Cimex has met it's match with the Vario 2.

[Mike Draper]

Been running the Vario 2 for a couple weeks now. I know its not long, but I've run it on over 40k sq ft of encapping, pre-scrubbing and many residentials. Here is my review.

I called a friend who cleans nasty restaraunts at night and asked if I could tag along. Luckily one of his worst accounts needed cleaning last week (mexican food). I brought in the Cimex with ultra pak and shower fed, then the Vario 2 with ultra pak and a front spray bar. Pre-spray with some flex lightly, then scrubbed with each machine. One half room for each machine. There was no discernable difference that I could see. They both cleaned excellent. I followed up 2 days later to see the after apperance. whole restaraunt looked excellent.

Pre-Scrubbing:One week later I cleaned a high quality nylon cut pile with pad in a church building. Average traffic in this building is 1,500 people a day. Its all traffic dirt from outside. In this building the Cimex actually did pre-scrub with a shower feed better. There is an area 4' wide where each person has to walk through in this building that is a challenge to clean. I cleaned back and forth with 4 passes on the Vario while adding some pre-spray with the spray bar. The traffic pattern came out really well, but then went over with the cimex and it came out a little bit more. Followed up with HWE.

Encapping: next to the Cimex on another Job, again there were no disncernable difference in qulaity of clean. Ease of use and prodcution rates were identical. However, the Vario uses half the chemical of the cimex. Both machines have the large wheels and are a joy to push, easy to manuever and easy to pull backwards out of cubicles etc.

Residential: I pre-scrub many residential jobs with a 175. Been running the Vario 2 in homes and it works great. Much less labor intesive while easy to maneuver in tight areas. Rolls over hoses and clutter easily and most of all I fell like it scrubs better. I leave a little pre-spray in the tub so I can add a little to traffic areas in needed.

Conclusion: The design of this machine has been though out very well. It's built with quality componenets, A nice Leesen motor, quality big wheels with stainless steel axle. strong parts where needed and no corners cut on the construction machine that I can see. One final bonus is that it is lighter than the 175, one downside is it is akward to lift by yourself. Other than that, its a winner. I forgot to add, with the Vario, you can add an extra step in with a cotton pad which I have done on a few of my higher qulaity job. The picture is from a Mortuary, final step was a cotton bonnet. Worked great.

 

[Mikey P]

group buy..

 

[Mike Draper]

I know about 3 days after I bought mine they had a financing sale. 18 months, 0% interest.

 

[ronbeatty]

Mike, It is better to pay for it than to know you have to send a check every month. If I would wait 18 months to pay for it, I would dread the day I had to write the check for a USED piece of equipment. Just me

 

[encapman]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for that nice review! We spent a lot of time going round and round with the design concepts for the machine. A lot of changes went into play from where the original Vario started a couple of years ago to the Vario2 we have today. We didn't want to compromise on any aspect of the machine. I feel that we came up with a winner. It has a nice balance of quality components, yet we still managed to bring it together at a nice price (about half of the other wheels on the ground OP machines).

I've been doing a whole lot of additional field testing with the Vario2 on various types of carpet lately. I've discovered a couple of interesting things: (1) The machine runs better with 21" bonnets than it does with 19" bonnets. The bonnets stay on the pad driver better without rolling/folding. (2) The Vario2 performs well even without the weights. We've been testing it with some female cleaners lately, and the women really enjoy running it without the weights. So we've been pulling the weights off, and the results have been great. And the women love running it a little bit lighter.

Thanks again for sharing your results with us. A lot of thought went into the design. As a carpet cleaner with over 30 years experience, I knew what I wanted to achieve. And my guys and I had a lot of fun tweaking this machine till we got what we wanted. It was actually a blast! The machine kept changing every day during the design phase of the Vario2. I'd walk into the shop and I'd be presented with a new idea. It truly became a labor of love. I'm super proud of what our little team came up with. And I'm happy to hear that you're seeing evidence of our design efforts in the finished product.

 

[Mikey P]

Groovy..

So you have any idea how many 19" pads I just bought

 

[encapman]

The 19" bonnets will work, but the 21" bonnets stay under the pad driver a little better. On some carpets (not all) the 19" bonnets will sometimes roll/fold up, whereas the 21" bonnets do a better job of staying put under the machine. Especially as the 19" bonnets get more worn they tend to roll a little more. If you bought the 19" bonnets from us, and they're unused, I'll be happy to take them back and give you credit toward 21" bonnets. But even if you decide to use the 19" bonnets, they will work fine for you (the 21" bonnets are simply a little better).

 

[Mike Draper]

I've been using the 19" striped pads and havent had 1 fold over. However, the cotton 19' did. Damon is sendingme some others to help with this.

 

[Jimmy L]

Tests were inconclusive in my opinion. I dumped my OP machine a few years ago. Was too awkward to lift and use. Much prefer my 175/300 buffer to scrub. I can imagine the cimex being a bear to lift etc all the time.

So is this really a commercial for RiCkY?

 

[Desk Jockey]

I can imagine the cimex being a bear to lift etc all the time.

Its not a one man lift, its heavy & awkward. I can do it but not with any solution in the tank or it will spill on me.

Two men or a ramp are best. Orbot is no better when spray system is attached.

 

[encapman]

Hey Jimmy, maybe you were struggling with an inferior OP machine. As Mike mentioned above he feels that the Vario is lighter than his rotary. He also mentioned how nicely it rolls. And with 1725 small oscillations it's clearly superior to the 175 large rotations of a rotary machine, when it comes to cleaning carpet. So it's easy to see why he liked his Vario better than a rotary. Perhaps you experienced something different using a machine that's not as well balanced as the Vario2.

 

[Scott S.]

Hi Mike,
Thanks for that nice review! We spent a lot of time going round and round with the design concepts for the machine. A lot of changes went into play from where the original Vario started a couple of years ago to the Vario2 we have today. We didn't want to compromise on any aspect of the machine. I feel that we came up with a winner. It has a nice balance of quality components, yet we still managed to bring it together at a nice price (about half of the other wheels on the ground OP machines).
I've been doing a whole lot of additional field testing with the Vario2 on various types of carpet lately. I've discovered a couple of interesting things: (1) The machine runs better with 21" bonnets than it does with 19" bonnets. The bonnets stay on the pad driver better without rolling/folding. (2) The Vario2 performs well even without the weights. We've been testing it with some female cleaners lately, and the women really enjoy running it without the weights. So we've been pulling the weights off, and the results have been great. And the women love running it a little bit lighter.
Thanks again for sharing your results with us. A lot of thought went into the design. As a carpet cleaner with over 30 years experience, I knew what I wanted to achieve. And my guys and I had a lot of fun tweaking this machine till we got what we wanted. It was actually a blast! The machine kept changing every day during the design phase of the Vario2. I'd walk into the shop and I'd be presented with a new idea. It truly became a labor of love. I'm super proud of what our little team came up with. And I'm happy to hear that you're seeing evidence of our design efforts in the finished product.

Rick,

here is the real question, do you ever hwe your office carpets or do you only encap?

 

[Scott S.]

Hey Jimmy, maybe you were struggling with an inferior OP machine. As Mike mentioned above he feels that the Vario is lighter than his rotary. He also mentioned how nicely it rolls. And with 1725 small oscillations it's clearly superior to the 175 large rotations of a rotary machine, when it comes to cleaning carpet. So it's easy to see why he liked his Vario better than a rotary. Perhaps you experienced something different using a machine that's not as well balanced as the Vario2.

encapping with the vario seems legit, but scrubbing with a rotarty on bad carpet and a tan pad will always out do an op machine. because the pad is slightly abrasive and because it spins in one direction literally scrapes the grease and dirt off the fiber and into the prespray or into the pad, the pads always have a ton of stuff in them after scrubbing the carpet more than a cotton pad can hold.

 

[Mike Draper]

no infomercial here. In all honesty, even it it only scrubbed equal to the 175 i would still keep it. Its so much easier on the body. Rolling in and out of jobs is a breeze with the large wheels. Being wheels down my employees can use it also. My 175 had small horribly hard wheels, you'd think they were made out of cement. Such a pia.

 

[Mike Draper]

encapping with the vario seems legit, but scrubbing with a rotarty on bad carpet and a tan pad will always out do an op machine. because the pad is slightly abrasive and because it spins in one direction literally scrapes the grease and dirt off the fiber and into the prespray or into the pad, the pads always have a ton of stuff in them after scrubbing the carpet more than a cotton pad can hold.

that wasn't my experience, hands down it outscrubbed the 175 on a commcercial grease pit I cleaned. I woulnt even bother with the175 this place was so bad, unless I had nothing else to use. I use a scrub pad also, not just a bonnet.

 

[encapman]

Rick,

here is the real question, do you ever hwe your office carpets or do you only encap?

We do perform HWE as little as possible. We have a portable extractor that gets used when it's needed. But most offices are maintained with regularly scheduled encap cleaning. You can also use a beige Fiberplus on the Vario if you would like to pre-scrub prior to HWE, or for Encap jobs.

 

[Desk Jockey]

We rarely HWE our office. It usually cleaned with a Cimex but if we do it during the day we will use OP it just for the faster drying.

 

[Scott S.]

We do perform HWE as little as possible. We have a portable extractor that gets used when it's needed. But most offices are maintained with regularly scheduled encap cleaning. You can also use a beige Fiberplus on the Vario if you would like to pre-scrub prior to HWE, or for Encap jobs.

being able to use pads seems alot better.

 

[Desk Jockey]

The OP can be a little more aggressive on carpet tiles. We try not to use OP on the tiles.

 

[JS41035]

the JG machine dad has is like running a jackhammer. I would much rather drag out a 165. I tried the vario at MF. Very smooth. With a sprayer and wheels it seems like it would be great for a lot of the office complexes we encap. The comes is great. But a bit of a bull in a china shop.

 

[encapman]

The OP can be a little more aggressive on carpet tiles. We try not to use OP on the tiles.

We have actually cleaned a whole lot of carpet tiles with the Vario machine and we've had no problems. Here's a picture of the Vario on some fairly haggard old carpet tiles. No detrimental effects whatsoever.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Do you think its the weight difference? We make sure there is plenty of lubrication but its still has a tendency to fuzz edges.

 

[encapman]

I don't know. We've been running the Vario on quite a lot of carpet tile, newer stuff, and some older stuff too. Running the Microbeast bonnets. Running the machine with and without the optional weights. Nothing has shown any fray or damage.