Review on Extra Long 65' Retractable Air Hose Reel With Max 300 PSI And Heavy Duty Industrial Spring - High-Quality Premium Flex Hybrid Polymer Hose For Commercial Use By REELWORKS by Chris Bertoli

I replaced a 50-foot 3/8-inch hose that I had looped over a hook with this reel. It was always a pain to put back after I’d used it.Installation was a bit tricky, because two of the holes in the mounting plate are behind the reel, so you can’t access those holes without removing the reel. Then once you have the mounting plate installed, you need to replace the reel, and that was difficult for me because I had it mounted high on a wall. It’s not dangerous, because the hose isn’t under tension if it’s reeled in, but the reel is heavy and awkward if you’re trying to hold it over your head with one hand while you’re using a screwdriver with the other. I had to have my son hold the reel in place while I replaced the reel screws.The supplied screws are very thick machine screws (flat bottoms), so if you’re screwing this into wall or ceiling studs, you’ll need to supply your own wood screws. I suggest 3/8-inch or 5/16-inch screws. The mounting plate is 3.5 inches wide, with four screw holes, so only two of those screws are going to go into a stud. This seems fine, but you may want to mount the reel to a piece of lumber first.The side plates on the reel are partly plastic, so they make flappity noises as you reel in, but no big deal. Unless you crack them, they should be okay.I wasn’t sure I wanted to go from a 3/8-inch hose to a 1/4-inch hose, but for most of what I do—small HVLP painting jobs, airing up tires--the smaller hose is fine, and it’s much easier to deal with. The reel unreels and re-reels the hose easily, once I added some additional spring tension. To add tension, I removed the hose-stop (two screws), looped the hose around the reel a few more times, then replaced the hose stop.No, it doesn’t come with a hose to connect the reel to your compressor, but you’d probably need to buy one that’s long enough for your setup anyway. I purchased an inexpensive Tekton 10-foot hose.So, I didn’t appreciate having to remove the reel to install the mounting plate, and maybe the reel could be all metal instead of partly plastic. But once installed, it works well, and I’m pretty happy with it now.