No I haven't used a universal pole. To be honest the only other poles I've used are an aluminium Unger, and a superlite fishing pole. What I like about the facelift pole is it's ease of use. It's so light you can use it for downstairs windows, and it has just the right rigidity to be able to hold it over a conservatory to access the windows there. I would imagine there would be a significant disparity between the two (universal FG, and the facelift).
Hope that helps Philip.
Nick