[Henry Roberts]

Hi Guys,

I'm looking for a good agitator for brushing pre-spray and would value your opinions on the one to buy.
I've looked at the sebo duo but to me it looks a bit narrow and not very robust???

Regards

Henry

[roger underhill]

Evirodri, without a doubt

[Colin Day]

Depends on your budget, I use my Oreck Orbitor (£350) which is spot on. But I would like a TM4 for some of the bigger jobs!

[JandS]

A good carpet brush = £20 + the dreaded.
Takes up no space, is off in seconds, is light and gets in the corners as well.

John

[Colin Day]

A good carpet brush = £20 + the dreaded.
Takes up no space, is off in seconds, is light and gets in the corners as well.

John

Fair point.... I got one of those too.... Best £20 I've ever spent

[derek west]

Evirodri, without a doubt

hell yeah

[Simon Gerrard]

Sebo Duo, £200 brilliant for a little, very portable machine.

Simon

[Joe H]

Have you not demoed the Flexi 5 Simon?

[Simon Gerrard]

Joe,

Yes, I have. I'm not that impressed with it really, especially for all that money. Obviously the scrubbing element is more vigorous than the Duo, the question appears to be do you really need that level of agitation to produce the degree of soil release?
Anyway, the belts broke so it's going back to be fixed.
I have to say I was disappointed with it really.

Simon

[Jim_77]

It's funny how we all get on differently with machines... I quite like the Duo but it is lacking in power - I'd never take on a job bigger than a few domestic rooms with it.

I recently had a test-drive of a flexi-5 and was very impressed with it!  I agree it's a little pricey but then what isn't nowadays?

[Simon Gerrard]

Jim,

Once you get an RX20 on the commercial jobs, you cease to need any additional agitation from anything as the RX does all the agitating for you. We have tested this recently with a Flexi 5 and on commercial there is no perceptible difference and hence £1800 for a flexi 5 for commercials would probably be a waste of money, at least that is how I see it.

Simon

[Joe H]

OK, so £1800 for commercials is a waste of money

dont you do domestics?

[Simon Gerrard]

Joe,
You know I do domestics but in my opinion a Sebo Duo provides sufficient agitation on domestics, especially when you have the power to hand that you get from a Titan 875.
We got the Flexi 5 with a view to using it for domestics but found that there really wasn't any discernible difference in quality from using the Duo and the Flexi 5. I have to say I was surprised by that but there you have it.
However, with less powerful systems to hand the flexi 5 may well make more of a difference than we experienced. To test this we did a job using one of our Rhino twin vac  portables and cleaned half a carpet having used the Flexi 5 in both vac and agitation modes and the other half with the Sebo Duo and again, there was no discernible difference.

Simon

Simon

[derek west]

i have the duo and the enviro and the difference is astounding, sebo doesn't get a look in apart from stairs for obvious reasons, with the enviro, all thats left to do is flush.

[robert meldrum]

OR....... you could give the prespray product an adequate dwell time and use the rinse / extraction process to do what it's supposed to do..............release the soiling from the fibres by utilising the spray / extraction of the machine.

Often wonder about the damage / potential damage to some fibres by extreme aggitation.

[derek west]

some carpets are so matted you have to agitate to get the prespray in. with agitation theres no real need for dwell so no real time difference and also you can use less prespray which makes flushing easier and carpets less residued.plus from a customers point of view, paying to watch someone agitate and paying to watch someone have a brew while they dwell is a no brainer. as for damage to fibres, no real difference than walking on it and hoovering it everyday., just my opinion, i wouldn't do it any other way.

[stu_thomson]

Been using a victor rotary for years, have also got a 110 volt envirodry which sits in the garage

prefer the rotary any day

horses for courses

ps used to have a duo but unless you stand on it you might as well use a toothbrush

stu

[robert meldrum]

No time wasted Derek............walk in apply prespray................bring in everything you need ..............set everything up and get wanding more quickly than if you take in an agitator use it put it away then do the above .

Sure its helpful on seriously trashed carpets but as a percentage of regular work done it's pretty low.

My question about potential damage is meant for serious consideration as it seems from posts over the past couple of years some are really hammering carpets with heavy machinery.

Stu posted before me..........
I've used the same old Victor on many occasions ( eventually replaced with a heavier Truvox )  also had a Klanz for a while which is far superior to the Duo.

[james roffey]

I use the envirodri gen 4 never used anything else apart from carpet groomer i am sure its does make extraction a lot easier, only downside is the weight its heavy

[Joe H]

taking up on Roberts point
if you prespray and then agitate, what you are ensuring it that the prespray is getting around all the fibres so it can do its job of loosening the sticky dirt, then you can flush with the wand.
with the agitation of a Envirodri type of machine you can see the dirty areas "disappear" as you agitate. Its not really gone anywhere, just spread out more ready for the flush - but you know its been released from the fibres when it "disappears".

James - re the weight - 3 weetabix for breakfast. IWhen I had the Envirodri I used to put it at my side and straight lift it with th handle under my armpit, that way the weight is close to you and a straight lift.
With the Flexi 5/Carpetgard I now have, its a different shape and more weight (vac pod) and so it really does become a weight to carry. But if I can, you young wippersnappers can!