If you have a hard-to-reach area in your garden and need further extension, you can even join two of these together or connect it to your existing hose. Similarly, look for a more durable hose if you will be pulling it across hard surfaces such as concrete, or using it frequently to clean your car, garden furniture or patio. A more durable design will cope better with the wear and tear inflicted by these hard surfaces. However, if you simply need to water a few flower beds or pots then a less durable option will be fine for your needs.

That said, some care needs to be taken around thorny plants and spikey gravel – despite its strong construction, it’s still not completely puncture proof! Garden hoses can even become a necessity when you’re filling a paddling pool, or need water to mix concrete for those bigger DIY projects. The elasticated fabric casing that surrounds the expandable hose is hardwearing; however, you do still need to take care dragging it across very rough terrain. That said, it will stand up well to regular usage, and can handle sharp corners too.For most medium-size gardens, a 30 m expandable hose will be perfect. These hoses only measure around 10 metres long when not in use, so, as you can imagine, they’re easy to store and help with conserving storage space. In a large garden, a 45 m hose will give you plenty to work with. These retract down to approximately 15 m. Owing to their construction, some expandable hoses wind up being pretty heavy. If you’re after something particularly lightweight, the HOSE-PRO Expandable Garden Hose is a great option to consider. The 9-pattern spray head offers a lot of power when needed, but is also capable of producing a light mist – perfect for delicate flowers and shrubs.

Then there are fully steel hoses that are perhaps the strongest of them all. Durable and kink-resistant, these hoses make for a hardy investment, especially since they are generally weatherproof. They won’t freeze, nor will they heat up the water in the hose and damage its internals, like rubber hoses can do; however, this is mainly an issue for people living in more extreme climates. READ NEXT: The Best Automatic Retractable Garden Hose Reels What factors make an expandable hose more durable? The hose head also gives the option to leave the spray on, which is an improvement on some other hose designs where you have to wear your hand out holding down the trigger.For the first few uses, this hose may not extend to its full potential; it needs to stretch a little first. There is a tactic for getting it to expand as much as possible: turn on the tap, and allow the water to stretch the hose, before activating the spray head. Over time, this will encourage TheFitLife hose to extend further. This hose has been specifically designed for resilience, with an upgraded core consisting of a whopping 13 layers of latex. It’s worth pointing out that, due to its longer length, this may not be the best expandable hose for people who struggle with heavy lifting. Once filled, it’s one of the weightier options.

A shut-off valve is fitted just under the spray head, which means the water can be turned off from the spray end. This useful feature means that the hose can stay expanded (which wouldn’t happen if you turned the water off at the source) whilst you connect other appliances (such as a sprinkler). You might think that hoses are all the same – and fundamentally they are – because, at their core, they’re simply conduits for water to flow. But it’s not hard to understand how frustrating it can be for your pressure washer to run dry, or if it takes longer than it should to water your flower beds, when a cheap hose kinks or splits. The best hoses will resist kinking, are durable and are easy to hold, even with wet hands. It’s a durable and flexible hose pipe, manufactured using modern materials which lead to it weighing only 1.25 kg. Given that hoses get heavier when full of water, starting with such a light base can be invaluable.The brass connectors are of good quality, fitting well onto standard taps, and the 8-setting spray head includes a super-fine mist setting – perfect for delicate plants! There is also a powerful jet setting, with a range of 6 m, so this hose offers plenty of reach. PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS – This Water Hose is made with Durable material with solid brass fittings - 1/2 Tap Connector and 3/4 Standard Connector. It’s Made from double outer webbing and stronger inner latex tube. 7-9 mm stronger Blue Technology inner Latex Tube