Karcher K7 Premium Smart Control - Review and Demonstration 

Thank you! :-)

Thank you! :-)

It is a fine machine! :-)

Glad I could help! :-)

Glad I could help Todd! :-)

Thank you! I am retired now after 18 years working offshore. I worked predominantly as a control room operator and finished up in control of work. Previously, Merchant navy, factory worker, police constable, chemical plant operator and I had a Saturday job in a restaurant as a pot washer before I left school. LOL

Glad it was helpful Robert! :-)

Glad I could help Jamie! :-)

@RussellPlatten Is the handle that you pull up , so you can walk with it supposes to be very loose .. is there anyway of tightening it?? . If I let go it just drops back down

I think it is just an easy mod to allow a price hike. :-)

a tip : watch series at flixzone. I've been using it for watching a lot of movies these days.

@Jonathan Miller Definitely, have been using Flixzone for years myself =)

:-)

I still have my K4 and it has served me well, it paid for itself the first time I used it. I think the K7 will knock a lot of time off the tasks I will use it for. It certainly seemed quicker when I reviewed it. I will be starting my yearly patio clean up in a few days. :-)

Glad I could help Jake! :-)

I think Karcher add complication to increase the price Russ! :-)

I am glad that I could help Colin. I was using my K7 this morning and it is a good machine. I have also got my hands on an Ava Master P80 and in my opinion it is a better power washer than the Karcher K7. There is an issue with some of the Ava Master P80 machines here in the UK due to the 13A fuse in the UK plugs. Not a problem for Sweden though. Either machine will get the job done. Enjoy your new machine! :-)

@@RussellPlatten thanks Russ. I haven’t ordered it yet actually just about to do it. I will take a quick look at the Ava master. I am not too familiar with this manufacturer but will definitely compare prices and flow rates and power. Finally nice weather up here. Been a long winter so it’s now or never I need to make my mind up ))

Ava have taken over the market in Norway. Apparently every other pressure washer owned in Norway is an Ava of Norway machine. I am very impressed with the two that they sent me. It is a real pity I had an issue with the fuses blowing on the Master P80. I have still used it for the vast majority of my patio cleaning and it is now my favourite power washer. :-)

Thank you Kai! :-)

Thank you Guy! :-)

Glad it was helpful! :-)

Glad I could help! :-)

Glad I could help David! :-)

Thank you Andrea! :-)

Yes, wheels would be a great improvement! :-)

Thank you very much! :-)

Cheers Stephen! :-)

Glad I could help Usman! :-)

Thank you! Cheers! :-)

Glad I could help! :-)

@@RussellPlatten have you had any problems with the K7 since? Thanks

Thank you! :-)

Glad I could help Jim! :-)

:-)

I too am not 100% sure Callum. I am fairly sure (LOL) Premium means it has a hose reel attached and Home means it comes with the surface cleaner. :-)

I cannot see any real difference between the T450 and T7 patio cleaners. As for Full Control, this means that the pressure of the vario lance is altered by twisting the end of the lance to increase or decrease the fan spread. Smaller spread, higher pressure. On the Smart Control, there is a different lance and the pressure is adjusted by selecting it electronically using the buttons on the lance. I personally would go for the Full Control, the good old fashioned way the adjust the pressure. Much less to go wrong with it. You can see full control demonstrated on the review I made of my K4 a few years ago. Compare it to this review and you will see the difference. The display on the Full Control gun only indicates the pressure at the nozzle and will change as you alter the vario lance. :-)

:-)

Hi Karen, I have never used detergent on my patio, so I can not really comment on whether it is worth using. I find that the pressure washer does a perfectly acceptable job without pre soaking with detergent. It may make a difference, but my patio areas always get very dirty and mouldy over winter as my house is completely surrounded by deciduous trees. I have to clean it every year and don't bother with detergent. I do use detergent for some other jobs. Detergent certainly would not hurt, but it can become a little expensive if you are cleaning large areas. :-)

@@RussellPlattenthats great! My patio is black from pollution. I live on a main road. Its never been jet washed in 17yrs so I'm going to treat it with solution then just water scrub it every year (hopefully) Thanks again!

Glad it was helpful! :-)

Hi Ciaran, the T7 racer is much better on the K7. I also have the K4, it has had a hard life and has developed an issue so I decided to upgrade. The K7 is far better. I reviewed the K4 with a patio cleaner and you can see the difference. The T7 racer uses the water pressure to spin and a higher pressure means more revolutions and more cleaning power. The K4 did do a great job, but it is slower. :-)

Thats great Russell thanks very mich for the quick reply. Thata made my mind up quickly. Keep up the good work, cheers - Ciaran

@@ciarankehoe :-)

The basic K7 is the probably the best Dave! :-)

Glad I could help Daniel! :-)

Yes, I will review it. :-)

@@RussellPlatten Great. May i send you an email for talking further? Thanks.

@@RussellPlatten Hello, I have sent you an Email, please kindly check it out. Thanks.

This is a link to the T7 on Amazon. Look around you may find it cheaper. amzn.to/39VT5CL

Hi Richard. I don't understand what you mean by the mode select. If you are using the high pressure jet, the dirt grinder or the t racer for your patio, your gun should be set at maximum pressure. If you have the lance set to mix, it will not develop a high pressure. Just twist the end of the lance to the dirt grinder nozzle for your patio as this is better than the jet. The t racer should be run on the highest pressure too. Adjust the pressure using the + button on the handle. :-)

@@RussellPlatten hi Russell thanks for the reply. I explained poorly but I’ve figured it out - right before I was about to give up! The pressure at my tap is good. The pressure at the end of the hose is not. I swapped out for a short section of hose and wow, it’s actually insane the difference it’s made! It’s so so powerful! The issue I guess is the hose length and being able to maintain pressure that far.

Yes, the pressure drop across a long hose can be considerable. That is why I measured the flow at the end of the hose. The way around using a shorter hose is to get a high pressure hose extension if you cannot reach all the areas you want to. Well done for sussing it out! Happy cleaning! :-)

@@RussellPlatten Blocked hose 🤦

That's literally what I've been trying to look up/find out. From what I've seen, the compact and Prem have the same power outage, but the compact only have one pressure whereas the premium one you can manually change between the different pressures / uses. :)

@@Sir-Bane Thank you very much 😊

@@scopwr I think I'm going to go for the prem version for the gun handle, although I'm not too fussed about the actual patio box cleaner bit.. sigh, ah well :P If I get it and try it, I'll try remember to reply back to you to say how it was!

@@Sir-Bane wow you are a star 👍💪 Thank you!!!!

I would forget about Karcher and look at Ava of Norway pressure washers. I have reviewed two of their machines and they are great value with a long warranty. I am not an affiliate and do not have any discount codes or links to their products. I was in contact with them for a few weeks when they asked me to review their machines and they seem like a company that actually cares about their customers and their products. Karcher make good machines, but they keep adding useless modifications/functions to allow them to up the price for no real gain to the customer. I have been very impressed with the two machines from Ava that I reviewed. No gimmicks, just a well built pressure washer with a long warranty and good performance. Better than Karcher in my opinion! Your T-Racer will fit the Ava washers too. :-)

@Russell Platten I fully understand and do agree Karcher have a terrible customer support - I rang a couple of times - before Covid excuses - and was always "14th or 15th" in a queue. I will look at your independent videos now and appreciate your advice. I'd like to keep you informed if you're interested Russell? Thanks for letting me know about my T-Racer. This is a great thing to keep splashes off the walls - and feet.

Everything on max. :-)

My wife and I find pressure washing very relaxing. We both enjoy this time of year! :-)

I am not sure what you mean Joseph. The T Racer is the patio cleaner and it has the usual Karcher bayonet socket. :-)

Yes Vic, I can see Ava of Norway taking over the market. Their Master P80 I reviewed is much better to use than the K7 and has no gimmicks. Much longer guarantee too. I think Karcher have started to take advantage of their loyal customer base! :-)

I did not notice any real difference on mine Ady. :-)

@@RussellPlatten Cheers for the reply. I’ve taken mine back as I don’t think it’s a good pressure washer and when I spoke to karcher they said it should boost from 160bar to 180bar so should be a big difference.

I am using Ava of Norway pressure washers now Ady. They sent me 2 for review and in my opinion they are better than Karcher. No gimmicks, with long guarantee (up to 20 years) and very well designed. Take a look at their pressure washers. :-)

@@RussellPlatten I ordered the evolution p80 for £360 from a distributor but the ordered was cancelled due to having lots of faulty items blowing fuses. Is the Ava p80 more powerful than the k7.

You made the right decision as far as I am concerned! :-)

In my opinion, the P80 is a better machine Graeme. :-)

It works without the app. :-)

:-)

No, you need to use Sodium Hypochlorite to get rid of balck spots. I have made a video showing how to do that: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HQCnMktFUqg.html :-)

Not sure what you mean Miguel. :-)

It is just a gimmick! :-)

Thank you Andrew! :-)

:-)

I don't know her! :-)

@@RussellPlatten it's a Norwegian brand i have Ava p60 pressur washer. You can use ava adapters on karcher also. Fun fact if you turn the patio adapter upside down you can use it to wash the chassis under the car 😂

@@moholdt3335 I have never heard of them before. They are available on Amazon UK. Scandinavian standards are high, so I would imagine it is good quality equipment. :-)

@@RussellPlatten yea its about the same standard as karcher each brand have up and downsides

@@moholdt3335 That is worth knowing. :-)

:-)

Agreed Peter! :-)

:-)

Have a look at the Ava of Norway pressure washers André. I think they are better than Karcher. :-)

@@RussellPlatten Thank you. I was told Kärcher is best brand to do that. I think I better pay someone to do it or just wait and let all the other slabs to get darker so it will be uniform.

I think Ava are better than Karcher. I reviewed two of their pressure washers ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3v4EXgAGkYU.html and ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ZH7WxFYsXlg.html you can see how both of them perform on slabs. :-)

Try contacting Karcher support Paul. :-)

The app is a complete waste of time Vikki! :-)

Unfortunately, manufacturers are permitted to use the maximum pressure achievable under laboratary conditions and this means that the specified max pressure figure is probably when the pump is running and then dead headed with maximum flow rate and inlet pressure. None of which would really be possible in the real world. The pressure is increased by restricting the flow so the flow rate will be less than the maximum stated flow which will be achieved in a laboratory too and be measured with the pump operating without a discharge hose connected and at max inlet pressure. However since all manufacturers do the same thing, the K7 will be better than the K4 and probably have a max discharge pressure in the real world of around 140/150bar. It is pretty devious, but unfortunately if a manufacturer was honest with the figures, they would sell fewer machines than their competitors. Sorry to ramble on David, as you can tell it annoys me! LOL :-)

@@RussellPlatten Hi Russell I agree its quite annoying and all industries are affected by these overinflated lab figures that come with a small print. Hard to compare between brands and even models. Checking out this video by obsessed garage. They did a test on pressure flow and electrical draw. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-eAXXPSBFRug.html. They tested all the karcher K series versions available in the states. However the K7 is not available in the states. They found the K4 and K5 are identical. Although they look like the older design models to be fair. Its worth a watch. Cheers

@@daviddrcray3802 yeah, Matt at OG is pretty thorough (may be an understatement 😀), but all their domestic machines work off 120V so his figures will probably be different to ours as demonstrated by the Kranzle models he raves about although the specs for these seem more true to life.

@@peterben5987 Good point never thought of the voltage difference. The AVA pressure washers featured by Russell maybe the way forward. Definitely matches Kranzle for build and servicing ability and probably better for the consumer market with a long warranty compared to the Kranzle 1 year warranty. Will be looking into a AVA replacement once my karcher eventually stops working.

It literally adds more time as you have to open the app, select the task and send the pump setting to the washer instead of selecting the pressure on the gun! I think that the instructions do not include the app because people who research products before they buy, will see it is a bit of a con Paul! The app should be free and just have the steps and settings for various tasks. Basically, online instructions! :-)

@@RussellPlatten they could have used the connectivity for a lot more. Logging working hours and gallons of water used, recommending maintenance based on that logging, reporting errors, finer settings for the soap dispenser, etc... And I have enough experience with app controlled devices to pretty much guarantee they will at some point break it permanently. On that note, it's a good thing the device does not depend on the app whatsoever.

I used thr figure that was in the instructions Peter. :-)

:-)

Agreed James! :-)

LOL - Don't know what happened there John, the instruction manual (page 15) states 12l/min, Amazon 600l/hr! s1.kaercher-media.com/documents/manuals/raw/000/BTA-5665929-000-01.pdf I am waiting for a delivery from Ava of Norway, they have asked me to take a look at one of their power washers. it'll be interesting to see how they compare to karcher. I have heard good things about Kränzle, buy I bought the Karcher because I have always been happy with their gear. I have had three Karcher power washers, all paid for by me so I decided to stick with them. :-)

@@RussellPlatten Thanks for the friendly and polite reply Russ.. normally when the liter rate gets towards 11 or 12 per minute and above liters the motors are switching over from 230 V to 400 V. plus the prices rise considerably.. regardless 10 Liters per minute is very good... But IMo the kränzle for the Prices and Build quality and effective working is miles ahead of the karchers ( 10/122 TS or K1152 TST for example )

@@fensterputzernuernberg I will take that onboard John. Too late now though, I paid £585 for the K7- LOL. Let's see what the Ava is like, I have heard good things about them. You are not the only one to sing Kränzle's praises, vehicle detailers seem to like them a lot! :-)

@@RussellPlatten You have the faster 3400 RPm motor the K1152 TS-T and HD 10 / 122 and slower 1400 RPM motor K7/122 ... Both K 1152TS-T and the formidable HD 10 / 122 both are 10 Liter machines albeit with less Pressure ( k1152 =130 BAr and HD10/122 = 120 BAr ) that dont matter that the pressure is not 180 BAr or what not.. what is important is flow rate. Trust me both the 10 liter machines are great and the UFO surface cleaner BLue Plastic one is absolutely brilliant !! add alittle wd 40 to the spinning arm.. it has a built in spinning arm protection plate.. the UFO is light robust and simply highly effective.. The detailers often use the 7/122 ( 1400 rpm machine ) because it can suck water out of any container , bucket or barrel and also has lower amps and watts to use on a Generator ( mobile cleaning ) If you live in a soft water area get either the 10/122 or even better the K1152 TST with total stop and a hose reel ( much better hose and reel than karcher !! ) and is 15 meters of hose . NO i do not worl for kränzle i simply own 4 or 5 of them myself ( i am a professional cleaner in Germany )

@@fensterputzernuernberg Cheers John, you obviously know your Kränzle equipment! You never know, I might try one someday! Thank you for giving me the information. :-)

It is just a gimmick so that they can put the price up for very little cost Dan! :-)

Yes there is nothing smart about it apart from making more money for the manufacturer! :-)

:-)

:-)

It certainly is Chris! :-)

Thank you! :-)

@@RussellPlatten your welcome

@@mrshafiquemohammed :-)