We love nothing more than a new gadget in this household - and this Nilfisk is our new "how did we ever live without it?" item, much used and a really great solution to all those outside cleaning issues we didn't know we had. The rrp of this item is £179, I bought it as one of amazon's "lightning deals" for £71 - complete with the accessories which I will talk about in a minute; it tends to be available for around £80. As a 120bar washer it's a mid range machine (Nifisk also do 110 and 130 bar models for domestic use), that so far has impressed me with its ease of use and range of uses.

What you get:

In the box we got the cleaner itself, and five attachments -" tornado" and "power" nozzles, a brush, a detergent bottle attachment and a patio cleaner attachment. There was also a CD rom to supplement the rather poor manual which made assembly and use as clear as mud it has to be said. Having watched a rather Germanic looking gentleman assemble the cleaner on the CD rom, I was able to assemble the washer myself fairly easily - just a matter of adding on the handle and slotting on all the attachments. As you can see in the photo the pressure washer has wheels for ease of moving around, and a nice touch is that everything bar the patio cleaner is stored on the machine itself ready for ease of use. The hose is a generous 6m long and a 5metre power cable length ensures that you can move the pressure washer around with ease. It's all quite compact (856 x 250 x 280 mm) and easy to store when not in use and it also comes with a two year warranty.

In Use:

The first time we switched this on having set up by clipping our hose onto it (a normal hozelock attachment did the job here) and plugged it in, we were amazed at quite how powerful it actually was. Admittedly the 1650w motor is a little on the noisy size, but using it on our disgustingly dirty patio lead to near miracle results. We tend to use the power nozzle the most which, like the other nozzle included is variable, and produces a fan jet. This has proved brilliant at cleaning up aforementioned patio, also some teak furniture that was long overdue a clean and also the children's outdoor play equipment. The trigger mechanism on the hose makes using the washer a breeze and it's not too tricky to change between nozzles - there's a blue button to press. The power button on the front of the device is waterproofed and all in all the washer has some really good features. Before buying the pressure washer on Amazon I had read reviews suggesting that the round patio brush cleaner (not pictured above but viewable on the amazon link) was less than robust. I do think the build quality of the patio brush is less good than the rest of the device, and it doesn't work too well on textured stone (though it cleaned a very mildewy paddling pool wonderfully), but it hasn't broken so far and works well on our brick drive. The other brushes including the tornado pencil nozzle which oscillates, work well too. The tornado pencil nozzle might be more aptly named "swarm of mosquitoes" as - and I've no idea how it works - something about its inner workings ramps up the jet even more producing even more noise. I use this nozzle for the most stubborn areas (toxic mix of bird pooh and mildew on kids' slide ... be gone!). For cutting through mildew and dirt outside we have never felt at any time using this that something more powerful would be required, the only scary thing, perhaps as we are not long out of a hosepipe ban in this area is the water consumption - I would be loathe to use this much if I had a water meter. It feels safe to use even though it's undoubtedly powerful, though I would advise NOT aiming it a muddy puddles if not well out of reach. The quick release trigger is a real reassurance and works perfectly too.

It's a bit of a shame then that such a good machine is let down a bit by the sheer lack of instructions on use which are really not informative at all. I hadn't used a pressure washer before purchasing this one - which means I'm not in a position to compare, but I have to wonder if the manufacturer isn't more used to the commercial market as for an average consumer the lack of guidelines is frustrating to say the least. The wheels on the machine do feel a little bit less than sturdy, but when using this as it's only 8kg or so I tend to lift it anyway to move from place to place. I have found no real use or need for the detergent bottle, apart from for when cleaning the car - I use the lower setting for this as if at full tilt there's definitely a feeling it would blast the paint off - not the result I would want. Overall the pressure washer is really easy to use though, once you have worked out what you are doing.

Buy?

Without a doubt, even taking into account the negatives, this is a really good buy, if you can get it for £80 - you really will need to shop around as the price varies considerably. Nilfisk seem to be a little less known than the karcher brand I think, which are a little more expensive than these cleaners, but the build quality and performance seem very good indeed, in my experience anyway. We have had a great deal of use from this - we went a bit mad when we first got it and used it to clean pretty well everything that didn't move in the outside of our house, transforming our patio and the various garden items we owned which were rather weathered. Initial cleaning flurry over it's still a useful item to own, I only wish we'd bought one long ago. Recommended - just one star off for the bewildering lack of info.



Link:

thrilling video showing assembly and use http://www.screwfix.com/p/nilfisk-c120-3-6-120bar- pressure-washer/54990

amazon link and best deal I found:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nilfisk-Pressure-Washer-Cl eaner-650-Watt/dp
/B003BEDT3W/ref=sr_1_2?s=diy&ie=UTF8&qid= 1343213334&sr=1-2