The Zipper Wand in Action

Back is fine...the curve in the handle plants the tool and it moves with ease anywhere I want it to go.....

Great design....

I would say you had plenty of heat and good job feeding that tree in the southern desert. I would venture to say that fatigue wasn't a factor in this situation because there wasn't alot of square footage on this job. I Look forward to your thought when the schools come up.

I'm starting to think the new handle served a dual purpose. Makes it more ergonomic and easier on the back and helps it sit flatter on the carpet

Jim you ever been up to Prescott? I clean the Elks Opera house here in town in a couple of weeks. If your itching to try it on a lot of square footage you would be more than welcome to come up and give it a run there

It has become my go to tool. The more you use it the less you'll want to use your wand. Just wait until you have a huge banquet room to clean, it will go faster and you won't be as tired.

Thanks for posting that Jim...I didn't want to pull it from the neighbors site, wouldn't have been right.

That re-designed handle is what has me so curious. The fact that it stayed well planted throughout sounds like the chattering is a thing of the past...that would be great!

It also resolved my gripe on the hose placement with the previous design, so that is great. What is left is the inherent issue with the middle back....that is the area I am hoping to hear good things about.

Good luck with it.

I go to thinking about using that Zipper on that job that I have coming up. I would have up 200 foot run using the TNT. The Zipper has two 13 or 15 inch vac slots. Do you need a bigger blower than a roots 45? Would I have to reduce the flow in order to achieve decent dry times? I wonder what the longest hose I could go with using the Zipper?

For those of you that use that tool. How much CFM is your machine capable of and what has been your longest hose run and how wet they dry times. When I tested the tool at ICE the carpet was pretty dry after but it was connect to that old guys beast of a machine with 25 feet of hose.

Rob you used it with your machine. What was your longest hose run. From what I recall.

Mo wrote:I go to thinking about using that Zipper on that job that I have coming up. I would have up 200 foot run using the TNT. The Zipper has two 13 or 15 inch vac slots. Do you need a bigger blower than a roots 45? Would I have to reduce the flow in order to achieve decent dry times? I wonder what the longest hose I could go with using the Zipper?

For those of you that use that tool. How much CFM is your machine capable of and what has been your longest hose run and how wet they dry times. When I tested the tool at ICE the carpet was pretty dry after but it was connect to that old guys beast of a machine with 25 feet of hose.

Rob you used it with your machine. What was your longest hose run. From what I recall.

I was out about 225 feet (I try not to go beyond 250 feet) at the start of those jobs. I do have the bigger blower on the butler (maybe 425 cfm) and it left a dry path under those conditions. I have never had any problems with water recovery with that blower out to about 300 feet...then it drops off quite a bit.

I think you would be fine at 200 feet. After-all, you will not be spending the whole time at that distance and you can always toss an airpath down if you are concerned.

Good morning guys,

I was just going to update everyone as well.  

We got it out of the box, and put it right to work the next morning.  I did not have the chance to run it very much, but my son in law was running it on 3 jobs that were essentially residential situations (2 in an elder care facility and 1 in home job).

It took us just a little time to get used to how to use the unit as we are used to throwing a wand around or a rotary.  I have done drag heads in the past (many years ago). We also spent a little time messing with the height to find the sweet spot. Son in law found what was comfortable and still recovering well after about 4 small tweaks.

I did make a video, but it did not turn out...Grrr....

Anyway, I have a couple of pics, but the carpets were thick nylon frieze on a decent backing.  We had 150 feet of hose on our high heat Butler (100 feet was 2.5 inch) We have the large Zipper and really do like it so far.  It flushed well and recovered probably even better than a wand.

We had the weight on the unit yet, and after seeing the video on Erik's website, we need to take that off (guy thing....never read instructions )

On our 3rd use with it, we used to flush out a carpet that had a special "Dog Smell" problem.  2 big Newfoundland dogs had been in the place for 3 months (only supposed have been visiting for a couple weeks). We had cleaned the place a couple weeks ago and treated with odorcide, but still a problem, so I had Aron (my son in law) go back and told him "Hit it hard with the Zipper and really flush it out!" Then did another treatment with odorcide. Don't know if helped, but we had the thing, so lets try it.  

I have a very large 2 story Restaurant on Tuesday night (very soiled!) and will be really putting it through the paces and test with this, our 2 Butler High heats, and a lot of other tools at our disposal such as RX-20's, high flow Prochem Ti wands, and red scrub pads....Bringing all the heavy artillery!

So far...we like it... just want to put it through some more tests and report back.

Here are those couple pics.

Cleaning Newfie smell


Cleaning in elder care facility residents


Mark Saiger
www.saigers.com
"Bring on the Blue!"

Keep us posted on how much time you spend getting the height adjusted from carpet to carpet.

That's the thing I got sick of pretty quick, divkin' with it every job so I could properly extract without too much back pain causing drag.

My blower is a 36 though, so maybe this adjustment isn't as critical when you have a bigger blower?

Mark, Why did you opt for the old style handle.

Hey guys....

Answer couple questions

Got the regular handle as felt comfortable with it and also wanted it to get under a few more things easier.

The adjusting thing I am excited to try it on a couple of my own home carpets today with the Weight off the unit.

My son in law said he found a sweet spot after trying it just one other time (so total of 4 adjustments with our first use)

I am going to take the weight off and see what it feels like with his setting.

Will try to report back.

Mark Saiger
www.saigers.com

Good information Mark...looking forward to more as you work with it.

Interesting, but there's no way in hell I'll ever buy one after being shunned here by Erik thee Zip owner.

I have been "shunned" by a ton of people in my life.......but that does not mean that I am going to cut my nose off to spite my face....if there is something that is better and can make my job easier..I don't care who likes or does not like it...or who makes it....its about me..not anyone else so I am getting it.............

Maybe I should have said he appeared to be unwilling to support or answer questions we had about his $2300 wand.

In support of Eric when I talked to Eric at ice it was only a couple of days after Joe blasted him on the floater thread and he wanted nothing to do with Joe and the forum he did answer the questions I saw that some of you had and I posted the answers when I got back. The problem I had with Erik is that he said that I had told him Joe was planning on taking the zipper to China which was false. But all that BS has nothing to do with evaluation of this tool.

PS I did ban Erik during Joes royal rumble thread because after after a 7 month absence he just came back on to pile on Joe and Ryan. Dam it. I promised myself I would comment on the drama.

Jim Martin wrote:I have been "shunned" by a ton of people in my life.......but that does not mean that I am going to cut my nose off to spite my face....if there is something that is better and can make my job easier..I don't care who likes or does not like it...or who makes it....its about me..not anyone else so I am getting it.............

Have to agree with Jim on this one. If the tool is what I need to be more effective or efficient, then I will hold my nose and still purchase. Erik didn't respond well to critical feedback from this board, but it looks like he at least listened enough to make some changes in the latest incarnation.

I'm still waiting to see some conclusive evidence that the chatter and back fatigue have been eliminated, but I'm not there yet.

That's really got to get tiring at some point pushin & pullin.

Tha'ts what a couple of guys that tried the tool thought too soldier and welcome to the forum

milspec6 wrote:

Jim Martin wrote:I have been "shunned" by a ton of people in my life.......but that does not mean that I am going to cut my nose off to spite my face....if there is something that is better and can make my job easier..I don't care who likes or does not like it...or who makes it....its about me..not anyone else so I am getting it.............

Have to agree with Jim on this one.  If the tool is what I need to be more effective or efficient, then I will hold my nose and still purchase.  Erik didn't respond well to critical feedback from this board, but it looks like he at least listened enough to make some changes in the latest incarnation.

I'm still waiting to see some conclusive evidence that the chatter and back fatigue have been eliminated, but I'm not there yet.

I think the chatter in Saiger's latest video is pretty conclusive, as it not being eliminated? Not sure changing the handle shape will fix the back fatigue/pain either?

milspec6 wrote:Larry, I know that Erik is making a big push to sell his tool over on MB and I am certain that you will hear a lot of praises from those that were given the tool for free, sold at pennies on the dollar, or just plain paid to endorse it.

Very True!

Davey Cracker wrote:

milspec6 wrote:

Jim Martin wrote:I have been "shunned" by a ton of people in my life.......but that does not mean that I am going to cut my nose off to spite my face....if there is something that is better and can make my job easier..I don't care who likes or does not like it...or who makes it....its about me..not anyone else so I am getting it.............

Have to agree with Jim on this one.  If the tool is what I need to be more effective or efficient, then I will hold my nose and still purchase.  Erik didn't respond well to critical feedback from this board, but it looks like he at least listened enough to make some changes in the latest incarnation.

I'm still waiting to see some conclusive evidence that the chatter and back fatigue have been eliminated, but I'm not there yet.

I think the chatter in Saiger's latest video is pretty conclusive, as it not being eliminated? Not sure changing the handle shape will fix the back fatigue/pain either?

The Chatter was actually a bit of my fault as if I would have changed the front glide to a HOLE from the slot glide I had on, and had the weight on it, it would have eliminated it.  I was using a slot in the front and a hole in the back, and I had taken the weight off doing more experimenting with the unit. The proper set up for that carpet would have been 2 hole glides and the weight on the unit.

I didn't come prepared with the other glides and both weights that night as I had been in a huge rush to get from my other jobs in Grand Rapids, MN and make the 1.5 hour trip to this place. I just grabbed the second Zipper from my other van that my son in law had, and also had to make room for 12 case of Harvard Grime Release Pro I just got in for my Brother (we split shipping costs)

My brothers were also in a hurry to keep cleaning and having fun with the way they were set up a the time, so there was no stopping them for a couple minutes to make the quick changes

Mark Saiger
www.saigers.com

Davey Cracker wrote:

milspec6 wrote:Larry, I know that Erik is making a big push to sell his tool over on MB and I am certain that you will hear a lot of praises from those that were given the tool for free, sold at pennies on the dollar, or just plain paid to endorse it.

Very True!

Just for the record, I have not received any special treatment from Erik. I paid a show price from the vegas convention and then paid full price for the 2nd unit I ordered. I waited 2 years before I finally decided to purchase the unit after seeing it at various shows in the past few years. I saw it out clean a few things at the last Vegas show and that was a major reason I decided to buy as well.

Not sure who might have received one for special promotion and my reviews are based on our happiness with the cleaning results we have had in some difficult cleaning situations.

Just wanted to clear any misconception or confusions my posts maybe have portrayed.

Mark Saiger
www.saigers.com

I've just noticed a big difference in those people that have tried the zip on the loaner program vs. those that have purchased it.........the degree of satisfaction seems like more than just coincidence?

The Zipper clearly has some strong supporters and some strong detractors.  The loaner program netted several no-nonsense reviews with the majority being in the detractor group.

It sounds like the vocal members on Mikey's are liking the tool, but both boards had a rather small group of people providing reviews and a much larger group unwilling to post their comments in fear of crossing a moderator.  Last time I checked, Mark and Jim were mods on Mikey's, so the problem still exists.

Unless there is a much wider swath of reviewers on any board, the real story will not be realized regarding the Zipper.  All I can say is that if you are considering one, read the reviews carefully and trust your gut on what is reality and what is salesmanship in either camp.

It just seems difficult to nail this tool down.  Some say that it is perfect right out of the box while others claim that you need to tune the set-up for each situation that you encounter.  How can they both be correct?  Which is it:  Need the weights, don't need weights, need to holed glide, need the slot glide, needs nothing, must be tuned......?

When it comes right down to it, I just want tools that are reliable and work right off the truck.  I can pull off a wand for light soil, add a crb for medium soil, and the Hoss or RX-20 for the heavy soils....simple and effective.  The Zipper doesn't fit in this line-up anywhere for me.  Great looking tool and a good fit for some cleaners out there, but I think that group is a small one....sorry, I just believe that to be the case.