Karcher K4 Premium Power Control

Ugh! could be better – I was given this Karcher K4 Premium Power Control Pressure Washer for free in exchange for writing a review. I did not choose to buy this item. As of 24/10/2024 which is before these freebies were sent out, the overall rating was 2.3/5. So I suspect Karcher are attempting to improve ratings by having reviewers write a review within a time limit… Read more

of 1 month, so reliability is not a factor. Many years ago I had a Karcher and only after light use the pump housing split rendering it dead, so reliability is questionable.

3/5 Overall If I was in the market for a pressure cleaner, I would not buy this Karcher K4 for $579 as there are other brands that have better design and higher ratings.

2/5 Packaging and assembly Difficult to lift main unit out of box because no obvious lift points. Several parts to assemble which made it unnecessarily laborious experience. Large chunks of packaging polystyrene to dispose of. One of the worst instruction manuals I have ever seen. During the 25-minute assembly I placed my hand on the body of the unit to discover it was OILY, UGH! Seems to have leaked oil from inside the main unit.

3.5/5 Overall in use

PROS 4/5 Works just like any other pressure cleaner. Noise level is normal. Hose winder works OK.

CONS 1/5 The handle and lances are not rotatable. So you are stuck with horizontal jet unless you hold the handle GANSTER style to get a vertical jet.

****MINUS 5 out of 5 FOR THE MOST USELESS FEATURE**** The Pressure Indicator on the handle. To get a reading the trigger needs to be pulled to shoot water and ONLY THEN does the Pressure Indicator shows you the pressure. Pointless! Never looked at it again!

3/5 Water inlet connection is inconveniently on the front towards the work area.

2/5 mobility. 1st stupid design. Moving on short grass was difficult because the unit has very low clearance and there is a lip sticking out at the back that digs into the grass below the mesh pocket when wheeling.

1/5 cord storage. 2nd stupid design. No convenient cord storage. Instead I just wound the cord around the hose reel.

2/5 Unit raisable handle. 3rd stupid design. Needs to be pulled up hard to engage hidden gripping mechanism which will let go if you happen to lean on the handle. When pushed all the way down it locks in snuggly on top of the fixed handle which makes it very difficult to get back up again because grip point is blocked by fixed handle.

The HARD lance is very powerful, but there is a lot of blow back of debris and water which is very unpleasant, especially on vertical surfaces. It uses a rotating fine circular jet so you need to move slowly to get even results.

An absolute beast ! (in the best possible way) – In the interests of full disclosure, the Karcher K4 Premium Power Control unit tested for the purposes of this review was supplied to me by the company at no cost. There were no assurances given as to the nature of the review I would provide as a result of testing the product. My new neighbour, a retired builder and TAFE building instructor… Read more ·  1

summed it up perfectly when he stated that this was without any doubt, the most powerful domestic pressure washer he had ever used. It was not an easy task to retrieve the unit from him, and I had to promise that he could borrow it again to finish cleaning the entire exterior areas of the house he recently purchased.

Attached is a video of the pressure washer in action with the Dirtblaster attachment. The power of the 2100 PSI water blast removed over 50 years of built up grime from my concrete stairs in a flash. This was one thing my neighbour needed for the large concrete areas around his house as well. He had anticipated the need to use a metal scraper to remove the worst of the grime, but the Dirtblaster ripped through it, just as easily as you will see in the video. At the end of the clip is a still image of the stairs after they had a chance to dry out, revealing a look that is as good as new. A delivery driver that regularly visits here has just asked why I had new stairs made, and could not believe they had simply been cleaned with the Karcher pressure washer.

The question begs to be asked as to if the amount of pressure this beast puts out is simply too much for a domestic situation? My neighbour found out the hard way, that you should not put any part of your body in front of the jet while running....it certainly bites. Yet, the rotating jets distribute the pressurised water in a nice and even manner. The amount of power did concern me when I went to clean accumulated moss and lichen from a DIY path that runs along the rear of my house. The path was made from bitumen and road base, and laid down about 50-60 years ago by the then owners of the house. I expected the gravel parts to be sent flying in all directions, but the unit did a fantastic job removing everything I wanted removed, but not causing any damage or severe erosion to the path itself, as can be seen in the before and after images attached.

Included with the unit as standard is an adjustable flow wand that will release a gentle trickle or medium strength spray, that can be used for washing windows, or the car, boat, motorbike, etc, without the risk of any damage. With a simple twist, the pressure can be increased to full strength to power through any situation.

An optional rotating brush, coupled with the simple detergent dispenser that is built in, are perfect for cleaning windows. Pressure is automatically controlled when you attach the brush down to the minimum, so there is zero risk of damage to delicate surfaces.

I have only had a few weeks to run this baby through its paces, and the only negative I can really find is that I now have a weapon that will tackle a load of extra jobs around the house, getting away for a round of golf is going to be more difficult. Oh, that, and trying to convince my neighbour that he has to return it when he borrows it.

Minor issue with the hose reel winder being stiff, but the more it is used, the easier and looser that is becoming, so I imagine that will be fine after a reasonable amount of use. It really is nit picking to say that is an issue, but I had to find something negative to say about this little beastie.

No matter what the task, you can't go wrong with this unit. I am looking forward to getting out and buying some of the available attachments for this, and you can be certain it is going to get a lot of use in a wide variety of applications. The quality of the build means it is going to last and manage every job I can throw at it. Sure you could buy cheaper units, and you could get more expensive units, but this is going to last a lot of years, survive any domestic task you throw at it, even light industrial tasks would be no problem. It will pay for itself over and over again.

HAD A BLAST! Once you start it’s hard to stop! – Thanks to the Ambassador campaign my son and I got to trial and keep this Karcher in exchange for an honest and thorough review. *I purchased the T7 Plus T-Racer accessory myself. We literally had a blast putting the “Karcher K4 premium power control” and its included attachments through its paces. It comes with an AMAZING 7 year warranty!!!! (5… Read more ·  1

years standard and an extra 2 years if you register your product on line.

It’s a pretty solid piece of kit. Construction quality is good. It uses mostly metal screws instead of plastic clips so it would be easy to disassemble if you needed to. It takes about half an hour to assemble and you’ll need a Philips head screw driver. You have the option to either read the instruction brochure or follow the assembly steps on the Karcher ‘Home and Garden’ app which has clear pictures and is a lot easier to follow. The app also gives lots of practical tips on every cleaning situation- worth a look.

The machine is quite hefty so they’ve included wheels and a telescopic handle which I couldn’t seem to get to lock into place.

It comes with 3 different attachments: the power control gun (with 3 variable pressure settings and one detergent setting) the dirt blaster (the most powerful and my favourite) and the vario power jet (with adjustable pressure).

The karcher stone and paving cleaner solution is available to purchase as an added extra. I bought a 1 litre bottle from Bunnings for $13.60 but the K4 worked so well on its own that we didn’t end up needing to use it. I plan to exchange it for the universal cleaner because I figure can then use it for more than just pavers.

There is a range of compatible accessories for every application and I purchased from Bunnings the Karcher “T7 Plus T-Racer surface cleaner” attachment, (compatible with models K4-K7) @ $149, for cleaning the pavers. Absolutely brilliant attachment and highly recommended! So much fun to use! On the medium setting it made quick and light work of cleaning a large area of pavers. It had a stronger setting option but we chose to stick to the medium as we found the medium cleaned the pavers adequately, and we wanted to avoid dislodging more grout than necessary, which was our main priority.

*Once it dried however we saw that it actually removed more grout than we thought so I suggest you start on the lowest setting and work your way up. We will need to brush in some polymeric sand to fill in some grout gaps but this seems to be part and parcel of using any pressure cleaner on pavers and wasn’t unexpected. Hard to avoid dislodging grout unless you use a smaller attachment (like the eco!booster 130 accessory - see my other review) and go over each individual paver meticulously avoiding the grout. Time consuming and impractical for large areas though so it’s a trade off.

Next we cleaned one of my teak outdoor chairs. I didn’t listen to my son and was a bit too gung-ho and hit it hard with the dirt blaster attachment. It seemed to be working a treat and came up the most amazing golden/orange colour just like new again ….until it dried … that’s when I realised that it wasn’t as gentle as I thought. It had a few raised splinters and the surface was a bit rough and pitted. Nothing a light sanding won’t fix, but probably not the best choice on teak furniture. I’d recommend buying and using the Eco!Booster 130 accessory for this instead. (I have posted 3 photos of the chair:before, during and after).

I hadn’t used my Weber Q in over 7 years simply because I’d lost the dust cover and it was just too dirty, both inside and out, covered with dust, grime, mildew and wasps nests. I just couldn’t bring myself to clean it. Well….I blasted it clean plus the trolley it sits on all in under 5 min!!!! AMAZING!!! (It doesn’t look like new again and still retains its seasoned patina - but it’s clean!)

Overall, we’re very impressed with the K4 premium power control. It’s plenty powerful for domestic use and so satisfying to use that once you start you’ll find it hard to stop looking around for other things to clean!

Impressive power washer – Received the Karcher K4 Premium Power Control to test out – rather handy given I have a few things to use it on. Mission #1 was putting it together. It comes with a QR code but required too much faffing about for me. I couldn’t work out where the online instructions were so resorted to the booklet it came with. The instruction booklet has the… Read more ·  1

assembly diagrams on Pages 2 to 4. The actual written instructions that relate to these diagrams are on Page 8. Not very logical, nor helpful. It was pretty easy to put together using just the diagrams but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out the wheel situation so jumped on the old faithful Youtube. Boy did I feel dumb, but its together and it works.

The onboard storage for both the vario power and power control spray lances is really handy. Attaching the high pressure hose to the gun level was a bit of a struggle for me (I have arthritis) but I managed it click it in with a bit of brute force (now I can’t get it out but, c’est la vie). It wheels around quite easily thanks to the telescoping handle on top which did require a bit of force to get it to stay extended and a good wack to get it to drop down again. Its quite a heavy unit as you would expect, however still light enough for me to cart it up and down stairs if I need to.

The high pressure hose seems quite sturdy and sits within the hose reel rather snug – this turned out to be a little bit of an issue when trying to extend the hose while using it as it seemed to get stuck on 2-3 occasions. The power cord is nice and long, but you do obviously need to be aware of its whereabouts when you're using it (because of the water + electricity issue).

It does have a detergent connector however mine did not come with any detergent. I was however excited at the thought of some car wash to wash the car with, however a subsequent search online came up empty.

Mission #2 using it. Boy is that loads of fun (I’ve secretly always wanted one). Quite frankly I was expecting this to be a bit hard on the joints - it wasn’t. In fact it was very easy to just stand there moving the lance back and forth while spraying high pressure water onto the annoying moss clinging to the concrete patio. The patio came up a treat. I initially tried the vario power power lance but it just gave the moss a good clean so resorted to the power control spray lance which had that moss running for cover in no time. It was brilliant. Once I removed all the nasties I rounded it all off with the ecobooster (just because I could) to wash away all the dirty water that started pooling in place.

Its very easy to swap the attachments, very easy to turn on and off, not too heavy that you can’t lift it up and down stairs if you need to, easy to setup (once its assembled) and easy to pack away after use. Oh and the trigger has a handy little button that holds the trigger button down so you don't have to strain your finger haha!

Yes, I would recommend this product to females (even ones with arthritis) in fact I recommend this to anyone that needs a high pressure washer. Its loads of fun to use and very effective at removing years of built up grime and moss on concrete, wood and whatever (provided you have the right attachment and pressure).

Is it possibly a bit too strong for domestic use? I don't know, but I really enjoyed using it and as mentioned before, its really effective. I’m going to use it on the front pathways in the coming weeks (they’re also covered in years of built-up moss and dirt) and if I can find a car wash to fit the detergent dispenser, I’ll be washing the car this year too!

Big and powerful – The machine itself is wonderful once it's set up and ready to go ..... but heaven's almighty, getting to that was a frustrating experience. I'm someone who can usually just look at it and work things out but I do love to read a manual and make sure I'm doing things correctly, even more so when it comes to machinery. Unfortunately for me, the… Read more ·  1

manual that comes with this thing takes the most illogical format possible with the assembly instructions. Instead of putting the diagram, illustrations and written instructions remotely near each other, they are all separated and require flipping between multiple pages to identify the part, read the written instruction and look at the illustration to show the referenced information. Even more unfortunate, the QR code that tell you to scan and find videos and other information did not take me to anything helpful with the assembly. Many days later I found one section on their website that does actually give the assembly instructions in a linear format, with all relevant information for each step collated together. So a few hours of extreme frustration wore me out greatly and kind of put me off even wanting to try it out, but I preserved because I'm stubborn like that. In the end, after many tantrums and a day of recovery, it finally came together. The build is really good, when you get to the point of being able to appreciate it. For me, that took a while.

The pressure is great, and I love that the air pressure hose is on a reel. The extra storage for attachments and the lances is helpful. I love that the top handle extends so I can wheel it with much more ease (although my handle doesn't seem to stay up a lot of the time so not sure if it's meant to or if its faulty), and I think this is vital considering the unit is out-of-this-world heavy (at least for me). There is no way I could lift and move this thing with any kind of regularity so I like that it's design does consider it to not be moved much, and when it is moved it's done without much effort.

One big confusion for me is the Plug n Clean detergent system. Despite the advertised product information I could find on several websites, and the manual referencing it, I thought the detergent dispensing bottle came with the unit. I didn't have one come with mine and it seems online there is a mix of references to it being included or an additional extra. It's not a big deal for my use case (yet) but it would be good if they made it clear beyond doubt whether that is an item that is entirely purchased separately.

The maintenance, from what I can work out is pretty simple. Not much different to maintaining a regular air compressor, with the addition of draining water hoses.

For me my needs are pretty simple and I probably don't need something quite this high powered, but it sure is nice to have as I learn more about just how much I can use it on and expand the frequency of use around my home. For now, it's doing a wonderful job with my outdoor pavers, car, fences and eaves & gutters.