Cordless vs mains pressure washer
Updated: 21.10.2026
You hoped one pistol would rinse the car and lift the green off the drive, because the title says 1,200 psi. A cordless vs mains pressure washer choice is about bar, litres per hour and minutes. The Products Compared editorial team wrote this on 19 October 2026 from Sealey, Outside Restored, Ideal Home, Electrical Safety First, and the listings in our [cordless pressure washer comparison](/hub/compressors/cordless-pressure-washer). It is not a lab test, and it does not crown an ASIN. How to read a listing is on the [cordless pressure washer buying guide](/hub/compressors/cordless-pressure-washer/sub/cordless-pressure-washer-buying-guide).
You hoped one pistol would rinse the car and lift the green off the drive, because the title says 1,200 psi. A cordless vs mains pressure washer choice is about bar, litres per hour and minutes.
You hoped one pistol would rinse the car and lift the green off the drive, because the title says 1,200 psi. A cordless vs mains pressure washer choice is about bar, litres per hour and minutes. The Products Compared editorial team wrote this on 19 October 2026 from Sealey, Outside Restored, Ideal Home, Electrical Safety First, and the listings in our cordless pressure washer comparison. It is not a lab test, and it does not crown an ASIN. How to read a listing is on the cordless pressure washer buying guide.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | Stated pressure | Stated flow | Batteries | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  JVISION JVISION brushless washer | Not stated | 5 L/min | 2 x 21 V 4.0 Ah | 8.1 | about £49.99 | View offer |
| Best value |  TUODYF TUODYF 725 psi washer | 725 psi | 200 L/h | 2 x 21 V 2.0 Ah | 6.4 | about £25.49 | View offer |
| Alternative |  Prapark Prapark 60 bar bucket kit | 60 bar / 870 psi | 8 L/min (bullet 4–8) | 2 x 2.0 Ah | 5.2 | about £43.99 | View offer |
On this page
Put the psi title on a bar scale
One bar is about 14.5 psi, so 100 bar is about 1,450 psi. Sealey calls light duty 100 bar and below, about 100–200 litres per hour, for furniture and small vehicles. Medium duty, for patios and decks, is about 100–180 bar and about 200–450 litres per hour. The consistent pairs in this cordless set top out at 60 bar / 870 psi, on Prapark and Yelyee. That is inside the light-duty band, not next to a 100 bar mains washer.
A 1,200 psi title, on YKYI and on Jwdj, is about 83 bar if the title is true. It is still under Sealey’s 100 bar line, and it is untested here. Rivlox prints 1500 psi in the title and 1500 pascal in the table. JVISION lists 5 litres per minute and no maximum pressure, on 4.3 from 1,864 reviews. Electrical Safety First describes mid-range mains washers as usually at least 1,600 watts and above 90 bar, and cordless guns as generally less powerful.
Flow and minutes decide the patio
Sealey’s light-duty flow, about 100–200 litres per hour, is the band a small cordless claim can touch. TUODYF lists 200 litres per hour. Outside Restored contrasts about 220 litres per hour on a handheld example with about 390–465 litres per hour on mains examples. Yelyee and Prapark list up to 8 litres per minute, which is a higher claim than 200 litres per hour, and it is still a listing line rather than a measured patio test.
Flouritech reviews include about 15–20 minutes per pack, and about 16 minutes in one test, against a 20–45 minute bullet.
If the gun primes and the slabs still will not shift, the nozzle is not the missing part. Car rinses are on the cordless pressure washer for car washing page. A dry pump is on the how to use page.
Which jobs belong to which machine
Outside Restored assigns bikes, furniture and a quick car rinse to cordless, and patios, paths and driveways to mains. Use the battery gun on a dusty car, a bike, garden furniture and a small plastic bin. Use a mains washer when the job is square metres of paving, a green path, or mud that has dried into the treads of a tyre.
The charger is still a mains appliance. On these guns the water risk moves to the charger, which belongs indoors. A hosepipe ban is a local notice from the water company. Read the notice for your undertaker before you fill anything.
When a second machine is the honest buy
Owning both is rational if you already have a mains washer for the patio and you want a gun for the car on days you will not unwind the hose.
The best cordless pressure washer page names who each conditional pick is for, and who should skip it. It does not turn any of them into a patio machine.
Common questions
Will a cordless gun clean a driveway?
Not in the sense a mains patio washer does. Sealey puts patios and decks in a medium-duty band of about 100–180 bar and 200–450 litres per hour. The consistent cordless claims here top out at 60 bar / 870 psi. Review files in this set call the guns useful and not a mains replacement for heavy dirt. A light rinse of furniture is a different job from green slabs. If the slabs are the job, buy mains.
I have no outdoor socket. Is cordless the only option?
Cordless is the option that does not need a socket beside the job, and that is a fair reason to buy one for a car, a bike or furniture. It does not increase the pressure. For a driveway you still need a mains washer, which may mean a suitable extension lead from indoors, or you accept that the drive waits. The missing socket is an access problem. The bar figure is a separate one.
I already own a mains washer. Is a battery gun still useful?
Yes, for the jobs you do not want to unroll the hose for. A bike, a bin, garden chairs and a quick dusty-car rinse are the uses Outside Restored gives the handheld. The mains washer stays the tool for the patio and the path. You are adding a second machine, not upgrading the first. If every job you do is paving, the pistol will disappoint you in the way the reviews already describe.
Are cordless washers quieter or safer because they have no cable?
This set does not publish a noise test, so this page will not call them quieter. They are not safer merely because the gun is battery-powered. The charger plugs into the mains, and Electrical Safety First still wants that supply kept away from water. Charge indoors. A mains washer’s risk is the cable on the patio. A cordless gun moves that risk to the charger and adds a battery that ends the wash early.
Can a cordless gun run from a water butt when a hosepipe ban is on?
Several listings can draw from a butt or a bucket in ordinary use. A hosepipe ban is a notice from your water company, and a bucket or a butt is not automatically exempt. Read the notice for your undertaker. If that notice restricts the use, the nozzle does not create an exception.
Related pages
Sources
Public UK sources below. amazon.co.uk listings checked on 19 October 2026.
- legislation.gov.uk: Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999, Schedule 2 paragraph 15 (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- Water Regs UK: hose union taps (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- Electrical Safety First: pressure washers (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- HSE: pressure-washer shock (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- Sealey: pressure washers buying guide (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- Gardeners' World: pressure washers buyers' guide (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- Worx UK: WG633E cordless power cleaner (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- Yard Force AquaJet user manual (retrieved 19 October 2026)