Review on 🔧 SharkBite U260LFA 1 Inch 90 Degree Elbow: Premium Plumbing Pipe Connector - PEX, Copper, CPVC, HDPE by Dave Rasic

TL;DR: The plastic sleeve in the fittings is loose and poorly constructed, causing a crash if installed incorrectly. I just installed two 90 degree elbows and a 1 inch PEX ball valve that my home builder left open in my garage. The hinge was supposed to be for a water softener, but since we don't need a water softener for our location (not sure what they thought, nobody in our area uses one), it hung about 24 inches in my garage/workshop, which I think is a serious one represented danger. With that in mind, and after making the trip to the usual suspects only to be hit with the special $60+ PEX wrench required to use standard hardware and clamps, I chose them as the cheaper ones and (hopefully) lighter alternative since I only meant a very small project. Each fitting contains a small plastic "sleeve" which is used to further strengthen the pipe to ensure that the "shark teeth" pinching it do not deform the pipe and cause a leak. Based on the pictures I assumed this bushing was fixed - it wasn't. In fact, it's completely free in each end of the fitting, resting on a VERY small lip to abut against the brass of the fitting. As expected, on the first try, this little lip pushed right past its brass mating surface when first inserted, causing the fitting to fall off prematurely while the teeth snagged so badly that removal was impossible. Luckily, using photos of the plastic sold online by SharkBite, I was able to quickly assemble a removal tool using a hole saw and a piece of plywood, but the damage was done. The plastic insert was warped and badly bent, rendering the $16 fitting unusable and necessitating an urgent trip to Lowes to purchase an overpriced replacement. Installing the rest of the valves was a painful process as I fiddled with the plastic sleeve to make sure it was aligned before pressing the fitting into place, but not before praying to all that was holy for the damn thing running properly. Now, after spending as much as if I'd bought a Daggun tool in the first place, and sweating and swearing in vain enough to make my neighbors think a lot less of me, I regret not spending the money on the right thing Spent tooling on the job in the first place and listened to my intuition when he told me SharkBite fittings are too good to be true.