re: Who loves their garden hose?

It really depends on what you are trying to solve for...there isn’t a silver bullet “perfect hose.”

You can usually solve for 2 of the 3 major issues of: kink, durability, or lightweight

Neverkink is a brand name with several different types of hoses under that name. If you are looking for a good hose, not perfect...a basic neverkink hose serves its purpose.

As far as that brand is concerned, the best non kinking / high quality hose is the Red Neverkink Contractor hose at Lowe’s. No kink, extremely durable but very heavy and will cost more than others.

The reason why it’s hard to solve for all 3 metrics is that kink resistant properties revolve around layers...more layers, more resistant to kink.

Flexilla is a decent hose, but yes - has a moldy residue over time and just like other hoses, susceptible to kinking.

Zero g hoses - they solve for lightweight and less kinking, but durability isn’t top notch. Most “pocket hoses” fall into this same category.

The old rubber hoses (true rubber) are good but as you said, can leave some of that material on your hands. They solve for durable and less kink, but largest customer complaint is weight.