Hello, I have one mandatorily placed out in the garden on the patio.

I would say that the advantages I have experienced are:

1. It saves your rain water which is better for the plants
2. It saves you money on your water bill
3. If for any reason you lose water supply in your home, your plants won't suffer or die.
4. you can run a hose or sprinkler from it without being home and it would cost you less.

The only thing negative I find is that it takes up a fair bit of my patio and I would have opted for a smaller one.

Plus, it keeps attracting mosquitoes and I have to wash the top of the butt and add salt/lime/or a very tiny drop of Jeyes to the water to get rid of them and keep the water smelling clean and fresh.

Hallo. I have a 1000 ltr water butt/ tank in my garden and use it for all the watering there, not only is rain water better for the plants...flowers and veg it also saves a big water bill every year.

We have an open-topped 40 gallon drum as a water butt.
1. As said previously, rain water is better for plants than tap water.
2. When I want a bucket or can of water I just dip in in the top - takes seconds.
3. When full, the cats sit on the edge and drink from it - much nicer than tap water, or so they say.
4. When dirty clay pots have been standing around the dirt is difficult to clean off. Thread the pots on a cord and suspend in the water for 24 hours. The dirt softens and the acid in the water removes any lime scale deposits.
5. Keep a nail brush alongside the tank and you can just dip your hands in the water to clean them - before you go into the kitchen.
6. If a potted plant need emergency watering you can just plunge the whole pot, plant included, below the water level for a few minutes. Remember to keep hold of the pot!
Disadvantages:
None, really.

I have three water butts, two to take water from the house and the other from the greenhouse. I live in a dry area and have a water meter, so the main advantage for me is that they save me money, also, as my soil is alkaline, I can use the rainwater for my acid loving plants in pots.

the only disadvantage as already mentioned is mosquitos.

All positives for me.. I have two,and never had Mosquito's,
or anything else to be honest..wouldn't be without them... ..

I garden on a neutral clay soil, but have quite hard (limey) tap water. I can grow acid-loving rhodies and camellias, using rain water from the butt, but they would struggle with my mains supply.
But I don't like to be able to see the butts from the house windows or the main seating area of the garden, so positioning them out of my sight means I can only house two of them.
So I still need to use tapwater for a lot of my gardening, but with prioritising the butts for certain plants I can grow a better range.

I have a rainwater butt that I can divert the water away from when it's full. I fill netting sacks with the flowers that I dead-head and hang them in the water. This makes a lovely fertilizer tea for my container plants.

I have 2 and love them and have never had Mosquitoes. It great for topping up the fish pond too.

One little note. Better to keep the top covered or at least provide a foothold for drinking animals. From experience, a squirrel after three days in the water is very unpleasant to remove, and the water's a bit less than sweet smelling after a squirrel's been marinaded in it!

There's good eating on a squirrel!

Don't eat red squirrels though :o(

Myron...you tea fertiliser sounds like a great tip. I shall be using it hence. Thank you.

I never leave them uncovered, once a year in summer when empty I rinse them out and make sure the inflow and out flows are kept free of roof flora.