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18ft poles pratcical reach

BigFoot

Well-known member
Messages
937
Location
South wales
I’m looking for the lightest pole I can afford as I’ve started having repetitive strain manifesting in pins and niddles in my arm waking up and cramping fingers. From what I can see the Gardiner 18 ft slx looks a good option at 990g my one concern is I often clean terraces with cars parked in front of the house and clean from the road over the cars. Does anyone use this pole or similar in such a situation and is it capable of it. I’m 6”2 if that helps. 

Ive been doing that many first cleans this summer my body has taken a hammering so I need to find a way to mitigate the abuse building a round takes on the body. Thanks!

 
What pole do you use now?

I have the slx18 and it is a good pole. I mainly bought it to do low work, as I needed a shorter collapsed length pole than the top 5 sections of my Xtreme 47 I use most of the time.

Now, I am able to use the slx18 on several if my customers where I previously used my longer pole. But oh man do I feel the difference between the Xtreme and the slx. I'm totally hammered after a day with a lot of semi high work with the slx extended all the way.

Now, some of this is because the Xtreme is simply a stiffer pole, but I do believe the shorter sections of the  slx18 make the pole less stiff as well.

So if money is short go for the slx25, but the Xtreme is the better option and will pay for itself if you have the money to cash out, and take good care of it.

 
I use the slx18 for 90% of my work best thing I ever done was using  slx22 as my everyday big difference by the end of ta long day. 

I will probably also go over to the extreme brushes eventually but have a few ultimate brushes to get thru yet. 

 
I found myself in a similar situaton to you a few years back. So I bought an SLX18 for it's light weight. It was great for the RSI and worked well for about 75% of my work. However, I often needed a little extra length, and would switch to an SLX 25 I had bought for the few 3 storey town houses I do.

The difference in weight was considerable, so when I broke my SLX18 in December 2016 I decided to replace it with an Xtreme 22 due to it being the same weight as the SLX18. The X22 does 99% of my work without the need to grab for the SLX25.

I you can stretch to it I can thoroughly recommend the Xtreme 22

 
What pole do you use now?

I have the slx18 and it is a good pole. I mainly bought it to do low work, as I needed a shorter collapsed length pole than the top 5 sections of my Xtreme 47 I use most of the time.

Now, I am able to use the slx18 on several if my customers where I previously used my longer pole. But oh man do I feel the difference between the Xtreme and the slx. I'm totally hammered after a day with a lot of semi high work with the slx extended all the way.

Now, some of this is because the Xtreme is simply a stiffer pole, but I do believe the shorter sections of the  slx18 make the pole less stiff as well.

So if money is short go for the slx25, but the Xtreme is the better option and will pay for itself if you have the money to cash out, and take good care of it.


I use the budget streamline pole 1.3kg and a viakan brush that’s not light but they are hard wearing. I’ve been happy using it as I’m not yet at maximum capacity and do first cleans and one offs egularly and the brush and pole take a hearing and do the job but I’m spent!

cant wait until I’m generally doing mainly maintenance!

I use the slx18 for 90% of my work best thing I ever done was using  slx22 as my everyday big difference by the end of ta long day. 

I will probably also go over to the extreme brushes eventually but have a few ultimate brushes to get thru yet. 


Im going to get the lightest brush and probably swap out for old brush for first cleans.

ill keep my other poll in the van so if any jobs I can’t do for length I suppose I would just use that.

I found myself in a similar situaton to you a few years back. So I bought an SLX18 for it's light weight. It was great for the RSI and worked well for about 75% of my work. However, I often needed a little extra length, and would switch to an SLX 25 I had bought for the few 3 storey town houses I do.

The difference in weight was considerable, so when I broke my SLX18 in December 2016 I decided to replace it with an Xtreme 22 due to it being the same weight as the SLX18. The X22 does 99% of my work without the need to grab for the SLX25.

I you can stretch to it I can thoroughly recommend the Xtreme 22


I’d love an Xtreme wfp but I’m still investing in other kit so have  a lot of outgoings, I don’t really want to buy this right now but RSI changes the game.

did you find your RSI went quickly following the change of gear?

 
I use the budget streamline pole 1.3kg and a viakan brush that’s not light but they are hard wearing. I’ve been happy using it as I’m not yet at maximum capacity and do first cleans and one offs egularly and the brush and pole take a hearing and do the job but I’m spent!

cant wait until I’m generally doing mainly maintenance!

Im going to get the lightest brush and probably swap out for old brush for first cleans.

ill keep my other poll in the van so if any jobs I can’t do for length I suppose I would just use that.

I’d love an Xtreme wfp but I’m still investing in other kit so have  a lot of outgoings, I don’t really want to buy this right now but RSI changes the game.

did you find your RSI went quickly following the change of gear?


In my case I haven’t had a serious bout of RSI since I switched to the lighter pole. The problem was I always needed that extra length and so needed a second longer pole which is why when I broke the SLX18 I switched to the X22. The cost of the two poles exceeded the cost of the Xtreme anyway

 
I have a extreme 22, slx 22 and slx 18, my go to pole is the slx 18 although it's supposed to be the same weight as the extreme 22 it feels much lighter in working use in fact the slx 22 doesn't feel much heavier than the extreme so i don't think it was worth paying the substantial  extra and the slx 22 will last longer so unless you're expecting to clean lots of 3 floor properties I'd go with that and in any case my 22 reaches the few 3 floor I have.

 
I am also 6 2 and use my slx 18 for most of my work, I used to use the slx 27 all day every day and no wander I used to feel ill.

My wife has the extreme 18 and it is light, but....she has an ultimate brush on that and it feels the same weight as my slx 18 with an extreme brush on it.  Having said that most of the weight is the end of her pole whereas mine has most of the weight in the pole.

I use them both and can honestly say I much prefer the slx with an extreme brush as it feels lighter in every day use, it must have something to do with weight distribution. What I'm trying to say is if you can only afford an slx then if you get an extreme brush then you'll be just as good as having an extreme pole.

And here's something you know but might not realise, a pole although maybe expensive can be replaced...your joints cant!

Find the money for the best stuff you can buy if its going to benefit you and your health/longevity. Money is just money its easy come easy go, you'll only ever have one body so look after it mate cos you wont get another no matter how much money you save on equipment.

 
I am also 6 2 and use my slx 18 for most of my work, I used to use the slx 27 all day every day and no wander I used to feel ill.

My wife has the extreme 18 and it is light, but....she has an ultimate brush on that and it feels the same weight as my slx 18 with an extreme brush on it.  Having said that most of the weight is the end of her pole whereas mine has most of the weight in the pole.

I use them both and can honestly say I much prefer the slx with an extreme brush as it feels lighter in every day use, it must have something to do with weight distribution. What I'm trying to say is if you can only afford an slx then if you get an extreme brush then you'll be just as good as having an extreme pole.

And here's something you know but might not realise, a pole although maybe expensive can be replaced...your joints cant!

Find the money for the best stuff you can buy if its going to benefit you and your health/longevity. Money is just money its easy come easy go, you'll only ever have one body so look after it mate cos you wont get another no matter how much money you save on equipment.
You’ll be glad to know @paul alan that I ordered a Gardiner 18 slx yestarday and took delivery of it today (excellent  service).

I couldn’t agree more in what you posted above, I ignored all the warning signs my body was giving me and have had to take a few days off to hopefully give my body the chance to recover.

I’m thrilled with the slx much more rigid than my previous pole and much lighter with shorter stock so easier in tight spaces. 

Thanks everyone who contributed to this thread as I’ve considered all of what’s been said to help me make what I think is a good investment.

Cheers!

 
You’ll be glad to know @paul alan that I ordered a Gardiner 18 slx yestarday and took delivery of it today (excellent  service).

I couldn’t agree more in what you posted above, I ignored all the warning signs my body was giving me and have had to take a few days off to hopefully give my body the chance to recover.

I’m thrilled with the slx much more rigid than my previous pole and much lighter with shorter stock so easier in tight spaces. 

Thanks everyone who contributed to this thread as I’ve considered all of what’s been said to help me make what I think is a good investment.

Cheers!
you wont regret it.

Juts have a light brush to go with it and you'll absolutely love it, its a pleasure to work with.

I went through the same thing as you last year, loads of first cleans. I though the best way to deal with them was to get through as fast as I can and so went at them like a man possessed. I nearly scrubbed the panes out of the frames! as a result I was chronically fatigued, my body and mind were exhausted and some days I felt like I was deaths doors.

This year I decided to break my SLX 27 down to an SLX 18 and put a light brush on, that in itself was a major step forward. But the best thing I did was to SLOW down and stop RUSHING around my work which did two things a) took the effort level down a few notches and b) helped me SPEED up my work.  Just like the tortoise and the hair, over the long run slow and steady wins the race!

Check your glass before scrubbing it and identify any muck may that need a good scrub and super scrape it first, then Whats left can be dealt with by gentle scrub. You dont need to push hard on the brush to remove Whats basically dust, let the bristle tips do the work.

On a scale of 1-10 if 1 is not pushing at all and 10 is brush flat against the window you only need somewhere between 2-4 to get the job done. You are much better off using light pressure and giving the glass 1 more agitation the effort required to do that is much less. Take note of how the body feels when pushing hard on the brush, you become out of alignment and your posture suffers. You become all tense and become fatigued much quicker, you start to feel agitated and the slightest thing like catching your hose on something can make you annoyed and cuss.

I have also found a light and accurate technique gives me much better results and I feel way more confident when leaving a house I know its bob on.

All these points may not be relevant to you but it shows that when something is wrong in  your doing then all you have to is evaluate what you are doing and make the necessary changes and everything becomes easy again, take a really good look at WHY you feel like carp at the end of your working day and what exactly could you do differently to make it easier? Then set to work on making your job WORK  for you and not you for it.

I hope some of this may be of help, enjoy the SLX 18!

 
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