Local News

Does It Really Do That? Turbo Jet

July 28, 2014 / 5:45 PM EDT / CBS Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Dave Lobaugh, of Lobaugh Maintenance, gets a lot of use out of his pressure washer by cleaning concrete, brick, siding, wooden decks, and more.

"It's about a $400 or $500 model, one guy can put it in the truck and take it out himself. It takes approximately five to ten minutes to get set up, and it does take gasoline," Dave told KDKA-TV news anchor/"Does It Really Do That?" reporter Jennifer Antkowiak.

Dave and his customers love the results he gets, but, the idea of being able to use something lighter, and less expensive sounded interesting to him.

The Turbo Jet is supposed to turn any garden hose into a power washer. The commercial shows it being used to clean all the kinds of things Dave works with.

He took a look at the Turbo Jet and liked a lot of the features. Plus, he said it appeared to be well-made.

"It's lightweight and it has a handle that you don't have to squeeze. It turns on and off real easy. It has an aluminum shaft with some brass handles and brass connections," he said.

Dave and Jennifer were at a patio that needed some work. The Turbo Jet is supposed to be able to quickly and easily clean built up dirt, leaves, debris, and even algae.

The directions and assembly were easy. Dave simply screwed the Turbo Jet want on a garden hose. There's a lever that allows you to adjust the water flow too.

He started with the fan spray nozzle, which is supposed to work like a water broom to easily clear debris.

"There's not a whole lot of pressure there," Dave said. "I could get this with a hose."

The Turbo Jet did move some leaves and twigs, but not as effectively as Dave had hoped. Since the marketing claims the Turbo Jet turns any hose into a power washer, Dave wanted to see if it would clean dirt off concrete, which is something he knows his pressure washer can do.

Dave and Jen did see a difference on the concrete, but Dave felt it was taking too long, and wasn't happy with the quality. Again, he said, "I think I could get the same results out of a hose nozzle."

Next, Dave tried the Turbo Jet on the wooden deck. There again, it did some cleaning, but Dave just wasn't impressed.

"I don't see any algae whatsoever being removed here, and I'm holding it within an inch," he said.

He didn't feel much better about how it worked to clean dirt off sliding doors. Dave changed out the attachment to try the Jet Spray nozzle.

Again, he didn't feel much of a difference in power as he went to work on some stones.

"I'm [going to] be here a long time," he said.

For the sake of comparison, Dave wanted to try cleaning some of the same things with the regular garden hose sprayer.

"Jen, I think I'm getting more pressure out of this, I really do," he said.

Dave felt like the hose did the same, if not better moving debris and cleaning the window.

To show the kind of quality and speed he's used to, Dave fired up his pressure washer. There was a big difference.

His washer easily cleaned the concrete, the algae off the wood decking and brick, dirt off the sliding glass doors and stones, and he blasted algae off a chair in seconds.

"Bang! Done!" he said.

So, the Turbo Jet promises to turn any garden hose into a power washer and blast away dirt, debris and algae quickly and easily.

Does it really do that?

Dave gives it a thumbs down.

"It doesn't do a good job, and it's just too time-consuming," he told Jen.