Best Hose End Sprayer Reviews
Spraying the lawn and garden with chemicals, fertilizers, and insecticides is quite the chore during the summer months. If it isn’t the heat that gets to you, it’s carrying around your sprayer with gallons of concentrate mixed with water. But, you can avoid that second problem by using the best hose end sprayer instead.
Rather than carrying around a sprayer that’s full of gallons of liquid, a hose end sprayer makes the job easier for you by letting you mix the chemicals with water on the spot. You can eliminate the need to carry around heavy water while making the job more efficient at the same time.
Contents
Top 5 Hose End Sprayer Reviews Comparison Table
Product Name | Image | Hose Compatibility | Liquid or Powder Mixing | Capacity | Mixing Ratio Adjustment | Our Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Standard garden hose | Liquid, No Pre-Mixing | 16 oz. | 16 Dilution Rates set on dial | #1 | |
 | Standard garden hose | Liquid, No Pre-Mixing | 8 oz. | Set with a dial | #3 | |
 | Standard garden hose | Liquid | 16 oz. | 20 dilution settings, set with dial | #4 | |
 | Variable Hose Sizes | Liquid, No pre-mixing | 16 oz. | 16 mixing ratios, set with dial | #2 | |
 | Standard garden hose | Liquid | 4 oz. | 8 mixing ratios | #5 |
How to Use a Hose End Sprayer
Unlike other manual sprayers, hose end sprayers connect directly to the flow of water. You won’t need to mix the chemicals with water before spraying, since they will be pulled up directly by the hose stream. These sprayers connect to the front of the garden hose and can be activated by pulling the trigger with your hand. When the water sprays out, so do the chemicals in whatever dilution ratio you’ve set.
Benefits of Hose End Sprayers
No more carrying water around
The problem with backpack sprayers and pump sprayers is the same: They both have to be carried around by you. Unfortunately, that means carrying around a pre-mixed solution of water and chemicals, which can be very heavy. Hose end sprayers mix the chemicals with the water as it’s being sprayed, so you won’t have to carry any water around with you, just the hose and chemicals.
Use concentrates directly
It doesn’t matter whether you’re using fertilizer for grass, garden pesticides, or Miracle Grow, a hose end sprayer can use concentrated liquid instead of pre-mixed solutions. This will save you a lot of money in the long run, and it will cause less of a mess, making it better for the environment.
Reach high up places
Hoses are more easily able to spray upwards than most pump sprayers, depending on the normal water pressure coming from your hose. This makes a hose end sprayer a good choice for spraying trees and other tall foliage.
Minimal manual efforts needed for use
There’s no pumping, carrying heavy water, or strength needed to use a hose end sprayer. It’s a lot easier to use than other manual sprayers, which makes it great for those who can’t carry around heavy loads, people with large spaces to spray, and anyone that wants to make gardening more relaxing and less stressful.
How to Choose the Best Hose End Sprayer
How can you choose the best hose end sprayer for your gardening needs? Here are the things you need to pay attention to the most:
Hose Compatibility
Most hose end sprayers are compatible with standard garden hoses, but that’s not helpful if you have a non-standard hose. Check to see if the sprayer you want is compatible with multiple hose sizes or if it only works with standard sizes. This might help you determine which choice is right for you, depending on what you’ve already got at your house.
Liquid or Powder Mixing
A majority of hose end sprayers work with liquid, not powder, but some can also accept powder. In most cases, you’re recommended to mix the concentrated powder with water first before attaching it to the sprayer. This might seem like a step in the wrong direction, but what you’re doing is simply making a liquid concentrate from a powder concentrate. Your sprayer will then be able to pick up the liquid and dilute it as you wish.
The way these sprayers pick up the right amount of liquid is through a syphoning mechanism. You will set the dilution ratio, using a built-in dial or other control method, and the sprayer will create a syphon when the water sprays from the hose. It will automatically pick up the right amount of liquid at a flow rate necessary to make your desired dilution.
Capacity
If you have a larger area to cover, a larger capacity storage bottle will be useful for you. However, it’s not usually a big deal with these types of sprayers, because they use the liquid much more slowly than other garden sprayers. Unless you have a very low capacity storage bottle, or a very large yard, it’s difficult to get through the entire bottle in one go-round. If you do, simply top it off again with liquid concentrate and get back to the job!
Mixing Ratio Adjustment
It’s common to see hose end sprayers with between 8 and 16 dilution settings to choose from. A few models offer as many as 20 settings for those who are very specific about what they need, but the most common is 16 settings. These settings control how much of the liquid concentrate will be pulled out by the syphon at once. Dials are the most commonly found adjustment method, although you may find modern devices with different adjustment features.
Don’t get a hose end sprayer that has fewer than 8 dilution settings. The more settings, the better, so you can have more variety in what you use and how much of it goes into the garden at once. If you have too few settings, you may be limited by what type of chemical you can use with the sprayer, since different chemicals require different dilution rates.
Conclusion
Based on the criteria for finding the best hose end sprayer, I would have to recommend the Gilmour 362 as my favorite choice. Gilmour is a solid brand that makes a lot of reliable gear, and in my opinion this is the best hose end sprayer because of its easy to use features, full 16 oz. capacity, and the convenient 16 dilution settings. It’s a simple sprayer that produces great results for a lot of different gardeners.
