[Ad – This post is in collaboration with Kärcher. As always, all opinions, words and images are our own. This post contains affiliate links.]
*Updated: See what we think of our Kärcher Window Vac after almost 5 years of using it at the bottom of this post!*
Over the course of the last year, we’ve been lucky enough to have partnered with Kärcher to review some of their fab products.
All of the Kärcher products we’ve received so far have been amazing and unlike a lot of gadgets that get bought and disappear into the cupboard after a few uses never to be seen again, we actually still use all of them regularly. Our newest gadget is the Karcher Window Vac.
As we love all other products we’ve received we, of course, had high hopes for our newest gadget, too. Anything that makes cleaning windows quicker has got to be a good thing, right?
Here’s how we got on with our vac (ours is a WV5 Premium) along with some helpful tips on how to use a Karcher window vac!
1. The Karcher window vac box includes everything you need to get started.
Pour the cleaning liquid and some water into the spray bottle, attach the top and microfibre cleaning pad and then give it a shake to mix.
2. Spray the window (or whatever surface you’re cleaning) with the spray bottle and rub the liquid over the window with the microfibre cloth, then use the vac to suck the liquid off the window.
I’d love to give you more instructions, but that’s really all there is to it.
It only took a couple of minutes to clean each window and it really is mess-free as you’re vacuuming up any liquid.
At first, we struggled to get the window completely streak-free but realised that this was mainly down to the window not being wet enough. If you can hear the vac squeaking as you run across the window, you’ve just not applied enough liquid.
Just go over the window again with the spray bottle and microfibre cloth and then vacuum the liquid away.
I admit to having window cleaners that visit about once a month for the outside (which is totally the norm here in the UK) and I’d say that our windows don’t get too dirty – except for when my nephews visit and they somehow end up covered in little fingerprints!
We’ll at least that’s what I thought because the water we sucked up just on the ground floor windows ended up looking like this!
Eww. Considering I thought that our windows were fairly clean, we were amazed at the amount of dirt that still came off them.
I totally admit that I’m surprised by how much I like the Karcher window vac. It sucks up the dirt amazingly well and is really light and easy to use. As with most of the other Kärcher products that we’ve reviewed, the included instructions are sparse and I personally would have liked a bit more information, but the window vac is so easy and self-explanatory to use, that the pictures on the side of the box are more than enough to get started.
The battery lasted long enough for us to clean the all of the windows in our house (18 window pains, some of them inside and out), two mirrors and our bathroom tiles and it still has some charge, so I’d say that it would be easily possible to clean the whole house on just one charge.
Overall it’s a great little gadget that makes cleaning windows quicker. I admit that it’s a gadget that I would probably not have bought because I didn’t think that I needed help with cleaning windows, but now that we’ve given it a try, I wouldn’t want to be without it.
Pros
- Makes cleaning windows much quicker.
- It’s really easy to use.
- There’s practically no mess involved as you suck up all of the dirty water.
- It’s very lightweight and is great for just walking from window to window without having to carry a bucket of water with you.
Cons
- We struggled to get our windows streak-free, although we did improve from window to window, so I assume that we’ll get the hang of it after cleaning them a few more times.
- Lack of instructions – there are some images printed on the box and in general they are enough as using the window vac really is self-explanatory, but I personally would have liked just a bit more.
- You have to remember to charge it.
I’m almost looking forward to getting some dirty DIY done so that I can clean the windows again! (Well, almost…).
Do you have a Karcher Window Vac – what do you think of it? Do you have a house cleaning chore that you hate most? Do you have a favourite gadget that makes housework easier & quicker?
PS. If you’d like to see some of our other Kärcher reviews, here they are:
- Kärcher Steam Stick
- Kärcher K4 Compact Home Pressure Washer
- Kärcher Wet & Dry Vacuum Cleaner
- Kärcher Rain Box
Update: Kärcher Window Vac Review 5 Years Later!
I can’t believe we’ve already been cleaning our windows with our Kärcher window vac for almost 5 years. The window vac has held up beautifully and still functions exactly the same as it did when we first got it.
In the beginning, we struggled to get streak-free windows but with a bit of practice (and making sure that the rubber is always clean), it does get easier to achieve perfectly clean and streak-free windows.
Other than that, it does exactly what it promises and makes cleaning windows much quicker, which is a good thing as we now have 68 windows to keep clean!
If you have a lot of windows, we’d still definitely recommend it!
We just bought a Karcher WV2 and we agree that the instructions are sparse. We’re about to use it, and we’re about to rip off the little plastic tag (“seal”) which covers the sprayer. No reason why we shouldn’t rip it off, is there? We’re a bit nervous….
Great website!
Thank you, Gloria! We still use our Kärcher window vac and love it. I honestly can’t remember the seal on the sprayer – I was obviously too excited to start using it! ;) I’d say go for it.
Cx
And it’s BRILLIANT! Makes light work of window cleaning. We ended up with a few streaks, but those will be eliminated with practice I’m sure.
Yay, so happy to hear that you like it as much as we do!
Cx
Oh I love a good Karcher product! Glad you guys like it. We use ours nearly everyday (have a couple of condensation issues until we get some of the glazing sorted). You’re right though, it is annoying if you’ve forgotten to charge it and it runs out halfway through! X
Yep, we’ve not had a bad one of theirs yet, but I guess any product is only as good as the person that uses it! Off to stick ours in the charger now! ;)
Cx