Here’s a gadget that sounds like the perfect thing to keep in the trunk of your car: the Norshire is not only a portable pressure washer and jump starter, it’s also a semi-portable mobile device battery and a hazard sign. All you have to do is keep it charged and in your trunk; when you need it, it’ll be ready.
As of today, there are still 24 days left to back this campaign; I have a working model in my possession, so let’s go over my experience with it. But first, here’s an overview of what it can do …
Inside the first of two boxes, I found the Norshire device. The second box held a USB to mini USB charging cable, a USB wall charger, a washer gun, a long brush, a 1.5m inlet hose, a 5m outlet hose, jump starter clamps, a foaming bottle, and a user guide (mine’s in Chinese, but the final version will hopefully be in English).
The Norshire measures 9.3″ across and 2.5″ tall; it weighs just over 3 pounds. On it’s front, it has two 5V/2A USB outputs, a power button, an LED indicator light, a mini USB charging port, and a 12V startup port.
On the back, there’s a plug for the output hose for when you’re power washing; on the top, there’s a plug for the input hose.
The bottom of the Norshire has a reflective triangle that you can use if you are ever stuck on the side of the road.
Charging the Norshire is done by plugging in the mini USB cable; it takes a couple of hours to do this, and the LED will blink red as it charges. When you plug it in, a female voice will say “battery charging”; when charging is complete, she will announce, “the battery is full; stop charging.”
Unfortunately, I don’t have a vehicle with a dead car battery, so I couldn’t fully test the Norshire’s battery-jumping capabilities. But can we agree that there is nothing more annoying than coming outside in the morning and realizing that because you didn’t properly shut the door or you forgot to turn off an interior light, your battery is dead? Rather than calling for help, and without dealing with dirty and unwieldy jumper cables, you can easily handle the Norshire and the battery clamps to jump-start your vehicle on your own. I like being self-sufficient, so I approve.
Worth noting is that it’s impossible to plug the jumper cables in incorrectly, as one side is flat and one is round.
Norshire supports most car types in the market and can jump-start a car up to 30 times when fully charged. [However,] it might not be able to jump-start some 4-wheel drive vehicles.
The Norshire works well as a semi-portable powerbank; it’s got an 11,000mAh internal battery, so its two 2A USB ports can be used to charge up to two mobile devices at the same time. Norshire mentions that in this capacity the device can be handy when you’re camping out; it can supply power “speakers, fans, phones, lamps, and laptops.”
The use that I’m most excited about, though, is the pressure washer capabilities. Kev and I have a huge 300-gallon pressure washer, and I don’t ever bother to use it for washing my car because it’s so big and such an ordeal to use. The Norshire, on the other hand, is a small device with easy to handle hoses. All you need to get started is a bucket to hold the water. The Norshire has the battery life to last for up to an hour of pushing water through the foaming brush or through the sprayer. You might have to refill your bucket, but you don’t need to wash your car next to a faucet.
You attach the hoses to the Norshire like this; there’s a metal coupler on the outlet hose, but none out the intake hose — you just slide it over the metal plug in the center of the Norshire. There’s a filter basket on the end of the intake hose that goes into your bucket; that will keep leaves or other debris from getting into your hose.
The foaming bottle and brush go together like this …
Both the foaming frush and the metal sprayer uses a standard hose coupler to attach or remove from the hose.
To get started, you’ll fill your bucket with water and stick the inlet hose into the bucket.
Here’s my dirty Jeep …
WASH ME
To activate the power washer, you press the power button on the Norshire; a female voice will tell you that “the battery is full, double-click the button to start water pump.” Give the button two quick presses, and the motor will start up.
I sprayed my Jeep with water using the metal sprayer first. Then I removed the sprayer and attached the brush with foam attachment. My Jeep is big and tall, so I had to fill the soap jar twice.
After you’ve given your car a good cleaning, you’ll uncouple the brush handle from the hose and attach the spray handle, then rinse everything off.
Sorry for the blurry photo — my hands were wet. 😉
It took filling the bucket twice to get enough water to clean my Jeep; if you have a little sports car, one bucket may be enough. The hose was just long enough to make it all the way around my Jeep.
I probably could have spent a little more time on the tires, but they’ll just get dusty the first time I drive down our coleche roads.
While the spray wasn’t as strong as our industrial power washer, it was powerful enough to peel off dead bugs and mud that were clinging to my windows and paint. I’d call that a win. The Norshire was still telling me that my battery was full after I had completed washing my Jeep, so you don’t have to worry that it might die in the middle of a carwash; it lasts a long time.
The Norshire is a pretty cool, self-sufficient little device. I like that it makes jumper cables and power washing accessible to everyone; the fact that it can also be used as a power bank or even a hazard sign when needed is a convenient bonus.
The Norshire Portable Car Pressure Washer and Jump Starter retails for as low as $99, and it is available for presale on Indiegogo.
Source: Manufacturer supplied review sample
What I Like: Combination pressure washer, battery-jumper, and semi-portable powerbank; Easy to operate; Comes with everything you need but the bucket; Compact for easy storage
What Needs Improvement: Don’t expect the same spraying power you’ll get from a professional power pressure washer, but it’s still pretty good!