this summer I tried one of these and loved it so much that I replaced four of my old heavy hoses with them. It's now time to winterize and draining and storing these hoses should be a breeze. I'm wondering if other gardeners out there are using these and can offer any insights on their durability and possible drawbacks over the long term...thanks.

As long as there's no water inside them that can freeze (or expand as it nears freezing point) it will be fine: freezing weather is the real enemy of these steel hoses, even more so than traditional hoses.

Remember these are basically old (before outer casings started to be made of plastic to save weight and money) shower hoses: it's a metal outer casing with a rubber hose inside. The casing will probably last over a century of use, but at one point the rubber hose will give way. How long will the rubber hose last before cracking/puncturing/etc is anybody's guess.