What You're Actually Getting For £17.99

The 2676P0000 is the mid-range model in Hozelock's spray gun family, sitting above the basic single-pattern guns and below the all-metal Pro models. You get a plastic-bodied gun with a rotating front dial offering five patterns: Jet (a narrow focused stream for blasting dirt), Cone (a wide shower), Fast Fill (high-volume straight flow for buckets), Fine Rose (gentle watering), and Flat (a fan-shaped spray for rinsing patios).

The trigger has a locking slider so you don't have to keep it squeezed during long jobs, and there's a separate flow control dial at the base to throttle pressure without running back to the tap. It clips onto your hose via the standard Hozelock Quick Connect, which is the same fitting used on their reels, sprinklers and tap connectors. If you've already got any Hozelock gear, it'll just work. If you haven't, any generic quick-release hose connector sold in UK garden centres will mate with it.

Weight is low, the grip shape is comfortable, and the trigger pull is light enough that children and older users with reduced grip strength can operate it without fuss. One verified buyer summed up the handling: "Smooth, precise, and downright satisfying to use." That matches what most positive reviewers say about how it feels in the hand.

The Handle Crack Issue, Explained

This is the review pattern that shows up across hundreds of one and two-star reviews: the handle splits along a seam after roughly 6 to 14 months, and water starts spraying out of the grip area instead of the nozzle. Reviewers describe it with impressive consistency. "Split right down the seam on the handle." "Handle splits eventually, after about a year." "Seams blown so the water no longer comes out the spout."

One unusually detailed review from June 2025 cracked the mystery of why. The reviewer compared their faulty unit to other Hozelock spray guns in a local shop and noticed some had one-piece moulded handles while others (including theirs) had a separate front piece joined to the main handle. The join is where the leaks appear. If your unit is the two-piece variant, the seam between those mouldings is the weak point. With thermal expansion over a UK summer and contraction through winter, that joint eventually fails.

Is this every unit? No. Some buyers report 8 years of use from older stock. Review 64 bought the same model in 2017 and only replaced it in 2025. But the frequency of the handle-split complaint in recent reviews (2024 onwards) is high enough that it looks like a quality control drift, not random bad luck. Several reviewers explicitly mention that older Hozelock units lasted for years and the recent ones don't.

Can You Make It Last? What the Survivors Do Differently

Cross-referencing the happy long-term owners with the disappointed ones, two habits come up repeatedly among buyers whose units survived past the 12-month mark.

The first is indoor winter storage. UK winters drop to 1 degree or below regularly across most of the country, and several one-star reviewers specifically blame frost for cracking their unit (one wrote "cracked on 1 degree temperature"). The plastic isn't rated frost-proof, and water trapped inside the gun expands when it freezes, stressing exactly the seams people describe as failing. Detaching the gun and bringing it into a shed or garage from November to March is the single biggest thing you can do.

The second is storing it out of direct sun. UV degrades the plastic housing over time. Reviewer 21, who had been through three of these and wrote with plenty of humour about "surprise mists in the face," admitted to "leaving it in sun, rain, frost... basically training it to survive the Great Outdoors." The units that die early overwhelmingly seem to be the ones left clipped to a hose reel in the open all year round. Hang it in a shed between uses, and you'll see a noticeably longer service life.

Neither of these are guaranteed fixes, and frankly for £17.99 you shouldn't have to baby a garden tool. But if you're going to buy this gun, those two habits stack the odds in your favour.

Where It Actually Shines

When it works, reviewers describe it as excellent, and the specific use cases they mention are worth knowing.

Car washing is a common one. The Jet mode shifts road grime and the flow control dial lets you drop the pressure for the shampoo rinse without walking to the tap. Several reviewers mention using it for their car as the primary task, alongside garden watering.

Patio and driveway cleaning comes up repeatedly too. The Flat spray pattern fans out in a wide strip that works well for walking alongside a paver line and lifting moss and algae. It won't replace a pressure washer for ingrained grime, but for regular rinsing it does the job without faff.

Delicate watering is where the Fine Rose mode comes into its own. Reviewer 69 specifically mentions using it for all kinds of plant watering alongside driveway cleaning, and it's the mode most seedling-growing allotmenteers will reach for. The spray is soft enough not to flatten tomato seedlings or newly germinated salad rows, which is more than you can say for most budget spray guns.

One positive reviewer with plenty of context summed it up: "Used this for car shampoo rinse, bait bucket fill, and garden hose-downs - never skipped a beat." That matches what the Multi-Jet is designed for: five jobs, one gun, no need for attachment swaps mid-task.

Who Should Buy It (and Who Shouldn't)

If you've already got Hozelock hose fittings, reels or tap connectors, this is the path of least resistance. The Quick Connect is the same across their whole range, so you don't need to faff with adapters. It's also the right pick if you want five patterns in one tool rather than buying separate nozzles for watering and cleaning, and if you're happy to bring it indoors each winter.

It's probably not the right pick if you want a buy-once-and-forget tool. Several reviewers have moved to Gardena or to metal-bodied alternatives specifically because of the splitting issue, and if you're willing to pay twice as much for a brass-bodied gun that'll last a decade, you'll likely be happier. Reviewer 26 noted they were moving to the Multi-Jet Plus (Hozelock's upgraded version) on the basis that it looked more substantial. Worth considering if you're a heavy user.

It's also worth flagging one buyer warning: a small number of reviewers wondered whether their units might not be authentic Hozelock stock, given the quality drop compared to older purchases. Buy from a seller with a clear returns window, keep your Amazon receipt, and if yours arrives and leaks on first use (which does happen), return it immediately rather than trying to live with it.