Minky Retractable Duo Reel Washing Line, Grey, 2x15m

Product Information

Its design means that you don’t have to worry about screwing the housing into any walls or anything like that, you just wrap the line around whatever is at hand, and use the carabiner and locking beads to secure it in place. So after a good bit of deliberating and testing I picked the Metaltex 30 m Retractable Clothes Line, White, 30m. The Minky 30m Outdoor Retractable Reel has 2 15 m washing lines to provide a total drying length of 30 m, which is sufficient for about 2 loads of washing. As I allude to in my Vileda Automatic Retractable Clothes Line review, you will want to get some decent wood screws – anything over 40mm will do you just fine.

This information is supplied for personal use only, and may not be reproduced in any way without the prior consent of Aldi nor without due acknowledgement. These parts seem to be thinner than the rest of the shell, and I think too many hard knocks would damage them.For homes without the space for a conventional rotary this Retractable Reel is ideal for small gardens patios and balconies and gives a whopping 30m of drying space. The backing plate, which is made from steel and has two pre-drilled holes, feels really strong, and I don’t believe this would ever break. TOP TIP FROM EXPERIENCE: Bin the screws and wall plugs that come with these units and use decent brown 7mm standard wall plugs and a decent 4. There are plenty of retractable washing lines out there and but Vileda and Minky are the most popular brands. Extend the line to the fixing location and lock it on to the reel side by looping it twice around the locking cleat at the bottom of the reel.

As you can see, even a budget automatic retractable washing line can do the job no problem, and it’s so much less fuss than having a fixed washing line that just gets in the way.

The rest of the product is made from hard plastic, and upon inspection, I couldn’t find any obvious weak spots, although an all-metal product would obviously be much stronger. If you are tired of stretching out a washing line from one point to another, every time you have to dry your clothes, then you are looking at the right line here in my opinion. I loaded the line up with towels, a jacket, bed duvet, duvet cover, 2 x boots, shoes and other items of clothing and the line slipped! The housing for the three lines is very thin and flat, and once mounted on the wall, you hardly notice it’s there. Made from ABS plastic, the Toctax washing line is sturdy enough but I would take care not to drop it due to two pieces on the housing that are used to reel the line in or out.

The Minky Retractable Washing Line provides you 30m of drying space and is ideal for small gardens, patios, and balconies. Just like the top pick this installs in the wall exactly the same way and is in direct competition on that front, and it also has the same fixing issues. Wherever possible I’ve selected good quality ABS plastic – if it’s not, you’ll certainly know about it in my impartial review section! Overall it’s pretty fair to say, when you need a strong and sturdy washing line, this isn’t a bad pick, I can’t find one better for the money! For a start you’ve got 24m of line and the weight rating means I’d have no qualms loading this up with heavy washing fully.

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At 8 metres long this is far from the longest washing line in this list, but considering it is completely portable, it’s a good size and more than enough for a small family on a caravan holiday or camping trip. I used an adjustable spanner to grab my hook and just twisted it into the timber – install complete! It’s just a different retracting method but if you’re looking for something to put up against a patio or conservatory that’s easy access then it might be what you’re looking for.

One thing is for sure though, you don’t want to try to twist this in by hand – you can get a start is using the wall plugs and then you’ll need a bar of some description for leverage – this could even be a screwdriver, the main point is leverage. The other thing to consider is the spring re-wind mechanism – this needs to be decent and last, as soon as the coil brakes it is only a washing line – much like a quality tape measure, you need a quality coil on your line. Now I want to be absolutely clear, I took aim at the stud behind the tongue and groove which is a 4 by 2 – if I just screwed into the 20mm shiplap it would definitely pull out. Daniel conducted a meta-analysis of hundreds of online reviews for dozens of popular retractable washing lines and then selected the top two for testing. The product features an easy to use retractable outdoor washing line and it stows neatly away when not in use.