Are Vortex over rated like the Titan?

[Carpet Cleaning Fool]

I had my heart set on a Vortex until I saw the Titan. With claims of 700-800 CFM @ 14 merc I figured it would be nearly as powerful as the big truck at a fraction the cost. Then i demo'd a Titan and was disappointed because my 5M had more suction at 200'. The 5M picked up a nickle at 200' in single mode and the Titan could not. The Titan in dual speed was less powerful than the 5m in single mode. - With that said, maybe Vortex claims or way overated too? Perhaps, with a few tweaks the 5m could out pull the Vortex 6008 as well. Bty, the Titan vs. 5m test was side-by-side, at 14 merc, fair, unbiased and with two witnesses.

The tweaks to the 5M would be daul 2.5 inch vac hoses to a 2.5 "Y" adapter, to another 2.5 inch vac hose to the wand. Verses a typical Vortex guy running a single 2 inch hose all the way. i bet suction would be close or better on the 5m.

What do you think? Are Vortex overated?

 

[Mikey P]

Over rated?

Maybe "over powered" for single wand use.


Try dualing with the Titan before buying.

 

[Carpet Cleaning Fool]

If the 875 can't pick up a nickle, french fry, or hair ball in dual wand as well as the 5m in single. Why bother?

 

[FB7777]

If I was in the market for a box unit, I would pick up a Butler 14 inch cab forward

They come in at 73K comparably equipped to the 93K V

I realize the V comes with a monster blower but I'm not much of a dual wander tho...

I will dual on large tile jobs and upholstery jobs.

The greatest advantage to me of the Big Truck is the billboard and all the space

I don't think the Vortex is over-rated, it is over powered for my operation.

 

[Brian R]

Hell to the Yes!

And not for the reasons listed.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

I don't think the V or AT is overpowered at all. In fact most complain that the truck is a tad underpowered on the highway and on hills. We run one ton extended Ford vans with the Powerstroke diesel V8. I'd love to be able to run the machine with it in addition to the slide in Nissan engines.

 

[sweendogg]

Why not run the exact same hose setup and single wand.. Forget Dualing. Then compare machines to machines.

 

[Chris Muetterties]

Brian wrote,

Hell to the Yes!

And not for the reasons listed.

Brain how long did you have your Vortex and why did you sell it ?

 

[Bruce Humphrey]

Never even seen a Vortex in real life

 

[FB7777]

I hope you at least voted, in keeping with the tradition and validity of all carpet cleaning polls :roll:

 

[Dolly Llama]

What do you think? Are Vortex overated?

I don't know, never ran one other than playing with one in a parking lot.
I'm sure it's too much for our needs though, so I've never remotely considered buying one


I'd suggest you demo one personally to decide for yourself
If you're a serious prospect and not just a tire kicker, I have no doubt a Blueline sales rep would accommodate you


..L.T.A.

 

[TimP]

I've never used the Titan. But the machine I'm looking at to replace mine with is probably a Powerclean Genesis DXT. I plan to put it in a box van/truck. I hear it can dual wand near what a vortex can do. However before I buy I plan on trying it out.....or I may look into a used vortex however I don't care for the design personally. I know many love them but it just doesn't make sense to me as far as a long term machine. But keep in mind I've never even seen a vortex or ran one.


Oh and BTW the titan runs a #5 blower it's just a 59 blower and creates more cfm than a 56 blower.....but less than a 68 blower which can create more HG's.....at least that's my understanding of the differences.

 

[hogjowl]

Stupid question since the vast majority of cleaners don't own a Vortex, and have no way of knowing.

I didn't vote since mine is less than a month in my possession and not running at the moment.

 

[Walt]

Stupid question since the vast majority of cleaners don't own a Vortex, and have no way of knowing.

I didn't vote since mine is less than a month in my possession and not running at the moment.

Maybe some of the answers... Perhaps, he hoped V owners would answer the question.

 

[steve frasier]

not sure why I bother to answer the question , been thrown out there so many times

If you are comparing it to a newer model or older model?

It all depends on your thinking but for a one person operation it can be over kill if you are looking at other machines that at least a #5 blower

If you think the Titan, or any other #5 blower, will dual wand better the a newer model V then you are sadly mistaken. Don't just dual wand but pull out 200' of hose on each port then hook up you wand to one end and then leave the other hose uncapped. Then please tell me what the comparision is.

the V is set at 17"hg at 1700 rpm, not 14", and you can push it higher if you really wanted to. Makes a big difference.

the thermal wave II I had might have been close at 150' with some 2.5" hose and 2.5" filter on a single wand operation but could not match it with heat, lift, the amount of fresh/waste water it can carry, storage space, etc

lift and cfm kind of go hand in hand and lift is king

when I looked at buying a box van and bigger slide in, it was a little over $60,000, to me if I was gonna spend that much I might as well get the biggest, baddest thing I could and not worry about upgrading again or having to worry about wearing out another slide in

remember, claims is all they are

 

[ronbeatty]

I have been cleaning carpet for 32 years and in that period of time I have run Hydra Master slide-ins for 5 years, Butlers from base units to a custom built GMC cube for 25 years, and Vortex's for 2 years. With that said the last 2 years I have cleaned carpet better, faster, and dried it much faster with the Vortex's. Over a 6 month period we purchased 2 new Vortex's because after we cleaned a house with the Vortex's our customers did not want us coming back with a van. They may not be for everyone, but when you have the business to support them you won't want to use any other truck.

 

[Loren Egland]

Why do most of you guys seem to talk about vacuum as the most important criteria for cleaning performance? I assume it is that you don't feel heat and flow is going to clean better than more vacuum.

 

[hogjowl]

It's not the steak, Less. It's the sizzle.

Dry in under 2 hours is a HUGE sizzle, right now.

 

[gasaxe]

Why do most of you guys seem to talk about vacuum as the most important criteria for cleaning performance? I assume it is that you don't feel heat and flow is going to clean better than more vacuum.

without vaccum heat and flow dont mean squat. Although i do agree some machines are severly underated on heat output.

 

[hogjowl]

Les is in the mode of pushing the electric weenie at the moment.

Less suck from Les.

 

[steve frasier]

Why do most of you guys seem to talk about vacuum as the most important criteria for cleaning performance?

the drier it is the cleaner it will be

because after we cleaned a house with the Vortex's our customers did not want us coming back with a van.

I can't disagree with that comment.

 

[Out of Character - 0]

More vacuum = more agitation. The velocity of the "heat and flow" being sucked off the fiber matters, the more violent the extraction, the better your cleaning.


That's my take on it

 

[Dolly Llama]

Les is in the mode of pushing the electric weenie at the moment.

Less suck from Les.

Les who???

if you're talking to a big invisible rabbit, try Harvey, not Les.
maybe he'll talk to you then


..L.T.A.

 

[Brian R]

Brian wrote,

Hell to the Yes!

And not for the reasons listed.

Brian (spell correct) how long did you have your Vortex and why did you sell it ?

Lol, never owned one.
Like I said, overated for a whole mess of other reasons.

I can buy two of my setups for one of those.

The selling point for the vortex is dual wanding.
I can single wand at two different houses

I've said all this before and there are many more reasons.

I can list them all if you want...maybe tomorrow.

I will start a thread or something and get it all out at once.

 

[Walt]

The Vortex is not over rated when it comes to performance. I've owned one and I am still a big fan of the platform. Some owners over the years have made some far fetched claims but mostly due to their excitement and loyalty.

It doesn't clean the carpet for you, or make enough in walk ups to keep you busy for half the year. And if you are creepy... it wont fix that either

 

[steve g]

overrated power wise??? even I would say no to that, now if you need that much power, and wanna spend that much money on one unit that can only be at one jobsite at a time is a whole other issue. I do think its way overrated when it comes to the owners claiming they get all this work from customers just seeing the machine at a house, getting a woodie or wet (depending on the sex of the customer) and booking an appointment on the spot.

 

[Jim Martin]

Vortex is not over rated but it is way over hyped so people are expecting more out of it then what it will preform...then it just becomes a disappointment .....look at it with your own mind instead of everyone else's an see for yourself.....it can out preform the best of them......

 

[Chris A]

I don't know that the titan is overrated either, I was playing with one a few days ago, we had a uph dri master, a RDM, and a Greenhorn hooked up and each had respectable vac, temp was another story, about 170 ATM sustained.

 

[Dolly Llama]

who's running a Titan out here, Chris?
(or where did you demo it?)

170 sustained heat??????
WTF???

that must be with all three of those hi-flow tools running at once??


..L.T.A.

 

[Greenie]

Does the Titan have the same style Blower HX as the Boxxer clan? cause i was looking at it, and removing it didn't look like fun if you have to clean it to prevent from buying a 59 blower.

The three tool Heat, doesn't much surprise me, some folks look for miracles, physics comes into play every so often, there are limits to what you will get from a 4 cyl. engine running at 50%.