I recently found my two favorite strip washers. The Ettore Pro + microfiber and the Moerman microfiber. Both of them retain water very well and have great scrubbing power!
…For outside its the red and white pulex tiger, great scrub and holds a ton of water. For inside it’s the green unger microfiber. Holds water but squeezes out easily so I can control the amount of water. Usually don’t need a heavy scrubber on the inside.
My ratings on sleeves.
Ettore microfibre - Great all purpose sleeve. holds a decent amount of water with little drip.
Unger green micro fibre - holds a event amount of water with very little drip.
Pulex Microtiger - Great sleeve for first time cleans. Holds a decent amount of water, not too much drip and plenty of scrubbing power.
Unger Monsoon - holds plenty of water but has a high drip factor. a great exterior sleeve, especially on hot days.
Unger Ninja - Feels like a hybrid of the green micro fibre and the monsoon. Have a scrub strip on both end makes it last longer because of the extra sticking there. Cuts down on your t-bar poking through the end. All round decent sleeve.
Pulex with abrasive strip - hold more water than the Unger version. The white microfiber will shed a bit at first but will settle down after a wash or two. medium drip factor.
Ettore Porcupine - great on first time cleans and during pollen season. Shouldn’t be used on mylar tint, could scratch. Decent water retention and drip factor. Doesn’t feel nice on the hand when ringing it out.
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Helpful info guys. My favorite washer for small commercial is the 22" abc soaker light - holds right amount of water without being to heavy to fling around all day. I am yet to find a favorite resi washer - maybe I’ll try the Ettore Pro.
I’ve only ever used the microtiger and the monsoon. The monsoon sucked for scrubbing the dirt we get off of the windows, so I’ve pretty much stuck with the microtiger.
I need the extra scrubbing of microtiger, so how do the other sleeves match up? Something I can use inside and outside and on tint - so the porcupine is not an option.
I haven’t experimented much with different sleeves but I love the Unger Ninja. I feel like I can control water retention for both inside and outside and the scrubbing strips really cut down on extra hand scrubbing from scraper or magic eraser.
ettore microfibre is heavy to use all day long.as is the pulex microtiger
my preferred sleeve is the SYR tiger as the strands have a roughness to them that lifts off specks of dirt well, and its lightweight too. this sleeve is not very well known,due probably to the fact that when its new its no good,too soft and id wager most window cleaners give up early on it
but after a wash or two the fibres change from being soft to hard,like scrim fibre , i stumbled on this little known fact few years ago and im really glad i did. i now own at least 2 dozen of these just in case they ever go out of production
only downside to this sleeve is its a real dripper
Nice QUALITY POST Johnny
METTLER MAINTENANCE
Cleaning Services
www.SLOcleanwindows.com
Pismo Beach, Ca
I personally like the wool sleeves that Ettore used to make. I was able to get a bunch before they were completely out of stock and am still using them.
Sorbo yellow jacket is our choice because it hold a decent amount of water with good scrubbing power.
I love the Unger ninja and monsoon sleeves.
The Ettore porcupine is great for interior restaurant glass to break up the extra gross mess, it also doesn’t hold a ton of water so for me it’s perfect for interior work.
I really want to try the moerman sleeve, when the liquidator is available im going to finally put in my spring supply order all at once.
Mike Radzik
Pro Window Cleaning
Central Massachusetts
Sent from my iPhone using Window Cleaning Resource
A wool sleeve? I seem to have a faint memory of one of these, as a little boy… There was a t-bar in the boiler room of our Hall, and it had what appeared to be a wool sleeve. Only time I’ve ever seen one.
What did you like about the wool scrubber? What was it like to use? Seems like a scrubber sleeve would be fairly easy to sew. Just a matter of sourcing the right material. I wouldn’t mind trying it out.
The wool sleeve is much smoother on the glass. Less resistance. Great for glass where the solution does a lot of the work to suspend the dirt. I just cut one in half and did some hand sewing with fishing line to make 2-6 inch cut up mops. Probably not the best where you need a heavier scrub on glass with heavy deposits like a microfiber sleeve.
I find that that at the end of the day my arms and shoulders are not as fatigued after doing a lot of glass with a wool sleeve.
For those who have tried all the sleeves, how would you rank them in terms of scrubbyness?
- Porcupine?
- Microtiger?
- Ninja?
I’m look for something that will dominate on a restaurant that I have cuz I have to break out the white scrubby more often than I like.
Porcupine, I use it on interior restaurants and it does a great job
Mike Radzik
Pro Window Cleaning
Central Massachusetts
Sent from my iPhone using Window Cleaning Resource
Ok, that’s going in the cart as soon as the liquidator comes out.
I’ve used an 18" and 14" porcupine, love the 14" as a hand tool on interior work. I think it holds the perfect amount of water on the insides so you’re not picking up a lot of excess water.
Mike Radzik
Pro Window Cleaning
Central Massachusetts
Sent from my iPhone using Window Cleaning Resource
i’v been using the pulex red and white tiger( i think it’s called ) for about 5 years now and have not found anything better yet.
i have a few of the moerman sleeves. they are exactly like the unger microfibers, just a different color.
and for me, the ninja is the best all-around sleeve out there.
Caleb: I like to use one type of sleeve to keep things simple. The Unger green microfiber has been my go to sleeve for many years. I’ll have to give the Ninja a try seeing as you rate it the best “all around” sleeve. Can anybody compare the two?
PS
I think I prefer them because they do not drip much at all and they rinse out very well. Feel nice on the hand when rinsing as well. Most of my work is maintenance clean so I don’t need a lot of water or scrubbing power.
PS
Every time I try another sleeve I’m disappointed.
