Ryobi RPW190BL-G

No attachments will fit – The washer works well until you go and buy the brush or detergent bottle attachments. They don't fit and if there is an adaptor why isn't it included?

An excellent and STRONG electric pressure washer – Got this unit to replace my old eBay cheapo washer that finally died. Decided I needed to get a "proper" pressure washer for a change and was prepared to spend money to get it. The Ryobi 2100 watt, 2750psi pressure washer is Ryobi's most powerful electric pressure washer. To get any more powerful than this requires you to start looking at their petrol range.

The unit comes with three nozzles (a blue low-pressure soap nozzle, a yellow normal every-day nozzle, and a black "turbo" nozzle), a generous length of hose, a lance, and a generous length of mains electrical cable.

The unit itself is clean and tidy, looks well built and feels solid. The unit sits on large wheels that look a little on the cheap side, but otherwise do the job of moving the unit around. Moving the unit is easy and can easily be pushed in front of you or pulled behind. Depending on how well you coil the hose and electrical cable will determine whether or not you run over them whilst moving.

Atop the unit is a single power button. Press to turn on, press to turn off. Easy.

At the front of the unit below the motor is a three-litre container to put pressure-washer grade soap in. The unit automatically mixes water with this at a dilution rate of 20:1, so you can put some really concentrated stuff in here if you wanted. The soap is only dispensed with the blue low-pressure soap nozzle - there is no button or switch that needs to be operated to dispense the soap. When you switch to any other nozzle, the soap will stop dispensing and go back to plain water.

The electrical cable is thick. Designed to take a beating and be trodden on. When new, it's a little cumbersome to roll up, but otherwise sits nicely on the unit's cable hook.

The hose is also very thick, much thicker than I'm used to, but for the pressure, it needs it. When using the unit, you may find you need to rotate the lance a number of times to unwind the hose to prevent it looping and getting caught on things as you pull it around.

The lance features a trigger and a screw-on lance. The unit feels solid and well built. All connection points are brass. The nozzle connection is a pull-back design with ball bearings that lock onto the nozzle attachment. BE AWARE: when attaching a nozzle, test-fire it by pointing it away from your car. If it's not attached properly, it will pop off like a bullet and potentially do damage. With no nozzle attached, the unit immediately switches to low pressure.

The handle of the unit also provides a neat bar to attach the nozzles so they are easily within reach. Just push in or pull out. The back of the unit provides a velcro strap to attach the hose, the handle also has a holder for the lance, and the other side is a hook for the electrical cable.

The unit comes with a standard garden hose attachment for the water supply.

The three nozzles determine the pressure the unit blasts at:

- The blue nozzle as already mentioned is low-pressure for dispensing soap on your vehicle. There is absolutely no power behind this. As the mixture rate is 20:1, anything less concentrated than this (such as the Karcher car wash shampoo which expects a dilution rate of 10:1) will look very watery, but will still foam a little. Soap will only dispense with this nozzle. Every other nozzle will dispense plain water only.

- The yellow nozzle is the one you will use the most. This provides strong power, sufficient to blast off everyday dirt. Use this to wash your vehicle.

- The black nozzle is the "turbo" nozzle and unleashes the full power of this pressure washer. It is designed for cleaning concrete in a quick fashion (though the yellow nozzle will do this as well), but the extra power means that it will also strip paint off concrete (this may prove useful for graffiti), and will definitely strip paint of a car body panel. The nozzle spins the water in a circular fashion and makes short work of any dirty concrete surface. You can also use this to breakdown mud and other debris off something, but be wary that this nozzle has the capability to damage surfaces. Control your pressure by moving the lance away to reduce effective pressure on the surface, move in to increase that pressure.

In terms of overall power, yes, this thing is powerful. While I have no way to properly measure it, comparing it against a 3000psi petrol pressure washer suggests that this unit really is delivering the 2750psi it advertises. You will make short work of any driveway cleaning task, believe me! I managed to clean an entire driveway that can hold four parked cars in about 15 minutes. With my old eBay special, this would take about 40 minutes to do. Massive difference, and a visibly much better clean as well! Note that if you are not used to this pressure, you will feel some kickback as the unit turns on. Keep both hands on the lance, and most weaker-muscled people won't have a drama. It is possible to operate the lance with one hand if you have the appropriate arm strength. I would not recommend allowing children younger than a 13-15yo to operate this unit.

With respect to noise, it's no different to most other washers. Expect to hear around 96dB in operation. Note that the unit is constantly pressurising, so when you are not squeezing the trigger, the unit will still compress, but it will be slightly quieter about it.

When you do pull the trigger, there is a half-second delay before the system kicks in and delivers water. Not a big deal, and you quickly get used to it.

There is no manual control over overall pressure that the unit provides. Should you need to adjust, simply move the lance further away, or closer to your target.

Pros: - Excellent water pressure, even with low-pressure sources like recycled water. If you are familiar with the average public self-operated car wash pressure washer, this unit is stronger. - Easy to use. - Not heavy, easy to move. - Well built. Feels solid, including all attachments. Should stand the test of time. - Good array of nozzles to suit most jobs. - Nice addition of the soap dispenser. - Doesn't take up too much space in storage, though the lance holder should have been designed to be slightly more vertical to save even more space.

Cons: - The soap nozzle needs to foam a little more for my liking, note that this likely means that you must find shampoo concentrate that is intended for a 20:1 mix ratio, not 10:1 like the Karcher stuff. - The compression noise is constant, even when the trigger is not being pulled. Note that you can happily turn the unit on and off as required using the top power button without upsetting anything. - Unravelling the thick hose, then ravelling it back up for storage is slightly annoying.

Overall, highly recommended. I believe this unit is well worth the asking price and should last.