Gardiner/Facelift pole length and weight debacleFirst of all I would like to thank everyone who has commented on the Facelift threads over the last few weeks, both positive and negative, . It has been invaluable and the feedback truly appreciated. What an eye opener! The Phoenix range is the first product from the 'new' Facelift since we bought them last year, the learning curve has been tremendous!
To move Facelift into the modern world of window cleaning we needed a better pole. So we started with, what is in our mind, the current leader - Gardiners and aimed to make a product, if possible, that was better. Personally I believe unless you can produce something of value, why bother? No one needs a second rate knock off, if we can't come out with what we believe is a better product, we may as well close shop.
Seeing as Alex has years of pole building and selling experience, along with a great reputation, we have used his range as our current template therefore taking what Gardiners deems 'correct' we have adopted.
Pole LengthsThis is where the lengths come in. Basically whatever extended pole lengths Alex uses we, I hate to say it, have copied and labeled as our equivalent version. We have the pretty much exact same tube sizes. So for example, If Alex says an 18, 22, etc is his stated specs then we have to assume the same and that this is the accepted norm.
Now, we never wanted to get into a tit for tat with another supplier, but Alex has gone for an out an out attack of Facelift (which he's interestingly never done before with other companies) going as far as releasing a video to slate the range which he has since taken down when we responded with ours.
The acts on pole lengths: (Here are some stated extended lengths from Gardiners website)
CLX/SLX poles
CLX 10 - 3.01m - 9.10ft
CLX 14 - 4m - 13.1ft
CLX/SLX 18 - 5.22m - 17.1ft
CLX/SLX 22 - 6.39m - 20.11ft
CLX/SLX 27 - 8.10m - 26.6ft
SLX 25 - 7.62m - 25ft
SLX 30 - 9m - 29.6ft
SLX 35 - 10.34m - 33.11ft
The only one which is the full length is the SLX25. The main question we need to ask is why is this suddenly an issue, when another company emulates these pole sizes and Alex has been getting away with it for years!? In fact, i find it staggering for Alex to pull us up on an extended lengths when his fall short in nearly every version.
In our case we have a few more inches due to our pole design so we are closer to the stated pole length. When you add neck and brush you are even closer to the full length of the pole.
Bottom line - if your unhappy with our pole lengths, what can I say, this is now the norm! You been letting Alex get away with it for years!
Pole WeightsIn the same way we have emulated the pole lengths we have done with the weights. There is a slight difference in that lesser weighing poles end to be less rigid, wear quicker and will be weaker when made from the same substance. We have taken this into consideration, as long as we are in the same weight area as the competition we would, and our customers have stated, want a more rigid harder wearing pole than a marginally lighter, weaker pole.
Alex has stated we say our pole UL26 is 1300g, which is not true. We don't go into gram for gram weights, tad to petty for us. We have published it as 1.3kg approx which it is. This is a bare pole and clamps, no collar, hose, etc. This is how Gardiner state their pole weights. In fact, if you hold and SLX25 and a shorter stacked longer length UL26 the weight is almost identical to the user. Going by the criteria that Alex has weighed our UL26 I would challenge him to do the same with his pole range over his published weights, everyone of them would be heavier as he would have to add an adaptor, hose, etc. Prove me wrong.
Our FocusWith the Phoenix we have looked at the pole as a whole, we think this is far more important than focusing in one area i.e. weight, rigidity, clamps, pole tolerance, etc. the pole needs to work completely as one tool. It's about the overall experience. In fact, this is reflected in the fibreglass version. Fibreglass poles have had a bad rep for years and considered a cheap, budget product. The standard Phoenix works very well and out performs some suppliers hybrid poles.
I could go on and on, probably will do on the new site when it's finally launched. So I'll sum it up in two points.
1) We want to make outstanding tools and products that improve the industry, we got a few lined up and can't wait to get them out there but will take valuable lessons learnt here and more forward.
2) We want to be completely transparent as a company. Companies live and die on their reputation. We aim to be the world leader in water fed pole products, innovation and reputation. We have a long way to go to catch up with Alex's good name but think we can do it. Time will tell I guess.
Thanks again for reading and appreciate the input (even from the haters! Especially you sfwc!!)
So ready for any attacks, hate mail, letter bombs, etc.