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What is the best pole on the market?

Lewisspittle

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Messages
21
I’m going to buy a pole within the next 2-3 weeks. Price isn’t really an issue, I just want the best on the market to be honest. I want something that is going to last and something that is really light

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I'm amongst the minority on here, I personally don't see the benefits of paying a lot more for a Gardiner SLX compared to a CLX. Very little difference in the weights and only a difference in the stiffness. If you have loads of very awkward angles then buy a SLX, otherwise save a £100 and buy a CLX 

 
Using a rigid pole is handy for cleaning poor condition gutter fascia down pipes. I find it gives more accuracy and the last thing you want is something falling off as its me who has to replace it..

 
My Slx 25 has been a absolute work horse. Bought in June 16, haven’t maintained it well, dropped it twice when it’s been extended at a reasonable length, and obviously general use/wear over 2&half years. No splits, no cracks, nothing at all gone. Not even a clamp gone.

For £250+vat or whatever it is, for me I don’t think you can argue that it isn’t the best pole for: price, stiffness, weight & long lasting all included, in the UK market. 

 
My Slx 25 has been a absolute work horse. Bought in June 16, haven’t maintained it well, dropped it twice when it’s been extended at a reasonable length, and obviously general use/wear over 2&half years. No splits, no cracks, nothing at all gone. Not even a clamp gone.
For £250+vat or whatever it is, for me I don’t think you can argue that it isn’t the best pole for: price, stiffness, weight & long lasting all included, in the UK market. 
 

Nice one mate. When I go on the one I want it all gets abit confusing with:
Gooseneck
Brush
Jets
Hose
Hose connector type

Any advice on which ones please lads?


Sent from my iPhone using Window Cleaning Forums
I'm amongst the minority on here, I personally don't see the benefits of paying a lot more for a Gardiner SLX compared to a CLX. Very little difference in the weights and only a difference in the stiffness. If you have loads of very awkward angles then buy a SLX, otherwise save a £100 and buy a CLX 

Nice one mate. When I go on the one I want it all gets abit confusing with:
Gooseneck
Brush
Jets
Hose
Hose connector type

Any advice on which ones please lads?


Sent from my iPhone using Window Cleaning Forums
 
Nice one mate. When I go on the one I want it all gets abit confusing with:
Gooseneck
Brush
Jets
Hose
Hose connector type

Any advice on which ones please lads?


Sent from my iPhone using Window Cleaning Forums

Nice one mate. When I go on the one I want it all gets abit confusing with:
Gooseneck
Brush
Jets
Hose
Hose connector type

Any advice on which ones please lads?


Sent from my iPhone using Window Cleaning Forums
Quick Loq angle adaptor, brush is personal but the medium soft with pencil jets is more than good enough and an ez snap tail. You will need to buy an EZ snap female to fit on your hose reel. All the above are personal choice aimed at getting you going, in time you will be playing with brushes, swivels etc. 

 
Quick Loq angle adaptor, brush is personal but the medium soft with pencil jets is more than good enough and an ez snap tail. You will need to buy an EZ snap female to fit on your hose reel. All the above are personal choice aimed at getting you going, in time you will be playing with brushes, swivels etc. 

Nice one mate. Appreciated


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slx best all round pole on the market but if you have a well estabilished round doing plenty every day then i'd recommend an xtreme, used slx for years but dubious about buying an xtreme then i took the plunge and its been bang on, finish work every day feeling good and not worn out and i found ive been making more money since buying it so its paid for itself easily too and making more money!

all about working smart for me, i'd rather wear a pole out then wear my joints out.

 
I use an Extreme for approx 70% of my work - the difference between this and my old CLX-22 is massive - so much lighter and more rigid. You do need to keep up the maintenance on the Extreme poles - flush any grit out with water on a weekly basis, re-lacquer and add new stop tape etc... on a three monthly or so basis - there are videos on You Tube which show you how to do this. I would recommend you order it with a long swivel neck - as below:

https://gardinerpolesystems.co.uk/all-products/water-fed-poles/goosenecks-pole-fittings/plastic-gooseneck-system/quick-loq-resi-neck-type1-long-swivel-new.html

This makes it easier to get into the corners of hard to reach windows and also prevents you from scratching the pole on wide first floor concrete sills - which every round probably has.

For the other 30% (ie: bungalows) I use a CLX-10 which is an excellent pole for working in confined spaces and can even reach some first floor windows.

 
I’m a gardiner fan and have an extreme, 4 slx’s And clx the clx is my favourite clx4 lol. 

Seriously  though if you have a full days work than the extreme is a must I personally use the extreme18 now everyday for probably 95% of my work with an extreme brush apart from 1 day a month when I use a slx18 with ulltimate flock brush as we do Around 30/35 leaded houses on that day.

Work smart and get the lightest pole you can afford. 

 
Just to give a different opinion to most,

I started with a clx, then a slx, and for the last two n half years been using an extreme 22 for the bulk of my work and occasionally an extreme 35 where required. 

The extreme 22 is a great pole, but the clamps have wore away the carbon just below the clamp position. To overcome this I put a single wrap of insulation tape just under the clamp, this sorts the spinning and also stops it wearing away more carbon. 

I thought i would try the phantom hi mod 22. Both poles stripped down its the same weight as the extreme 22 bar a few grams. The phantom has just a little more flex to it than the extreme, this may be because the phantom top section is a smaller diameter than the extreme, but in general use this is easily sorted by not fully extending each section where not required. The clamps though are so much better. They grip the pole better and hopefully the clamp will wear and not the pole. Also the ends of the pole are a slightly larger diameter to stop it coming out the clamps, not just a bit of tape so hopefully less maintenance. A bit of grit or something got in there the other day, so easy to just take the pole apart on the customers lawn and give it a flush through and not have to worry about damaging or replacing the tape. 

With the the top section being a smaller diameter it won’t take the Gardiner swivel gooseneck, but with a bit of patience and a bench grinder I have reduced the gooseneck to fit. The gooseneck will however go straight into section no 2 and clamp down. I am told that extension  pieces will be available as with the gardiners. If they do I may buy one and do away with the no 1 section and this I think will sort the slight flex when fully extended. 

The red exceed hose that you can get with it is also good in my opinion. I use hot water and it works well with the univalve with no problems. 

I bought this pole pole for my lad as an upgrade from the slx he uses, but I haven’t give him it yet as I prefer using it myself. Not sure but it probably works out more expensive than an extreme especially when you consider the Gardiner poles come with a brush and a nice free gift sometimes. 

After using it it for a month or so, if I had to buy another pole tomorrow I would buy another phantom. 

 
Over the years I’ve used CLX, SLX and Xtreme poles and my preference by far is the Xtreme.

I notice a significant difference between each. I last used a CLX about 7 years ago and though it was a vast improvement over the fibreglass poles I used before it, when I later switched to the full carbon SLX the difference was significant. More rigid, lighter and a much better pole, and without trying I worked faster.

When I switched my everyday pole to an Xtreme last year I had the same experience again.

I’m not a young man anymore so this probably has a bearing on my experience, but there it is.

 
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