Best pressure washer for 2024

Testing pressure washers is not an exact science. Mostly I sprayed stuff. Lots of things.

The evaluation began when I opened each box. A few pressure washers were so well packaged you’d think they were solid gold, and on a few others I’m surprised there weren’t more broken parts than I ended up with (which were just a few small pieces). plastic lids).

Next I had to install each washer from the pressure hose to the tip of the spray nozzle. I like to put things together so that part of the process wasn’t so bad. There aren’t many surprises when it comes to building pressure washers. It will either be an upright gas pressure washer cart, or a low and wide (and usually heavier) type model. With the electric models, installation out-of-the-box was generally more complete. Usually just a few plastic covers or handles to attach.

All but a few units made good use of current efficiencies in the assembly process, such as spring-loaded pins or other geometrically snapping pieces. The outlier, from the lesser-known brand Teande, still relied on bolts and locknuts for everything. It came with a screwdriver and wrenches, but it still takes me as long to assemble that one ring as it does all the others together. Rock & Rocker’s electrical unit also relied largely on physical screws for assembly.

The next thing I looked for was how they handled the different types of pressure nozzles. A big point of contention for me is when a manufacturer decides to offer less than the five standard mouthpiece tips. It’s often the 15 degree yellow tip that gets bumped, and for me that’s the money tip. I have a lot of concrete outside my house and using anything other than a yellow point would cost me forever to finish. The yellow tip is probably the one I use the most, not just for concrete. Yes, I know you can buy one for a few dollars, but it probably only costs a few cents to produce.

An important note on this topic: for electric pressure washers, the standard seems to offer the turbo tip and two to three other tips, almost always excluding the red tip. This is probably due to the psi range of the normally lower than gas models, but I’m still happy with the options even at the lower pressure ranges.

I was excited to get to this point with the Ryobi gas powered pressure washer and its five-in-one nozzle design. Imagine if all five tips were always available. My excitement disappeared when I realized that Ryobi, like so many others, had neglected the 15 degree tip and instead used a second soap and detergent surface cleaning nozzle. Plus one bonus point for a five-in-one. It lost one point because there was no 15 degree option, plus it lost 10 points because I got my hopes up. The Craftsman CMCPW250D1 comes with a five-in-one tip, including the 0, 15, 25, 40, and soap tips.

Speaking of surface cleaners and detergents, they have to go somewhere, and the best place is an onboard reservoir. I don’t often use detergents with my pressure washer. When I do, and when I have to move, it’s a pain to deal with the hose (even if the washing machine has a hose reel), the spray nozzle, the detergent bucket, and the pressure washer itself. With a built-in reservoir, you can simply move the gas pressure washer while still holding the wand so that the pressure washer hose drags behind you. I like the simple efficiency of it. The Teande was on my bad side after the assembly process, but I did like the fact that it tried it included two detergent reservoirs, each controlled separately.

Thanks to the two separate reservoirs, you can load two different types of detergent at the same time. This is useful if you have several hard surfaces that you are trying to clean and need to switch back and forth. Otherwise, with one reservoir you would have to completely empty the first detergent before loading the second.

The rest is basically just an inventory game. All models are equipped with high-pressure cleaner hoses and spray lances. As mentioned earlier, only the DeWalt stood out in those categories. They all have wheels, different engine sizes, extra parts, oil and so on. The Craftsman had one unique feature that I liked: a rope guide for the engine pull cord that brought the resting place for the pull handle above the engine on the frame closer to you when you stood behind it. After working so many hours with pressure washers, I was glad I didn’t have to bend down so far to get started.