Verdict

With its all-in-one design, combining a microfibre cleaning cloth and solution, and a window vacuum, the Vorwerk Kobold VG100 Window Cleaner is the fastest way to clean your windows. It's also one of the best, leaving a streak-free finish on some of our dirtiest of windows. However, its large size makes it less suitable to smaller windows, and the high price may put some people off.

Pros

• Fast to use
• Excellent cleaning results
• All-in-one design

Cons

• Expensive
• Quite large

Window vacuums are a great way to get that streak-free finish on glass, but they generally come as two parts: a cleaner and the vacuum. The Vorwerk Kobold VG100 Window Cleaner is a bit different, as it includes everything in one unit, so you can swipe once to clean and vacuum.

Excellent performance with a shiny finish makes this a quick way to clean your windows, but the price is relatively high.

A quick top-up and go is all the Vorwerk Kobold VG100 Window Cleaner needs, but be careful not to spill cleaning solution

An all-in-one device, the Vorwerk Kobold VG100 Window Cleaner is a little chunkier than its rivals (290 x 140 x 110mm, 995g), although rivals typically come as two parts. There’s a chunky handle on top, which makes it easy to grab the window cleaner.

Before you start, you have to prepare the window cleaner for use. It ships with a plastic tray, which you need to prevent any run-off water from making a mess of the surface that you stand the VG100 on when not in use.

The plastic tray stops water from ruining a surface

Next, you need to charge the cleaner, which takes around 6 hours from flat. When charged, you have to attach a microfibre cloth to the bottom using velcro (you get two in the box and they can both be machine washed).

Once the cloth is in place, there’s a cleaning cartridge in the box. This is used for the cleaning solution and the wastewater, with separate tanks for each. In the green side, you add 5ml of the Kobold GC100 solution. There’s a mark on the bottom of the tank, although it’s a bit hard to see. Then, you add 80ml of water and shake to mix.

The cartridge takes cleaning solution and stores the dirty water

Once the cartridge is inserted into the VG100, the liquid is released automatically to saturate the microfibre cloth. Make sure that you keep the VG100 completely flat, otherwise, you can spill fluid and have uneven saturation of the cleaning cloth.

The Vorwerk Kobold VG100 Window Cleaner is easy to use but its size may restrict use in some places

Once you’re ready to start cleaning, all you have to do is tap the power button and slowly move the VG100 across the glass surface you want to clean. It’s important to lead with the microfibre cloth and follow up with the vacuum. Depending on the level of dirt, you may need a few swipes. For a few deeper stains, I found it easier to turn the VG100 off, hold it at a slight angle and use a bit of elbow grease to really pick up the mess.

The window cleaner is easy and fast to use

Provided you move at the right pace, the VG100 effortlessly vacuums up the cleaning solution left behind, with the built-in squeegee giving you that streak-free finish. Testing on an exposed skylight, I went from a filthy mess to very clean and streak-free glass.

Window cleaning test: Dirty window (left) vs Clean window (right) – move slider to compare

As an overall cleaner, the VG100 is the fastest that I’ve used because it has everything you need in one device. Yet, that can work against you. If you’ve got a smaller surface to clean, such as a small mirror, you can’t always get the VG100 in.

The rival Karcher 10 Year Window Vac Anniversary Edition has two heads for the vacuum: one large and one small, so you can clean even the smallest of surfaces.

Battery life and coverage is excellent from the Vorwerk Kobold VG100 Window Cleaner

Battery life is a minimum of 30 minutes, which should be enough to get around most windows on an average-sized house. Coverage from a single cartridge of cleaning fluid is 20 square metres, which will probably mean topping up and changing cloths if you’re tackling all of your windows in one go.

Each GC100 cleaning fluid tub gives you 40 goes, with replacements costing £7 each. That works out at 17.5p per top-up. It’s worth paying for the Kobold cleaner given the results that I got from cleaning.

Should I buy the Vorwerk Kobold VG100 Window Cleaner?

There’s no doubting the quality and speed of cleaning from the Vorwerk Kobold VG100 Window Cleaner – with its smart all-in-one design making it the fastest cleaner that I’ve ever used. Certainly, you’ll be very happy with the results.

The competition is tough, though. The Karcher 10 Year Window Vac Anniversary Edition costs just £50. It comes in two parts, so takes a bit longer to clean with, but it has two cleaning heads (large and small) for convenience, making it slightly more flexible.

Then, there’s the Alfawise WIN660, which costs a similar amount, but will clean windows for you automatically. This product may need a couple of goes to clean the dirtiest of windows but it does a great job when used regularly.

If you’ve got the money to spare, though, there’s nothing that will clean quite as fast and as effectively as the Vorwerk Kobold VG100 Window Cleaner.

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