Wagtail (to use a pad or not to use a pad)

The wagtail style squeegee with the pad attached is very popular these days. Why do some people use it plain? Scrub with a standard strip washer and squeegee dry with a plain wagtail. Why is that? More scrubbing power when a standard strip washer is used? What gives?

There must be benefits and drawbacks to each method.

I think the Wag flipper doesnā€™t hold enough water, so I use my excelerator mod, or the wagtail with a brass channel.

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Your right, the scrubber doesnt hold much water but i feel like it does scrub the windows well

That pad has itā€™s place, but is limited in my opinion. Holds little water, but that is both a strength and weakness. Fully saturated, it does not add much weight so that makes it better on the hand and wrist, and lacking bulk, it does not get in the way when closing out, but it is a far cry from a strip washer or the Fliq from Moerman. There are volumes already written about the shortcomings of how it attaches to the channel, so no need to re-hash that here. Guess as with most questions, it all boils down to operator preference.

I should have said wagtail style in the opening statement.

I have a wagtail PC that holds a standard channel. I do 100% storefronts. I donā€™t want to carry to much stuff on my belt. So Iā€™m thinking of adding just that handle with a ten or twelve inch channel in it. Wondering if not having that pad that PolznBladz, Waga, Luke and everybody else has will defeat the whole purpose of using it. Mark Henderson and @HE_MAN seem to get along fine without a pad.

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I used a plain wagtail with a separate scrubber all last year until the fliq pad came out. The attached pad saves about 5 seconds per window vs swapping tools/poles for each pane.

But nobody wets one pane at a time, right? I usually wash three or four at a time. So it saves maybe 1,5 seconds a pane. Haha

Im planning on using it at a few jobs I have with a lot of transoms. Iā€™ll be using two poles.

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Safe to assume you liked it better than the traditional way since you used it for a whole year.

Yes I still keep a wagtail in regular rotation. I use the liquidator channel for a couple days until Iā€™m sick of it, then swap it out for a standard channel, then back again after enough time that I forget how much I hated the liquidator when I tossed it back in the bin.

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For 3 years all I used was 14" and 16" Wagtail Combi with flip pad mounted under. I felt the pad was light and even wet wasnā€™t adding too much weight to the tool. Towards the end of my time with it I was finding I was having forearm and wrist ā€˜nigglesā€™. I swapped out to a Wagtail PC without pad and a light pivoting scrubber in the other and starting switching left and right on repetitive route work. Problem solved. The advantage of using a pivot is that glass that is a touch above or below normal fixed squeegee in hand range can be easily bladed with the extra reach that the pivot provides. I personally prefer the minimal hand/wrist/forearm action required to use one over the action required on a fixed handleā€¦ now, having said that however over recent months Iā€™ve been mixing it up even more with 16-22" Liquidators on fixed handles.

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The only time we use pads on the squeegee is on a pole have a 12 & 20inch that have the pads on.
Have 12 & 24 inch squeegee which is use in commination with a scrubber. (two handed method.)
Side note Have used swivel type squeegee & scrubbers since starting WC.

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  1. It doesnā€™t hold much water

  2. I need a more aggressive scrubber for the baked on dirt

  3. It doesnā€™t hold much water

  4. It doesnā€™t fit in the boab

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That style is great for well maintained storefronts. But itā€™s also a tool that has its time and place.

I use both the exelerator and wagtail, with and without pads, some jobs it is much easier and other jobs call for 2 straight pulls which save time (at least for me)

To be honest though, the wagtail and excelerator are just fun tools that I use sometimes just to change it up and have fun

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The scrubbing pad we use .
Is a Ettore microfiber sleeve which was cut longways to make two scrubbing pads.
These are held via Velcro on a DIY pad holder.
The video is a early version the pad holder is held on the squeegee channel a bit differently.
This very same pad holder we using the 20 inch scrubber /squeegee. (Still using it)

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ā€œTo be honest though, the wagtail and excelerator are just fun tools that I use sometimes just to change it up and have fun.ā€

Sounds like a fair enough answer, fun.

If you want to work and make money use traditional tools. If you want to have some FUN well thereā€™s the wagtail style tools with or without the pad. :yum::smile::flushed:

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I make money, have fun and get home earlier and fresher than I ever did using ā€œtraditionalā€ traditional tools. Same applies to moving from Alu Tucker to 100% CF Pole.

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You got my attention with the aluminum vs carbon fiber wfp bit! Been there done that. Thanks

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I disagree. The wagtail has its place in my toolset. I mainly use it for upper windows like transoms and whatnot.

For example:

These sorts of windows go all around the building. My time was cut by about 30% by using the wagtail on those upper windows. I just use my regular mop, soap up 5 at a time, wag them and done. Thereā€™s not really enough room to use traditional without having to detail them. With the wagtail, I donā€™t need to detail. The angle is just perfect and unless Iā€™m just having an off day, I donā€™t need to touch anything up.

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