I thought Karcher were supposed to be the best but pootling round on the web there seems to be a lot of bad reviews. Are Bosch any good? Any others to consider?

It'll be for cleaning patios and stuff like that.

Spent ages looking and went for Halfords own one – top end HP2800 with 125bar so pretty much industrial power – £150 (half price). They have lower powered versions too.

Mines been very reliable.

I previously owned a Bosch and it lasted 7 years.

Now I have a Nilfisk, which is pretty good IMO.

I'd judge each model on it's merits – all make cr4p ones (especially Karcher) but most also make decent ones.

You won't need mega power to do patios and stuff. You do need a fair bit for cleaning awkward car alloys IMO!

In terms of reliability I think it is the ones that have metal innards in the compressor have much better long term reliability than the ones with plastic innards.

Thanks all, good advice. I don't want to spend more than £150 but i can see myself being sucked into an arms race of power… 😆

Finbar – you'll struggle the beat the Halfords one then.

125bar, every accessory under the sun, "properly" made out of decent metal parts, high water volume rate. I got one then a couple of relatives bought one too!

Pressure innit

Most Karchers have plastic internals, the Nilfisk models have metal pumps and seem to be more reliable.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nilfisk-Accessory-Pressure-Washer-1700W/dp/B003M8H6U4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1281734244&sr=1-1-spell

I got a Nilfisk C-120 from Amazon just before Xmas. Cost £110 i think with all sorts of attachments for patio's etc. Really pleased with it and a good piece of kit. Would happily recommend it.

http://www.kranzle.co.uk/index.php?page=powerpack

These are great expensive but great mine cost 300 quid trade about 10 years ago

now £ 589 + vat 😯