OK…I’m finally ready to buy. I’ve booked enough work to pay for my pole and setup. I’m looking for some options…
[I][B]What are my choices when it comes to poles to grow with. Meaning, that I can add sections to. I’d like to start out in the mid 20’s and get more sections as I can.
[/B][/I]
Thanks!
Unger carbontec or the new simpole…
OK. Thanks Chris. Thanks for all your help. I decided to go out and get the jobs before I bought a pole. All the ones that I closed are under 30ft. I just want to be able to go higher without having to get a whole other setup.
Just do your homework. Search out threads with the different poles and what people are saying about them. Call or PM people that have a pole you like. This is what I did, for about a year I was on the fence before I pulled the trigger on a pole.
As far a size gos…think about the future. Are you going to stay a residential guy or will you move into commercial? What if you get that call from…I dunno…Lockheed Martin. They want you to take care of 20 buildings in your area, all 3 and 4 story work, some 5 too. What are you gonna do? Pass???
That one job can put another 50 grand on the table. What if you don’t have the equipment to handle it?
Right now is the time to get yourself a Gardiner my friend, or at least a 45 foot Tucker.
What do you think of the Gardiner CLX poles? I have my eye on the SLX 25 foot and probably gonna get a Tucker 45 just in case
I don’t know yet. I have not been able to use one or see one in person, but Tony and Art have them and say they are great. The SLX is a beautiful pole man. I don’t let nobody use her. Thats my baby girl right there.
I bought the 26’ CLX and it’s freakin heavy… or I’ a weakling. If I ever buy another pole, I’ll go for the gusto. I really like that modular carbon pole chris pointed out. I’ll never buy a fiber glass one again except for the 12’.
The CL-X is almost half the weight of a similar sized fiberglass pole and lighter than an aluminum pole.
The Unger Carbontech is very strong, but weighs about 8oz/ft. I rented one last spring from Chris and Alex, a 50’ and it weighed 27 lbs. Use that for a couple hours let alone the better part of 2 days and you’ll be holding up the white flag. It’s super durable, but not particularly light.
You curled 27lbs… PLUS WATER for two days? Man I better break out the spinach. I wonder what pole they were just talking about on that WCR/diggnation thing? One of them said that the pole weight less then the water and the brush but might be susceptible to breaking.
Weight vs Durability? I prefer the lighter pole. I can move faster and get more work done in one hour with a lighter pole. I can also work more hours in a day with a lighter pole. It’s more money in my pocket every day and that adds up. If it breaks I’ll fix it with all the extra money I earned. I’ve heard the lighter poles don’t break as often as the guys who sell heavier more durable poles say they do.
[SIZE=2]I used a 30ft window washers pole for 4 years and the weight about 8lbs was exhausting. The extra flex in that pole also wore me out. When I got my SLX I found out that scrubbing with a stiffer pole is less fatiguing. [/SIZE]
My Gardiner SLX 30ft is lighter, about 4lbs, stiffer and closes down to about only 6ft. I do mostly two story homes so 30ft is long enough.
On really big homes I’ll probably wish I had a 45 ft pole but I’d rather have the 30ft SLX carbon fiber pole because the ONE pole can do everything from 1st to 3rd floor work without dropping off sections and adding sections. Much quicker to move around a house with one pole in your hands in my opinion. It’s surprisingly short when you callapse it down.
You can add sections to a Simpole. You can start with their 30 foot pole and buy extra sections when you need them. You can build up to 60 feet.
I think I prefer my SLX for under 30 feet though. I can add to my pole as well but I think it’s more money to add on sections and it won’t go up to 60 feet. So many choices. No matter what you buy someone else is going to have a pole with a feature or two that your pole lacks.
Howdy Justin and Yawl, I’m Dangerous but yawl can call me Dange,
[COLOR=“red”][SIZE=“7”]Get a 35’ Tucker Pole[/SIZE][/COLOR].
They are only 540.00 dollars, you can break it down to 20’, they’re very durable and will last many years if you take care of it. A good pole to learn with and you could buy two more sections later which will put you at 45’ ! You can buy all the parts separately if you need to fix something ! They only weigh about 15lbs @ 45’ !
Tucker designed the very first WFP, they are the standard of the industry ! Why pay 2000.00 to 3000.00
dollars for a pole when you can get a proper working pole for a 1/4 of the price or less. they are much better then a fiberglass and I believe equal to those new type poles ! Surely they are like a Ford and not a Ferrari but like a ford, it is the standard of the industry !
The main thing is to also apply a DI system to it because [COLOR=“red”]" WHEN MISS TUCKER WAS A STREET WALKER SHE MET MR. DI, AND HE TURNED INTO A LADY" ![/COLOR] Also learning which windows it works on. WFP even when filtered properly still don’t work on all windows. So I would start out with a…
[SIZE=“5”][COLOR=“red”]TUCKER POLE TUCKER POLE TUCKER POLE ![/COLOR][/SIZE]
I’m Dangerous, but I do know !
Dange
.
Oh, Tucker Pole is spelled with a “T”!?
I thought it was “F” after humping one all day.
It’s 2010.
Carbon fiber is here.
Welcome to the present!
The Gardiner CLX and SLX line are all less then $2,000.00
Many of them under $400.00 in fact.
I agree with some of what Dange said. Tucker is great to learn with. Once you start out with a Tucker, you will appreciate the carbon fiber so much more than if you started out with a CF pole.
I disagree though with the part about it being equal to a CF pole. The end result, yes. But if I took 2 guys and one used a tucker all day long at 10 hours, and one used a CF pole at 10 hours on the same building one on opposite sides of the building, the one with the CF pole would have banged out more than twice the work than the one with the Tucker.
Less breaks, less fatigue, less set up time for different heights and just plain looks better.
Paying 2 grand for a pole that gives you these advantages in my humble opinion is a great investment. A job that took you 2 days with a Tucker, will probably take only one long day with a CF.
We have a monster fiberglass pole, not sure what kind it is, and we have a Tucker that is the same height. We used them both side by side on a job last month and the Tucker was easier to use. The thing with our tucker is that Bill was able to hook an Aquadapter up to it so it only has a single line instead of the heavier double line Tucker comes with. The clamping system for the Tucker makes it kind of a pain for a everyday residential pole, but it is great for large commercial work where you don’t need to change heights alot, in my opinion.
You can’t beat the Tucker for economy 45 feet for 540.00. It is simply old school and they are created to be able to do the job but that clamp system is slow as can be and frankly you have to watch what you are doing with those things. Some guy here in San Diego got shocked almost to death by running into a power line with one of them. With all that being said I have decided I am going to get a SLX 25 for residential work and will have a 45 foot Tucker on hand just in case that commercial call comes in and the big moose will be handy
At $100 per hour the price difference for a carbon fiber pole would be paid for in less than a week. My 30ft SLX pole cost me about $850. I could have gotten a Tucker for only about $400. I guess the break even point on the SLX is about two big days of work, right?
I thought my Unger 30ft pole for $100 was great until I got the real McCoy. I hung on to that pole way to long. I had no idea what I was missing. When you figure in the cost of ownership a Tucker pole could be the most expensive pole you’ll ever own.
Jay thats a old Ionic Multipole you guys have…
Howdy Thad I’m Dangerous, but not worries you can call me Dange…
Your on the edge of being naughty !
But really the wheel was invented…BEFORE WRITTEN HISTORY, and is still around in the PRESENT ! Why reinvent the wheel ? Granted the purveyors of the carbon fiber pole want to make money and that’s just fine, but that is why they don’t encourage the Tucker pole because it don’t bring as much revenue. Ergo, one of the purveyor instantly came on to encourage his product , which is not wrong but it does show my point !
But I’m a window cleaner a field worker and the Tucker pole is the old faithful and my advice is based on that so my opinion is un-bias ! If I can see a better product I would consider it. I was just few years when the strip washer came on the scene and a lot of cleaners opposed it and stuck with the boar hair . Today though it is now the standard of the industry ! I use it everyday, but still have a boar hair then I use !
Mike the window cleaner ,on the thread “Are extension ladders back-wards in the United States” post a picture of one of those pole with a major bend in it, so I don’t think it is more ridged then the tucker pole. Granted they all work but tucker is “The tried and true” ! and cost less !
Dange…
