[martinj]

If you only use one brush do you go for the stiffest for scrubbing power especially in summer with bird plop and snail trails or softer for leaded and more contact ?

[paul13]

Stiff

[J.D]

Its a bit rude don't you think! 

[Soupy]

Stiff

Woof.

[SeanK]

What your looking for is a brush with scrubbing power but doesn't need a lot of
pressure to get the bristles to splay.
That's why for me Gardiners xtreme medium mixed (black and white) is the best brush on the market.
The problem with a stiff brush is that the bristles don't touch all off the glass unless you spend a
lot of time scrubbing.

[rosskesava]

Soft or stiff, I'll ask my wife.  

Seriously though, I've yet to find any use when window cleaning for a stiff brush.

There are other actually brushes available other than Gardiners but this being a highly pro Gardiners forum.......

Yes, use a dual semi soft almost hard dual multi trimmed not quite stiff 50% sill brush with ultra soft outside bristles with mono inside bristles......

[Dave Willis]

Soft

I had a theory that stiffer bristles would clean better than soft so Alex sent me a couple of prototypes to play about with. I trimmed them and made a very short bristled stiff brush. It felt great, was superfast over the glass and cleaned frames a treat. However on the glass it wasn't as good as a soft black Extreme probably because the tips only do the scrubbing whereas softer brushes use the whole length of the bristle. I've been using the white and blue Extreme for the last couple of months but under close inspection it doesn't clear the dirt particularly well for me anyway.
I only use Gardiners stuff these days but in my opinion there is still a gap in their brush range between the superlights and the Extremes. In my mind the Extremes are not dense enough whilst the Superlights are too heavy in comparison.

Only my thoughts though, it just depends on how close you inspect the glass - customers don't complain but I'm never impressed.

[Ian101]

Ive tried both in the early days and came to conclusion soft is better overall for everyday use esp on leaded where I found the stiff bristles "bounced" over the leaded if that makes sense.

Did a commercial once that had never been cleaned in about 10 years ... 2 day job and on 1st day used stiff thinking better for getting thru the muck but on day 2 when I inspected days 1 work had to go over them again as too much spotting .... day 2 used soft only and was up to standard after first go .... here on in ive only ever used soft day in day out

My personal favourite is a flocked superlite standard splay ... tried the zero splay and felt a little weird so quicky assigned to status of "conny brush"

my preferred choice for every day brush

www.gardinerpolesystems.co.uk/acatalog/the-super-lite-brush-dual-trim-flocked-standard-splay.html

[♠Winp®oClean♠]

Neither, medium.

Soft- "mops" the glass, cleans the glass ok but forget about any spider nests etc.
Hard- Scrubs ok, good for stubborn stuff but bounces & flicks water. Also physically harder to use as requires more pressure input from user.

Medium- a balanced alternative to either of the above.

What you want is a medium with stiff bristles only in the outer edge clumps- for spider nests etc- now that would be interesting!!

[SeanK]

Soft

I had a theory that stiffer bristles would clean better than soft so Alex sent me a couple of prototypes to play about with. I trimmed them and made a very short bristled stiff brush. It felt great, was superfast over the glass and cleaned frames a treat. However on the glass it wasn't as good as a soft black Extreme probably because the tips only do the scrubbing whereas softer brushes use the whole length of the bristle. I've been using the white and blue Extreme for the last couple of months but under close inspection it doesn't clear the dirt particularly well for me anyway.
I only use Gardiners stuff these days but in my opinion there is still a gap in their brush range between the superlights and the Extremes. In my mind the Extremes are not dense enough whilst the Superlights are too heavy in comparison.

Only my thoughts though, it just depends on how close you inspect the glass - customers don't complain but I'm never impressed.

Dave have you tried the new xtreme medium mixed (black and white) Iv been using one for the last four months or so
and I'm really impressed with it.
It splays out like a pad so gets all of the glass but the stiff outer white bristles are great for removing stubborn dirt like
bird muck.
Its also great for detailing ( removing water beading from problem seals ) and so far seems to be wearing better than
previous xtremes.

[Lee GLS]

I think the new extremes are poor, the older versions were better. They also do not last very long, a medium mixed starts to loose its shape after a few weeks. The stiff extreme does last longer and I was thinking the same as winpro, stiff outer bristles and medium inner, maybe the stiff hybrid brush would be good, and one with more bristles than the extreme with a max weight of 200g inc socket would be perfect

[Lee GLS]

Has anyone tried the new xline brush? It looked pretty good and weight 218g with out the brush socket

[♠Winp®oClean♠]

Neither, medium.

Soft- "mops" the glass, cleans the glass ok but forget about any spider nests etc.
Hard- Scrubs ok, good for stubborn stuff but bounces & flicks water. Also physically harder to use as requires more pressure input from user.

Medium- a balanced alternative to either of the above.

What you want is a medium with stiff bristles only in the outer edge clumps- for spider nests etc- now that would be interesting!!

When I say outer edge, I mean left & right hand sides, not all the way round.

[andyM]

Seems that im in the minority then in preferring a stiff bristled brush.
The dual trim flocked looks battered and out of shape within a month in my experience.
And I found that the medium mixed was slightly lacking in it's ability to remove stubborn caked on birds muck without it taking quite some time.
I still have not found an effective brush to remove bee poo with ease, I usually resort to rubbing with a cloth on downstairs windows because it is quicker. 

[PoleKing]

Soft with cold water.
Stiff with hot.
Hot water on a soft brush, a few weeks and they're done for.

[Richard ham]

Limited choice for hot water brushes IMO.

[ben M]

xtreme medium mixed with cold
xtreme stiff with hot

[windowswashed]

soft for scrubbing power and stiff for maintenance cleans as glides easier