Hills Portable 170

As so many others have said, the design of the pull-out latches is bad. I was able to use this clothes line for about a week after assembling it but then decided to fold it and put it on the back veranda. I've never been able to use it since. One of the pull-out latches works just fine with a little WD40 but the other will not move at all. I've… Read more

tried WD40, gentle massage, kind words, curse words, a spudger, tapping lightly with a small hammer. Nothing works. I spent $209 for one week of airing pullovers and pet blankets. Truly annoying.

Edit: customer service got in touch very quickly once I placed this review and sent out replacement hinges. They said they were easy to swap. Unfortunately I found it impossible to do it by myself and as I live alone it was a few months before I was able to get my son’s help. We’ve managed to change one so far, and it involved using super glue… Read more

to keep the threaded insert in place. Once swapped, the hinge certainly did open smoothly. Unfortunately he’s not had the time to change the other one (it took ages to do the first) and I’m still waiting for a proper functioning clothesline. That said, when I’ve looked into replacing it, nothing else available is as light and less bulky as the Hill’a one.

Original review: Great once up but as other buyers say it is so hard to release the latches which unlock the legs. I had to ask a visiting plumber to do it last time, and my 22 year old son had a lot of issues opening it too. I dread using it and put off sheet washing day for as long as possible.

Quite possibly the worst thing I’ve ever purchased…. Need a degree to put the thing together… the line feed is completely confusing…. Do not buy this Show details

Great idea, poorly executed and poor quality control. I’m a 160cm strong female. When I called HILLS and told them of the difficulty opening the line, the first question was ‘Is there a male in the house?”. Maybe that’s why all the ads show men opening the thing. A cautionary note don’t buy it unless you have someone to help you erect it every time. HILLS doesn’t deserve to keep the good name it had when Australian owned and made.

Hard to do part one of the instruction book – I ordered a new hills portable hills clothes line, my second one as my first one that was 20 years old and was rusty, But ran into trouble at stage one, very hard to do watch videos to no avail, put wd40 helped out and made the process much easier. Show details

Good product but leg folding catches are difficult – Has worked well for us in a ground floor apartment - we don't hang out washing in strong winds so have had no problems with stability. However, the leg folding catches have become very stiff to move and an application of EzyGlide only helped a little. The catches really need a little more leverage rather than just a straight pull to release. Show details ·  1

Worst Possible design for drying clothes – I find it hard to believe the amount of positivity towards this design.... Firstly, the stability is a massive issue. People tend to like breezey days to dry washing, alas here this is not an option if you are hanging anything larger than a pair of undies. Have a couple of towels, maybe a sheet and any wind greater than 10km/h and whoosh, over it… Read more

goes. (this is not a one off, we have 2 of them that came with our house) and they typically topple in tandem.

Secondly, the spacing between the lines is far too close. This creates a micro climate between the articles where the relative humidity is too great to allow any evaporation from the wet items. In winter months, when the temperatures are cooler, clothes can be out all day and barely dry at all from when they were hung out.

Basically, this may serve a purpose if you are in a lot of direct sunlight with no breeze (or no space to fall over, say a balcony in a unit) but they simply don't do the job in larger open spaces exposed to any kind of wind or periods of shade.

These days, there are options still made in Australia like Austral, so why go for inferior options that have put their profit margins above their heritage by using cheap overseas labour, when there are companies who remain proudly true blue and continue to support Australian manufacturing

Great hanging space but awkward – Lots of hanging space but it is large which makes it awkward to fold and unfold for a smaller person. The release latches are really tight and my wife could not release the folded legs on her own. Not handy if she's home alone. Big Tip: DO NOT trim the line until you've adjusted the line tension. Tightening one side too much will distort the frame… Read more ·  1

and if you've already trimmed the line, you'll run into problems. Pros: Large capacity hanging space, solid metal construction, easy to assemble, low reach to hang clothes, stores neatly behind door on bracket, extra hanging space for coat hangers. Cons: Release latches are very tight, large size makes it difficult for a smaller person to handle, saddle caps to don't clip onto saddles too well.