Suncast Crate Water Powered Retractable Garden Hose Reel: Review

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Review of the Suncast Crate Water Powered Retractable Garden Hose Reel

The Suncast Crate Water Powered Retractable Garden Hose Reel 72 customer comments and 6 answered questions as of this writing.  I’ve read through the customer comments and also the questions and then condensed the results into this review.  I hope that this helps you when shopping for a garden hose reel.

Best Fea​tures

  • check ​Durable​
  • check ​Water-powered rewinding​
  • check Lightweight – easy to transport
  • check Works with heavy weight hose too
  • check Customer service questionable 

Item Specifics

The Suncast Crate Water Powered Retractable Garden Hose Reel features a 125 foot hose (5/8 inch capacity) storage crate with water-powered rewinding.  The reel protects the hose from sun exposure.   This hose reel is intended as a floor-mounted device.  The unit also features corrosion-resistant plastic. Other features include an auto-sort guide to keep the hose from binding, and a compact design. No batteries nor electric are required to run this hose reel.  This hose reel weighs 17.8 pounds.

Durable

Even though this hose reel is mostly made of plastic, it seems to be very durably made.  The positive comments coming in about the durability were numerous.  This is not always the case for plastic reels, in fact for plastic reels the durability factor is usually marked down the most.  The following is a comment from a customer who used this reel for 8 years, “There are numerous hydraulic operated hose reels available on the market & unfortunately most are fraught with problems and negative reviews. I purchased this model hose reel nearly eight (8) years ago and used it without a single hiccup for the entire time.  It sat in direct sunlight for the entire time and was ‘used’ & ‘abused’ continuously without fail.”

Because It Is Lightweight, You May Want to Sit on It When Retracting

As with most things in life, you can’t have it all.  This is an inexpensive and lightweight reel because it is made of plastic instead of metal.  The lightweight factor and the fact that it’s not made to be mounted, may make the reel move when you retract the hose.  People have noticed this little issue and have come up with easy solutions to deal with it.  A customer explained how if you sit on it when it’s retracting, it won’t move on you.  If having the reel move, is not ok with you, then you might want to check into buy a heavier reel made out of metal.  Keep in mind you will spend more though than you will on a plastic reel like this.

Here a customer explains a tip for reeling it in while saving some water in the process, “Since the Water Powered Garden Hose Reel is rather light, a tip on its use is to sit on the box during the retract cycle. This stops the box from shifting during retraction of the hose. We catch the water expelled during the retract cycle into a 5 gal. bucket & use it to water potted plants outside the house. All-in-all we couldn’t be happier with the product!”

Works with Heavy Weight Hose

The Suncast Crate Water Powered Retractable Garden Hose Reel is made to hold 125 foot hose (5/8 inch capacity) but customers found that it would also work with heavy weight hoses. You will not get 125 feet on it though if using a heavyweight hose.  People found that it grealy eased up the physical job of reeling in a heavy weight hose.  Some suggested not to go over 50 feet though if using a heavy weight hose as opposed to a 5/8 inch garden hose.  It will wind much slower though if using a heavyweight hose.  Some found that with a heavy weight hose, it will wind about a foot every 10 seconds.

Customer Service Is Questionable

People commented that it was hard to reach anyone when they had problems.  Also, people could not find any information on the warranty.  For those that the reel worked fine, this wasn’t a problem because they didn’t have to contact anyone, but for those who had issues, many commented that the customer service, or a lack of customer service was not good.

One customer wrote this, “Hydro Industries (No-Crank) web site provides instructions for ordering replacement parts but no parts ever arrive. Regular mail is returned as “undeliverable”. There is no phone or email address to contact customer service.” Another said this, “I just received the hose reel which I bought through Amazon…There was no warranty information listed on Amazon for it, but I figured it would be in the manual. Wrong. Zip, nothing, nada. O.k., so I called the manufacturer. Remarkably, the representative was clueless … she referred me to the manufacturer’s web page which, again, had no information about the warranty (if there even is one). You have to wonder about a product for which there is either no warranty or the manufacturer isn’t inclined to publish and disseminate it.”

best garden hose reel

Pros

  • plus Low price
  • plus Utilizes water to retract the hose
  • plus Durable for plastic

Cons

  • close Customer service 
  • close May move when retracting

Suncast Crate Water Powered Retractable Garden Hose Reel Conclusion

The Suncast Crate Water Powered Retractable Garden Hose Reel is an inexpensive hose reel that uses water to help with the retracting of the reel.  It will waste some water when doing this, but some people collected the extra water in a bucket to later use for watering plants.  Because it is a lightweight reel, it may move when you reel in the hose.  Some people found that by sitting on the reel while it was retracting helped to keep it in place.  Even though this reel is made of plastic, the majority of customers commented that it is durably made.  However, if you do need to contact the company, the customer service is questionable and in some cases people could not get a hold of anyone.

Common Questions

Here are some top questions that I found for people considering buying a Suncast Crate Water Powered Retractable Garden Hose Reel.

  • chevron-circle-right How many feet of the 3/4″ hose can this hold?  It should hold about 150 feet.
  • chevron-circle-right Will I need to hand crank in the reel?  No, the Suncast Crate Water Powered Retractable Garden Hose Reel uses water to do the retracting.
  • chevron-circle-right Does this run on battery?  No battery is needed.

Related Article: Best Garden Hose Reel: Top 10 Reviewed and Our Pick

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