[Closed] Do I need a Karcher window cleaning thingy?

no. Happy to help.

They're grrrreat

Nope. We got given one as a house warming gift a few years ago. Trialled it once and it was useless. Been in its box ever since.

Outdoors gets done with an old school squeegee and wiper; inside with a Autoglym quick glass and a buffing pad. Job done.

I think ours is great, no idea what model it is, quite an old one with 2 inter changeable squeegee of different widths. Great for windows, shower and any other sucking up of post cleaning water.

My mother in law has one and loves it.
We bought one and used it a few times but it broke and I’ve not missed it.
I have a nice high quality squeegee and sponge thing (vileda pro IIRC) and that works a treat.
I pay someone £9 a month to do our outside windows - it’s such hard work I’d pay triple for him to do it if I had to!! I only have to do the inside which to be honest very rarely gets done as we have massive windows.

We have one and it is decent for our bifold door. It's basically a squeegee with a small wet vac attached. It's also decent for the car. Is it worth it's cost? No idea, the wife paid for it 🤷

Waste of time and money. I bought one and it left more lines and streaks than it was worth.

Happy to help.

I’d take TJ up on his very kind offer 😀

We had 2 at work and they both broke.
I didn't replace them.
A squeegee and a cloth does just as well for a lot less money.

I’ve got one. It’s quite good. I rarely use it as life’s too short to waste it cleaning windows.

Had one a few years and it's main use is for removing condensation in the winter - which it's excellent at.

Excellent for cleaning up dog wee off a hard floor!

Ours is quite old, maybe one of the first ones that came out and the only time it gets used is when there's condensation on the windows in the morning and its very good at that and doesn't leave any streaks. Having said that I wouldn't miss it if we didn't have it.

We have one, takes a bit of practice to avoid leaving streaks.

Dont use it often, as frankly I don’t really GAF about super clean windows.

I have one but have never used it for cleaning windows - just use it to get the water off tiles and glass screen after a shower, works great for that.

Dolly and squeegee all the way! (Helps when you do it as per of your day job)
It’s one of my favourite jobs actually, really satisfying and not that difficult. Decent bit of scrim for the drips/any smears & if you’re doing inside rather than outside either jist a damp dolly or a light spray of water with a drop or two of washing up liquid so you don’t dribble dirty water all over the windowsills

Great bit of kit.

I got a reconditioned one off eBay.

We have one for clearing the condensation on the inside of windows and think that it's great. Often manage to fill the reservoir twice over on a morning circuit of the house in winter.

Victorian house with lots of big single glazed windows that can't be replaced for conservation area reasons.

Vacuuming the condensation and pouring away down a sink seems like a much better way of doing it than using a tea towel then hanging it on the radiator to evaporate again.

The Karcher online outlet shop is worth looking at, we picked up a reconditioned one for much less than available elsewhere, and they all come with warranties etc.

FuzzyWuzzy +1
For doing the shower cubicle after use? Find it really good. Keeps the whole area much drier and avoids a lot of the black mould growing on the grout and sealant.
For windows? As others have said, it probably depends how anal you are about the odd streak afterwards. Getting a 'perfect' streak-free finish is one of those things that I can't be arsed with, but my wife really needs to happen. So I leave it to her with a lint-free cloth thing.

Need one? No
Is its useful tool? Yes
As above the manual versions work well too, but if you need a incentive to clean your windows (I do), then it’s ace. Smears are left because your windows still dirty… I love their cleaning fluid as it works really well (just watch the reservoir fill with blackness)

A good quality squeegee and cloth to catch the excess water does the same job with less environmental impact

We got one for Xmas, it's pretty good. Not sure I'd buy one though, no idea how much they are.

Waste of time and money. I bought one and it left more lines and streaks than it was worth.

This

We bought one to clear condensation in our camper van.

Now use it all the time to help clear smears off the windows where our dog looks out.
They're great.

People who are getting smearing are using it wrong.

Never used if for cleaning windows, use it everyday in winter to remove morning condensation from the windows of our 10yr old bungalow and to demist the inside of the windscreen of my car.

ditto the "never used it for cleaning windows but it can't be beaten for condensation in winter" comments

Probs best for condensation rather than fastidiouse cleaning, but I quite like mine

I went for the screwfix Titan version (£25 ish) as its much cheaper than Karcher - added bonus for a victorian house it that the base has the screw thread for a regular painting brush pole = being able to reach the top of the windows!

A good quality squeegee and cloth to catch the excess water does the same job

What a faff. Especially on full height windows, do you put the cloth at the bottom of the window and hold it in with a foot whilst squeegeeing the top? Then move the whole set up across to the next squeegee width along the pane? Do you also need to carry a bucket round the house to wring out the water from the cloth after each window? You are then juggling three things round the house rather than just the single window vac. How do you dry your wet cloth?

Spending £30 on something that get used for about 100 mornings a year, saves around 5 minutes of dull chore a day, is actually easier and gives better results seems like a good idea to us.

Best use I've found for ours is inside car windscreens. I've struggled for years to get a streak free, glare free finish inside. This did it first try perfectly. A few drops of fairy liquid in the spray bottle/cloth thingy then suck it all off. No more smears right where the low sun hits in winter.

peekay
Full Member

What a faff.

If you wash the inside of windows correctly there is hardly any excess fluid.
If you have condensation on the full height of all of your windows 100 days of the year you have some big issues to sort out. If you have some condensation on the bottom few inches of the bedroom windows in winter there is not much need for all of the equipment you claim.
I have a window vac and firmly believe the squeegee is the most important part of the process.

Essential for a camper van (at least for our campervan - front windscreen in the UK in the morning, not such an issue aboard).

peekay
Full Member
We have one for clearing the condensation on the inside of windows and think that it’s great. Often manage to fill the reservoir twice over on a morning circuit of the house in winter.

Why have I never considered this?! I have one of the bloody things!

We have had one for years and is great for cleaning the inside of windows and also the tiles in the bathroom and shower screens.

Tried it out in the camper and although great on cleaning the condensation from the inside of the windows once its angled or tipped the reservoir spills the water out.

Solved the problem by getting a refurbished professional one from the Karcher store which can be used upside down where necessary to get to the bottom of the screen where the dashboard makes it difficult

If you want to clean your windows a good squeegee is much better. However, if you've got young kids who spill stuff they're brilliant for sucking up the liquid quickly.

pocpoc's spot on, especially if you have a damp/leaky car or one with crappy heaters. Nothing else comes close to just scooping up water and throwing it out of the car. You see a lot of people in camper conversions using them

Cheers for feedback folks. Kind of 50:50 then....
For cleaning the inside of windows mainly, thought it would 'make' me clean them more often rather than using a few drops of washing up liquid & water in a spray bottle and a few cloths.
seem to be £40 - 80