no no no not a rip off. Would take to long to describe the brush, its reputation, build/durability and the inventor. It's made for restaurant crews; the most abuse on the planet.
To Mikes question, the inventor and I would always encourage our restaurant chains (McD's and others) to use the most durable wet/dry shop vacs with squeezee nozzles. And other equipment as they were willing to learn about. In the end we told them to use their mopping systems if "change" was to much for them. We were a broken record in our recommendation; scrub-and-lift. Scrub with the HW, lift how ever you can. The avid users reported zero slip and falls in a 2 year period.
It's the real deal guys/ladies, strubs and scrubs and............