Glides or no Glides?

I gotta admit I got out before they got big....but I hear two sides....what is yours?

I never used one and it seems to me it would speed the wand too fast for what I want to do.

I love the idea....but guess I need to try em out to know for myself.

On commercial where you are working 8 hours straight, I would kick your butt if you handed me a wand without a glide.

I will still use a stair tool without a glide and sometimes on berbers as well, but I am fully converted to a good glide these days. The dry times really do improve with a glide, especially on commercial glue down.

Besides the added scrub that a wand without glide can provide is negated by the crb or rotary machines now in use before extraction.

No question, Glide.......I will no longer clean without one, unless something better came along!!

I always wonder what it would be like to clean with out one

Mo wrote:I always wonder what it would be like to clean with out one

Something like this:

Definitely with Glide, and Mo, when you come to Cali next time I will hand you my 13 lbs metal wand and I will pull the glide out, I gotta get that action on video though
Guaranteed six packs on you after you're done with 1 job

No thanks DP that looks painful especially with your machine. I already feel like a wuuss wanding right now

milspec6 wrote:

Mo wrote:I always wonder what it would be like to clean with out one

Something like this:

You sure that isn't a pic of furn moving without a Lift Buddy??

Glide, glide, glide. I cringe when I see another Co. setting up and they are not using them. It's a win, win situation. Easier on the back, better dry times. What's not to like?

eldiablo...i was sure I was going to like them, just wasnt sure they were better for the cleaning...I never used them. I would wear out the ole SS lips that came on the wands though. lol Is there more than one brand?...whats the good bad and ugly?

Most people will say Green glides, and I somewhat will agree, however in the last few years I noticed they wear out a little earlier, the great thing about green glides is they are made in the US, the bad is as with most USA made products they are more expensive, I would still buy Green glides due to them made in the US, and Lisa at green glides also will make your glides for free if you're a veterans and new in business or you desperately need help getting your company off the ground, I'm all for that.
And no she doesn't advertise that free glides for some veterans, I found that out from other cleaner.
And she also will make it right if the glides doesn't fit right or there's a problem with your glide.
And no she doesn't pay me for this review, lol.

I have to say though in my experience, Tony Dang's glide is the strongest and last longer.

The important thing is the fit and type (slot, hybrid, holes) probably more than who you get them from for the most part. Just keep in mind that a cheap one can collapse the vac opening over time and become useless...just one reason to choose a good brand.

I can't imagine not using a glide. Easier on the body, better dry times and better airflow. I've tried slots, holes, hybrid (slots and holes) and ultra slots. I really like the ultra slot the best because it doesn't clog up as easy and I haven't seen any difference in performance.

Welp...this is one sided. guess im all in. I did hear some not so positive from a few but suspect it may have been the cheap ones.

What type of wand will you be using, Devon?............a lot of them are now sold with a glide installed.

Well, I plan to use the one that comes with the Cleanco package for starters....I had a greenhorn and or a prochem planned but cut some corners for my startup being I do have a budget. Im a little shy of having most everything I want but can add the more affordable stuff later.

Devon,
I will agree with all the above that guys have said. I can say this though, a glided wand no mater slotted or holes, you are not going to get the debris like you did running with out a glide.
Okay I do a lot of PM rental type work and I am not going to sit here and say I do all 7 BS steps.
I have a PC 4 sitting in my van UN GLIDED when I need it.
The truth is they stated many years ago the Vacuuming was a very important step long before glides came out.......I think it is even more so now that we have glides.
It will be interesting seeing what you think after you try it.
I would never want to run a wand every day without a glide they are really a great help to all of us as we get a little older that is for sure.

I love glides but cant stand holed glides or hybrid...    

god forbid a pine needle blows in the door a holed/hybrid glide wont even pick it up..    gotta bend over and pick it up by hand.  

had this happen on a commercial job,   a resident left the door open and some pine needles blew in..  only a few but the holes wont pick up anything that isnt liquid.  

I love slotted glides...   cleaned with a hybrid for about 7months,   one day I was so fed up I brought that stupid thing into the shop and took the dremel to it,   made myself a slot glide and notched out the edges to get more life.


we go no glides on the stair tools only

Glad I got the slotted glide, pain in the arse to have dig stuff out of it

Thanks you guys!...this helps, I was sure they would be good but after the comments I feel as though I just used a set. We always did run a vac over the carpet prior to cleaning and we still will.

I used to think that you get more out of a carpet with an un-glided wand, but I no longer believe that to be the case.  I think that by choking down the wand, you increase the velocity of the air and get a better suck across the carpet.

I kept my Prochem Quad wand with a slotted glide as it works really well on apartments and berbers, but I always thought it could be better....and it can.

The industry has been about making bigger cleaning heads (Titanium 15 inches, Zipper, etc.) in a quest to improve cleaning coverage.  That also meant you needed a 2 inch tube and maybe even 2.5 inch hoses in order to maintain some velocity.

When I first used my PMF Ti wand without a glide, it was horrible as there was very little velocity due to the wide vacuum opening.  A glide narrowed the lips and made it a great wand with good vac pull.

Today, I decided to improve on my apartment wand by getting a VT-12 wand with a 2 inch tube.  It has a hybrid glide and by choking the 2 inch tube through the 12 inch head and glide, I came away with a freight train of usable vacuum velocity.

I cleaned with it today and man, it was a work-out as the lock-down was awesome.  I had the velocity to pull anything through that carpet and the dry time was excellent to boot.  

Sometimes, smaller is better and I know that is the case for my apartment / berber wand now.

If you always do pre vac. glides 100%. There is no other reason imo to do not use them in your wand. I use a evolution 13" wand for my portable machine with delrin slotted glide and I have a teflon hybrid glide for my 2" tube VT 14 in the truck, both are excellent glides and the recovery is superb. I do not use them on the stair tool either. I'd like a little more agitation on the steps (usually the dirtiest part). Long time ago when the rotovac 360 came to this industry i switch to glides for those ss vac ports and I have to tell you that this change was day a night in my recovery.

Okay...got a glide on the wand and waiting for my next job...I went with a less expensive set to see how I like them and if they impress me I will rig two more wands out with them. I seen where the RX-20 had options for them....does the HOSS 700 have an option too? Ive played with this a bit and cant wait to fire it up with glides.

The HOSS actually comes with both sets of glides new (teflon and stainless), but I bought mine before they had the teflon vac shoes.

I don't know if they are any good or not. They did help the rx20 in dry times by a lot, so maybe it would be the same for the HOSS.

I'm waiting to see the price decline a little first before I try them.