Hi Guys –
A few weeks ago Alex Gardiner kindly sent me one of his new dual trim Superlite brushes with fan jets to try out – I had recently left my superlite dual trim brushes in the shed after trying out the Aerial brush from Tecbuk.
The new superlite dual trim is Gardiners response to providing faster & better window cleaning in mono filament brushes…
First Impressions –
Love the colours ! and I’d forgotten how light the brush is the stock of the brush also seems firmer than previous versions and now of course comes with a 90 deg socket. The lightweight jets look good but delicate.
First Day –
WOW! – what a difference compared to the old dual trim brush – the new stiffer bristles just slide right over the glass – no dragging and very little effort in pushing the brush over the glass – this was the area where the aerial brush beat the superlite hands down, but not anymore, this is seriously quick over the glass and the scrubbing power is excellent. And what a revelation the fan jets turned out to be (my current brushes were fitted with Lurmark 40 degree fans) producing a perfect arc of spray that seems to have more force at the same flow rate than the Lurmarks. However my fears can to reality as towards the end of the day a stem on the fan jet broke!
Several weeks on…
Without doubt this is the best mono filament brush on the market – it’s fast over the glass and has impressive scrubbing power – all but the really baked on bird poo comes off in the first sweep over the window – for the serious stuff just pressing a little harder engages the shorter bristles that make quick work of any stubborn deposit.
This brush also performs well on Georgian windows – being slightly larger and boasting stiffer bristles means it rides over the framework with ease and covers the whole window area quickly – the aerial brush does usually fit inside a Georgian pane but due to the soft nature and splay in the brush care has to be taken or the stock can constantly hit the framework. The superlite also tackles leaded windows better than previous dual trim brushes, it still suffers a little judder over the lead, but not to any great degree. Because it’s light and scrubs well, those hard to reach windows require less effort to clean and produce less stress on the arms & shoulders.
So far the bristles show no sign of wear and maybe 1 or 2 have been ‘plucked’ out – this is a huge advantage over the Aerial which shows significant wear in as little as 12 weeks work.
Summary –
Cleaning with this brush is a complete pleasure, it fills you with confidence and you feel that the dirt will just fall off the glass even before you start the job! The fan jets compliment the brush head – having rinsed on and off the glass with them as they produce a more powerful spray (holding the brush approx 1 inch off the glass shows no over spray outside the brush head area).
Other than the weakness of the fan jet stem – 3 broken in the 1st 3 days this brush & jet combo sets new standards in WFP cleaning , leapfrogging the competition back into 1st place!
Modifying the jets –
The gardiners jets are far too good not to use but too fragile for everyday use – just a light clip on a door handle, balcony rail or on the van when taking out or returning the pole is enough to snap the stem.
I modified the jets as follows – using a brass hose connector or 6mm hose (8mm o/d pole hose) I drilled out the brush head to 6.8mm diameter pressed in the barbed end ( the hose connector is double ended and I just cut it in half & filed off the burrs – the gardiner’s fan jet stem is a good snug fit inside the brass connector which I super glued for safety.
Darran