Ive found that brass degrades over time far faster than stainless, especially using DI water. I would agree that if youre on a tight budget the brass version is better than no reel. Im not sure how acme is so cheap, for me the reel + stainless on obsessed garage is 280 and the upgrade stainless swivel is 106, so its pretty similar in price to the acme + the swivel. the brass version is on amazon tool for 190 amzn.to/3HUU6eU Obsessed garage is how i found the reel in the first place, im honoring the source, and their support is awesome

@@improvedgarage when you say it degrades over time did you just mean that it loses or has a change in color which is normal for brass? I agree with you that if we are talking about structural design for a bridge or building then most definitely stainless would be the preferred choice but for a fitting on a hose reel either choice is more than capable of withstanding whatever is thrown at it. Lastly, I am guessing Acme tools is able to offer such competitive pricing because of their business model and how big they have become.

@@NeemoHose-ir5ht DI water breaks down and creates pitting in the metal, ive run into issues with brass fittings starting to leak / fail and had a pressure washer gun valve fail. I recognize that the brass one has lasted me 2 years and will likely last longer, but i would consider the stainless to be a lifetime product. we are talking about 300$ reels that are going to have a 200$ hose and im running it off of a 1100$ pressure washer, so i realize this is all high-budget, but i think for the extra 120$ i would rather the stainless and to not worry about it. as it stands i bought a stainless swivel and im going to swap it in when the brass has a leak of some kind. Maybe it will take years for that to happen. I work in IT and CDW is the bane of our existence, they would rather sell 10,000 items at 5% margin than 500 items at 20% margin, they are making money based on volume and providing little value. I dont know anything about acme tools, its possible this isnt the case. I know OG has 30 members of staff and they let me know the reel existed, so i made the choice to support them. Others may support other companies and thats what works for them. Youre probably ok getting the brass from acme or amazon, if the swivel ever fails you can rebuild, replace, or buy a stainless one from OG.

@@improvedgarage what were the issues you ran into with this pressure washer gun? Just curious because I respectfully doubt it has to do with the brass fitting breaking down. Also, while I agree with you that $120 isn’t that much it is still $120 that can be saved. Also, you could say that since your hose $300 and pressure washer being $1000 that could be more of a reason why you’re better off not wasting $120? I am confident that there would be no issues with the brass fitting and that Coxreels would have gone a different route if so. Personally, I would rather not waste $120 for a false sense of security but to each their own. Appreciate you sharing this and your input.

@@improvedgarage I am not that familiar with CDW but Acme tools has been around for a while now. For me, the value Acme tools provides is competitive pricing and fast reliable service/shipping. Being that we all view value differently it’s hard to get a general consensus on what type of value different companies bring but overall if I had to choose I would say price, availability and service/shipping?