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Head-to-head · Best Garden Hoses

Briggs & Stratton 8BS50 Heavy-Duty Rubber Garden Hose, 5/8 in. x 50 ft. vs Eley 5/8-Inch Polyurethane Garden Hose, 50 ft

Which is the better buy? Side-by-side on rating, price, strengths, and watch-outs — with the published ratings we averaged to get there.

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The short answer

Eley 5/8-Inch Polyurethane Garden Hose, 50 ft comes out ahead by a clear margin (3.6 vs 4.5). The gap is mostly about Buyers replacing a hose for the last time who will pay double for the best measured kink resistance in the category and a ten-year guarantee — read the strengths below before deciding.

Briggs & Stratton 8BS50 Heavy-Duty Rubber Garden Hose, 5/8 in. x 50 ft.
Ranked #5 in Best Garden Hoses
Briggs & Stratton 8BS50 Heavy-Duty Rubber Garden Hose, 5/8 in. x 50 ft.
3 sources$53.92

The 8BS50 is a plain heavy rubber hose, and the two outlets that tested it disagree about how good that is. TechGearLab put it at 64 out of 100, tenth of twelve, faulting it for twisting, looping and weight, and framed it as a hose best left as a permanent fixture. Bob Vila backed a car over it, scored durability 5 out of 5 and gave it their best-rubber award. Both are describing the same object: a thick rubber wall with crush-proof nickel-plated brass couplings, no clever geometry, and enough mass that how you store it decides whether you like it.

Strengths
  • — TechGearLab liked the spray performance and found kinks roll out easily rather than creasing the hose
  • — Bob Vila scored durability 5 out of 5 and confirmed it withstood being driven over with no visible damage, and found no leaking at either end
  • — Crush-proof nickel-plated brass couplings with industrial-style reinforcing, at roughly half the price of the Eley
Watch-outs
  • — TechGearLab scored it 64 out of 100, tenth of twelve, with cons of "twists and loops easily, heavy"
  • — The heaviest hose in TechGearLab's lineup by absolute weight, at 19.1 lb for their 100-foot sample
  • — Bob Vila docked build quality to 3 out of 5 and noted it "does not have any grips for control" on the couplings
$53.92 · Check Price on AmazonFull review →
Eley 5/8-Inch Polyurethane Garden Hose, 50 ft
Higher ratedRanked #3 in Best Garden Hoses
Eley 5/8-Inch Polyurethane Garden Hose, 50 ft
3 sources$113.23

Two outlets that test hoses for a living rate this the best one made. Wirecutter calls it their upgrade pick and reports more than two years of near-daily use without being able to make it kink, plus the fastest bucket-fill time they measured at 55 seconds. TechGearLab scored it 89 out of 100, the highest in their twelve-hose test, with 9.0 for construction. Eley backs it with a ten-year no-leak warranty and a -40 to 165 degrees F range. It costs $113.23, weighs 0.15 lb per foot, and comes in one unlovely grey.

Strengths
  • — Wirecutter's upgrade pick and, in their words, "the best hose we've ever tested" after more than two years of near-daily use without a single kink
  • — Highest score TechGearLab recorded in a twelve-hose test at 89 out of 100, including 9.0 for construction quality
  • — Filled a five-gallon bucket in 55 seconds in Wirecutter's flow test, the fastest hose they timed
Watch-outs
  • — $113.23 for 50 feet, which Wirecutter notes is a little over twice the cost of a comparable rubber hose
  • — Only one colour, and a Wirecutter tester's reaction on seeing it was "that thing is kinda ugly"
  • — TechGearLab measured 0.15 lb per foot and listed "heavy" as one of only two cons
$113.23 · Buy at eleyhosereels.comFull review →

How they stack up

Briggs & Stratton 8BS50 Heavy-Duty Rubber Garden Hose, 5/8 in. x 50 ft.

Against the Dramm ColorStorm Premium Rubber Hose, the other all-rubber hose here, the 8BS50 is the cheaper and worse-handling of the two: TechGearLab scored the Dramm well ahead on performance and traced the difference to Dramm's hexagonal profile. It is the heaviest hose in this guide by absolute weight. What it has over the Teknor Apex zero-G and the Flexzilla Garden Hose with SwivelGrip is a thick rubber wall that shrugged off a car tyre in Bob Vila's test, and unlike the Stanley FatMax BDS6650 nobody has reported it taking a permanent set.

Eley 5/8-Inch Polyurethane Garden Hose, 50 ft

The Eley posted the highest raw score in TechGearLab's test, ahead of the Dramm ColorStorm Premium Rubber Hose and the Teknor Apex zero-G, and it carries the longest published warranty of any hose here at ten years. It is also the most expensive by a wide margin and roughly twice the weight per foot of the zero-G. Against the Briggs & Stratton 8BS50 and the Stanley FatMax BDS6650, both of which testers got to kink, the Eley's stiff polyurethane wall is the entire point: it bends into wide loops instead of folding shut.

Specs side-by-side

SpecBriggs & Stratton 8BS50 Heavy-Duty Rubber Garden Hose, 5/8 in. x 50 ft.Eley 5/8-Inch Polyurethane Garden Hose, 50 ft
Diameter5/8 in5/8 in (0.875 in OD)
Length50 ft50 ft
MaterialRubber, industrial-style reinforcingReinforced polyurethane, non-marking cover
Coupling MaterialCrush-proof nickel-plated brassLead-free forged brass, crush-proof, hex
Weight10 lb; 0.19 lb/ft measured by TechGearLab7 lb dry, 14 lb filled
Available Lengths25, 50, 75, 100 ft6.5, 12, 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200 ft
Model Number8BS50—
Nozzle IncludedNo—
Working Pressure—150 PSI
Burst Pressure—450 PSI minimum at 75 degrees F
Temperature Range—-40 to 165 degrees F
Warranty—10-year no-leak, no-fail
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