Giraffe Tools AW505/8 Retractable Garden Hose Reel 5/8″ x 115+5 ft, Heavy Duty Wall Mounted Water Hose Reel Automatic Rewind, 180 Deg Swivel Bracket, Slow Retraction, 115ft, Dark Grey

Updated review-issue resolved: Low flow and won’t fit a 4×4 but otherwise it’s nice
UPDATE 2: I received the reel with a 5/8”hose and the flow issue is corrected. Also, the new one has a more narrow mounting plate that fits a 4×4 post (barely). I still added 1×4 cleats but it looks and works great!UPDATE: The manufacturer reviewed and responded to my initial review. They offered several options to resolve the issues which was amazing! I’ve never experienced a customer care team that responded so quickly and has been on point with available solutions. Working with them has been great! Additionally, I thought I’d leave a couple of images to illustrate my workaround for the 4×4.So far, this seems like a good product. Unfortunately, the flow volume is significantly less than the previous hose of the same diameter. I assume due to friction loss. Also, the mount is too wide to fit on a 4×4 post. I ended up adding cleats to the 4×4 to attach the mounting bracket. It worked great and I have the appropriate span to reach needed areas. It is somewhat heavy but it was really easy to install and take down. I may get a shorter one for my front yard. Although some resources tout Giraffe Tool being manufactured in the USA, it’s clearly China after opening the product.

Best Yard addition you can have!
Why didn’t I get one of these sooner..So far so good, not sure what people are doing to have issues, maybe not following directions on retracting or letting the hose go and not holding on while it retracts, mount it securely, turn off water and un pressurize hose and WALK the hose back in, no issues, I like that it come off the mount easy for winter time, the hose is big enough to supply my small pressure washer and no more reeling or cranking a hose! I love it so far, I’m sure in a few years of light duty it will need to be replaced, but the price is good and quality seems to be good so far, I think bad reviews are people being too rough or retracting full of water. Anything will break if you act like a gorilla using it.

UPDATED…Nice but arrived cracked
UPDATE: Customer service contacted us to provide a replacement item due to the cracked one received. They contacted us about a month after receiving the item but we failed to respond to their message. They reached out to us again a couple days ago in an attempt to remedy our issue. The customer service rep was very helpful and quickly processed the replacement! Giraffe Tools customer service is very helpful and they care about their customers experience and the products that they sell.Overall, it seems nice and very handy. We have not been able to use it much yet as it has been ridiculously hot outside. However, it did arrive with two cracks on the top of it. So far it does not appear to be affecting the ability to use it but, based on the way it was packed, it should not have cracked during shipping. Makes me want assume it was already cracked and quality control was not performed.

Note: In my review below, I originally referred to the photos in the order I uploaded them (1, 2, 3, &4) but it turns out that Amazon simply displayed them in random order, so I’ve edited the review to simply refer to “the photo” and you’ll have to use your detective skills to figure out which one I’m referring to. ;-)I’ve been looking for a good quality retractable hose for quite a while. After researching the options I chose the Giraffe Tools Hose Reel. I purchased the 5/8 inch hose (same as my other hoses) with a 90 foot length, which was longer than I needed but decided to get more rather than risk being a bit short on length.The first challenge I encountered was where to mount it. The instructions were clear that it must be mounted on a very sturdy structure or large post, so I planned to attach it to my deck. Unfortunately, the bracket was too long and I couldn’t mount it without cutting in the the vinyl decking that curved around the edge of the deck, which I didn’t want to do, so my next thought was to mount it on the wall.The photos show it mounted on an exterior wall so I thought I’d try that, however, behind my vinyl siding is only plywood and that wasn’t strong enough to hold the retraction unit as it weighs 29 lbs. and would have pulled the bracket right off the wall. So then I decided to mount a 4 foot long 2 X 6 directly to the wall, using a dozen 3” deck screws (see photo). I used a 4 foot length so that it would rest on the ground, helping to hold the weight of the unit while providing enough height to mount it the recommended 31 inches above ground. As you can see from the photo, this is because of the length of hose that hangs down from the unit when the hose if fully retracted.The next challenge was the way that the input hose attaches to the side of the unit. In the photo you can see how it’s not possible to move the unit fully to the left without hitting the wall with the hose that sticks out of the side. Not only does this prevent moving it fully to the left, but I expect over time, that hose will begin to leak due to the repeated bumping into the wall. To fix this, I purchased a 90 degree elbow joint from Home Depot. They only had 3/4” size (not 5/8″) but the threads were the same and it fit perfectly (see photo). Now, with the elbow in place, I can move the unit all the way to the left without hitting the wall at all (see photo). Mounting the unit on a 2 x 6 also helped with this as it gave a bit more clearance.Using the reel is straight forward but here I encountered a couple of other things I didn’t know before buying the unit. I had assumed that I could simply leave the tap turned on and conveniently pull the hose out when I needed it and then retract it again when done. That’s not quite how it works.You first turn the tap on before you use the unit and then you can pull the hose out. It’s a bit of a heavy pull, which is fine but took more effort than I expected. When you’re done you don’t simply retract the hose, first you need to walk back to the unit and turn the tap off, then relieve the pressure in the hose by opening the spray nozzle. At that point you can give the hose a small pull and slowly walk it back into the unit.There are no bristles in the retraction unit to brush off any dirt so you have to wipe off any dirt on the hose itself before retracting it. The manual warns about possible damage to the “lock and shrink-back mechanism” if you don’t clean the hose. This seems odd to me as the hose is intended to be used outdoors after all (which is where the dirt lives). I’ve seen other units with built-in brushes that do this type of cleaning as you retract the hose but this one doesn’t have any. I think some type of cleaning system would be a good addition in the future.All in all though, I have to say that when mounted correctly this is a very well-built and sturdy unit which so far works excellently. Keeping the above points in mind, I have no reservations in giving this a strong recommendation.

Awesome unit. Retracts smoothly.

Seems very sturdy but had a warranty issue right away with the reel guide belt falling off but seller immediately corrected the issue