re: Looking for outdoor hose recomendations

I can probably help here...I've been a big box buyer in L&G for several years...at Lowes (sorry HD fans)

"Flexible hoses" - the best you can buy for durability is the Zero G hose. Teknor Apex created this hose after the cheap pocket hoses failed to deliver on durability. The return rate on those cheap flexible hoses are ~40%. They don't kink but they will burst.

"Contractor hoses" - don't fall for the marketing gimmicks here...you get what you pay for...If you want a solid contractor hose...I was personally involved with the design of the Neverkink Contractor Hose. Its 75ft and price per foot the most expensive hose, but this was built for the contractor. Its red in color for safety reasons.

"Rubber hoses" - these are your most durable hoses b/c they are just a solid run of rubber. These are your old time traditional hoses. They haven't been as popular b/c people want light weight hoses and the rubber hoses are heavy. Lowes will be relaunching the old Craftsman Rubber hose this year - Black and Red (red for commercial hot water use)

"Vinyl hoses" - again here, you get what you pay for. Neverkink (made by Teknor Apex) has a few versions. At Lowe's you can get either the Neverkink regular hoses (black with a yellow stripe) or the Neverkink Max (another hose I worked on creating). The difference Is the Max has additional support for non-kinking.

Feel free to ask me any other questions on hoses...I can certainly help...