Yes; the connector won’t release (easily) while under pressure. One might consider this a good thing, actually.
If you don’t want to have to walk back to the spigot valve to turn off the water before opening a connector, add an in-line shutoff valve behind the latter. Eley makes a very nice one, of course, but you could also use a cheap and light plastic one from the local hardware store.
Teflon tape?
Got the water right house loaded on the Eley reel with a Dramm shutoff and wand at the end. Just need to add one of those Lee Valley splitters to this spigot and I’ll have a watering system I actually like from wall to nozzle.
This reel is amazing! The hose just rolls right off the reel with almost no resistance. No leaks, no squeals. Winding it back up is no hassle. I’m sold!
Eley makes good stuff. Not cheap, but a pleasure to use.
Whoa, lots of good stuff here that I have to spend some time going through.
@Barkslip my dad bought a rubber craftsman brand hose a long time ago (probably at least 30 years) and it still works great. It’s garage kept but I think it has a lifetime warranty.
I have to look into all of these quick connect options, I need another 25’ for my current setup to be completely functional. Thanks all for sharing the first hand experience.
Definitely the Cadillac option. It’s nice to have something that just works like it should, though.
Now I am able to say this newer thick hose to the right (both are brand ‘Apache’ and both made entirely of rubber) likes to twist itself where it’s a lot difficulty to walk out the twist and it weighs a ton (however much?) with water that I don’t like the workout anymore, at all. I learned. Mistake again.
You know that smaller diameter rubber one on the left is fantastic and braggable. That’s what I needed if not one of the newer designs that you all use. This thinner rubber hose lays perfectly flat; the other (thicker) stands up in the air like a serpent, and does it on it’s own from me walking around simple corners is all and returning around the same corner. Pretty soon it’s fighting the water wand even within my hand. All that twisting comes back to the wand end of 75’ of length. That’s horse manure.
This is again what is the thinner Apache I bought probably 8-year ago:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000PDPXUO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
And to the thick one I bought summer 2022:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003OAY70W?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1
I have a pretty good never kink hose but I accidentally ran over it with the lawnmower a few weeks ago. I felt really dumb but I was able to repair it. I have probably had that hose for 20 years.
Now that you’ve had the hose in-use for a while… if you were doing it over as your primary hose, would you go with the 1/2" or the 5/8" for use with the Dramm 400AL water breaker?
Great suggestions. TY all.
I think 1/2" is definitely acceptable up to the 75’ length. Longer than that, and the flow loss would be huge compared to the 5/8". So it depends on your situation.
vs
Which 2 way splitter is best?
I’m partial to having one that can rotate all the way to the top of existing on/off valves (i use the plastic on/off valve so the metal-on-metal contact of the hose and house spigot doesn’t solidify over the whole summer from minerals. It never does with an in-between plastic part there).
The one i got from Home Depot below i been using, but i don’t like that it only does a few rotations and doesn’t get all the way to the top of the plastic on/off valve which doesn’t feel as solid of a connection (especitally cause the spigot comes out at an angle, and the weight of the hose wands to ‘bend’ that down which causes it to leak sometimes, hence why i added 2 on/off valves so that angle isn’t as bad where the 2-way splitter attaches).
I think either of those would be fantastic. I have the Lee Valley one, but I’ve been pleased with everything that comes from Ely.
Cool, i’ll grab the Lee Valley one as it seems like it can rotate a bit more (has a longer nut area height-wise… My current one only rotates twice once a hose gasket is added in there). Thanks!
The Lee Valley one also comes with nice gaskets installed!
It’s tough to find a good splitter that doesn’t have tiny ball valves that restrict the flow of the water even when they’re wide open.
The Lee Valley splitter has a nice wide bore in the ball valve.
Looks like either one would be good ones. I like the Lee Valley one because of the separate handles to open of close the outlets. Some have tiny little valve handles and they get worn and hard to open and close. I think I will order one of two suggestions.
For posterity, I went with the Dramm commercial wands and selection of water breakers, along with the high-flow (new, larger ball valve, but about same weight) one-touch valves. I had debated the brass Dramm valve, but am really happy with the one-touch (longevity not known yet), because I may flip the flow off and on 100 times during a watering, and can’t imagine doing that two-handed.
On the water breakers… the reason they are so amazing is because you can flow 5-10 GPM and the water comes out like rain drops… doesn’t distrurb the soil similar to the cheaper nozzles where the spray pattern acts more like a bunch of individual jet streams. The original water breaker and the yellow one are the ones that work best for us. Red’s spray pattern breaks up at partial flows, but yellow and original can flow with droplets at lower rates (yellow down to around 50%). Yellow has a lower flow rate, overall.
@jcguarneri - Jay, I had a hose fail yesterday, and it can’t be repaired (> 3/4"!) Can I ask you a couple questions about your experience with the 1/2" hose, given you’re in a similar zone and using the dramm water breakers, and I now need to replace a hose?
Which Dramm water breaker do you use it with your hose, and any idea the flow rate/pressure you’re getting with your hose/wand setup? Trying to avoid buyer’s remorse on an expensive hose 
Lastly, do you let your hose sit outside in the freezing weather? We get maybe a hundred freeze thaw cycles here during the winter, and I don’t know if these hoses can sustain those cycles the same way a conventional hose does. I don’t want to drag a bunch of hoses inside for early/late freezes. Water right can’t give a clear answer.
Background:
Flow shape/stream at 5 GPM vs 6.5 GPM with the original water breaker is less desirable, and water right says their 1/2" hose flows 5 GPM, which may be conservative:
Swan hose says 100’ 1/2" hoses are calculated to flow 7.5 GPM (at 50 psi/10gpm free). WSU’s Garden Hose flow rate Calculator says the same hose should flow 6.6 GPM.
Not quite sure what flow I’m getting, but it works well for me with the original Dramm breaker. However, I have the 75’ hose and water pressure in my neighborhood is typically about 65 PSI. The 100’, 1/2" would probably reduce the flow too much. I wouldn’t do anything less than 5/8" for over 75’, as the watering would be intolerably slow. Don’t underestimate how much hose length impacts flow reduction! It’s more marked at smaller diameters, but it effects all sizes. Also, different materials will have different “C Factors” that will impact how much head loss (loss of pressure and therefor flow) you get over a given length. That WSU calculator is probably for standard vinyl hose or doesn’t take the c-factor into account.
