Wrapped in metal? My Price Pfister is. It's going to depend on models. I've seen some Kohler and Grohe that are metal. Also with steel wrapped hose and not plastic. But again it depends on model.

There was a Delta pull-out in our house when we bought it. It functioned fine but I disliked the awkwardness of using it. Something about the way you had to hold it to use it in certain situations bothered me. The handle was just clumsy feeling sometimes. If I wanted to turn the head or clean the sink and turn my hand, the handle got in the way of the hose, etc. When we renovated we replaced it with a Kohler Vinnata pull-down. I much prefer the pull-down. It's just a natural, more ergonomically correct way of using a faucet in my opinion. I like that you grip the whole head of the faucet with your whole hand and that's it...no handle to fiddle with also. And no, if the faucet is made correctly, they don't dangle. We've had ours for six years now. It retracts perfectly, doesn't tangle and always goes back in just fine. What Frankoma states above about a pullout, stands for a pull-down also. I can fill my coffeepot or my stockpot on the counter with my pull-down just fine. It doesn't just pull DOWN, you pull it down and out too. :)

Ci_lantro - you cracked me up! Though I do agree with Palimpsest that there are plenty of popular faucets with as many, or more, nooks and crannies. I also have seen people concerned that the typical pre-rinse faucets have the spiral metal encasing the hose, which might be hard to clean--and talk about your nooks and crannies! So this Brizo faucet may be in response to that. I too think that the faucet would look good in kitchens going for an industrial look. But it's not my taste. I found a video of the faucet in action, I think at the KBIS in January: 30-second video of Brizo articulating faucet

My attention was drawn back to this thread by someone who liked an earlier post here, and I wanted to update to say that I did move forward with a Brizo articulating faucet purchase in the end and received excellent pricing during a sale at Quality Bath online. The issue with the articulating faucets falling forward has been fixed, so unless you were to order really old stock from a warehouse somewhere, all the new faucets for the last few years feature the fixed joints, and of course, Brizo faucets come with Delta's lifetime warranty. I ordered two of the Brizo faucets in the Brilliance Stainless finish which is PVD stainless steel and among the most durable of finishes available for faucets on the market today. Anything with "Brilliance" in front of the name from Brizo means that it is PVD. Note that Brizo's chrome faucets are merely electroplated, so you'd need to choose a finish that specifies "Brilliance" to get the PVD finish. The articulating faucets from Brizo that feature covered hoses, which is the style I purchased, are all newer releases and so would have the fixed joints no matter where you ordered them. Quality Bath does not stock Brizo in house, so any order you placed from them would come directly from the factory. I'm really happy with this choice and look forward to many years of longevity from the Brizo articulating faucets.