Kärcher FC5 cordless hard floor cleaner offers you the quickest way to clean wood, tile, concrete, stones and linoleum floors. Its Pre-moistened rollers provide non-abrasive cleaning. Karcher’s patented technology means no pre-sweeping or vacuuming – a single pass wet and dry cleans. Fill the detergent tank with your favorite cleaner, and the dual rollers are automatically pre-moistened. The vacuum system extracts dirt and water into an easy-empty secondary tank. Reveal more in Kärcher FC5 cordless hard floor cleaner best price and review.
Pros & Cons – Kärcher FC5 cordless hard floor cleaner (best price and review)
Pros
- Serious hard floor cleaning
- Easily removes dried-on mud
- Floor only gets damp (not wet)
- Streak-free finish
- Polishing action
- Works on variety of floor coverings
Cons
- Takes some man-handling
- No tilt action on floorhead
- Small waste water tank
- No cleaning fluids supplied
Specifications
- Power: max. 460W
- Cleaning performance per tank filling (approx.): 60m²
- Tank capacity fresh water: 400ml
- Tank capacity dirt water: 200ml
- Roller speed: 500rpm
- Roller working width: 30cm
- Drying time of cleaned floor: 2 minutes
- Cleaning station volume: 200ml
- Cable length: 7m
- Weight: 4.6kg
- Dimensions: L32cm x W27cm x H122cm
Does it clean all types of hard floor?
It cleans hard floors with gusto, removing loose debris and even the worst dried-on stains from riven textured tiles, and buffs sealed laminates to perfection. It’s quite a beast to use, as you must overcome its own forward-drive momentum and the waste tank needs regular emptying. Yet for seriously tough hard-floor cleaning with a great finish, the FC5 is hard to beat.
It promises to vacuum and wet-clean a variety of hard floors from riven tiles to laminates, and polished ceramics to vinyl. It can be used with clean water or any propriety hard-floor cleaning solution made for machine cleaners. Karcher offers a range of solutions that cover stone floors, sealed wood such as laminates, waxed wood such as parquet, and a general multi-purpose solution.
Availability – Kärcher FC5 cordless hard floor cleaner best price
Priced at S$798, the Karcher FC5 Hard Floor FC5 Cordless Premium Cleaner certainly matches up to its price tag. However, there is plenty to consider if you’re plonking down this sum for the home especially when it comes to the run time and floor space it’s able to clean before the battery gives way. If you have an apartment, the Karcher FC5 Hard Floor FC5 Cordless Premium Cleaner might be your new best friend.
Compare Kärcher FC5 cordless hard floor cleaner
| Karcher FC5 Corded | Karcher FC5 Battery | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Upright Vacuum Cleaners | Upright Vacuum Cleaners |
| Bin Capacity | 0.2 L | 0.2 L |
| HEPA Filter | No | No |
| Weight | 4.6 kg | 4.4 kg |
| Cord Length | 7 m | |
| Power | 460 W | |
| Manufacturer Warranty | 2 year(s) | 2 year(s) |
Key features
Incredible 2-in-1 Function
Excellent 2-in-1 cleaning. Say goodbye to the inconvenience of vacuuming before mopping. The FC5 features the Karcher’s pattented SmartRoller technology, allowing it to mop and vacuum at the same time. Additionally, it can pick up both wet and dry dirt.
The SmartRoller also removes any excess water, so you don’t have to worry about waiting forever for the floor to dry – you’ll have dry floors in less than 2 minutes. This is going to save you a lot of time and effort and from feedback so far is a fantastic feature.
Two-tank System
The FC5 works with two water tanks. One is for the clean water and detergent, and the other one is for the dirty water. The clean water tank can be filled from a tap, and has a 400ml capacity, more than enough to clean the whole house without stopping to refill it. The dirty water tank on the other hand is smaller and has a 200ml capacity. It’s very easy to remove it and empty it without coming into contact with the dirty water. Just make sure to keep an eye on the dirty water tank and empty it often.
Innovative Drive Concept
By now, you’re probably thinking that all of these feature must make this cleaner very heavy. Well, you’re not wrong! The Karcher FC5 weights little more than 10 pounds (4.5kg). However, the forward rotating rollers propel the machine across the floors with ease. All you have to do is guide it. And for most people, less than 5kg is easy enough to handle. It’s around 5 bags of sugar.
Self-cleaning Function
This is easily the best function that the Karcher hard floor cleaner has. No longer will you have to stop mid-work to clean your mop. The FC5 vacuum function automatically removes all the dirt or liquids from the rollers, leaving you free to continue cleaning.
What’s more, the rollers are made with high quality microfiber, and can be easily taken off and washed in the machine if necessary.
Kärcher FC5 cordless hard floor cleaner review
Design
Big, very yellow and seriously robust, the FC5 from Karcher is almost completely assembled in the box. Simply clip on the handle, place the machine upright in its dock and you’re ready to go.
Rollers
Two forward-rotating rollers extend right out to the edge of the floorhead and are covered in a microfibre fleece material. This picks up fluid from the clean water tank and rotates at 500rpm, collecting dust, dirt and debris while moistening and scrubbing the floor. At the rear of the rollers, a squeegee and vacuum slot draws dirt and dirty water out of the roller’s fleece surface and into the waste tank.
Floor head
The wide floorhead has a side-to-side action that allows you to steer, but there’s no up and down tilt articulation. The machine is designed to be run at around a 60-degree angle from the ground. Yet that angle is likely to get rather shallower if you’re on the short side (with the handle lower to the ground), or tend to reach way forward when cleaning. There’s some latitude in the angle before the rear squeegee contacts the ground, though.
Water tank
On the subject of water tanks, the FC5’s clean water tank is a reasonable 400ml in capacity. Conversely, the waste water tank is a considerably more compact 200ml before you hit its MAX level. While that does pretty much balance out in use – about 50% of the water is recovered, dirty) – it does mean you have to empty the waste every time you refill the clean tank.
Other feature
The roller power and suction motor amount to approximately 460W and the FC5 has a usefully lengthy 7-metre mains cable. It comes supplied with a waterproof dock that collects any drip-water and can be used to prime the rollers from dry. A small measuring cup is supplied for that very purpose.
How to Setup and operate Kärcher FC5 cordless hard floor cleaner?
Setting up the Karcher FC5 cordless cleaner is easy. Fill up the water tank, add in a small portion of cleaning fluid and you’re good to go. Operation wise, use it like a vacuum. This is not a tool which the kids can help with. Not only is this a 4.4 kg beast to handle in only one hand, but you’d also need to lift the cleaner at an angle for the microfibre rollers to make full contact with the floor.
Unlike a traditional mop where fluid control largely depends on the type of mop used and how good the strainer used. The Karcher FC5 cordless cleaner leaves a nice layer of fluid as you go about “painting” the floor. The amount of liquid is just right as it only takes a few minutes before the floor is completely dry. The rollers essentially buff the floor into cleanliness picking up dirt and hairs along the way as well. By releasing clean water onto the rollers, the FC5 cordless cleaner simultaneously extracts the soiled portions from the roller and deposits it into the wastewater tank. No mess, and only just the right amount of liquid used.
Furthermore, the power button itself has to be manually toggled to power on/off. Take your hand off the handle and the cleaner could easily drag itself on your pristine floors.
Kärcher FC5 cordless hard floor cleaner Cleaning performance review
On laminate and other smooth surfaces, it’s much less an issue – but after buffing 20sqm of deeply riven tiles in the conservatory, I needed a lie down and a sports massage. The results are well worth the effort, though.
The laminate floor in our hallway is under a constant barrage of dogs coming in from walks, muddy Wellington boots and a constant stream of couriers. It gets plenty of muck ground-in and usually requires vacuuming first then attacking with a mop and some serious elbow grease.
The 400ml water container did empty at a fairly rapid rate. You won’t get much more than 30 minutes or so of cleaning before it needs a refill and the waste tank needs emptying. They’re sized that these chores need doing at the same time, but we’d have much preferred a waste tank that could have handled a few refills of the clean tank first.
On smooth floors such a the laminate and parquet, it’s much easier to move. Jackie didn’t have any major issue with manoeuvrability here, apart from noting that it did feel quite weighty in the hand. Things get a whole lot tougher on heavily riven stone tiles, where the rollers really drive the machine forwards and resist pulling back.
Maintenance
Maintenance wise, the microfibre rollers are machine washable though it might be a big waste to throw that into the washing machine. Considering that they are also made of hard plastic, being faced down with the prospect of having the rollers or washing machine damaged is a prospect no one looks forward to. Unlike a big mophead, these rollers can simply be rinsed off gently and placed in the sun to dry.
Kärcher FC5 cordless hard floor cleaner customer review
FC5 + Dyson + Robot Vacuum will make the dream team.
My house is all hard floor, wood + tiles. FC5 can mop much better than me using a spin mop. The first time I used it on the family room, I ran it three times, still the waste bin got black water. I can’t imagine how much I missed using the spin mop. Kids (5 and 8) often drip all kinds of juice, milk, ice cream here and there. With FC5, I don’t have to get on my knees and scrub the floor. I just hold FC 5 there for 20-30 seconds and let it do the work. After that, I run the FC through the spot again so it will be drier. Now mopping the floor is much easier. Essentially, you just guide FC5 to walk around the house. Don’t let it go too fast. With the rollers rolling, it tends to move pretty fast forward. Yes, still you need to take care of the clean tank and waste tank. But the clean floor and no need to get on knees is well worth it.
The vacuum function of it I believe is to vacuum away the waste water and dirt on the roller. It really is not designed to vacuum the floor. So my plan now is to keep my Dyson ball to do a thorough vacuum and then run the FC5 maybe twice a week (Depending how hard the kids work on messing up the house). Then daily just let the robot run during the day to do basic maintenance. This should be enough.
After finishing mop, I can run the rollers in the holder with some clean water. But since the manual said need to keep them dry afterwards, I just threw them into washer and air dry. They came out very clean, like brand new. So hopefully the rollers can last long.
The only reason I give 4 star is that it’s not too light, it needs some effort to hold it from running to fast. Another big complaint is that Kacher is not selling all the different floor detergents in US and yet they claim not using them may cause the warranty default. Make me wonder if they do this on purpose to avoid the warranty hassle.