Suncast RSW125D vs CPLSSM200B: Hose Reel Comparison

If you find yourself doing a lot of gardening and landscaping work, then you may know how much of a hassle it is to keep your garden hose in tip-top shape. Without a good management system, your hose could end up with tears in just a matter of months. If you’ve grown tired of manually coiling and inspecting your garden hose after each use to ensure proper storage, we highly recommend investing in a hose reel.

Suncast RSW125D vs CPLSSM200B: Hose Reel Comparison

Suncast RSW125D

Suncast Hose Reel | Recommended

Last update on 2024-03-05 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

This website is supported by readers. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.


Hose reels keep your garden hose on a spindle, letting you pull it out or coil it back up whenever you need. There are several types of garden hose reels, but in this article, we’re going to focus on the box variety. A box keeps the hose out of exposure to nature’s elements (e.g. heat and cold which can cause cracks).

Today, we’re going to compare two products from Suncast, a US-based company that focuses on producing top-of-the-line garden products. The two products we’re comparing are the RSW125D and CPLSSM200B, two box models that have collected plenty of thumbs ups for their users. Let’s get right to our comparison.

Hose Length Capacity

RSW125D
Hose reel boxes are designed to hold onto garden hoses of various lengths. You’ll want to get a box that matches the length of your garden hose with at least 10 or 20 feet of surplus storage. The RSW125D can contain hoses up to 125 feet long.

CPLSSM200B
The CPLSSM200B can house hoses of up to 200 feet long. Perhaps the more serious gardener or those with an extremely faraway garden should consider purchasing this. Keep in mind that this box is used only for standard 5/8-inch vinyl hoses.

Conclusion: The type of box hose reel you need depends on how long a garden hose you have. Even though you could insert a 100-foot long hose in the CPLSSM200B, you probably wouldn’t want excess capacity unless you plan on upgrading your garden hose in the near future. The user needs to decide how big a box you need for your garden hose.

Suncast CPLSSM200B vs RSW125D: Hose Reel Comparison

Suncast CPLSSM200B

Foundation

RSW125D
The RWS125D doesn’t need any stakes or fasteners to keep the unit secured to the ground. Basically, a 125-foot long hose doesn’t weight much and won’t cause the box to tip over when reeling the hose back it.

CPLSSM200B
This unit needs to be secured to the ground with stakes prior to reeling in your garden hose. There are two main reasons for doing this: 1) the weight of the hose can cause tipsiness if the box isn’t secured, and 2) the automatic reeling mechanism can struggle quite a bit if there’s any indication of imbalance. The only bad thing is that if you need to place this box on hard surfaces like a paved pathway, then you’ll need to drill holes and use masonry nails to secure the box.

Conclusion: It’s understandable that the larger CPLSSM200B needs to be staked to the ground before usage, especially since it can automatically reel in the hose (more of this in the next segment) which can throw off the box’s balance if it’s not properly secured to the ground. We feel that each of these box’s foundations serve their own purposes and prevent the boxes from tipping over when it comes time to reel and unreel.

Suncast CPLSSM200B

Suncast CPLSSM200B

Water-Powered vs. Auto-Reeling

RSW125D
This hose reel box uses the power of water to reel the garden hose in automatically. If you get this kit, you need to connect an entry hose to this box from your outdoor tap to send water into the engine and through your garden hose. Piston-like devices harness the power of flowing water to help extend the hose. Upon purchase, you can take a look at the included instruction manual.

CPLSSM200B
If you get the CPLSSM200B, you simply need to flip a lever near the hand reel and step down on a pedal to reel in the hose. It’s as easy as cake and requires no manual reeling on your part. The speed at which the hose moves when being reeled in can be quite fast, so be sure that you’re far away from the end of the hose to keep your shins out of harm’s way. Read the manual carefully so you can get an idea on how to install this tool.

Conclusion: Both methods of auto-reeling in the garden hose work like a charm. There’s virtually no risk of the hose becoming tangled or damaged in any other way during the process. With either of these boxes, you can rest assured that your hoses will be kept out of harm’s path whenever they’re stored safely within the confines of the hose box.

Swiveling Action

RSW125D
This tool doesn’t come with a swiveling base since the box doesn’t need to be secured to the ground to maintain balance. However, it can be a hassle having to manually rotate the box to get the hose in the right direction. This can be solved by placing the box in a strategic spot in your yard, though you might need to invest in a longer entry hose.

CPLSSM200B
This unit comes with a swiveling base. The base that gets nailed down to the ground remains stagnant, but the box that sits on the base can rotate to the direction of where you’re going. This is handy since the base is secured to the ground and there’s no way of lifting it up without removing the stakes beforehand.

Conclusion: It’s imperative that the CPLSSM200B comes with a swiveling base since you can’t just lift the box and take it closer to your garden. We’re glad that Suncast had the foresight to include the swiveling base in this kit otherwise we’d be left trying to maneuver our hose around the box which could significantly reduce our range of movement.

Suncast RSW125D vs CPLSSM200B: Hose Reel Comparison

Verdict

It’s rather difficult deciding which of these boxes is the better option, especially without prior knowledge about the size of your lawn and whether you’re willing to drive masonry nails into your cement driveways.

However, looking at them for what they are, we feel that the Suncast RSW125D could be the generally better box to purchase since it’s movable and supports hose lengths that most homeowners already own. The water-powered reeling action is truly something to behold since it significantly reduces the amount of work required to crank the handle.

The Suncast CPLSSM200B will be the preferred option if you work with hoses of more than 150 feet long. The fact that the box needs to be secured down by stakes is kind of a put-off for us, especially since we may need to damage our driveways to secure the box intentionally.

Suncast CPLSSM200B vs RSW125D: Hose Reel Comparison

Suncast Hose Reel | Recommended

Last update on 2024-03-05 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API


This website is supported by readers. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.




If you have any questions or do you spot any mistakes, please add them below.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.