Received my new Upholstery Pro tool from Nick this week, and have quickly trialled it alongside my Drimaster 2: cleaned my van seats, a couple of cushions and dining chairs at home yesterday. Interesting results!
Unfortunately my drimaster 2 is now ready for the scrapheap, after only 18 months of use.... and I don't really clean masses of upholstery, so it has had relatively little use. Said it before and will say it again, a very expensive piece of cr*p in my opinion. I'll keep it in case I get a big commercial job to dual-tool on, but I know which tool I'll be using if a job like that comes up!
The biggest problem with the drimaster is the way it is made; its flimsy plastic means the vac slots pinch up together under the high vacuum of a truckmount, and the metal lips stay bent into that position. This causes 2 problems, firstly the air flow is choked which destroys cleaning performance and leaves loads of water behind. Secondly, the metal lips snag fabrics - I have had a few brown trouser moments on some suites, luckily been able to sort them out.
But anyway enough of that.
The Upholstery Pro is very light and seems to be pretty ergonomic to use - obviously with any new tool it takes a bit of getting used to but early indications are good.
The trigger locking mechanism is a bit naff in my opinion, because it rubs along so close to the fabric you can disengage it without realising... sometimes you can extract the rest of the section without water, only to find out when you lift the tool off! That could have done with a bit more thought in the design stage. It's also a bit pointless because the way you grip the tool most of the time you grip it by the trigger anyway! Not a big deal really.
The solution flow control is 10ft away from the tool at the other end of the hide-a-hose, totally pointless! With a TM you have a ball valve just 6 inches away on the end of your solution line which does the same thing! After using the DM2 with the control numpty on the tool you do miss that feature a little. However I suppose when you first get going on a job, you will set the flow to the required level and leave it there. I wouldn't want to touch the brass control numpty half way through a job anyway, it'll burn my fingers! I might just remove it.
When the tool is not placed against a fabric, the solution spits from the outlet holes - it doesn't go into a nice neat sheet as with the DM2. Also, with solution flow above a certain level it actually just spews solution all over the place, whereas with the Drimaster you can lift it off the fabric at any rate of flow and it doesn't spill a drop. But I don't find this a major issue, as I'll probably mostly be using the trigger so it won't be flowing when I put the tool down for a few seconds
The glide is plastic, and can stick to fabrics a little bit. If someone made an after-market TEFLON glide for this tool it would totally transform it! (I put that bit in bold, in case anyone who can manufacture glides is listening!)
Those are really the only down-sides I have found, none of which make it unusable... just peculiarities of the tool that you learn to work with, the same as any piece of kit.
The biggest plus point with this tool is the internal design, in terms of air flow. With my TM on idle, the DriMaster 2 in open flow pulls the vac gauge up to 7.5. The Upholstery Pro makes much less resistance to air, reading only about 4 on the gauge. I think that is very good considering the type of design. It definitely leaves MUCH less moisture behind than my knackered DM2.
I've seen Simon Gerrard's pics of his, when he has opened it up. Unfortunately it looks like fluff etc is going to snag up on the internals and need cleaning out regularly, but this tool is SO much easier to work on than the DM2 (which itself gets clogged up inside) The drimaster has lots of fiddly allen screws to undo and then it literally falls to pieces when you open it! The Sapphire just has a few posidrive screws and opens up neatly.
The hide-a-hose seems to be more flexible than the one you get with the DM2. Might not seem a big deal to some people but it can be frustrating fighting against hoses with a mind of their own! Let's hope the flexibility doesn't mean it collapses under high heat & vacuum, shouldn't do as it feels solid enough.
I had to return my DM2 after a few times of use because the flow numpty was leaking. At least with this tool it has a generic trigger valve which costs very little to rebuild or replace. The typeI use are very durable, I last changed the one in my standard hand tool about 3 years ago and it regularly gets used at 500psi scalding hot on stairs. So that's reassuring.
The heat shielding jacket is a great idea, so your QDs don't burn any floors they are sitting on
Overall, the build quality appears good but I thought that about the DM2 so we'll see in 12 months time....