AUSTRALIA'S TOP 5
CLOTHES HOISTS REVIEWED
The traditional rotary hoist is—literally speaking—the culmination of childhood memories and convenience in efficient drying of our laundry.
Just about every suburban household in Australia has one, it is an indisputable fact that this iconic clothes hoist has earned its nostalgic reputation due to its bulletproof reliability and practicality.
Most of us want a dedicated drying line that can deal with a mountainous amount of wet clothes while taking up as little space as possible, after all, who wouldn’t want a reliable clothesline that can single-handedly dry your linens, towels, and clothes at the same time?
A traditional rotary hoist (more commonly known as ‘Hills hoist’) is a no frills form factor with a design that focuses on a very solid construction with less moving parts compared to its folding rotary counterparts.
To be completely honest, rotary hoists are not the most aesthetically pleasing clothesline design, they are big, the designs are uniform and mostly bland, and does not add any visual value to your outdoor living space whatsoever but what it lacks in the looks department makes up for very rewarding weekly laundry errands.
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The design of a rotary clothes
hoist is geared more towards
function, other form factors
fair better in aesthetics.
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Despite spanning a sizeable area, rotary clothes hoists still have relatively small foot print for their huge capacity with most being able to handle four to five laundry loads within six square metres of space. The same cannot be said about other designs like folding and retractable washing lines.
Another significant advantage of rotary hoists is the fact that you don’t have to walk from one end of the line to the other while carrying a heavy basket of wet articles.
The drying line can be raised or lowered with just a turn of the crank and the line does the moving so you can stay right where you are. The lines can be completely occupied without breaking a sweat since the top assembly can be effortlessly rotated while it is conveniently within your reach.
We briefly reviewed five of our traditional rotary clothes hoists below for your advantage should you be out on the market for a new clothesline.
Since the element of design for all five models are essentially the same, we focused mainly on the build quality, value, and performance of all these rotary hoists from Hills and Austral.
Paying attention only on these three key factors keeps confusion at bay and will make it easier for you to decide which one of them to purchase so keep reading to find out more.
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With rotary clothes hoists, you
don’t have to walk from one
end of the line to the other.
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Hills Heritage 4
Hills is basically the company behind the rotary clothes hoist no wonder some people still call their rotary hoists “Hills hoist” even if they were manufactured by other companies.
Despite outsourcing the majority of their production in China, Hills is still a very reputable brand with good quality and reliability track record and we have noticed that the Heritage 4 has very good reviews in this department and those reviews also echo our observations.
The Heritage 4 clothes hoist boasts full galvanised steel construction and we couldn’t help but notice that there is minimal design changes compared to models released 50 years ago.
The aluminium crank case still remains the same but the gear assembly is now made of industrial grade plastic unlike the old ones which were fashioned from steel.
This may worry some of you who are loyalists of retrograde designs which have proven their reliability over the years but believe us when we say this change did not impact the performance of the clothes hoist.
Sturdy and convenient to use, a Hills Heritage 4 has
never let us down when it comes to performance
and capacity.
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It may not have the same tensile strength as steel but it will positively impact the longevity of your rotary hoist’s lifting mechanism since these plastic gears will not rust nor become brittle over time thanks to the protective aluminium cover.
The Heritage 4 clothes hoist sports long-life 40 meters of galvanised steel cables for its drying lines, while we think it is a bit more difficult to fix when it comes to line sags, readjustment is not impossible and and rarely needs to be done.
Despite looking like a hulking pieces of steel, nothing can beat the ergonomics of rotary hoists. Almost all rotary hoists have a rotating, height adjustable top assembly which you can easily lower or raise when necessary.
This means that hanging clothes on the Heritage 4 was an easy thing to do, we didn’t have to carry our big basket of wet clothes back and forth to accomplish the task and when we fully loaded the clothes hoist with four full loads worth, the lines did not sag much and raising the lines was pretty easy.
We were able to dry linen for four beds and tons of clothes for a family of four. With 6 drying lines per side and widely spaced gaps at 330 millimetres in between.
The Heritage 4 made short work of the challenging task we threw at it. No damp articles by the end of the day and it still rotated with the slightest breeze.
You can make more use out of your
Hills Heritage 4 with an optional
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Prices for the this model usually sits around the mid $4XX.XX AUD range, it is at the higher end of the scale considering the capacity but if you’re looking for a solid, reliable rotary clothes hoist, the Hills Heritage 4 is worth a look.
Pros:
- Sturdy build
- High capacity
- Galvanised steel lines
Cons:
- Plastic gear system
- Made in China
- Not the best value for the capacity
Hills Heritage 5
The Hills Heritage 5 is pretty much the same as with its smaller sibling the Heritage 4. The Heritage 5 shares the full galvanised steel construction including the drying lines, crank case which is made of aluminium with industrial grade plastic gears and components as well as the 10 year warranty.
The only difference is the Hills Heritage 5 has 9 more metres of drying line compared to the one we reviewed above which means it is one of the highest capacity rotary clothes hoists out on the market.
We did not notice any difference in quality of construction or are there any significant difference in features apart from the larger diameter of the top assembly and higher price tag. The moment we started testing it, the capacity jump to 49 metres was apparent.
The Hills Heritage 5 is huge. We’re not kidding when we say it requires six square meters of space in order for the top assembly to rotate and dry your clothes properly.
Being a sizeable clothes hoist, the Hills Heritage 5 is
certainly one of the most capacious airers we have
ever used.
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This rotary clothes hoist was able to manage almost five full wash loads of clothes and four king sized bed sheets, not that we have four king beds (we only have one) but we figured it would be great for testing purposes,
We ended up throwing two sheets into the washer, the other two were hosed down then spun dry, and yes, only one sheet really needed washing—the rest of them came fresh from the cupboard.
As hilarious as that “test” may seem, the Heritage 5 has proven its capabilities and despite all of the four sheets enveloping the rest of our clothes in the inner lines, it still spun whenever the wind decided to drop by.
This meant that every article was equally aired out and nothing ended up damp or smelling funny thanks to the 430 millimetres of space between each line so performance and capacity wise, it’s a good clothes hoist.
It’s worth nothing that the wider distance covered by each galvanised steel cables, we did notice a very small amount of sagging mostly when we hung our jeans on the outer lines but it’s very minimal and isn’t enough to cause any concern.
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The Heritage 5 was able to
manage almost five full wash
loads of clothes and four king
sized bed sheets.
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We would also like to mention that lifting the upper assembly of the clothes hoist needed a bit more effort when turning the crank, it’s a no-brainer, it is a bigger unit with more clothes hung on it so that was to be expected and it’s by no means unmanageable.
The cost to own a Hills Heritage 5 is around the higher $4XX.XX AUD, despite Hills’ reputation for reliability when making clothes hoists, we think there are a lot of alternatives out there that can compete on that aspect while being a wee bit friendlier on the wallet.
Pros:
- Solid overall build
- Huge capacity
- Very long lines to accommodates large articles
Cons:
- Plastic gear system
- Made in China
- Price is still on the expensive side
Austral Deluxe 5
Just like Hills, Austral is one of the most recognised brands when it comes to laundry drying, as a matter of fact, it is one of the very few companies who still design and manufacture rotary hoists in Australia.
The Austral Deluxe 5 is one of their entry-level, high capacity rotary clothes hoists, its frame and lines are all made from galvanised steel just like Hills’ offerings but instead of an aluminium crank case, the Deluxe 5 has plastic gear assembly and case but the overall fit and finish is up to par with the rest of the ones we have here so that’s a really good thing.
The Deluxe 5 has 50 meters of total dry lines and wide 430 millimetre of space between each line, we were able to hang five full loads of a week’s worth of dirty laundry including jeans, the usual suspects (four king sized sheets), and couple of pillow cases.
It did remarkable well considering how demanding this test was although we have to admit, the plastic casing and internals of the lifting mechanism did not exude a sense of confidence given how abusive we can be with our clotheslines.
Affordable, reliable, and extremely spacious; the
Deluxe 5 can give Hills’ offerings a run for their
money.
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We did a closer inspection and noticed that despite being made of plastic, it seems to be fibreglass reinforced PVC which is a very durable material, the characteristics of this is pretty obvious in plain sight but we couldn’t tell if it really is fibreglass reinforced PVC so we cannot vouch for that, maybe we should have tried melting a piece using a soldering iron to find out.
A really good thing about this rotary clothes hoist is that it beats out both of the Hills’ models in terms of capacity and it does that for a significantly less amount of money too! While the Hills may be made in China, its build quality and reliability track record is nothing to scoff at—well, so is Austral’s.
Based on our experience, Austral is fond of putting out products exactly like the Deluxe 5 just to shake things up a little bit and give the competition a run for their money, we don’t want to sound biased but their products are, after all, designed and made here in Australia and the quality is pretty good.
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Hills may be made in China,
its build quality and
reliability track record is
nothing to scoff at.
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We weren’t joking when we said that this clothes hoist is more affordable, at around $3XX.XX AUD the Deluxe 5 has best value for the capacity compared to all the other models in this review, it comes with a 10 year warranty too so that plastic crank assembly should no longer be an issue.
Pros:
- Very good build quality
- Great capacity
- Great overall value
- Ample line spacing makes drying faster
Cons:
- Plastic gear mechanism and crank case
- Uses up tons of space
Austral Super 4
Austral’s Super series is their top of the line range for the sub $450 AUD clothes hoist market, as we have mentioned earlier, this company manufactures its products locally and has a very good reputation for selling reliable products at really good price points.
The moment the Super 4 was installed and quickly washed down, we noticed how similar the overall design was with the Deluxe 5.
The fittings were almost exactly the same, the overall design, fit and finish—with one exception!
The crank case is made of aluminium just like the Hills Heritage, so the manufacturing calibre is certainly right up there—actually, it is a bit better.
With the Super 4, everything just feels a little more sturdy, weighted, and reassuring.
On our website, used who purchased this model expressed the same kind of reaction as ours, Austral is really good at offering products with great value.
Poised to compete against Hills’ top models, the
Super 4 is a great alternative for a bit less.
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When it comes to the material used, this clothes hoist offers pretty much the same affair at this price point which means the Super 4 is made out of galvanised steel tubes, the drying lines are galvanised steel too, there’s aforementioned aluminium crank case, and heavy duty plastic gears for the crank/lifting mechanism.
The Super 4 performed admirably and took care of all four wash loads like a champ, our only complaint is that the outer lines have smaller gaps compared to the rest of models we have included in this review.
Line clearance on this clothes hoist ranges from 330 millimetres for the inner lines and shrinks down to 290 millimetres for the two outer lines. We were speculating that this could pose a bit of problemon the clothes hung in the inner part once we’ve secured the king sized sheets on the outer edges.
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The Super 4 performed
admirably and took care of all
four wash loads like a champ
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While we have not noticed any increase in drying times (which is a good thing), we reckon that it might have a bit of impact in gloomier days.
Raising and lowering the top assembly was smooth as silk and it spun without any sign of stress on the mechanism whatsoever so for a big rotary clothes hoist, the lower $4XX.XX AUD price tag obviously offers better overall value than any of the Hills we’ve mentioned here.
Pros:
- Outstanding fit and finish
- Smooth lifting mechanism and rotation
- Great capacity
- Very good value
Cons:
- Line space is a little narrow
Austral Super 5
Now it’s time for the big gun, the Austral Super 5 is the Australian manufacturer’s flagship rotary hoist. Designed to handle the harsh Australian climate, this thing feels as if it’s built like a tank exactly like the Super 4.
Since the workmanship of this clothes hoist is similar to its smaller sibling the Super 4, there’s no point repeating the same thing over and you already have an idea as to how it should look and feel.
With that being said, we figured it is best to just focus on the Super 5’s strengths and weaknesses.
It’s no surprise that the Super 5 is the top dog out of all the rotary hoists we reviewed here, it possesses 50 metres of drying line with a healthy 430 millimetres of distance between the 3 inner lines and still a good 330 millimetres for the outer ones.
Much like its smaller sibling, the Super 5 is built like
a tank and can certainly handle anything you throw
at it.
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This clothes hoist tackled through five loads of laundry easily and despite the narrower gaps between articles on the outer lines, it still performed impressively!
The steel cables did not show any sign of sagging, the lifting mechanism for the top assembly still worked effortlessly despite the tons of laundry we hung on it, and it still turned smoothly when the conditions are right.
We even hung twelve giant pairs of jeans on one side of the Super 5 just to see how it will carry out an imbalanced load.
The lines did sag a little but only because the rest weren’t being occupied, the clothes hoist did not emit any sort of abnormal creaking or squeaks and the rotating motion was still smooth as if it were loaded on all four sides so the Super 5 definitely makes the cut.
The best part about the Austral Super 5 is it is priced in the mid $4XX.XX AUD—very competitive considering it is made in Australia, has 50 meters of line capacity, and performs really well, it comes with a 10 year warrant too.
It’s even cheaper than the Hills Heritage 4 which only has 40 metres of line space and that one is made in China.
A clothesline cover for the Super 5 is
available, this allows you to turn it into a
large umbrella table great for barbecues.
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It’s even cheaper than the Hills Heritage 4 which only has 40 metres of line space and that one is made in China.
At the end of the day, it’s your call to make but we can already see which clothes hoist takes the top spot for this round.
Frankly speaking, we’ve decided to keep the Super 5 in our backyard... or maybe the Deluxe 5, we still have some serious deliberating to do, we won’t be surprised to find out that you end up with the same dilemma.
Pros:
- Can handle five full wash loads with 50 metres of drying lines
- Steel cords barely sagged
- Very sturdy mechanisms
- Good drying performance
- Great build quality and value for money
Cons:
- Crank innards still made of plastic
- Uses up tons of space
Note: The price ranges mentioned in this article reflect the retail price of the aforementioned models at the time of writing, prices are subject to change and in order to get most updated prices, please click here.
