(The quick-start guide shows the bladder sitting on a mysterious opaque cube.) Five gallons of water weighs over 40 pounds, and while we were trying to clean a remote side of a house, we struggled to find any way to position the bladder higher than the washer and to keep it anywhere near as close to where we needed it to be. But the instructions say to position the bladder 20 inches above the washer motor while the machine is in use, and accomplishing this is not easy. To do this, you fill the bladder with water and connect it via the included tube.

You can attach the RY40PW01DG9 to a hose, as you can do with any pressure washer, but it also offers something more: Because it comes with a compatible 5-gallon water bladder, this Ryobi model can be completely untethered from both an outlet and a hose. Other competitors come with two or three brackets to wrap the hose or cord around, and these pieces do keep the hose or cord tucked away, but they’re tedious to loop, and the tight wind tends to give hoses and cords a memory, so they’re less likely to sit flat in use. A few other models have something similar, but the Ryobi design is the only one that has a small attached bungee to secure the power cord once you’ve hooked it. (It also helps that the hose on this Ryobi washer is of a higher quality than many of its competitors’ hoses.) The power-cord storage similarly consists of a single hook on the side of the handle that’s about as basic as it gets, but it’s really simple to use: Just loop the cord as you would any extension cord and hook it. Unlike on the hose reels we saw on competitors, the gently looped hose on this Ryobi model isn’t strained, and when you need to use the hose, it lies flatter than any hose stored on a reel. We like this design because it doesn’t confine the hose to a tight loop in any way. A simple Velcro strap at the handle holds the looped hose. The cord and hose storage is also excellent.

Stihl vacuum hose