[Kevin R]

As some of you guys know I don't do a lot of residential work. But when I do I like to be comfortable because of my old tennis elbow thing.

I have always had a bit of a problem with residential work because finding a suitably light pole you can use on upper and lower glass is difficult.

For 24 ft poles there is a good range but the lower sections are much to long to use in entryways etc. Also I think most 24 footers are over kill for the average domestic house and you need to have a small downstairs pole.

The best size pole I have found is the 17 ft X-Tel. Its closed section is only 4' 6" But at that length you can only get it in glass fiber and therefore its very flexible.

I love to use the Gardiners G-Fit gooseneck and their superlite dual trim brush so I was considering the new SLX but the down side is its price and its current unavailability.

This week I broke my pole  (17 ft X-Tel) Its since been repaired (Thanks to Alex G) but I decided a replacement would be prudent.  Gardiners pole is still not available so I asked Mike at Varitec to make me a custom Hybrid X-Tel at 17 ft (they start at 24 ft).

It arrived and I have fitted the G-Fit and the dual trim superlite brush and I have to say its excellent as its rigid and light and ideal for residential work both ground and first floor alike.   I know it wont be the longest lasting pole ( I have owned 2 previous Hybrids) but for £190 plus Vat is a good addition to the arsenal.

I was hoping that eventually there would be one pole for all jobs up to 35 ft but it appears the limiting factor is the closed base section. The SLX I think is getting there it does have a shorter than average base section is light and rigid but still its as yet really untested. I have heard good and bad about it - but the same can be said of all poles.

What do you guys think?
Will we ever end up with maybe two poles instead of 4 or so?
 What do you currently use?
 What would you like in an ideal world? 

[wightsurf]

I have thought about this (ground floor work ) for a while ,and it beats me what the problem is.Carbon is light and i can't see why someone has'nt made a short 3ft section that that pulls out of the main pole so as to get in to them tight spots.
The only issue which is'nt a real pain is you would have to have the hose on the out side of the pole.This is what i do anyway and i have no problem using this method.As some are using quick release clamps anyway it's practicaly there!

Just my thoughts though!!

[NWH]

I cut my poles down to the size i need by doing this you end up with your ideal pole,i have a facelift pole that i`ve cut down.24ft carbon and for residential it`s IMO THE pole cut down to 5ft closed.

[s.w.c]

o the days of carrying four poles with you i remember them, these days i carry two one is the modular pole and the other is a cut down g-xtel, ive got it down to five four foot section to me these pole is my main residential pole it reaches over cons and small enough to use ground floor and around cons without hit in anything there cheap enough to replace sections wear quite well i got one of the first ones in the country from richard at varitech, its still going strong had to replace a couple of top section over the time, funny really when i first brought it i hated it it was 27ft whippy and for a couple of mths it just sat there. till one day i looked at it and gave it a little thought and worked out what would be the best length for most of my residential work cut it down got a good but cap from varitech some good strong black tubing and bingo the perfect pole for most residential work for me. ooo and a little swivel attachment for my brush also i use the new single trim brush from alex. myself i would like to see the slx up close would be interested in one but i like to see one up close and personal first.
also i would like to add to my cut down pole is when i need to extend it it can be done in one single movement of my arm span this i found in the end to be better for me.

[RO-Sheen]

I use a 13' X-Tel for ground floor. Been using that pole for a couple of years and still going strong (But you've got me thinking..... I Don't need that 3rd section for ground floor so I will replace it with a lighter 9')
I use a 17' X-tel for 1st floor. Im on my 2nd one in 2 years and is about to die soon but saying that I think it is good value.
And I use a SL2 for anything higher

[M & C Window Cleaning]

There was a thread on a similar topic a while back and X Line I believe indicated they were about to put a 17 or 18ft carbon pole on the market for about £180. If memory serves it was going to be very similar to the X-tel pole only made of carbon.

I haven't seen any update on them since though.

[Dave Turley]

i'd say get an sl-x.

for tight spots (alleys etc) simply adjust the angle adapter so the pole runs parallel to the wall (works with any pole).

this works for ups  and downs.

I still don't understand why it took me 2 years wfp to think of this! (a year ago)

[niceandclean]

i'd say get an sl-x.

for tight spots (alleys etc) simply adjust the angle adapter so the pole runs parallel to the wall (works with any pole).

this works for ups  and downs.

I still don't understand why it took me 2 years wfp to think of this! (a year ago)

Ha ha, it took me a while to work this out!
95% of the time i use the SL-X, and the other 5% the SL56.
Be nice if Alex comes up with a slightly longer pole like a 35ft-40ft pole, but still able to use on ground floor windows, so then i would only need to get the SL out for 1% of my work!

[Wayne Thomas]

I cut a hybrid Xtel 24 down to 22ft to use on normal houses. It's small enough in tight spaces and long enough extended to just about reach high 2storey windows, so best of both worlds using only one pole.

[Kevin R]

I cut a hybrid Xtel 24 down to 22ft to use on normal houses. It's small enough in tight spaces and long enough extended to just about reach high 2storey windows, so best of both worlds using only one pole.

What length is the closed section Wayne?

[Wayne Thomas]

I cut a hybrid Xtel 24 down to 22ft to use on normal houses. It's small enough in tight spaces and long enough extended to just about reach high 2storey windows, so best of both worlds using only one pole.

What length is the closed section Wayne?

Hi Kev, It's 3 & a 1/2ft (pole length), maybe 4ft closed, (I haven't measured it- I just closed all the lengths down, hacksawed 6 inches off the end of the base through all the lengths, stripped the clamps off and added tape 4 inches before the clamps and assembled it again). It has a plastic gooseneck, swivel for really tight spaces and a Tucker brush.

[matt]

my RT z-flex does all my domestic and the end pulls off to leave about a 3-4 ft pole, idea for downstairs