I bought the electric one the last time it was on woot and I love it.
I don’t have a shed and wanted to be able to bring it into the basement during winter. I also knew the PSI on the electric was fine for doing stuff around the house.
It did a great job getting the algae off my concrete patio. It’s much easier to use than the Karcher I had. The hose on this one is much more flexible and I like how everything is laid out on the machine.
My take on gas vs. electric is that, while gas def gives you more PSI if you need it, you still have to run a hose to it – so what’s so hard about also running an extension cord as well? I also don’t have to worry about fuel or winterizing it.
I have a karcher pressure washer i got off woot. it runs at 1200 psi. when we got out new house in florida it successfully cleaned the stucco, gutters, and the cedar fence as well as keeping all 6 of the family cars clean. like other reviewers pointed out you will need a good extension cord. but the electric will do you fine. i wouldnt buy a gas one unless you are going to be running it on a weekly basis or powerwashing concrete. 2700 psi may hurt your brick. getting a good house cleaner/car wash soap helps because it does do some of the work for you and your pressure washer.
Here is how I think about refurbished… Mechanical items like this here can make a great buy as a refurb… As for electronics, I would not touch an electronic refurb with a 12 woot pole if you ask me…
Refurbished product obviously had to have some major design defect that happened to slip by a presumed quality control process, and while the items sold well, it seems that the majority of those units that sold were returned as being defective…
So these units were tested initially, then sold and used by customers who -in a way- tested them again only to discover that they had one issue. They were returned, that one issue was repaired and presumably they were tested again.
And by “tested” I don’t mean each and every unit… Testing can be done on a random selection in a production run, or if the target number of units that will be manufactured is known, then they may test every nth unit to arrive at a certain percentage of testing and quality control quotient.
Some refurbished product turn out to be better than new, others still suck… It depends on the manufacturer
Warranties depend on the product, the manufacturer, and sometimes even the seller.
In this case, the warranty is for one year, and it is specifically being offered with “Black Max”… Meaning once you receive the unit, Woot is out of the loop.
To summarize, I think the price reduction that is often offered on refurbished products makes for an even more attractive deal on units that have been put through some additional tests and verifications for proper operation.
I know that the one my neighbor bought, which is the same as this one, does have separate tips so I assume the this one also has separate tips. However, I could be wrong.
I bought a Black Max reconditioned gas PW on woot a couple years ago. It came dented from the factory in two places. DOA. It turned out one of the dents impeded the rocker arms and the unit wouldn’t work until they were straightened. BM tried to get out of paying for the repair (at an authorized shop they sent me to).
I had to press BM with a number of calls on behalf of the repair center. They finally fixed it, but it ate up so much time I was regretting buying a refurb. FWIW, the wheels looked like they had seen a lot of action.
With my experience I can not recommend buying a refurb from BM.
I don’t share the same confidence regarding refurbished items as do you. I DON’T BELEIVE THAT REFURBISHED IS EVER BETTER THAN NEW!!
Look at it this way. If refurbished is actually better, as you suggest, why does a refurbished item cost about half the price of new? And why does an extended service agreement from a company like Square Deal ALWAYS cost a minimum of 17% the value of the item it’s protecting FOR ONLY ONE YEAR? That’s a lot of money…much like Loanshark payments.
You also say the that refurbished electronics are not nearly as good as refurbished mechanical items. I don’t believe that you could be further from the truth! As an example, I have NEVER discarded a TV because it stopped working. More often than not, people dump their old TVs because a newer model has some features which the older model did not have.
Finally, people don’t always return items because they malfunction. Too many times they return items because they simply don’t like the product. The retailer takes the item back even though the consumer’s reasons for return are frequently baseless.
Thanks for all the advice. I went with the gas one. I will be careful cleaning my deck and house with it. The further you stand back the less psi. That is why I got the gas one. You never know what might come up and I don’t want to be wishing I had more power.
Warranty is one year through Black Max- you should be able to contact them for more details on exactly how they do refurb vs. new warranties, but it should probably be the same.
Underwriter Labs (UL) came out with an industry safety specification several years ago for pressure washers after many people had been seriously injured or killed using this kind of equipment. Of particular concern was electric washers. It doesn’t take a lot of smarts to connect what could happen if you have an issue with an electric washer while standing in a puddle of water.
That standard is UL-1776. Google it.
Most major manufacturers get their equipment tested and certified to UL-1776 because they are concerned about operator safety and liability.
Black Max is built in China and does not certify its machines to UL-1776.
Thanks for that posting. I was leaning towards the electric when you mentioned this. One would figured that even stuff that gets imported has to adhere to our safety standards.
Once again my faith in the government agencies that are supposed to regulate and control this sort of thing is shaken.
Thanks for that posting. I was leaning towards the electric when you mentioned this. One would figured that even stuff that gets imported has to adhere to our safety standards.
Once again my faith in the government agencies that are supposed to regulate and control this sort of thing is shaken.
I was thinking exactly the same. At first I was thinking on purchasing the gas one, but after taking into account that:
1- It’s a refurb
2- Only a 1 year warranty
3- If something goes wrong with it, Woot is out of the loop and you are at the mercy of BM
If you look at all the above, plus Woot’s price Vs. Sam’s Club, it’s only about an $80.00 difference. A good extra year of coverage runs you about 30 to 40 extra so in the end you are only saving 40 to 50 bucks.
Peace of mind is worth that, IMO. Oh yeah, and the Sam’s product is 2800 psi.
I’m sure not everyone is a Sam’s Club member, but more likely than not, you have a friend that has a membership with them.
I know UL is not an agency. But if the industry standard is such one that it’s been observed in order to prevent accidents and death, then maybe someone should be looking at it. Don’t you think?
Every manufacturer treats refurbishing of items differently. Having worked in a returns processing center that handled returns of power washers, generators, and riding lawn mowers, I have some knowledge of this.
Here is the deal with pressure washers. Some elements of the general public purchase a power washer to say clean their deck… then promptly put it back in the box and return it to the store they purchased it, thereby avoiding the cost of renting the equipment. They know they have to have a reason for the return so they say “meh… it didn’t work right”. The cashier returns the product with a return code of “defective” and it is returned to the manufacturer (or third party return center). The return center takes the product out of the box, looks it over, repackages/repacks the item then sells it to a third party seller of “refurbished” goods.
In almost all cases no actual work is done to the units other than a visual inspection and repackaging because in 90% of the cases there is nothing wrong with the product. If you think a mechanic is looking over this item, you are mistaken. It just isn’t cost effective to do that.
If a defective item is returned twice because it actually has something wrong with it, it gets thrown in a dumpster and taken to a landfill. Doing anything else with it is a waste of money.
It’s been a great machine. I have a 1500 sqft screened lanai and it does a heck of a job on the deck. I’ve also used it numerous times to clean the mold/mildew off the outside of my gutters, aluminum soffit, as well as around my windows, doors, etc.
I picked up a surface cleaning attachment at Lowes for $70 that has really made cleaning the deck a piece of cake. I’ll hopefully do my driveway sometime this week.
I turn the gas on, turn the water on, squeeze the trigger on the wand, pull the rope start with the other hand, and it starts on the first pull every time.