The Hozelock 2-in-1 Compact Enclosed Hose Reel needs a bit of assembling before it’s ready to use. Pictorial instructions are provided, they’re fairly easy to follow and if you’ve used Hozelock products before you should manage to get up and running fairly quickly.
You’ll need to take everything out of the main body before beginning, there are a number of bags of bits, the only extra things you’ll need are tools to cut the hose and to wall mount it (if you choose to).
The winding handle can be fitted to either the left or right side, whichever side isn’t used with the handle is used to connect this to the tap. You might worry at first about how to connect this to the tap, thinking you need to purchase a second hose, not so! You cut a length of hose off the main section and fit the hozelock adapter, giving you a mini hose that goes from your tap to the main unit.
One thing to keep in mind is that although this is designed to be assembled without tools you do need to have the strength to push and tighten the various components by hand, so you might need some assistance.
Once assembled the hozelock elements allow for the quick attachment and release of components, e.g. the hose on the tap, the hose from the main reel, or the spray gun from the hose. There are loads of compatible accessories that make use of this system, such as sprinklers and pressure washers.
The 25m length was more than enough for the back garden and was long enough to be able to take the hose to the front of the house to wash the car.
The spray gun works OK, it dribbles a little when set to off, but at least it means you can turn the tap on before carrying the hose somewhere. It has a range of different spray options,
You’ll need to keep an eye on the hose when winding it up as it requires manual layering (where you move the hose across the reel to prevent it getting stuck), fortunately there is a little window cut into the top for that very reason.
Once set up it’s quick and easy to use, so if you want to store it away securely rather than leaving it wall mounted it’s just a case of quickly connecting it to the tap.
Available from Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/1UcFvJ6 and Amazon USA: https://amzn.to/25qF4mH
