Loren Egland
Member
I was able to see several wands this year at Mikefest. The ones that interested me were the Titanium 6 jet, the 16 inch Evolution, the Bentley swivel head wand, and the Greenhorn. Each had something desirable about them. All were 2 inch wands.
The Evolution did not clean to the edges, leaving at least an inch or more on both sides from the edge of the wand, but had a nice shape for air flow. It seemed to flex a little.
The Bentley had that swivel advantage, where you could get into tight spots easily and lay flat to clean under beds. It also was the only wand whose shape would allow it to get underneath cabinets easily, such as in bathrooms. The low outer edge angles toward the center rather than using a more upright slant that is then squared off like the other wands. It seemed too short in the length of the tube, but I think there is a longer one. Perhaps this was to accommodate the gun type handle and trigger on the top, which I didn’t like that at all. Likely the wand can be had with a conventional trigger.
The Titanium looked pretty good, but I didn’t care for the jet spacing. Rather than having 6 jets evenly distributed, there was extra space in the middle of the 6 jets, like two sets of 3 jets. Maybe not a big deal though.
I bought the Greenhorn at Mikefest, and have been able to compare it with my Steam Way wand.
The Greenhorn is evidently slightly wider at 14 inches than the 13.5 inch(?) Ti wand, and all 5 jets were evenly placed. I think it is a pound or so heavier than the Ti. To me it seemed nice to have a jet in the middle of the wand. The jets are dialed in just right. The wand cleans evenly across the whole width. The jets are set close to the carpet at a pretty good shear angle, hitting just in front of the holed Greenglide. In fact, this wand almost cleans like a Hydrokinetic upholstery tool in that you can trigger the wand and not move it, yet the water doesn’t start to puddle up like it would on my Steam Way wand. Though the wand is 2” and my Steam Way is 1.5”, I think the main reason it leaves the carpet drier is due to how the water strikes the carpet, and of course that each jet puts out less water than the one jet of my Steam Way wand. I definately like the Greenhorn better than the Steam Way on lower nap carpet and olefin berbers.
The S shape wand is at times easier to get underneath some things but sometimes the straight wand will get further underneath since it doesn’t get hung up on the bend. The Greenhorn it is a pain around a tight toilet enclosure. Since the Steam Way wand is a straight wand, I can angle it to make it take a smaller path, but the S shape of the Greenhorn takes up too much space and will not allow the wand to be turned at an angle, hitting the wall and the stool.
The Greenhorn also doesn’t get underneath all cabinets well due to its shape on the outer edge, where as my Steam Way wand does just fine.
I also seem to be able to suck up moisture at the baseboard better with my Steam Way wand. It is may be due to the fact that my Steam Way glide has worn down to where it is now shorter across than my wand. The new Greenglide on the Greenhorn wand is wider than the wand. Perhaps when it wears down and becomes a little narrower, it will suck at little better along the edge near the baseboard. It is easier, due to the S bend and the jet angle to be in a hallway and turn the wand perpendicular to the walls to spray into the crease where filtrations stains occur.
With the Steam Way wand, most of the cleaning is in the center where the water blasts the carpet, so I need to overlap, usually a half a wand to get the carpet good and clean. This is one of the reasons I wanted another wand.
Surprisingly, I have not had any streaking problems with the Greenhorn. It cleans more gently than my Steam Way wand.
The Greenhorn cleans better than I expected. I believe this is due to the water flow. I tested the difference at 500 psi with 100 feet of 3/8 inch solution hose, and the Greenhorn total water flow is about 50% more than my Steam Way wand. However, when I need to get a tough spot out, the Steam Way seems better. I had some candle wax to remove one day, and the Greenhorn was taking too much time, so I went out and got my Steam Way wand to blast away the wax.
Stairs are not easy with the Greenhorn, so I use a PMF stair tool. But even that stair tool caused me grief on a carpet last week because it was making streak marks in the nap, so I took out my Steam Way wand to do them.
I like that I can lay down the Greenhorn and it won’t tip over all the way on its side due to the S bend. Sometimes my Steam Way wand would tip all the way over near some furniture or wall, and the handle would hit something, risking a little damage. A nice feature of the Greenhorn is the softer coated handle. The trigger also has this, but it wanted to slide around too much. Finally it split open on the end, so I shoved it forward. It eventually folded over itself a little on the other end, and I was able to draw the trigger cover back in place enough to cover the metal, so it is now staying in place.
The valve on the Greenhorn has not leaked yet, something I fight from time to time with the Steam Way Paraplate valve that doesn’t like heat.
What is really sweet is that the Greenhorn wand doesn’t leak water out of the jets like my Steam Way. I have also not had a clogged jet, which surprised me because each jet orifice is about 3 times smaller than the Steam Way jet. I guess it has an inline filter to prevent this, so that is very nice.
The Greenhorn releases more steam vapor into the air than my Steam Way with the fully enclose heat chamber, but not that bad. I don’t think there is a great deal of heat loss with the Greenhorn, though it logically does lose more than the Steam Way wand. At least there is an outer edge shield on the Greenhorn, something not all of the wands at Mikefest had. There doesn’t seem to be any water overspray to speak of with the Greenhorn.
Sometimes when I Rotovac a carpet it is best to give a quick once over with the wand afterwards to remove swirls. The Greenhorn obviously does this faster than my Steam Way. I think the Greenhorn can clean faster in most cases too, because the wand is wider and cleans equally from edge to edge instead of cleaning better in the middle and less so on the sides as the Steam Way wand that requires overlapping strokes.
The Greenhorn is highly polished stainless steel, so it shines like chrome. However, because of the shiny surface, it also shows every smudge and dribble, so I find myself wiping it down much more than the non polished stainless steel of my Steam Way wand. Still, I kind of like the shine.
Bottom line is I have only used my Steam Way wand two or three times in the last two months. The Greenhorn is that good! But for the occasional situation or deep piled nasty that I don’t Rotovac, I can still grab my Steam Way wand.
Loren Egland
The Evolution did not clean to the edges, leaving at least an inch or more on both sides from the edge of the wand, but had a nice shape for air flow. It seemed to flex a little.
The Bentley had that swivel advantage, where you could get into tight spots easily and lay flat to clean under beds. It also was the only wand whose shape would allow it to get underneath cabinets easily, such as in bathrooms. The low outer edge angles toward the center rather than using a more upright slant that is then squared off like the other wands. It seemed too short in the length of the tube, but I think there is a longer one. Perhaps this was to accommodate the gun type handle and trigger on the top, which I didn’t like that at all. Likely the wand can be had with a conventional trigger.
The Titanium looked pretty good, but I didn’t care for the jet spacing. Rather than having 6 jets evenly distributed, there was extra space in the middle of the 6 jets, like two sets of 3 jets. Maybe not a big deal though.
I bought the Greenhorn at Mikefest, and have been able to compare it with my Steam Way wand.
The Greenhorn is evidently slightly wider at 14 inches than the 13.5 inch(?) Ti wand, and all 5 jets were evenly placed. I think it is a pound or so heavier than the Ti. To me it seemed nice to have a jet in the middle of the wand. The jets are dialed in just right. The wand cleans evenly across the whole width. The jets are set close to the carpet at a pretty good shear angle, hitting just in front of the holed Greenglide. In fact, this wand almost cleans like a Hydrokinetic upholstery tool in that you can trigger the wand and not move it, yet the water doesn’t start to puddle up like it would on my Steam Way wand. Though the wand is 2” and my Steam Way is 1.5”, I think the main reason it leaves the carpet drier is due to how the water strikes the carpet, and of course that each jet puts out less water than the one jet of my Steam Way wand. I definately like the Greenhorn better than the Steam Way on lower nap carpet and olefin berbers.
The S shape wand is at times easier to get underneath some things but sometimes the straight wand will get further underneath since it doesn’t get hung up on the bend. The Greenhorn it is a pain around a tight toilet enclosure. Since the Steam Way wand is a straight wand, I can angle it to make it take a smaller path, but the S shape of the Greenhorn takes up too much space and will not allow the wand to be turned at an angle, hitting the wall and the stool.
The Greenhorn also doesn’t get underneath all cabinets well due to its shape on the outer edge, where as my Steam Way wand does just fine.
I also seem to be able to suck up moisture at the baseboard better with my Steam Way wand. It is may be due to the fact that my Steam Way glide has worn down to where it is now shorter across than my wand. The new Greenglide on the Greenhorn wand is wider than the wand. Perhaps when it wears down and becomes a little narrower, it will suck at little better along the edge near the baseboard. It is easier, due to the S bend and the jet angle to be in a hallway and turn the wand perpendicular to the walls to spray into the crease where filtrations stains occur.
With the Steam Way wand, most of the cleaning is in the center where the water blasts the carpet, so I need to overlap, usually a half a wand to get the carpet good and clean. This is one of the reasons I wanted another wand.
Surprisingly, I have not had any streaking problems with the Greenhorn. It cleans more gently than my Steam Way wand.
The Greenhorn cleans better than I expected. I believe this is due to the water flow. I tested the difference at 500 psi with 100 feet of 3/8 inch solution hose, and the Greenhorn total water flow is about 50% more than my Steam Way wand. However, when I need to get a tough spot out, the Steam Way seems better. I had some candle wax to remove one day, and the Greenhorn was taking too much time, so I went out and got my Steam Way wand to blast away the wax.
Stairs are not easy with the Greenhorn, so I use a PMF stair tool. But even that stair tool caused me grief on a carpet last week because it was making streak marks in the nap, so I took out my Steam Way wand to do them.
I like that I can lay down the Greenhorn and it won’t tip over all the way on its side due to the S bend. Sometimes my Steam Way wand would tip all the way over near some furniture or wall, and the handle would hit something, risking a little damage. A nice feature of the Greenhorn is the softer coated handle. The trigger also has this, but it wanted to slide around too much. Finally it split open on the end, so I shoved it forward. It eventually folded over itself a little on the other end, and I was able to draw the trigger cover back in place enough to cover the metal, so it is now staying in place.
The valve on the Greenhorn has not leaked yet, something I fight from time to time with the Steam Way Paraplate valve that doesn’t like heat.
What is really sweet is that the Greenhorn wand doesn’t leak water out of the jets like my Steam Way. I have also not had a clogged jet, which surprised me because each jet orifice is about 3 times smaller than the Steam Way jet. I guess it has an inline filter to prevent this, so that is very nice.
The Greenhorn releases more steam vapor into the air than my Steam Way with the fully enclose heat chamber, but not that bad. I don’t think there is a great deal of heat loss with the Greenhorn, though it logically does lose more than the Steam Way wand. At least there is an outer edge shield on the Greenhorn, something not all of the wands at Mikefest had. There doesn’t seem to be any water overspray to speak of with the Greenhorn.
Sometimes when I Rotovac a carpet it is best to give a quick once over with the wand afterwards to remove swirls. The Greenhorn obviously does this faster than my Steam Way. I think the Greenhorn can clean faster in most cases too, because the wand is wider and cleans equally from edge to edge instead of cleaning better in the middle and less so on the sides as the Steam Way wand that requires overlapping strokes.
The Greenhorn is highly polished stainless steel, so it shines like chrome. However, because of the shiny surface, it also shows every smudge and dribble, so I find myself wiping it down much more than the non polished stainless steel of my Steam Way wand. Still, I kind of like the shine.
Bottom line is I have only used my Steam Way wand two or three times in the last two months. The Greenhorn is that good! But for the occasional situation or deep piled nasty that I don’t Rotovac, I can still grab my Steam Way wand.
Loren Egland
