the hose’s materials, and the best we were able to find is that the casing is a double-braided fiberglass fabric. Despite the Silver Bullet’s rather questionable popularity, there are thousands of complaints that after a short time, the Silver Bullet bursts a leak.

The Silver Bullet is similar to the original XHose, which also had an accordion-like outer material that expands when full. When the Silver Bullet is emptied, however, the fabric doesn’t shrink tight enough, which made it impossible to coil the hose as compactly as the other hoses on our list. The Silver Bullet’s manufacturer claims that the hose’s aluminum fittings make it safe to drink from, but in the small print, it’s stated not to do so because of possible bacterial buildup.Read more…

The fittings are encased in a 4″ long plastic case, which made twisting them onto the faucet a laborious process. Another weird and outdated “feature” is the Silver Bullet’s turbo-jet nozzle that you need to twist to get a jet stream or a spray, just like the hose your dad or granddad had. Fortunately, this nozzle is removable and can be replaced with a more modern nozzle.

When fully expanded, The FitLife hose feels as smooth and solid as a traditional rubber hose but at half the weight. This was definitely the sturdiest hose that we tested. Like the Joey’s Garden hose, The FitLife has solid, premium brass fittings that easily attached to the spigot, and the connection proved to be leak-free. It has a triple inner latex core, wrapped in tightly interwoven 3750D fabric that serves as a tough barrier against rocks, thorns, and sharp corners. The FitLife weighs 2.7 pounds, and like the Joey’s Garden hose, it expands to three times its size when filled. Again, maneuverability around the garden was somewhat limited when the hose was completely filled.

The smallish 8-spray-pattern nozzle that comes with The FitLife doesn’t seem to be as well-made as the hose itself. But it does have a rubberized grip and a unique feature that took some getting accustomed to, which we ended up liking. The nozzle doesn’t have a squeeze trigger like most nozzles but instead has an ergonomically placed lever on top for shutting the water flow on or off with your thumb. When the hose was emptied and shrunk, we wrapped The FitLife hose around our hand and stored it away in a small space. Another great choice for an expandable hose, The FitLife hose is available in 25′, 50′, 75′, and 100′.

Right out of the box, you can tell that Joey’s Garden expandable hose is a quality product. Starting out with the brass fittings, which are solid and well-made with high-quality brass. The 3/4″ fittings connect easily and securely to the outdoor water faucet and the included spray nozzle. The brass fitting that’s attached to the nozzle has a black level for controlling water flow and for emergency shut-off if needed. The nozzle is about one-third smaller than the nozzles of the other hoses we tested, but it still had a powerful spray jet that reached the street side of the sidewalk about 20 feet away.

The hose weighs 3 pounds unfilled and is made of a double core of latex, surrounded by stretchy Dacron 3750D fabric, both of which have been designed and tested for endurance. When filled with water, the hose rapidly expands to three times its size and stiffens so it’s nearly as solid — but not as heavy — as a regular garden hose, which can make maneuvering around hedges and shrubs a challenge. When water flow is turned off, and the hose is emptied of residual water, the hose is flexible and collapsed enough to be coiled around your hand, like a very friendly garter snake. The Joey’s Garden expandable hose is definitely a quality product and stands out as the best of the seven hoses we tested.

The Gardguard flexible hose is made from cheaper materials and isn’t of the same quality as the top three on our list. The GardGard’s outer fabric is 3300D, a lesser-grade fabric, reinforced with glass, that isn’t as durable as 3750D. Another clue that this is a bargain-basement variety is the brass fittings, which are certainly made of brass but are half the weight and thickness of better-quality hoses. Attaching the brass connector to the spigot was a bit tricky since its threading didn’t seem to fit. But after two tries we succeeded, and when fully expanded to 50′, the hose showed no signs of leakage.

The bonus for the Gardguard is that it had a decent nozzle with 10 spray functions and a thumb control lever, and it shot out a gushing jet spray. The Gardguard hose is available in 25′, 50′, and 100′, and the nozzles come in either blue or yellow. The Gardguard hose comes with a plastic hose holder and storage bag for outdoor storage or for storing in the garage.

Laughably marketed as a 5-in-1 hose, the WhimsWit flexible hose is basically the same as the Gardguard hose; in fact, it has an identical instruction manual. It has a three-layer latex interior that’s wrapped in 5750D material and has lightweight, cheaply made brass fittings. However, that said, we had no trouble attaching the fitting to the spigot, and the connection was secure.

If you’re wondering what makes the WhimsWit hose 5-in-1, the company is actually counting the number of pieces that are included: the hose itself, the trigger nozzle, a storage bag, a hose rack, and — incredibly — the three replaceable rubber gaskets. The best that can be said is that the 50′ hose is less than 30 bucks. The WhimsWit is available in 25′ 50′, and 100′ lengths in blue or orange.

It’s obvious that the Aterod expandable hose is made by the same Chinese manufacturer of the WhimsWit hose but has been rebranded under a different name. (We now have three of the same instruction manuals in our kitchen drawer.) The Aterod is identical to WhimsWit in every way, but it’s not marketed as 5-in-1.

The Aterod comes in a few more sizes — 15′, 25′ 50′, 100′, and 125′ and in different colors, yellow, blue, and green. The Aterod costs slightly more, but when deciding whether to buy this hose or the WhimsWit, just flip a coin.

The mellifluously named HOSPAIP hose went out of stock a week after we purchased it. It was better than the Junredy hose, but was pretty much identical to the other discontinued copycat hoses. The HOSPAIP came with the same plastic hose wrap, the same sprayer, the same carry bag (why this is even included is a mystery), and even the same instruction pamphlet. It did well in our testing, but based on the durability of expandable hoses over long-term testing, we give it less than a year before a leak will spring.

The Junredy expandable hose had a sturdy brass-colored metal fitting on the sprayer connector and a flimsy metal connector for the faucet, which accounts for why it leaked. It came with a very cheap and flimsy plastic sprayer with settings in pictographs, presumably so non-English speakers could still use it. A few of the pictographs resembled each other, so we went through them all to figure out the type of spray the attachment would produce. In doing so, we discovered that the sprayer leaked, not from the metal connector, but from the spray settings.