Getting ready to make a purchase, I was looking at the Ionic Grafter Plus 32ft (seems to have great stiffness at full extension) & the Brodex 36ft pole…I heard Ionic is tough to deal with but that pole seems great for the price and the Brodex also seems to be a great price for the size although it is all aluminum.
My question is, what do you all recommend? Trying to keep this under $600 - Actually $400-$500 is preffered!!!
Thanks in advance!
How many feet do you need to reach?
My first pole was a Garnier 27 I still use it everyday. Soft fully extended but it do the trick. I would have bought a 35 hybrid etorre but they weren’t on the market yet
i would like to be able to reach aroung 30-40ft without breaking the bank.
i was just checking out the wcr store, there is an unger 27’ hiflow and 27’ hiflow + , what are the differences in the two and are these decent rods?
I entered WFPing this past spring with the Unger Pole Conversion Kit, IPC HydroTube, and 300 feet of Goodyear hose and its been working perfectly thus far. I dont use it everyday but I have clocked about 35 hours with the set up and its still working great. I would recommend it highly!! Also, have you considered continuing to save a bit more for the new poles that are now available? The Reach-it series look absolutely amazing! The Nlite look pretty good, too. You can start fairly cheap and have tons of room for growth. You may quickly find that 35 feet is not enough depending on your niche. Dont forget, you will come into your money if you`re putting in the hard work!
35’ aquaclean, you won’t regret it.
The lighter and stiffer the pole you get the better, but a fair warning*** ONCE you go Carbon Fiber you’ll never want another pole!***
My first WFP was a Gardiner SL2 (Super Lite) and it was stiff and super lightweight, made every other pole I’ve ever used feel like a housing rafter beam. But since then I’ve had great success with both Gardiner and Simpole WFP’s, but you see those are all 100% Carbon Fiber poles, not hybrids.
I’ve also briefly (and I mean VERY BRIEFLY) used a 32’ ionic grafter (hated it), 36’ Brodex aluminum alloy or whatever they hype it as (hated it too), a Extel Hybrid pole somewhere around 30’ long (hated it), and the 31’ 3 Star Hybrid (not nearly as bad as the rest of these poles, but still not as good as a 100% carbon fiber would be). There’s tons of other WFP’s out there and I’ve not tried them all; I can only speak of my own experience. However, I will say this: I know I’ve spent a lot of money on WFP’s over 30’ long and have NEVER yet landed a job over 3 stories high. So, if you can either get the WFP conversion kit and use it on a window cleaning pole you already have that might be a good way to start, and then save up your pennies for a 100% carbon fiber pole as soon as you can, OR buy a shorter WFP (say 25’ long) that has extensions that you can buy to make it longer when you get a job that requires more height and that will allow you to save some money for the extra reach when you need it.
disclaimer- no mention to any products above are intended to sway sales away from the WCR store
I have a Gardiner clx 27 & a ettore 10’. Love em.both. Gardiner is the way to go. IMO
i have Unger 27’ hybrid. No complains at all. very sturdy when fully extended. I did some 3rd stories windows with it. I’m sure it’s heavier than carbon, but for them money is very good. I’m a big fan of Unger everything anyways
I’m the weird one here in that I actually started windowing cleaning with WFP. My first pole was the 32’ Ionic. It was a great price, but the clamps break constantly and it’s very flimsy. I bought a Gardiner Smaxx 50’ last December. To be honest I haven’t had a job where I could really take advantage of the length yet. I live in an area where the water is 10 - 18 PPM, so I just run an Ionic DI color change filter. A filter lasts me about 6 months! Good luck in your choice!
See replies in red below…
The gardiner 27’ is a nice pole. I have worked with this pole a lot. The new Ettore 35’, while not as rigid for the money is an even better pole. If you are doing homes and some commercial work that extra reach will be nice. The 35’ just gets you the extra distance even with the bend of the pole. It’s a hybrid but it handles multi users, in and out of storage, vehicles, etc. It is on the edge of your budget so my thought would be the 27’ unless you can spring for a little more pole. I wouldn’t get anything longer though. It won’t add anything but cost and weight. We don’t use our 45’ but a few times a year.
You should give John Lee a call he can easily walk you through your purchase decision…
1-865-310-0728
This is so easy,
go with a tucker pole, after you do that you’ll love whatever you get next
Tucker = I already know that i’d rather just use an extension ladder…
The Gardiner CLX 27 seems to be solid, why can’t I find it in the WCR store? I had to google it to find.
The Ettore 35ft Aquaclean also looks to be a bit taller for not much more $$$.
Any preferences between these 2?
Also I know back to the Ionic’s - What about the Glyder’s? They seem to have a 30’ & 35’ Full Carbon Pole for $544 and $618. Obviously at this price going CF seems appealing. Although I’m not stuck on it.
Thanks For All The Input Thus Far - It’s Really Appreciated!!!
I was also wondering why wcr dosent carry the CLX anymore. Its a popular pole. Maybe one of the brothers will chime in.
We still have it it’s just the blue Ettore pole now
Same exact thing just a different color. Ettore rebranded them.
I would stear clear of the ionics. Lots of problems getting replacement parts and fittings.
Yup. I’ve had to repair mine with epoxy probably 8 times since I bought it in October.
ok, 1 problem solved. I will stay clear of the ionic. it’s narrowed down to the ettore aquaclean which is apparently the new gardiner clx and the unger hiflow or hiflow +… what are the diffs between the unger hiflow and hiflow +?
