Brodex Raptor Poles

[Inspecta-Group]

Morning all, I'm a newbie & wondering what anyone opinions are on the Brodex Hybrid poles are. Should I get 25ft of go straight in for a 38ft? So best of both worlds, Any help will be appreciated.

 

[ched999uk]

I haven't used Brodex poles but if they are cheap it's usually for a reason! If you are new the starting off with a 38ft pole isn't a good plan. Personally I would go for a 25 or 27ft Gardiners SLX pole. It will be more expensive but it will be a great pole.

 

[Pjj]

Are there the heavy aluminium ones ?? If so avoid at all cost .

 

[Inspecta-Group]

I haven't used Brodex poles but if they are cheap it's usually for a reason! If you are new the starting off with a 38ft pole isn't a good plan. Personally I would go for a 25 or 27ft Gardiners SLX pole. It will be more expensive but it will be a great pole.

Afternoon,
Thank you for your reply, the pole is 33ft hybrid, it weights 1.95kg it looks a decent pole & comes with a brush £270 delivered Or a 25ft hybrid 1.42kg £145 delivered?
Just need a bit of advice really. Been looking at so many.

 

[JohnDoeWindows]

Only ever held a Brodex pole once and it weighed a tonne compared to its competitors

 

[Inspecta-Group]

Only ever held a Brodex pole once and it weighed a tonne compared to its competitors

Afternoon John,
There 30ft carbon fibre pole weights 1.75kg?

 

[adamangler]

Have a look at the quoted weight for them compared to a clx or slx then decide

 

[ched999uk]

Also note that Brodex are quoting the length as Reach not actual pole length!!

 

[Inspecta-Group]

Also note that Brodex are quoting the length as Reach not actual pole length!!

I'm thinking of starting off with a Gardiner clx?

 

[Clean zero]

SLX 25 can’t go wrong

 

[spruce]

I dealt with Brodex once and never again.

I had a very bad experience buying 2 Prolong Poles in the early days. As @ched999uk says they were advertised as 22' poles but only 18' long as they included 'reach'.

I purchased them after receiving a text with an offer. They came 3 weeks later after many chase up calls. Money was taken on the day of the order. They then invoiced for a higher price and argued the validity of the price I was quoted. Thankfully, I still had text proof. Then they advised their policy was to re-invoice at the quoted price and pass a credit for the first invoice. It took me 3 months of continual phoning to eventually get a refund.

A small window cleaning business with 3 vans, each with Brodex systems, had a controller failure on one of the vans. Brodex quoted £150 + VAT for the PC board, but their supplier was out of stock. I saw the controller was a Varistream which we could buy off the shelf for around £80. Bought one from Daqua and used the PC board to repair the Brodex unit.

A Shurflo pump failed on one of the other vans. The owner phoned Brodex for a pump. £160 + VAT, but they didn't have stock as they were awaiting a delivery from their supplier. Their supplier had stock but wouldn't supply Brodex until their outstanding account was settled. Again, Daqua had a Shurflo pump at around £60.

I just had a look.
Brodex want £142.80 for a replacement Shurflo pump. Is there also an additional delivery charge? I don't know.

Brodex Pump 100PSI - Brodex

100psi 12V DC double diaphragm pump designed by Brodex Machine Services. Rugged design includes a universal industry standard footprint.

brodexbms.co.uk

Daqua have the same pump at £93 including delivery.

Pentair Shurflo Pump and Digital Pump Controllers

Buy Shurflo pumps from us - the best selling pumps in the window cleaning industry! Next working day delivery to most UK areas.

www.daqua.co.uk

Just look at Brodex's conditions of sale: It's very one-sided in my opinion.

Conditions of Sale - Brodex

BRODEX TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF SALE FORM OF CONTRACT The term “Company” shall mean Fluid Science Limited and the term “Customer” shall mean any person, firm or company seeking to enter into an agreement with the Company for the...

brodexbms.co.uk

 

[scottish cleaning service]

Has Brodex not went bust a few times?

 

[Pjj]

I dealt with Brodex once and never again.

I had a very bad experience buying 2 Prolong Poles in the early days. As @ched999uk says they were advertised as 22' poles but only 18' long as they included 'reach'.

I purchased them after receiving a text with an offer. They came 3 weeks later after many chase up calls. Money was taken on the day of the order. They then invoiced for a higher price and argued the validity of the price I was quoted. Thankfully, I still had text proof. Then they advised their policy was to re-invoice at the quoted price and pass a credit for the first invoice. It took me 3 months of continual phoning to eventually get a refund.

A small window cleaning business with 3 vans, each with Brodex systems, had a controller failure on one of the vans. Brodex quoted £150 + VAT for the PC board, but their supplier was out of stock. I saw the controller was a Varistream which we could buy off the shelf for around £80. Bought one from Daqua and used the PC board to repair the Brodex unit.

A Shurflo pump failed on one of the other vans. The owner phoned Brodex for a pump. £160 + VAT, but they didn't have stock as they were awaiting a delivery from their supplier. Their supplier had stock but wouldn't supply Brodex until their outstanding account was settled. Again, Daqua had a Shurflo pump at around £60.

I just had a look.
Brodex want £142.80 for a replacement Shurflo pump. Is there also an additional delivery charge? I don't know.

Brodex Pump 100PSI - Brodex

100psi 12V DC double diaphragm pump designed by Brodex Machine Services. Rugged design includes a universal industry standard footprint.

brodexbms.co.uk

Daqua have the same pump at £93 including delivery.

Pentair Shurflo Pump and Digital Pump Controllers

Buy Shurflo pumps from us - the best selling pumps in the window cleaning industry! Next working day delivery to most UK areas.

www.daqua.co.uk

Just look at Brodex's conditions of sale: It's very one-sided in my opinion.

Conditions of Sale - Brodex

BRODEX TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF SALE FORM OF CONTRACT The term “Company” shall mean Fluid Science Limited and the term “Customer” shall mean any person, firm or company seeking to enter into an agreement with the Company for the...

brodexbms.co.uk

Very similar to Ionic’s they use the aquatech pumps and they charge around £180 , you can buy them else ware for around £90

 

[ched999uk]

I'm thinking of starting off with a Gardiner clx?

They are good poles but personally I wouldn't go over about 22ft with a clx as they are a bit flexible. At the beginning this is a plus and a minus. On the minus side when you move the brush left to right there is a bit of whip (the brush keeps moving when you stop the bottom of the pole due to momentum). The plus side is that when you get used to it it can be quite handy being able to bend over a bit to get some hard to reach sills.
I started with a slx27 and not being very fit it was quite taxing using that for a few hrs a day. I bought a clx18 and that was a lot less tiring to use but obviously has it's limitation height wise.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the brush. I'm not going to go into all the different types (Gardiner has a spreadsheet that details what brush is for what job, so you can find an all rounder) but the weight of the brush is important. i.e. the longer the pole is the more the weight of the brush puts more strain on your body especially when reaching across conservatories or extensions.

When deciding what brush to get look at as many properties in your target area and see if they are modern (relatively low height floors), Victorian (quite high between floors), 3 story town houses etc. Even using Google maps with sat view can give you an idea of how many have conservatories, dormers, velux, extensions etc.

Have a search on here (top right) for 'poles' and spend some time reading as you will learn a lot.

 

[Part Timer]

They are good poles but personally I wouldn't go over about 22ft with a clx as they are a bit flexible. At the beginning this is a plus and a minus. On the minus side when you move the brush left to right there is a bit of whip (the brush keeps moving when you stop the bottom of the pole due to momentum). The plus side is that when you get used to it it can be quite handy being able to bend over a bit to get some hard to reach

This is why I recommend any newbie to learn with a CLX as once you get over 35' you will have this problem with most poles.
Now I appreciate 90% of windies won't get to this height in their careers but to learn it in your early days, and to help build muscle memory, on the cheap, is a no brainer

 

[tench0771]

Get a slx much better pole