Learn me pressure washers

I have to believe this topic has been hashed out already but I didn't see it and maybe times are different t. I seem to recall being able to buy a gas unit for under $300 but I'm old and I remember we $1 gas and $2 cigarettes so I don't know if that's real. 
I borrowed my neighbors harbor freight job, for $85 I was impressed but I want some more volume and power. I looked at the hammer store and they have a higher end electric one for a couple hundred. The gas ones all seem a little pricier. I want to clean my sidewalk and some vinyl siding on my garage. It would probably see infrequent use, maybe some spring car cleaning. 
what days the hive on options and pros and cons of different ones. 
 

TLDR

tell me what pressure washer to buy for occasional use that isn't very expensive. 

Lowes Depot still has some cheap gas-powered units for around $350 that would more than do the job for what you're talking about. If you're OK with a little less oomph, but also less maintenance and noise, you can get a more-than-decent electric in that range or cheaper. I just bought a Karcher Cube on Amazon for a bit over $100 to use on the cars and such. I also have a Homelite gas-powered one with a Honda engine. Since I bought the electric, the gas one doesn't see much use. It's pretty rare that I need the extra power.

I have a gas one. Expensive. Powerful.

I'd buy electric if I were doing it over again. Once you start the engine on most gas units you're really not supposed to deadhead the thing for longer than about 10 seconds. So you find yourself starting it up then spraying like hell until you shut it off again. "Don't stop, it's hard on the pump. Keep the trigger pulled"....

On an electric you can start and stop without the hassle of gas. Much more enjoyable and not as stressful.

That's interesting about the dead heading. I had a marcher that I bought used a few years ago. I used it for a while and it ate the pump, something with the squash plate. I took it apart and fixed it but that turned me off. I didn't know that you weren't supposed to do that. 

NY Nick said:

That's interesting about the dead heading. I had a marcher that I bought used a few years ago. I used it for a while and it ate the pump, something with the squash plate. I took it apart and fixed it but that turned me off. I didn't know that you weren't supposed to do that. 

If the water isn't flowing, it's not being cooled.

Timely in that I just watched this little video a couple of days ago. Dude does a great job of covering the basics of how to treat your machine properly. I'm not a YouTube nut, but this guy is a good one to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXywPdn8Zfo

The better machines will have an unloader valve. Trigger not pulled, pump stops pumping. They will circulate water through the pump and it will eventually get hot but they have a way to discharge that too and get cooler water into the system.

To compare how much work you can do with different pressure washers the industry uses the term "cleaning units." Multiply the pressure times the volume and that will give you a number you can use to compare different machines.

I have an old Simpson that is 4000psi @4 gals a minute. Its a beast that weighs a ton and it is overkill for automotive cleaning so I picked up one of those Sunjo electric ones. I'm impressed with it for what I've asked it to do but cleaning a sidewalk or driveway I drag out the beast.

I have a small gas one I bought for like $25 without a pump several years ago.  It works well, but kind of a pain to drag out and start for a small job.

My son ended up getting a SunJoe from Amazon, and I didn't even start up the gas one this year.

I had a thread about this here:

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/pressure-washer-deckbrickfence-paint/162919/page1/

Everybody helped a ton, but CURTIS knows the most about this. With his recommendation, I purchased this:

MegaShot 3000 PSI at 2.4 GPM Honda GCV160 Cold Water Premium Residential Gas Pressure

Happy as a clam. 

DanielBBCR said:

Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) said:

 I just bought a Karcher Cube on Amazon for a bit over $100 to use on the cars and such. 

How do you like it? I'm currently looking for a pressure washer in that price range, but I'm not sure which one to choose.

So far so good. It seems to be put together a bit better than the old SunJoe I had before. I've only used it for car washing.