A full set of colored tips costs about the same as a sandwich and does more for your results than any upgrade short of a surface cleaner. The only thing to get right is the flow rating, which most buyers do not know exists.
Match the rating to your machine
Every nozzle has an orifice sized for a flow rate. Too large for your machine and water passes through without building pressure, so you lose force. Too small and you push the pump harder than intended.
| Your machine | Buy a set rated |
|---|
| 1.2 to 2.0 GPM electric | 1 to 2 GPM |
| 2.1 to 2.5 GPM gas | 2.5 GPM |
| Over 2.5 GPM | 3.5 GPM and up |
Your GPM is on the machine’s label. If a set does not state its rating anywhere, that is a reason to pick a different set — most generic ones are sized for gas machines, which is why they underwhelm on an electric.
What a set must contain
Green 25° and white 40°, which are the two you will actually use. And the black soap tip, because detergent will not draw without it. A set missing the black tip is incomplete regardless of how many others it has — and if yours is, the seven-pack of soap tips in the picks here solves it for a few dollars.
Red 0° and yellow 15° are usually included. You may never fit either; that is fine. What each one is for is in the color chart.
Brass or stainless?
Brass tips are cheaper and wear slightly faster, which shows up as a gradually wider, less defined spray pattern after a few seasons. Stainless holds its orifice longer.
At these prices it barely matters. You will lose a tip before you wear one out, which is the actual argument for the sets that include a holder — the most underrated feature in this category, and the reason the seven-tip set with a holder is in the picks.
What I left out, and why
Adjustable multi-pattern nozzles — the twist-to-change-angle type. Convenient, and they compromise on every angle to achieve it, plus they are an extra failure point under pressure. Separate tips are cheaper, better defined and more reliable.
Sets with no stated flow rating. Without that figure you cannot know whether the set suits your machine, and this page exists mainly to make that point.
Also worth having
A few dollars each and they prevent specific annoyances: a adapter set if your machine is M22 rather than quick connect, and an inlet water filter, because grit from the supply is what blocks nozzles in the first place.
If your concrete is the problem rather than your tips, the next page is best turbo nozzles.
