My Birthdays coming up soon and im thinking of asking for a Karcher so I can clean and snow foam my car (as well as household tasks like cleaning the patio and drive)

 

A quick look at them seems to be between the K2 (£40 refurbed) and the K4 (£120 refurbed) but the stats don't seem to show much difference, about 10 bar in pressure.

 

Get the largest one you can afford. My experience is that they quote the same max pressure but in the real world when you open out the water fan spread, the smaller units drop the pressure too much for it to be of any use. It's a matter of being able to get a reasonable flow rate at the same time as decent pressure. If you want to clean a patio for example with a small unit, you will find that to get an effective cleaning action you will need to close down the spray pattern to not much than a pencil jet.

K4 is the answer to your question

 

cheers

 

Chris

Thanks.

dont want to push my luck since it's only my birthday & to be honest it's only a toy, I'll not be using it often

 

if the K4 is more than suitable to snow foam and a quick yet wash time to time I can get that, just checking it justifies the 3 times price difference over the K2. The reviews on the K2 and look quite good stats wise for £39.99 delivered.

K4 has the water cooled pump, so is much better to do patios with as they are designed for prolonged use. I've had my K4 compact for years now and it's still going strong! 

Has it got to be a Karcher ?, I've had several over the years but now I have a Nilfisk, best move ever. The hose is so long I can walk all the way around the car withour having to drag the Karcher with me. 

 

Have a look on Cleanstore, you can get refurbs as well.

 

 

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I got the K4 compact a few years ago and am happy with it. People do say the Nilfisk washers have a metal pump not plastic of Karcher which should be more reliable, but I've had no problems. The only criticism of it is I can't quite get round the car with the 6m hose, but that was solved by buying a hose extension.

 

I'd recommend you buying one with the patio cleaner. I find it very useful for cleaning my drive and paths, it's easy to use and makes minimum mess.

 

Edited 29 January, 20179 yr by Jim H

I think the K4 compact will be my choice at £79.99, I only noticed the K4 full power control which is an extra £50 for stuff I won't use so compact it is!

If you're in anything like a hard water area, get the one with the longest warranty, as a karcher will be going back every few months. 

As the guys have said - get the best model budget can afford you. Any particular reason on Karcher?

 

Nilfisk are good, esp customer service when/if they go wrong.

Directhoses have a new machine; not many deals around tho.

 

Another option is look out for the Aldi/Lidl deals - normally have a decent accessory pack and long warranty too!

 

Check out the outlet websites and refurb sites too, if budget is limited.

Edited 30 January, 20179 yr by samuir1974

You can get an super long hose and new gun from Toolbank its a no brainer

3 hours ago, hutchysrs50 said:

I think the K4 compact will be my choice at £79.99, I only noticed the K4 full power control which is an extra £50 for stuff I won't use so compact it is!

 

At that price it'll be a refurbished one, was it this you were looking at? https://www.karcheroutlet.co.uk/products/product.asp?id=5420 The only difference I can see from a new one (apart from price) is it only comes with 12 month warrantee not the 3 year one from new. 

 

If you want to buy new ones, have a look at this place: https://www.cleanstore.co.uk/products/productslistSub.asp?Main=Domestic Pressure Washers&sub=Medium Domestic Pressure Washers&man=&PerPage=30&PageNum=1

Yeah, that's the ticket, the refurbished one.

I just replaced my Karcher 6060, it's a very old one that you can't get spares for it now, with a K4 full power. The full power led handle is a bit pointless only showing you what it is doing at the time, there is no control element to it. Going from an old Karcher to a new one it's immediately noticeable how much quieter it is. The attachments fit together much easier and the trigger operation is lighter. Cleaning power is on par with the older version which was top of the range at the time. Overall feels better quality.

I have the snow foam attachment with it which works well with their own product and AF Avalanche. The I also bought the extension hose which is probably overkill for my requirements but means I don't have to faff about whatever I'm cleaning.  Overall I'm happy.

 

Thanks for all the replies.

 

to answer a few questions, no reason for Karcher other than I know it as a named brand and my Dad has an older one that still works well + plenty of accessories I can use.

 

For £79.99 with a 12 month warranty on a product I'll only be using time to time will suit me, in the hope it outlives the warranty I suppose

 

I'll be using AF avalanche with the snow foam attachment to see how that goes

FWIW, I'd take a Nilfisk over a Karcher everytime.

My local Tesco currently has the Karcher K2 for £55.

 

A bit cheeky really as I got mine there for £45 nearly two years ago. Decent enough washer for the price.