7 best garden hoses, tried and tested for all of your outdoor jobs

This lithe, RHS-endorsed pipe features a central, crushproof core which is designed to keep the water gushing even when the hose is kinked or crushed. It’s been dubbed “the unstoppable hose” which was like a red rag to a bull to us, and we did everything bar taking a set of loppers to it and still couldn’t stem the flow. Its springy properties make it a tricky hose to recoil and stow after use, but it’s a minor quibble. The hose we tested was 25 meters long, but 50 and 100-metre lengths are also available should you need something with a bit more reach.

Made from a mixture of woven fibre and PVC, this hose is a flexible friend to call upon for watering duties and boasts a muscular 40+ bar working pressure. We found it to have good crush resistance, with its slinky flexible form enabling it to snake around pots, rocks and other garden obstacles without snagging. Its unusual material makeup certainly gives it a rather serpentine appearance, so watch out for scares if you forgetfully leave it coiled in a flowerbed.

The only downside is that we found this hose can soon tie itself into a knotty mess if you carelessly bundle it up after use, so you might want to consider a hose hanger or similar for orderly shed storage. This hose also comes supplied with a tap connector and an adjustable spray nozzle for good measure.

We’re not entirely sure where the “comfort” part of its name comes in, but we were impressed with this lightweight pipe, perfect for use in a medium-sized garden. It’s frost and UV resistant and withstands pressures of up to 30bar which makes it a good choice for hooking up to pressure washers. If you are remotely concerned about hosepipe aesthetics, you’ll love the racey orange, black and grey livery. Its pinch resistance was good, and the hose took quite a lot of crushing before we managed to restrict flow. The 25-year guarantee should also alleviate any concerns you have about its long term watery performance.

It sounds like madness to buy a hose that’s riddled with holes, but this perforated pipe is built for irrigation. Secrete it in a flowerbed that needs regular watering, couple it to a length of standard hose and it’ll merrily seep water directly to the roots of your parched plants. We found its rate of saturation kept our plants suitably damp, without puddling or overwatering, and performed well at low pressures, making it way more efficient than a sprinkler system.

The pipe itself is quite malleable and kinks easily, but once you’ve got it placed in your flower bed or border, you shouldn’t really need to move it about. Hook your soaker hose to a timer and you can keep your plants moist without having to bother the outdoor tap.

Similar in construction to Hozelock’s textile offering (£55.99, Amazon.co.uk), Gardena’s take on the kink-resistant hybrid hose comes supplied at the shorter length of 25m. A diameter of 13mm makes it slightly narrower too (and with it a lower, 25 bar burst limit) but it’s lighter in use and comes supplied with three sizes of tap connector and an adjustable spray head.

Gardena claims that their connectors are 100 per cent leak-free, and we have no reason to doubt them. Our hose coupled with the tap connector tightly and remained dribble-free throughout testing, with water erupting only from the end that mattered.

Karcher’s watering wonder comes encased in a wall-mounted auto reel that swivels through 180 degrees on a lockable mooring to maximise mobility and to keep your hose tidily stashed away. Operation is smooth and easy – simply tug the hose out to your desired length – and the hose can be locked in at regular interval lengths (identifiable by an audible click as it feeds through the reel) to prevent it from springing back into the housing.

Recoiling is a simple case of pulling on the hose slightly to engage the mechanism in the reel which will then gather the hose back in a rather satisfying manner. Its 20-metre reach could be a little limiting for larger gardens and it’s a big old unit to have to hang off your wall, but if you’ve got the space it’ll make the chore of regular hose-work a whole lot easier.

This dinky number from Hozelock is perfect for small gardens and backyards where space is tight. It’s a 12mm diameter hose complete with tap connector and spray nozzle, neatly wrapped around a windable holder small enough to stash comfortably on a shed shelf.

In use, it’s super light to brandish and we were impressed with the sizable water jet that it produced. It also works just as well when partially unwound, so it’s great for just clipping into a tap for speedy watering of patio pots or flowery borders. Admittedly, the ten-meter, fully unwound length is slightly limiting, but that’s the compromise for such a tidy, space-saving hose.