Technology Comes to a Garden Hose Near You

We abuse hoses around here. It’s not our intent, but more a matter of two faucets and a few rain barrels to cover four rocky acres of gardening and cleaning projects. So, I was excited about the opportunity to test the Stanley FATMAX 50 ft. Exojacket^® 5/8″ hose and the Stanley technology behind it.

Stanley touts this hose as heavy duty, an important consideration for the temperature extremes and dry conditions we have here in the Southwest. But most heavy-duty hoses also are heavy and cumbersome to lug around, especially when you drag up to 50 or 100 feet of hose for several hundred feet!

The Exojacket^® technology makes for a lighter but strong hose, with a burst strength of up to 600 PSI. The outer nylon layer is UV resistant and designed to resist typical fading and cracking as hoses sit in the sun and heat.

The fabric hose right out of the box rolled up tightly. Notice the thin fabric shape.

The Exojacket^® outer layer wraps around an inner channel with PolyFusion technology, a process that combines polyurethane and PVC in a weave. This hose is also designed with AntiKink technology and has MaxFlow, which the packaging says provides continuous flow through the inner channel. Finally, the hose includes a Quick Repair Coupling that is designed to make hose repair easier.

While the hose and couplings are lead-free, Stanley doesn’t market this hose as being “drinking water safe” since it’s possible for bacteria to collect inside after each use.

Let’s see how all this technology performed!

The packaging for the Exojacket hose lists its technology and features.

The Curl and Kink Factor

Am I the only gardener who sometimes gets a little violent with hoses that kink? Probably not. So I dragged the Stanley FATMAX hose around my rock garden to test for kinks. I found it did “kink,” although it actually formed more of a loop. And I didn’t even know the hose had kinked until I turned around. In other words, there was no halt in, or even slowing of, pressure coming out of the hose. So, a nod to the MaxFlow technology.

The hose “kinked” a few times, and I even tied it in a loop to check the pressure. It was nearly full force, which was excellent for being tangled up.

Another excellent feature is that this hose lays out like a fire hose – right out of the box. Although it’s packaged in a roll, the FATMAX easily uncurled and laid flat for immediate use. I’ve had to leave rubber hoses out in the sun for a day to soften before I could use them.

It was so easy to straighten this hose, with no curling from being rolled up in the box.

Easy to Move

I noticed immediately that this hose was lighter than most 50-footers (it weighs in at just over 2 lbs versus about 9 lbs for a 50 ft heavy duty rubber hose). That’s a great feature for work in a large yard or garden or even for washing your car. I was pleasantly surprised to find the fabric design actually caught less often on rocks or around corners than other hoses we’ve used.

Quick Repair Coupling

The Stanley FATMAX Exojacket^® hose comes with a titanium-coated, aluminum quick repair coupling designed to keep the hose in service if it gets damaged. I decided to try out the feature by cutting a small portion of hose near the coupling. The package includes an illustration, but I feel like a video or other resource would be more helpful for those of us less mechanically inclined.

The back of the package has an illustration explaining the Quick Hose Coupling. I could not easily find a more detailed set of instructions online.

It also would help to suggest tools, because we had a hard time separating the coupling from the inner channel and had to get an Allen wrench and pliers. Still, it worked well and didn’t leak at all after repair (once we remembered to replace the washer in the coupling!)

We had to use tools to separate the coupling parts. I get that the connection needs to be tight, but it was a little tough to handle. The hose was leak-free after our repair, though.

Although I was not overly impressed with the repair nature of the coupling, I found a few other features of the coupling helpful. It twists easily when attached to a faucet or other hose, so you don’t get twisting and resistance. The outer portion of the coupling also served as a sort of ratchet to help me tighten the connection of the FATMAX Exojacket^® hose and another hose. It’s also rubber coated for comfort when holding the hose end.

Here’s a close-up of the coupling, which is useful, heavy duty and ergonomic.

Warranty

The Stanley FATMAX Exojacket^® hose has a limited lifetime warranty against defects in workmanship and materials. The warranty only applies for home use only, not commercial use.

Recommendation

I’ve always assumed fabric hoses would not hold up to our dry, sunny conditions, but I believe this one can, and am anxious to see how much better it fares after a few years of use than our heavy-duty rubber hoses. I would say all of Stanley’s technology worked as advertised, although the Quick Coupling Repair was not as easy as I had hoped. Still, that’s not the feature most important to me and I expect this hose to be sturdy enough to need little to no repair.

Here’s the hose partly unwound from the box. I love the technology that keeps this Stanley FATMAX lightweight, strong and flowing nicely. It’s a great combination.

I would buy another Stanley FATMAX 50 ft. Exojacket^® hose because of its lightweight build combined with continuous flow and sturdiness. It’s especially useful for those times you must drag a hose out to a distant tree or over a rocky garden area and for easy and quick connection to a faucet or adjoining hose. The technology that went into this hose makes it worth the price. I would improve on the instructions for the Quick Repair Coupling, or make more detailed instructions easily searchable online.

Where to Buy

The Stanley FATMAX 50 ft. Exojacket^® hose is available on Amazon Prime. Stanley’s website says the hose is sold at Ace and True Value Hardware stores, but I did not find this specific hose on those stores’ websites.

Stanley Garden BDS7389 Fatmax 50′ Exojacket Hose, Gray

Lightweight, virtually kink-free and strong

$49.99

See it on Amazon