Soak hose is good for distributing water along rows of plants, and for keeping soil moist over a larger area than drippers.
The WaterMate Pro pump supports up to 20m of soak hose per zone.
The WaterMate mini pump is not powerful enough to maintain the pressure or flow rate needed for soak hose.
See the note about high-pressure cut-off on the Pro pump installation article.
Soak hose and tank level sensing
Soak hose does not let much water through, which leads to a high pressure inside the hose. The WaterMate Pro pump is designed to cut-out at a certain pressure (approx 35psi). When the pressure drops again due to water leaking through the hose, the pump will turn on again. This on/off cycling is normal. However it does mean that the automatic low-water sensing in the control unit does not work, since the pump is off for part of the pumping time.