Liberty Garden Garden Hose Reel Cart

4.5 stars as implemented, raised to 5 stars due to excellent customer service. Reel used to hold 250-300' of 5/8 hose to run from hydrant to stock tank for 1x/week winter filling while waiting for spring thaw (so underground pipes could be repaired). Pros: ** Reel really does hold 300' of hose comfortably ** Hose can be reeled onto reel very easily (see technique below) ** Hose unreels very easily too, no tipping over of cart while dragging hose off-- a great convenience when you are going up to 300' away in the mud and/or snow ** nice fat handle, not cheap thinwall conduit ** wheels are large, and easily cross curbs, bumpy grass hummocks, and reasonable depths of snow. Balance is good too, although the handle could be a bit longer for me ** maneuverability is excellent. I wanted a 2 wheel cart vs. 4 wheel cart for this reason. Cons-- all very minor: ** I found the cart push handle could be 6" taller. Still very usable. Perfect height for 5'6" person, but that is not me. ** the central tube in the reel (the "axle") is hollow, and can fill with water. While the unit needs to be protected from freezing anyway (you can't use frozen hose very easily), accidental freezing may damage the axle tube and I felt the tube should be sealed off as the part would be hard to replace. There are other metal parts that can be damaged by freezing, but those are by and large standard plumbing parts and easy to obtain. ** the reel handle has metal to metal contact when rotating in its collar (the collar bearing itself is plastic, but the edge of the handle can contact the cylinder holding the plastic bearing part). I fabricated a washer of packing plastic-- you know that stiff sheet stuff that tools come in, and is pretty darned hard to get your stuff out of. This has worked very well, and should reduce the chances of rusting (my main concern is reduction of rusting). ** the hose whip on the reel is really stiff when cold. It works fine anyway, but it would be an improvement to have a low temperature hose plastic. This is user replaceable, it is after all just a short piece of hose w/hose connections and can be salvaged from a future dead low temp hose. Other: ** I felt the basket was a waste of money for me. Maybe others stash all sorts of stuff in the basket. A hook or clamp for the hose whip on the reel would be more useful. Unless you are Arnold Swartzenegger, the easiest way to wind the hose back on the reel is to pull the hose back towards the reel in a big U or W so that you aren't pulling more than 25-50' of hose at a time onto the reel. Longer tends to be very fatiquing-- up to 50', it is very easy to put your foot on the cart base, guide the hose with one hand, and crank the reel with the other hand. Indeed, it is amazingly easy compared to the cheap plastic reels. You get what you pay for I guess. I never dreaded rewinding the water filled hose with the Liberty 880 hose cart unlike those infernal cheap reels, or having to coil the hose up, lug it around, getting wet and muddy in the process. Customer service: One wheel would not hold air pressure, it would leak down overnight. No problem getting a warranty replacement. Too bad hardly anyone will read this review, since it appears the model 880 is out of production or otherwise unavailable...