Tubtrug quality

holeymoley

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Is it just me or is the quality of Tubtrugs decreasing? My boy is not at all bad on his buckets- he eats or drinks out of them and leaves them be. Likewise I don't drag them or anything like that either. I've had his water bucket for approximately 2 years and I lifted it up the other day to empty it and the handle snapped off :mad: There was no sign of cracking or anything beforehand.

I remember when I first got him , 8 years ago , I bought 2 Tubtrugs , one for mucking out with and one for his water bucket. As he was a youngster teething at the time his water bucket took many a lifting up and has a few bite marks on it but to this day it is still intact and made of much more sturdier stuff the his latest one. (If I hadn't used it for soaking hay and it wasn't ingrained in grot, I'd still use it!)

Im loathed to spend money on something if its going to break because of quality . I expect the likes of the asda ones and rhino ones not to have such a long life but surely at the price of Tubtrugs they should last. Perhaps it's like everything else though these days, makers are cutting costs.
 
I find they get bent out of shape easier now and seem thinner but I dont find the price too bad if I'm honest

The most expensive Tubtrug I have seen has been £17 so a two year life is pretty ok at that price I reckon

The recycled tyre trugs and buckets are really good as are the Stubbs chunky large buckets - now I would expect those to last years
 
I've had the handles snap off Tubtrugs. I buy the cheapy Asda ones now and while they're not quite as robust (last winter one cracked in the frost, one lost its handles) they work out well worth the money for the losses you suffer :)
 
The Tesco/Asda/etc ones only last about a month for me, shocking! The Tubtrugs last a couple of years carrying muck and water daily (not the same bucket!). I'm happy with a couple of years for the price personally :-)
 
Heheh funny that - cos I've broken around the same number of each type so for me the cheaper ones are more worth the price! :) Think all my remaining ones are from ASDA now and I've had them 14 months. The plastic 'lining' is peeling a bit on the ones I feed from, though, so I might replace them soon.

Suppose it's a bit pointless to postulate really, isn't it. If mine broke that regularly then I'd spend more on Tubtrugs, too. If yours hadn't broken I guess you'd have stuck with the cheapies. Luck of the draw, perhaps!
 
Omg I've had two buckets snap today, both handles went on one so got another out and one handle went on that, now they are in the skip .
 
Oh dear! Hmm not sure which to get now. The asda ones I've had before, the handle snaps off right where it attaches to the bucket. My tubtrug one just had a clean snap in the middle of the handle which I thought was unusual. Perhaps I'll go back to a plastic pale lol
 
I get the asda ones, since they're so cheap I don't mind them breaking or bending out of shape too much. Was carrying two of the big 40L ones full of water at the same time and the handle snapped off one! I was SOAKED!

Now I'm super lazy and have a long hose to travel between stables :P
 
I get the asda ones and at 2 quid for a feed bucket and 3 quid for a water bucket they are much more economical and find that they still last well, and they have funky colours.
 
I've had my Asda ones for 2 x winters now. I bought 6 x 14l, one has a crack in the bottom where my youngster turned upside down and trod on it, the other 5 are still in fine shape! I am forever having to bend them back where they've been turned inside out but only the one has ever actually split.
 
you are right there Floxie. If they did smaller feed buckets I'd consider the cheaper versions of them if needed. But for heavy stuff, until Tubtrugs prove me otherwise, I'll stick with the expensive ones.
 
I've never found them very good, and the supermarket ones are dreadful! I don't have a single one with a handle. I would never use them as a waterbucket, hate the way you can't carry them full and they splash everywhere, but we use large ones in the winter turnout as water tubs, we just transport water to them with regular water buckets.
 
The old ones are more flexible newer asda ones are a lot more rigid. I go though 2 asda ones a year, so for £3 I don't think that's too bad. I also use the smaller ones for feed and because they are so cheap I make up a weeks supply at once which saves me a lot of time
 
I get the cheap asda versions! they don't last as long when its freezing weather but I have a bit of an obsession and buy one each time I go in there! last week I had to stop myself :/
 
They are pretty rubbish for snapping and splitting especially when the weather gets colder....

The water bucket I use is a round thick one made by Stubbs (they still sell them today) which I had for my first pony when I was 3. I'm still using it to this day and I'm now 28 - that's what I call built to last :D
 
Yes, I love those stubbs ones, but they're heavy. I have an over door manger one 30 yrs ago. I use it to stand on for plaiting and pulling.

As an aside, if you buy buckets nowadays, go to a real builder's merchants or farmer's merchants, they are a much much better quality. Nowadays buckets for equestrian use seem to be more about colour than quality.
 
They seem to last if used for feed but when I used to use the bigger ones for water the handles broke after a few months. Got auomatic waterers at yard now so not an issue now.
 
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