Is there a practical difference in performance or longevity between these two? I see the Phantom blurb mentions solar cleaning as well as window cleaning. Since I aim to pick up more solar maintenance this summer, is the Phantom somehow better suited for that?
Having no personal experience with these particular brushes (but do have the 12” Alpha brush, and a 16” Reach-iT) here’s what my gut is saying:
I think having the boars hair on the outside will create a lot more drag. It also might make it difficult to get a really good rinse with brush on the glass, unless you have an awesome flow rate.
Over the top rinse bars are great, but they are thirsty. The larger they are, the more flow you will need. It’s worth figuring out your water supply, since (as all the pw’ing guys will tell you), “GPM is king.”
Fanning/Swiveling an 18” brush will wear you out real quick. The 16” was a beast. I ended up adopting a version of the 7-method for squeegeeing storefronts, which seemed to work really well, and was a lot more labor efficient.
Bumping up to the 16” definitely saved me time, especially when I adopted the 7 method. And the 18” alpha doesn’t look to be much heavier than my reach it brush.
Be prepared, you will be just as sore, or maybe a tiny bit more using the larger brush. But fewer repetitive motions means less overall wear and tear on your joints and ligaments, even if you are a little more sore afterwards.
