Seriously A Hose Reel?

Usually the hose ends up spooled on the ground, or laying in the middle of the yard, or just tossed on the side of the house. So, every spring/summer for the past FIVE years, EVERY SINGLE TIME the hubs and I venture out looking for a hose reel we end up coming home empty handed and beyond mad at each other.

There really aren't many options out there....

There was this one.  We opted out of this one because we thought it might slide around too much in the ground and eventually fall or lean to one side or the other.

Then there was this one.  I really loved it, but I believe it was almost $100.  It was heavy duty and seemed like it would have done the job, but nope. Not going to happen.

Then the usual.  The hide away hose reel.  It wasn't terrible, but most of the parts were made of plastic and we didn't think it would hold up.  There are always return policies, but we always lose our receipts, forget where we bought it and say "screw it" when it comes to dealing with bringing it back.

There were a few others, but these are the usual three that we see EVERY year.

This is usually how it goes for our hose reel hunting process:

• Spring comes around, the hubs and I get the itch to want to clean out the outside.  Obviously we have forgotten about the previous year.
• Out comes all of the pots, patio table, chairs, cushions and the hose.
• We realize there isn't anything to hang the hose from so it looks sloppy on the side of the house.
• Off to the store we go, eagerly hoping to find something that will work perfect.
• Once inside the store, the hubs and I approach the hose/hose reel section and take in everything.
• I choose a hose reel that will most likely work, hide everything and say, "hey what about this one?"
• Hubs knocks it down. "Nope, that's not going to work."
• Then he's like, "how about THIS one?"
• I knock it down and say, "Seriously, $100 for a stupid piece of equipment to hold a hose. Absolutely NOT!"
• After going through EVERY hose reel in stock, slowly getting MORE and MORE frustrated, I march out of the area, annoyed and frustrated.
• We go home, and the hose lays either in the yard or on the side of the house all season.
• Rinse and repeat next year.

This year after going through almost all the steps above, I found one.  Its not a crank reel, no wheels on it, and it wasn't terribly priced.  The hubs and I were tossing different ones back and forth and he wasn't a huge fan of it, but I was so over doing this every year that I put it in the cart and we managed to not kill each other and we left the store.

So after FIVE stinkin' years of searching, we ended up with this:

I know, fancy right?  It's plain, simple, and works for the front of our house.  Eventually, at some point when we change the landscaping around that one might bite the dust, but for now I'm happy that we don't have to struggle with dragging the hose out from behind the bushes.

Funny thing is I brought up this struggle with my mom and she said that she's been having issues finding a decent one too.  Anyone else?