Vortex vs The Lunchpail

[CanYouHemiNow]

Mikey, now that you have had a chance to play with your new Judson C-4 could you give a first hand, real world comparison to the performance of your Vortex?

Anyone else who has actually used both?

 

[Mikey P]

A Vortex is more than just a cleaning machine, it's a big ass truck with lots of storage space, true dual wand high performance, loads of dirty and clean water capacity and the ability to run 400 ft + of hose. Louder than Lillard at a Chuckey Cheese. Sexy looks
$100 grand for a base model and truck these days.


A Lunchpail is a kick ass bare bones single wand, built like a brick shit house rug suckin machine. Tons of heat, 240º with a 010 wand non stop, plenty of suck not PTO quiet but not bad. Couldn't be easier to work on or with. 130 waste capacity is more than the Vortex's 110. Industrial bad boy looks.
$17 grand or so.


Now put two Pails in a Vortex type truck with a large hose reel and shared 250 gal fresh tank and you got it made.

 

[Carpet Cleaning Fool]

A Vortex is carpet cleaning nirvana!

Any owner operator who's paid their dues owes it to himself to get one. Even if its a second hand used Vortex.

Leave the cargo vans to the hired help regardless of what's inside them.

think my V has a 300 gallon waste tank and 300 gallon fresh water.

God bless vortex!

 

[CanYouHemiNow]

Just wondering if side by side, in single wand mode, same setup... how does the Pail compare in cleaning ability and dry times?

 

[Mikey P]

side by side the Lunchpail's wand wont scream as loud over 100 ft but the end result will be identical.

 

[Mikey P]

Shawn, is your comment based on personal experience?


Define "fix" please.


I "fixed" all sorts of things on my Vortex in it's first 3 years.


I challenge you to find me a machine that creates vacuum and heated pressurized water through it that does not need fixing every so often.







Shawn you are the man at creating great sexy looking machines and marketing pieces.


Considering the tough economic times were are in, and will continue to be in for some time, have you considered hiring out your talent to others in the industry?


Sort of a Queer eye for the Redneck Backyard Buildertype program?

 

[Art Kelley]

A Vortex is carpet cleaning nirvana!

Any owner operator who's paid their dues owes it to himself to get one. Even if its a second hand used Vortex.

Leave the cargo vans to the hired help regardless of what's inside them.

think my V has a 300 gallon waste tank and 300 gallon fresh water.

God bless vortex!

If you are an O/O who works alone like me, what is the purpose of a dual wand machine working at half capacity?

 

[CanYouHemiNow]

Good morning Mr York,

Thanks for weighing in on the subject.

Hey, if I had the cash or the credit or a rich dead relative I would probably pony up for a spankin' new 8000q without a second thought. I know what a no-compromise beast you and Blueline have created.

Unfortunately, I am limited on all three of those resources so I have to get the best bang possible for my meager buck. From what I have read, Judson's reliability, ease of maintainance, value, pedigree, and performance are currently making them a front-runner for my business. I am however, always open to feedback and differing opinions. And I still have about another month, according to my business plan, to make an equipment decision.

Thanks again for the feedback.

 

[Mikey P]

Talk about an over reaction..


All I was saying is you have design and fashion sense that the others are lacking.


It was a compliment. :roll:

 

[Dolly Llama]

A Vortex is carpet cleaning nirvana!

Any owner operator who's paid their dues owes it to himself to get one. Even if its a second hand used Vortex.

Leave the cargo vans to the hired help regardless of what's inside them.

think my V has a 300 gallon waste tank and 300 gallon fresh water.

God bless vortex!

you're in the honeymoon period
give it a couple years and several thousands of dollars in repairs and upkeep

everyone that owns a V has Jim Martin on speed dial for a reason....


..L.T.A.

 

[Mikey P]

I'm not a homophobe in any sense of the word.






It just so happens to be most of the homos in my life are as annoying as hell.

 

[Bob Foster]

I have an older Judson TM, in fact it's around 20 years old when I bought it after a factory rebuild. It has around 15,000-20,000 hours on it.

It's on a 900 hour 18 hp Briggs & Stratton (which cost under $1000 to replace and under 2 hours to remove and replace)
The blower is original and not rebuilt
Tha tank is original and not rebuilt - there were not cracks to repair
It's on it's second 3cp Cat
The original Little Giant while still working was resold because I wanted a #4 Little Giant

A Judson TNT is no harder to work on than a lawn mower and a pressure washer because essentially that's all it is, yet it will suck as good or better as the very best of them and there is nothing complicated to fix or break on them. All parts are available locally and if you don't want to work on it yourself then you can take it to any small engine shop to have the work done.

It is very reliable, performs well and this has been proven over and over again.

To my knowledge the Judson TNT has earned its long standing reputation as the most reliable and bullet proof truckmount in the whole industry while remaining very affordable in comparison to the bling on the market today.

If you want to find the real story about Judson TNT's just ask anyone who has owned one for 5 or more years.

The Vortex is a top end tool designed for a person that has the financial means, the high profit customer base who two-man cleans. To my understanding that is a very small percentage of carpet cleaners.

Mike's unit is the Judson C4, which he affectionately has named "The Lunchpail", is essentially a TNT with a bigger tank and a bigger engine and a slightly bigger blower. The Judson TNT or C4 (Lunchpail) is aimed square at the mass of the market yet for a single wanding cleaner. Anyone who has actually tried one it has found that it will meet their critical performance expectations.

Most of the TNT's that have been built over it's 35 years of production are still in use today.
http://truckmountdirect.com/
http://truckmount-direct.com/store/inde ... &cPath=1_4

 

[Carpet Cleaning Fool]

[quote="Carpet Cleaning Fool":2vpmu8ft]A Vortex is carpet
cleaning nirvana!

Any owner operator who's paid their dues owes it to himself to get one. Even if its a second hand used Vortex.

Leave the cargo vans to the hired help regardless of what's inside them.

think my V has a 300 gallon waste tank and 300 gallon fresh water.

God bless vortex!

If you are an O/O who works alone like me, what is the purpose of a dual wand machine working at half capacity?[/quote:2vpmu8ft]

The purpose is that I deserve the best!

If you don't think you deserve the best then stick with the crack torch propane slide-ins and enjoy waitin in line for some high school flunky to fill your bottle.

Or, if you really want to punish yourself do what Mikey suggests and mount two slide-ins in a big truck. Anyone who does that is a bigger fool than I.

Honeymoon or not, I'm in bed w Vortex for the long haul. For better or worse. My goal is to save enough dough to purhase a brand spanking new one off the showroom floor.

 

[Art Kelley]

[quote="Art Kelley":hn1iy2hm][quote="Carpet Cleaning Fool":hn1iy2hm]A Vortex is carpet
cleaning nirvana!

Any owner operator who's paid their dues owes it to himself to get one. Even if its a second hand used Vortex.

Leave the cargo vans to the hired help regardless of what's inside them.

think my V has a 300 gallon waste tank and 300 gallon fresh water.

God bless vortex!

If you are an O/O who works alone like me, what is the purpose of a dual wand machine working at half capacity?[/quote:hn1iy2hm]

The purpose is that I deserve the best!

If you don't think you deserve the best then stick with the crack torch propane slide-ins and enjoy waitin in line for some high school flunky to fill your bottle.

Or, if you really want to punish yourself do what Mikey suggests and mount two slide-ins in a big truck. Anyone who does that is a bigger fool than I.

Honeymoon or not, I'm in bed w Vortex for the long haul. For better or worse. My goal is to save enough dough to purhase a brand spanking new one off the showroom floor.[/quote:hn1iy2hm]

Or you could buy the best machine for YOUR purposes. My WM DD unit will clean as well and as fast for much less expense as your Vortex if we are both operating as one man shows. If you dual wand with a helper you will go twice as fast as me, but we will still end up with close to the same net in a year's time.

 

[Mikey P]

Or, if you really want to punish yourself do what Mikey suggests and mount two slide-ins in a big truck. Anyone who does that is a bigger fool than I.

Tell me why is this a bad idea and then I'll tell you as a long time Vortex owner why I think it's a great idea.

 

[Dolly Llama]

Honeymoon or not, I'm in bed w Vortex for the long haul. For better or worse. My goal is to save enough dough to purhase a brand spanking new one off the showroom floor.

LOL..go get 'em tiger


..L.T.A.

 

[Ryan]

I've never owned a vortex, but I worked for a company with a 720 for a while. If you were to buy a new Nissan UD put two slide-ins in it and a huge electric hose reel. How would a vortex be any better? Yes you have three engines but when one of the slide ins break down you just keep on cleaning until you get time to fix it. Then engine completly goes? Spend 2k and buy a new one. Need to do upholstery? Set one machine for upholstery and one for carpet. Tile and Carpet on the same job? Set one machine for tile and one for carpet. Just need to run one wand? Shut one unit down and run one wand. Oh and it would be cheaper and your truck would last longer. Now what advantages would a vortex have over this?

 

[Dolly Llama]

I've never owned a vortex, but I worked for a company with a 720 for a while. If you were to buy a new Nissan UD put two slide-ins in it and a huge electric hose reel. How would a vortex be any better? Yes you have three engines but when one of the slide ins break down you just keep on cleaning until you get time to fix it. Then engine completly goes? Spend 2k and buy a new one. Need to do upholstery? Set one machine for upholstery and one for carpet. Tile and Carpet on the same job? Set one machine for tile and one for carpet. Just need to run one wand? Shut one unit down and run one wand. Oh and it would be cheaper and your truck would last longer. Now what advantages would a vortex have over this?

shhhh, Ryan, please don't bring good common $en$e into it

..L.T.A.

 

[Becker]

Yes. I am GAY AND LESBIAN FRIENDLY. It's true.

Is that the same thing as being 420 friendly?

 

[Bob Foster]

I think you mean 9-9 friendly.

 

[Becker]

But I'll bet it is nothing like being in the 9-9-9 club.

 

[Jay D]

Tom, There is a prochem performer 405 with 2500 hrs on Dallas craigslist for $6,000 if you are trying to find a good deal. offer less of course. :wink:

 

[Bjorn]

I think his decision is EZ

 

[Jimmy L]

GAY


WHO CARES?

 

[Bob Foster]

I wonder who on the board has the oldest Judson unit. Maybe they can tell us about their experiences with it.

I wonder who has owned the same Vortex unit the longest and could tell us their experiences with that too.

 

[Becker]

I wonder who has owned the same Vortex unit the longest and could tell us their experiences with that too.

Are there any 2 Vortex units the same?

 

[Chris A]

I've never owned a vortex, but I worked for a company with a 720 for a while. If you were to buy a new Nissan UD put two slide-ins in it and a huge electric hose reel. How would a vortex be any better? Yes you have three engines but when one of the slide ins break down you just keep on cleaning until you get time to fix it. Then engine completly goes? Spend 2k and buy a new one. Need to do upholstery? Set one machine for upholstery and one for carpet. Tile and Carpet on the same job? Set one machine for tile and one for carpet. Just need to run one wand? Shut one unit down and run one wand. Oh and it would be cheaper and your truck would last longer. Now what advantages would a vortex have over this?

I think there are a few. One is that two slide ins and two propane heaters are gonna take up a TON of room, even in a V-sized truck. Second is that the noise of two oversized lawnmower engines and two 47 class blowers would probably chase people out of their homes. Third would be fuel economy, no one has answered yet how much each of those 35's is gonna use per hour. Fourth is some people (like me) absolutely hate slide-ins, and wouldn't buy anything that has an independant power source. Just a few off the top of my head, fuel usage would be a big 'un.

 

[CanYouHemiNow]

Thanks Jay, I will take a look at that.

 

[Dolly Llama]

I think there are a few. One is that two slide ins and two propane heaters are gonna take up a TON of room,

you think?
have you looked at the floor space the components take up on a V ?
It looks like someone threw a bunch of parts on the floor and bolted them down where they landed

Second is that the noise of two oversized lawnmower engines and two 47 class blowers would probably chase people out of their homes.

until the latest V, I don't think an uncorked 47 has as much noise.
The console side of the latter V's wasn't bad, but the silencer side still roared

Just as many dudes found noise suppression ways on the V, so can slide ins be hushed down

Third would be fuel economy,

fuel economy would be a virtue when dual wanding
when single wanding and running just one unit, I doubt the fuel economy would be much different than a direct drive unit though

..L.T.A.

 

[Bob Savage]

I think there are a few. One is that two slide ins and two propane heaters are gonna take up a TON of room,

Two propane heaters?

Get ONE propane heater that will supply all the heat you will ever need for 2 wands, as long as they aren't both flowing over 16 each.

BTW, what is the flow rate when you are dual wanding with the V on each wand?

I don't understand why the Pail can't dual wand successfully.

Please explain Mikey.