Product review (3 stars): Trading Ease of Installation for Flood Control
We hadn't changed our braided metal washing machine hoses in nearly twenty years, so we decided to give these a try even though the braided hoses were still in decent shape.

The first thing I noticed was that these Flood Armour rubber hoses come with a recommendation to change them out every five years - whether or not they'll last longer than that remains to be seen. I'm used to hoses that last fasr longer.

The second thing I noticed was the sound of my husband grunting and cussing in our cramped laundry room. These hoses are thick and inflexible and the flood control - leak-proofing - portion is near the end and very thick. The hoses were easy to install on our older fittings, but getting them in place in cramped quarters was the reason for the swearing - they kept popping back out until he got the machine as far against the wall as it could go.

Once installed, these pricey hoses seem to work just fine, but if and when they blow, we're going back to the metal-braided kind. They last forever.