Introduction
Car washing has always been a challenge for those of us who nurture our cars like babies. Giving it to our local help who will use questionable quality rags (I can’t even call them clothes, you see), and then having to deal with the swirl marks just triggers my OCD to another level. The specialists are there to fix these issues or even for the times you want to see your vehicle gleaming like new, but it can’t be done very often.
Dylect, a brand popular in the electronic equipment industry, offers a range of high-pressure car washers, ranging from a 1,400 Watt/120 bar unit priced at Rs. 4,499 to a 2,200 Watt/200 bar unit priced at Rs. 9,000. We sampled a mid-range version, so read on to find out our take on it.
What is it?
Called the Dylect Ultra Power, this high-pressure car washer pump is rated at 150 bars pressure with a 1,800-watt motor. It comes with a host of accessories that manage to sort out every little problem you can think of while washing your car on your premises. All versions get a one-year warranty, starting from the date of purchase.
What’s in the box?
The Dylect Ultra Power comes with 14 cycle parts (excluding the main motor component and user manual), all of which are easy to assemble, even if you haven’t used a Lego set in a few years. Apart from the assortment of spray guns, pipes, and wheels, the latter of which makes it a convenient affair to move around, there is a hose adapter that will ease the use of attaching the input pipe without having to search for an alternate.
Then there is a particulate filter for the times when you use a bucket and are unsure about the quality of water with its share of soil or other elements that could damage the car’s paint. The top rack with a handle and a set of extensions to hold the foam gun and water gun are certainly handy on multiple occasions.
How does it work?
Getting the washer ready, right from unboxing to the first spray shouldn’t take you more than 15 minutes, based on multiple factors such as the distance between the pipe from the water and electricity source and the proximity to your car. While it needs a fixed 15A point to source power, water can be taken in two ways, one with a bucket or any other limited source of water, or a straight plug-in to the local tap. Heck, this is where your EV charging point gets another use case too.
The far end of the nozzle has a rotary dial that will adjust the intensity of the spray based on one’s requirements. Once off to a start, you need to have a steady hand on the gun with a few fingers on the trigger, while the second hand can help you aim the throw of the water. The attachments for the water source around the gun and the motor need nothing more than simply plugging them in, while plugging them out requires the pull of the green switch at the front and rear, respectively.
Coming to the spray, one flick of the trigger gives out a constant and even spray, but you need to have a careful grip on it, as even a shade of power lesser and the flow of water will come to a halt. If you are two people doing it, coordination might become a challenge, courtesy of the loud motor at work.
Using the foam gun requires the front section of the spray gun to be removed and replaced with the former. While some of us might use a fancy shampoo thinking that nothing else makes the cut, a simple shampoo sachet or two from the neighbourhood shop will also do the trick, just as I tried back at home. The pressure, even at its lowest point, is adequate enough to leave a thick layer of white foam wherever the gun is pointed, leaving a nice soapy finish for you to rub and clear all that muck and grime which usually tends to stick around after a standard water-only wash.
It was while getting back to the post-foaming process did I realise that the bucket needed another refill. By the end of the whole course, while I did have my vehicle bright and shiny, I grasped the fact that the machine, due to its nature of pressure washing and a certain freehand of mine to thoroughly clean the car, ended up using more than thrice the average quantity that I use with a manual (non-motorised) pressure washer.
While washing the Comet seen in the pictures here, the adjustable nozzle head for the water input certainly helped my case when there were multiple water sources available on offer. I could park the car next to any of them, merely adjust the pipe’s mouth size, and I was ready to go, err, wash. If I had to nitpick something in particular, it would be the length of the wire that runs to the 15A socket. Yes, Dylect has provided a decently long cable, but any excess has never hurt us now, has it?
Conclusion
The Dylect Ultra Power High Pressure Car Washer pump comes in at a point that sits conveniently between washing the car occasionally by yourself rather than handing over the keys to the watchman daily, or even to the local car washing guy on a fortnightly or monthly basis, for that matter. In terms of pricing, there are four options to choose from, and they each come with their own set of individual motor and pressure outputs, yet manage to position themselves conveniently between the manual systems or the ultra-high and flagship products from other makes.
It does quite well in giving the intended vehicle a quick wash with rather satisfying results, even though Mother Nature would look down upon us for the comparatively higher use of natural resources. That said, it is not something that one would use on a day-to-day or even weekly basis, so you can certainly learn to strike a balance somewhere in between. Given a choice, I’d be hurtling towards switching my apps and removing selected saved items from my shopping list to make way for this one. Need I say more?
Product specifications
Brand: Dylect
Model: Ultra Power
Dimensions: 32.9 x 26.2 x 70 cm
Weight: 6.8kg
Pressure: Up to 150 bar
Motor power output: 1800 Watt
Price (MRP): Rs. 5,999
Warranty: 1 year
