Karcher FC7 vacuum mop review

Karcher isn’t just for your outdoor areas anymore. Now it has an indoor mop, but is it any good?

What is it?

The Karcher FC7 is a cordless mop and vacuum combo cleaner. 

It’s designed to gently suction you floor while mopping it at the same time. 

It has a 400mL tank that feeds fresh water onto four rotating pads. The pads then sweep and gently suction dirt, dust and other detritus into your waste tank in between the pads.

It both mops and vacuums. It does the former better than the latter, but it’s better than having to use two devices to do the same job on a hard-surfaced floor.

Karcher has a range of add-ons that can help you with other surfaces like stone, but right out of the box, you’ve got tile and wood sorted.

Design

It’s a tall, stately gadget that will sit proudly in your laundry.

A silver stem leads down to Karcher’s signature black and gold base, with four cleaning pads that can be removed and tossed in your washing machine.

All I’ll say about the design is that I sure hope you like looking at a big yellow pole in your laundry. That’s exactly what you get with the Karcher FC7.

If you’ve ever seen a Karcher product before, the design won’t surprise you. It’s quite imposing when you move it indoors.

The colour makes a great deal of sense for a product you keep out of sight in a garage or out in the garden. 

But in your home, the Karcher design language feels a little out of place sometimes. Maybe an all-black version would work better next time?

Otherwise, the Karcher FC7 is a brilliantly-designed bit of kit. There are only three buttons on the whole unit, making it really simple to use.

It’s incredibly easy to set up and even easier to use.

Does it work?

Once you’ve got the Karcher FC7 out of the box and charged, it’s really simple to get going.

Simply fill the tank to the line, add half a capful of the included cleaning solution, and get going.

You have to get the pads wet on the Boost mode before you can take off, but that can be done within 30 seconds.

The four roller pads move swiftly across the floor, meaning you don’t have to apply a lot of force to get it going around your house.

You’ll need a couple of passes back and forth to thoroughly go over a particular spot. But otherwise it’s a breeze to use.

As you go, the brushes will loosen dirt and dust from your floor, and vacuum it up into the waste water tank. The 200mL tank itself fills pretty quickly, however. If you’ve got a big house, expect to be emptying it once every few rooms.

I tested the Karcher FC7 in my one-bedroom apartment. I found myself having to both empty the waste tank and refill the fresh tank about halfway through the job. Keep that in mind for those in a mansion.

Thankfully, the battery is far more longevous than the water tanks. You can expect each charge to last for up to an hour. Your job won’t take anywhere near that long, though. Ideally, you probably wouldn’t have to charge it more than once a month in a one or two bedroom place.

The pads are also great for multiple uses, too. They’re machine washable at 60C, so quickly popping them into the machine renders them good as new.

Karcher FC7: Is it worth the money?

Do you have only hard surfaces in your home? If so, it’s probably for you. We have hardwood and tiles throughout, but there’s no use for the Karcher FC7 on rugs or carpets.

If you’re looking for an all-in-one floor cleaning gadget, you might be better off with something like an LG CordZero mop/vacuum hybrid.

But if you’re happy having bespoke gadgets for both hard and soft surfaces, the Karcher FC7 is the best hard floor cleaner out there.