First day with the Defender.

[Mikey P]

Here is what I got form Clark (in 2 boxes)

Two types of Cotton pads, A Tuuway and a thick black bonnet of the likes I've never seen.

The guts.

Notice the travel range.

I called Marty to help me figure out where the arms bolted into. His machine is older so I eventually figured it out.

A manual would have been nice.

I wanted to try it so I prevacuumed my Olefin pile rug in the TV room.

As you can see it needed cleaning

First I tried the Egyptian all cotton pads. You can see the damage the driver caused to the pad. Not good. I think I'll need the Velcro driver if I decide to use cotton.

The Defender was also very hard to control on this rug with all cotton pads. John's new blend pads were better but still took way too much effort.

The driver chewed it up as well. But so does my 175's driver.

It was really easy to use with the Tuuways, the black pad and even a fiber pad.

As for the rug, I couldn't really see any difference in it's appearance. But it didn't look that bad to begin with and the lighting in the room is bad. I used a pump up and sprayed it down just a little less then I would if I used a HF. Hot Knife was the juice of choice..After using/trying all those pads it felt about as damp as it would if I V'd it.

The only flaw in the machine itself I could find so far is that the pig tail is way to close to the top cord wrap bracket. It took too much effort to get the cord between the pig tail and the bracket.. Lower the braket two inches and all will be good.

So as it is with this driver I'll be using the Defender to encapoo and to prescrub. Traditional JG OP style cleaning is not an option unless Clark wants to give me 20,000 cotton pads to test.



The V is getting over loaded.

 

[bob vawter]

Looks like you hit a heater duct wit them rags....or at least that's what John'll tell ya.....

 

[Ron Lippold]

that thing will be back in the garage in no time Mikey dont let your regs see that thing

 

[alazo1]

Mike, are you referring to John's new pads. If not get a couple of those. It will make the machine run smoother. Even the brute with thin cottons runs pretty hard. As far as that driver, I don't know.

Can you please come over and pad my house, I heard not to ever get it cleaned with water

Albert

 

[Mikey P]

John's new blend pads were better but still took way too much effort.

 

[Brian L]

Get the velcro pad driver like John's machines and also get the Gladiator Pads from John.














Sorry Marty.

 

[DevilDog]

Ya, that regular pad driver is ridiculous.

We just use a black stripping pad and it works great and causes very little problems with the pads.

DevilDog

 

[Jimmy L]

Tell us....Did you just get a FREE machine out of this?


You said nothing about the machine's smoothness or lack of.

Did it go where you wanted it to go?
Or did it wobble all around?

 

[TimP]

I love the real world experiences and how Mikey gives us pictures to back up what he says about the equipment. Thanks for the info Mikey!! Keep us updated as you get used to it and get it all figured out.

 

[hogjowl]

Mikey:

I have less experience than you with that machine, at this point. I just got mine on Friday. However, I may be able to help you with the pad aspect, or at least understand what others are saying about it.

My go to guy's with that machine, and vlm cleaning in general, are Steve Smith and Jeff Brown. Both of those two use the Tuway pads with that machine exclusively. I ran my machine on dry carpet, with a dry pad, and it glided smooth as glass and there was no damage to the pad, but I bet cotton is a bear with that driver.

Steve swears that he has done extensive testing with the Tuways and cotton pads and the Tuways pulls as much soil as the cotton, according to him. I only plan on using my machine in commercial, and I know the Tuway pads do fine with commercial encap. cleaning because I've been using them under my rotary now for a couple of years.

I will be using my machine is residential, but mainly as a prescrubber for HWE, and the Tuways will be fine for that, as well.

 

[Jack May]

SUCKA!!!!!

I just got a Brute from JG and mine arrived in New Zealand down under ASSEMBLED!!!!!!

My test was a moderately soiled wool axminster carpet (my own lounge room). Juice was Releasit and I bought John's Glad pads with the machine.

I have a few old 2" thick CD bonnets (don't ask, I just have!) that I want to give a whirl sometime soon to see if there is any difference.

My pads came out looking similar to yours, but like you I couldn't see much difference when wet. However, later that night when totally dry, there was a good brightening of the overall appearance and the pile was definately looking nicer.

I did it at lunch time and came home at 6 and it was totally dry. Normally with HWE, I tend to have it 'touch dry' that night but often takes overnight to thoroughly dry.

If I fire up the fire place and get a fire roaring, or open up the doors and windows it'll speed up but on Friday, I left straight away and totally locked up without air movement or heating.

I hope to do some side by side testing over the next couple of weeks with the Cimex.

John

 

[Jack May]

Oh yeah, for $399, you too could have had Jeremy's OP manual

When I write up my report on it's relevance and effectiveness, I get a 50% refund

John

 

[Jimmy L]

I've always like the tuways .

I believe its a myth that the cottons pull more dirt.
After bonnet cleaning several dining rooms with them and soaking them in a sink overnight the water is just black.

 

[hogjowl]

John:

Clark builds John's machines as well as his own, so ... if yours came assembled, you have Clark to thank for that.

I suspect Clark didn't assemble Mikey's either because it shipped cheaper un-assembled, or he was screwing with Mikey cuz Mikeys' such a bitch.

Or, he was having a DooDaddy moment and needed a sweat lodge treatment.

 

[Jack May]

I knew that Marty, just decided that JG has he better performance on the boards and decided to buy from him.

Maybe shipping does come into it but for $5-600 shipping, I'd damn well hope it came assembled!!!

John

 

[hogjowl]

No problem John. I'm not making bad comments on John's machine. I was just setting the story straight about who assembles it.

Since Mikey got his free, I suspect he shouldn't be bitching about the assembly.

After all, I had to drive to Birmingham and pay $600 to get mine assembled.

 

[Guest]

After all, I had to drive to Birmingham and pay $600 to get mine assembled.

What kinda machine did you get?

 

[saxman]

It looks to me that you have the tile driver on, try the other driver.
I have had this machine for 18 months, and have made lots of money.
Having used both cotton and glad pads on the machine, I have never had
any trouble. I have made a good living with my truckmounts, but I make
money with pad cleaning, "more in my pocket".
Good luck
John

 

[hogjowl]

I pulled my Initiator, or Instigator, or whatever that basic gray OP machine is called, out of the corner of my shop and took it to Clark. He pulled the handle and base off of it and put a new set on it to make it into one of those CMX, or whatever his Brute machine is called.

I keep hearing good things about that machine, so when I learned mine could be converted over to that design, I decided to do it.

 

[Guest]

is it a 1/2 hp machine or did he upgrade that too?

I have a ccs o4 1/2 hp that is slow and lacking speed.

 

[hogjowl]

I really don't know the answer to that, Chris. It could be a 1/2 horse for all I know.

I had Clark change it over to his pad driver and it's smooth as glass. Even on dry carpets.

 

[ron markam]

I have to agree with Todd if you want cotton to run smooth put it under a black stripping pad .We use the 3M high pro pads.As far as cotton and tuways or green striped bonnets I have yet to SEE any difference in the appearance of the carpet. And they last longer than cotton.In all fairness though I have not tried John's gladiator pads but I know cotton may look dirtier but the carpet doesn't look any cleaner to my untrained eye.

 

[hogjowl]

And, with VLM cleaning, it's all about it LOOKING clean, anyway.

 

[Brian L]

In my experience with a Conqueror.....between the cotton, Tuways, and the Gladiator pads.....the Gladiator are much smoother than the other two.

 

[DavidVB]

I've had a 20"Defender for about 3 weeks. It came with the bristle pad driver. I have run the thicker cottons, the glad pads and tuways under it and have had no problems with any of them. The machine is very smooth. We've been following the Cimex with it and like the results.

 

[Mikey P]

Don't take this initial run to mean anything. You all should know how hard it is to vacuum a olefin rug like this, hell even wanding them is a like driving a car with bald tires on a icy road.



The machine was exceptionally smooth with the 3 types of synthetic pads I used. ( Tuuway, The mystery Blacky and a fiber ( buffing) pad.



Can someone who owns the Velcro driver attest to it's ability to "drive" syns and fiber pads?



The only mystery in putting it together was that the handle release goes on the front of the machine.


Every other floor machine I've ever seen has it on the back. So I had to stare at it for a while to figure it out....

And it actually did come with a Allen Wrench.

 

[alazo1]

I pulled my Initiator, or Instigator, or whatever that basic gray OP machine is called, out of the corner of my shop and took it to Clark. He pulled the handle and base off of it and put a new set on it to make it into one of those CMX, or whatever his Brute machine is called.

What did you pay for the conversion Marty?.

Albert

 

[hogjowl]

$600

 

[Jeremy]

The fluffy black pad is micro fiber...


Also, if any on has a CX 17/CX 20, Brute or Defender/EZ Glide machine I'd be happy to sucker you into buying my manual for the ridiculously low price of $119.95. Supporting Members save $20.00. THis offer is good until November 1st.
PM or call me if you're interested.

812-754-1447

 

[Jeremy]

Did it come with an Operators Manual, Mike?