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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 29 customer reviews )
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12 of 13 found the following review helpful:
 Poorly designed seals; here's why... Jul 18, 2011
By Nathaniel Allen
If you're looking for a "quick" summary, it's this: These can't be tightened more than hand-tight, the rubber exterior grips are loose and ill-fitting, and Gilmour's customer service hasn't bothered to reply to my email requesting assistance. If you're ok with only hand-tight connections, they don't seem to leak.
I bought six of these, plus three extra male adapters, hoping to duplicate the success with a pair of brass quick-connect garden hose adapters that I picked up at my local Orchard Supply Hardware years ago, that have served me trouble free for years and years and years.
So I decided to start my collection from scratch, and put my trust in Gilmour -- a Bosch company -- due to the solid reviews I read here on Amazon, and figuring it'd be easy to find compatible pieces years down the road. But, alas, there are shortcomings with these adapters.
(1) These adapters have been "value engineered." Quick-connect fittings (hydraulic and pneumatic, and including my old reliable garden hose fittings I bought at OSH) normally have an O ring deep in the female fitting that seals around the exterior of the male fitting when the two pieces are locked together. This design not only requires the extra few cents for an O ring, but also requires a small groove to be cut into the interior of the female fitting in which the O-ring lives, which increases machining costs. You can see an example of that missing O-ring in the product photos of the following product, where this O-ring can be seen in position around the inside of the female connection.
These Gilmour fittings do away with the O-ring and its associated channel, and instead rely on the blunt end of the male connection to seat against a fatter-than-normal garden hose washer (the rubber washer you'd normally find in a lawn sprinkler or sprayer nozzle).
This is all fine and good when the two quick-connect pieces are assembled and then screwed hand-tight onto the hose/faucet/sprayer. But as the female end is snugged tighter to the hose, the rubber washer is deformed and squeezed into places it shouldn't, thus interfering with the male end being inserted. And if I did manage to make the connection, the two pieces were impossible to release (without unscrewing). My intention was to make these "permanent" installations, with Teflon thread tape and an extra half-turn with a wrench, discouraging them from inadvertently "walking away" over time. But anything other than lightly hand tight causes the problem, and makes the quick connect/disconnect feature unusable.
I tried switching out various other hose washers in place of the ones Gilmour includes in their fittings, including O-ring style and the flat type, and in the end found the best solution to be flipping over Gilmour's washers (which, unlike traditional hose washers, are not symmetrical). But regardless, these fittings don't like to be tightened, and the missing O-ring is the culprit and a feature I'm willing to pay a little extra for.
(2) The rubber "grips" on the exterior of both pieces of the couplings are anything but. They fit loosely to the serrated edges of the coupling, they slip both rotationally and longitudinally, and I really haven't been happy with the fact that I've had to remove the rubber grip pieces to be able to disconnect these hose connections satisfactorily.
Draw that in contrast to the quick-connect couplings I've been using for the past years that have rubber grips pieces on their exteriors. After all this time exposed to the elements, the rubber still adheres to the brass as if it were permanently bonded, and the connect/disconnect action is still easy.
(3) Customer service non-response: I emailed Gilmour from their website "contact us" submission box, explaining the problem I was experiencing, and have yet to receive a response after two weeks. This bothers me because I'm a fan of Bosch tools, and the Bosch name was a large part of my decision to purchase these vs. another brand.
After investing about $80 in a box full of these connections, they're going back to Amazon and I'll shop for a another brand that didn't cheap out on the design and construction. It's frustrating that if I snug them "just right" they'll work, but an extra half-turn to ensure they're cinched securely (and semi-permanently) to the faucet or hose end and they *Don't Work* is simply unacceptable. I'll give Orbit and Power Washer a try, as they have a similar appearance to the old quick connectors I own.
(Update 7/21): I returned the Gilmour connectors, and ordered (and received) the quick connects by Orbit. These appear exactly identical to the old, reliable connectors I purchased at OSH years ago.
11 of 12 found the following review helpful:
 Great product Jul 31, 2009
By Barry S.
Product works fine but be careful if you buy it from Lowe's; they recently changed from brass to "Metal." The weight is 20% less and I did not buy them. Pay the shipping and get the brass. Got 12 sets from Geroy and the price was only $88.16, including shipping. Well worth it.
7 of 7 found the following review helpful:
Better than Plastic Ones Aug 11, 2009
By B. Pine
"Kinglord"
I had the Plastic connectors but they don't last that is why i changed to these. Lowe's and Home Depot only had the ones with the built in shut off and i wanted one that didn't. This was the only place that had them, price was good and they work great. Don't waste your time with the plastic one, just pay the little extra and buy these because they will last.
15 of 19 found the following review helpful:
Gilmour quality. Mar 22, 2009
By Chino
"Chino"
I'll keep it short and sweet as it's a quick-connector set.
If you're not familiar with Gilmour, they make high-end, professional, industrial type fittings, hoses, farming and garden equipment. These quick connector adaptors are no exception. They are heavy duty, crush resistant (proof?), and have rubberized surfaces to assist in tightening the connection. High quality o-rings and solid brass ball-bearings provide for a leak-free quick-connection. Save yourself the shipping (or price "surcharge" by Amazon) and pick this one up at Lowes locally for under $6.
Beware, these are BRASS fittings, so there is always a lead hazard associated with them. Please, DO NOT DRINK from your garden hose!
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Top Quality with A Bit Extra Apr 15, 2010
By B. Kim
Excellent quality connector set! Aside from being all brass and made to last, these Gilmour connectors ended up my choice because of the black rubber around the exterior. Although they are described to help with gripping (they do), I like them because they also protect the connector when you reel your hose in as well as protect the floor. I have a hose outlet located in the interior of my garage, where I also have the rapid reel set up. The floor is epoxy coated so I do not worry about the brass connectors scratching and or chipping the paint when I reel my hose back in.
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