I have been in the horticulture industry for 31 years and a gardener for a decade before I began making my living in the field. For decades, I have used Nelson brass quick couplers. They used to be one of my favorite tools, but were redesigned a few years ago. The old style model 109c worked great, better than their competitors models. The new design has problems.
My problem, as I see it, and my assessments are made from experience, is with the o-ring that has been added to the female part of the coupler. If you have good water pressure, and are using the hose equipped with only the female coupler at the end and without the male end plugged into it the o-ring will be blown out of the female coupler. Then, when you want to use it with the male plugged in, your seal is gone, and your coupler leaks! And good luck finding that o-ring somewhere out in the flower bed.
I have complained to Nelson about this but they are apparently committed to the design as it has been several years since it was introduced. It is a shame that a good product was "updated" and can now render itself "broken" after just one use.
The best part of these is that they are brass and not plastic. They are very heavy duty and do exactly what they are supposed to do. The only drawback is that they are not interchangable with other types of quick connect fittings. That said, I purchased a whole bunch of these (they sell a two-pack of male fittings you will need more of those). Female attach to the spigot and male attach to your various sprinklers and nozzles.
The number one rule is that plastic and hose fittings dont go together. Plastic threads will fall apart VERY quickly stick to brass fittings.
I am very impressed with this.
Buy Nelson 50336 Brass Hose Quick Connectors Set, Male and Female Now
Have not purchased these yet, but do own several of the LR Nelson N109C quick disconnects.
I was curious was if the new #50336 would be compatible with the older N109C so I contacted LR Nelson directly.
Their response...
They are exactly the same item,just re-numbered.
Hope this helps someone.
Jeff
Update 7/7/10: I purchased the #50336 in August 2009 and they work with and look exactly like my older N109C that I ordered from Amazon in the years past.I figured I'd mention this as one reviewer stated that the older N109C has an auto shutoff in it and restricts flow. Nelson did make an auto shut-off model in the past (which I also own) but the N109C model absolutely does not have any type of shut-off in it.
Read Best Reviews of Nelson 50336 Brass Hose Quick Connectors Set, Male and Female Here
Hose Quick Connects are made by DRAMM, Orbit, Gilmour and Nelson and maybe Camco still?
After reading some positive reviews, I ordered a pair of Nelsons, wrongly thinking they were made in the USA, and was really distressed to see what poor quality they were when I received them. The oring was extremely poor and the brass was very, very lightweight and cheap, I thought it was copper coated spun aluminum it was that light. It was then I noticed Nelson made them in China. In addition the tolerance is poor on the Nelson and they don't 'snap' cleanly like my old Nelsons. This is no quick connect if you have over 50 PSI it is simply too light to last.
I needed quite of few of these and ordered one from Gilmour, Orbit and DRAMM as the reviews of these products were just too poor to go by.
I found out Orbit now makes their's in china as does Gilmour.
Of the made in China quick connects the Orbits is far superior in design and brass quality to the Gilmour or Nelson, it has a lot of heft and the machining is quite good and it solid brass with some rubber to help you make the connect. It almost looks like a made in the USA Orbit part but the copper content is not quite as high and the finish not as good as my made in the USA orbits
The DRAMM quality was superb, so I ordered a fews of dozen of those. Excellent design, solid, good machining and a nice 'snap' to the connect/disconnect.
Here is how I ranked them
1. DRAM superb machining ,brass and quality. Will only order DRAMM from now on.
2. Orbitacceptable machining, above average brass and finish quality-Will order a few more as spares for the the USA orbits I have. They are the cheapest of the made in China gang and best Chinese quality. Orbit has done a good of controlling the quality in China and probably have their own factory there, versus using job shops at Nelons/Gilmour.
3. Nelsonunacceptable machining, below average brass and finish quality. I have some low PSI lines that are fed by Rain barrels, that is where these will go. I won't order Nelson until they start making these parts in the USA to their old standards.
4. Gilmoureverything was unaccpetable about the gilmour parts and the machining was so bad it took about 3 minutes of jiggling to connect, disconnect . I will return the Gilmour. I have had such bad luck with Gilmour since they went to China, I don't know why I gave them a chance. The Gilmour made in the USA parts were pretty decent but not these!
My quick connects get hard use on a farm. I going to order enough DRAMMs for the rest of my life as I don't wont to have to sort out the variable chinese quality and with inflation, I don't want to have to pay 50 bucks in 10 years for made in China Nelson or Gilmours.
Hope this helps save you the aggravation if you're used to made in the USA /high quality quick connects.
Happy Resurrection Day!
Want Nelson 50336 Brass Hose Quick Connectors Set, Male and Female Discount?
This product is a lot more expensive than the quick disconnects at my local hardware store, but I figured I wanted a good product that would last, and for solid brass, and the great reviews, it would be worth the extra money to get a quality product. I am using these in an rv. I purchased 2 of these, and intended to purchase more. However, after the first use, I decided against it. The quality of construction is in deed good, however, I found that unless the hose is positioned just right, the connection will leak--alot! I could not get the leak to stop without moving the hose around, but who is going to sit there and hold it in one place? I am thinking that maybe this would work ok on a home faucet where the water pressure is higher (50-60 psi) but the water pressure going into the rv is regulated to 45 psi, and may not allow it to make a good seal. At any rate, both leaked very badly, and will not be suitable for use in the rv.
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