Here is just a review of the TECBUK Aerial brush – dual trim Mono and how is stacks up against the Gardiners SL DT Mono….
First impressions –
Out of the box and ooooohhhhh my god – it’s small – they’ve sent me a toy instead of a WFP brush !! - yes it’s a lot smaller than the SL DT
However after the initial shock you can see this is a quality item – the stock is solid with the bristles bonded into a recessed area ( brushes are hand made ) there are lots more than on the SL DT and they are finer and softer (0.2mm) than the SL DT (0.25mm) & as the recess is bristle side the fan jets fit better and protrude less.
First day –
Ok not sure on this brush it’s the first one I’ve used that the socket is 90 degrees to the brush head – Vikans – Bentleys – Salmon – Gardiners have angled sockets, it took a little while to get used to adjusting the angle adaptor to different settings – the brush comes with a short ‘window sill’ extension so the brush tends feel like it wants to fall forward. Also the splay and softness of the bristles meant it nestled into the glass more than the SL DT and found the stock kept hitting the frames…
But cleaning the glass was a real eye opener – this brush is quick! – it really ‘melts’ into the glass and sweeps over it with ease esp. leaded there is no ‘bump’ or lift off from the brush. & the smaller head size with more bristles complements the fan jets superbly.
First week –
Having got used to the brush I soon realised that no pressure (unlike the SL) is needed for this brush to clean removing all but the heavy dried on muck in a single pass – fresh bird strike, snail trails, cobwebs – 1 pass – GONE – ( the SL was always 3 to 4 passes with extra pressure ) – this is due to the shorter bristles already being in contact with the glass – stubborn marks are the only ones requiring extra pressure to scrub off – so in general less effort is required to clean and single pass means quicker cleaning ! and with less pressure applied the stock no longer hits the frames !
First month –
It’s now been a whole month and this brush has coped with some very bad windows faultlessly – it’s kept it’s shape and scrubbing power the smaller size fits neatly inside Georgian panes and virtually no bristle loss – I also found another neat trick – the short
Window sill extension uses a parallel thread and you easily turn the brush head 90 degress without it coming loose so the brush can get down narrow gaps to wipe the sill or increase
Bristle contact along roof spars of a conny roof.
Summary –
A mighty midget of a brush that is well made and cleans superbly! And outperforms the Gardiners SL DT in every department – that’s not to say the SL DT is a bad brush – I have always loved using it – but the competition is not only getting better but is now beating Gardiners. The Aerial brush may not suit everyone – for the heavy handed it may prove to much of a challenge to use ! and with the strong tough stock there is less room for error when wiping sills.
Footnote –
Having recently been informed by Alex G that Gardiners have currently developing a new SL DT with softer bristles – fair play – it’s good to see that they are not resting on their laurels and have responded to the competition !
I truly look forward to trying this new brush out !!
Darran