Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

At first the Kärcher K5 seemed like a good Power washer. Sure, there were some plastic parts that seemed cheap and flimsy like the garden hose quick connect, but I figured I could always get a third party aftermarket replacement when it breaks. Well that may be the case for the garden hose quick connect, but the pressure hose is another story. Somewhere a few years ago Kärcher began using a proprietary style quick connect on many of their consumer grade pressure washers. The K5 is one of them. Since it is non-standard in the industry there are few (if any) third party accessories compatible with this series of Kärcher Pressure washers, leaving you solely at the mercy of Kärcher for any accessory that attaches to the Pressure washer hose, like a replacement or an extension for the existing 25’ hose. (which they are presently ‘out of stock’ and do not know when it will be available). After 30+ minutes w/ Kärcher Customer Service, it was clear that they had no clue, so I asked to speak to Technical Support. She said that was not possible and suggested I call a local Kärcher authorized repair service. She transferred me to Warranty Support and after another 5-10 minutes on hold they gave me a couple of numbers for ‘Authorized Service Centers’ near me. They were both about 40 miles away, but that’s OK, `cause all II need is advice. Well the first shop (a lawnmower repair shop) had no clue as to the problem I was experiencing as they had never seen a newer model Kärcher w/ this kind of quick connect. The next one (another lawnmower shop) told me that the ‘Pressure Washer’ guy didn’t work on Fridays and to call back Tuesday or Wednesday. So not only are you out of luck on the out of stock part, when it does arrive get ready to pay over twice the price that you would otherwise pay for a suitable replacement elsewhere. And who knows when that will be? Just park the Kärcher K5 in the garage and put your thumb on the garden hose like you did before you gave Kärcher $250 or so. I would love to just return the K5 and move on to something less proprietary, but I'm 2 weeks outside of the Amazon return window. :-(