I was at the Worthing one I did see the Pro10 in action as did the Paul the Shiner, they had a few poles on show and their gutter cleaner, personally I wasn't impressed with any of it, I find it hard to think of an ideal situation to use the Pro10, OK I don't have the right work for it, But where exactly would you use it and is it worth it? As for the Gutter vac they had a video of it in use of course it was a perfect scenario for its use IE large gap between tiles and gutter, I also heard them tell someone that it can clean the downpipe out, I'd like to see them do that , There where a few people about just interested in getting into wfp but they seemed to be asking myself and Paul more questions than the two guys from Ionics.
Well there was the usual array of poles plus the Pro 10. I wasn't interested in the gutter keeper as I don't want to go in that direction. My main interest was in the Pro 10. To put a bit of balance onto this thread, I did ask a few question of Reuben (the Ionics rep) and he was informative with his answers (after you left Chris).
Although the Pro 10 could be used for higher interior glass (such as in a big reception area) my main interest was in its water recycling ability. Many of us in the southeast could have lost our businesses last year if drought restrictions had bitten harder and the possibility of the Pro 10 being compliant with a drought order was of interest to me. Apparently, the water comes off the glass at around 50 TDS and is deposited into a second tank. From there it goes through resin and may be re-used. OK so it would get a bit expensive with the resin but at least it would be possible to work - or would it?
The hose that takes the water from the glass is a very fat one and looks like a much fatter version of the green transfer hose. It fits onto the butt end of the pole. Not sure but I think this meant that the ordinary pole hose needs to be used external to the pole (I didn't look for this so can't be sure). Also, the suction hose being so fat, it would be unwieldy trying to use it as a normal tool. I can only guess at the size of reel that a decent length of it would need.
I'm sure it could be done but I wouldn't fancy having to use it on jobs (like normal domestic) where you need to pull around lots of corners etc. Also, because the hose goes onto the butt end, it would mean having to grip the pole with both hands rather than resting the butt of the pole on the palm area.
This would probably be a good tool for doing high inside glass and to be fair, that's what Ionics were presenting it as. Where the suction facility is not required, it would not be hard to connect anb ordinary pole and use as normal WFP.
I was a bit disappointed that frame cleaning wasn't possible with it.
Summary: As a standard tool it would probably be a bit awkward but would probably be possible to use it as such in a drought situation - though I wouldn't relish having to lug that lot around a house.
It looks like it would be OK to use on high glass inside though don't expect to do the frames with it.
Opinion: Not sure really. If you have a lot of high inside glass which would require hiring some kind of MEWP, then it would probably be worth buying.
Also, if drought restrictions allowed only WFP with recycling capability again, it would probably be worth buying - though tricky to use on many jobs*
* I didn't have the opportunity to use it in such a situation so this view is not based on a practical test.
I've tried to be fair in my above assessment. If I've made any mistakes in it, please say so.