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Product name: Quick shootout of the Karcher K2 vs Makita HW102
Price paid: €80-€120
Score (out of 10): 3-8
Review: Two products you really don't want to be cleaning your bike with ! But good for cleaning all the crap up after you've cleaned your bike.
These are both small, lightweight, low power (relatively) jet washes.
I wanted something small, light and easy to move about for quick jobs rather than getting a bigger one out.
Earlier this year I bought the Karcher K2. It's cheap at about €80. The French version only comes with a 3m hose which is totally useless really ! The hose length seems to vary depending on the target market.
After two days I bought a 7m hose for a whopping €50 ! (shop price) and a different pistol as I the original cracked on the first day when I dropped it. This was quite odd as the others were subsequently thrown on the floor on numerous occasions and never broke.
The first one didn't impress. After 1 week it started pulsing power, so took it back. French shops aren't very good with consumer law, so they said it had to go back to Karcher. Hence, having bought the hose I bought K2 number 2 !
Exactly one week later .. same symptoms ... arghhh ..
So I took it back .. same story ... and with much regret bought K2 .. number three - which was on offer for €60 ! So not all bad.
The first two came back, leaving me a vast fleet of 3 K2's ! and two dead.......
Shortly after K2 - No 3 ... died .. I couldn't face taking another back - so it went to Karcher heaven.
No.4 started pulsing after a few weeks and was put to one side.
No.5 lasted a few months ! Number 5 is alive !!
Then it wasn't, I obviously felt it was going as I looked at it just as it exploded in a bright flash.
No.4 came out of early retirement and was put back to slow pulsing work .. 2 days ago it dumped it's guts all over the floor. It bravely carried on for a short time then seized ..
So ended the short lives of 5 Karcher K2's ..
This time I went with the Makita HW102. More expensive to start with at €120, theoretically less powerful. But worth a go.
So the comparison :
Both are compact, similar sized and easy to store. The Makita is far neater on this front for storing all of it.
The Makita also wins on moving around. It has little wheels but also a nice extendable aluminium handle like a wheeled suitcase.
Power wise, the K2 has 110 bars from 1400w and the Makita 100 bars from 1300w.
I'm not sure how these are measured, but if this was a pub crawl, you wouldn't want to go in the Karcher bars as they'd all be crap. The Makita is hugely more powerful. Using the flat spray for comparison, rather than the spinny.. putting them both on the same width, the Karcher you can spray your hand and not overly suffer - I've grown to think of it as a safety jet wash. The Makita will take your skin off. Set them to thin jet and the Makita will cut an aluminium bike in half ! Well, if feels like it will.
The Makita has a far more sensible 5m hose (I think the UK is 4m or 5m on the karcher) and both ends can rotate, so the hose pretty much self straightens if you're dancing around a lot. The Karcher ends don't spin, so the hose gets knotted up easily if you're not paying attention.
Heavy usage ?!? not what these are really for... but .. the Makita has slightly more vibration in the handle/Lance than the K2. I can only describe it as being comparable to holding a small box containing a rampant bee orgy after a dry period. If you have sensitive hands or hand issues, you might want to wear some vibration absorbing gloves.
The makita also comes with a hosepipe end for anyone who doesn't have one already.
So Karcher 3 out of 10 .. it's ok when it works and most, probably, only get used for 1 hour a year , so might last 5 years.
The Makita 8 out of 10 .. it would be higher but I've not used it as long as the K2's so I can't really give it a long term survival score.
Product name: Quick shootout of the Karcher K2 vs Makita HW102
Price paid: €80-€120
Score (out of 10): 3-8
Review: Two products you really don't want to be cleaning your bike with ! But good for cleaning all the crap up after you've cleaned your bike.
These are both small, lightweight, low power (relatively) jet washes.
I wanted something small, light and easy to move about for quick jobs rather than getting a bigger one out.
Earlier this year I bought the Karcher K2. It's cheap at about €80. The French version only comes with a 3m hose which is totally useless really ! The hose length seems to vary depending on the target market.
After two days I bought a 7m hose for a whopping €50 ! (shop price) and a different pistol as I the original cracked on the first day when I dropped it. This was quite odd as the others were subsequently thrown on the floor on numerous occasions and never broke.
The first one didn't impress. After 1 week it started pulsing power, so took it back. French shops aren't very good with consumer law, so they said it had to go back to Karcher. Hence, having bought the hose I bought K2 number 2 !
Exactly one week later .. same symptoms ... arghhh ..
So I took it back .. same story ... and with much regret bought K2 .. number three - which was on offer for €60 ! So not all bad.
The first two came back, leaving me a vast fleet of 3 K2's ! and two dead.......
Shortly after K2 - No 3 ... died .. I couldn't face taking another back - so it went to Karcher heaven.
No.4 started pulsing after a few weeks and was put to one side.
No.5 lasted a few months ! Number 5 is alive !!
Then it wasn't, I obviously felt it was going as I looked at it just as it exploded in a bright flash.
No.4 came out of early retirement and was put back to slow pulsing work .. 2 days ago it dumped it's guts all over the floor. It bravely carried on for a short time then seized ..
So ended the short lives of 5 Karcher K2's ..
This time I went with the Makita HW102. More expensive to start with at €120, theoretically less powerful. But worth a go.
So the comparison :
Both are compact, similar sized and easy to store. The Makita is far neater on this front for storing all of it.
The Makita also wins on moving around. It has little wheels but also a nice extendable aluminium handle like a wheeled suitcase.
Power wise, the K2 has 110 bars from 1400w and the Makita 100 bars from 1300w.
I'm not sure how these are measured, but if this was a pub crawl, you wouldn't want to go in the Karcher bars as they'd all be crap. The Makita is hugely more powerful. Using the flat spray for comparison, rather than the spinny.. putting them both on the same width, the Karcher you can spray your hand and not overly suffer - I've grown to think of it as a safety jet wash. The Makita will take your skin off. Set them to thin jet and the Makita will cut an aluminium bike in half ! Well, if feels like it will.
The Makita has a far more sensible 5m hose (I think the UK is 4m or 5m on the karcher) and both ends can rotate, so the hose pretty much self straightens if you're dancing around a lot. The Karcher ends don't spin, so the hose gets knotted up easily if you're not paying attention.
Heavy usage ?!? not what these are really for... but .. the Makita has slightly more vibration in the handle/Lance than the K2. I can only describe it as being comparable to holding a small box containing a rampant bee orgy after a dry period. If you have sensitive hands or hand issues, you might want to wear some vibration absorbing gloves.
The makita also comes with a hosepipe end for anyone who doesn't have one already.
So Karcher 3 out of 10 .. it's ok when it works and most, probably, only get used for 1 hour a year , so might last 5 years.
The Makita 8 out of 10 .. it would be higher but I've not used it as long as the K2's so I can't really give it a long term survival score.
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