Boss poles are made exclusively for Bladeright systems in Wellington, Somerset. From a small company with a humble budget, they are building a reputation as a giant slayer in the world of water fed poles. The Boss Mod is the HiMod version of the pole, and its focus is definitely on keeping the weight down. We went down to Bladeright to try out the Boss range of poles, and here is what we honestly think of them!
You can check out the complete range of Boss poles on the Bladeright website. Bladeright is a down-to-earth customer-focused company that supplies cleaning supplies but also does bespoke system installs with innovative design features.
Deflection
The Boss Mod was average in our deflection test. With no weight on it, the deflection measured 43mm, going up to 172mm when a 2.5kg weight was hung from it.
This put it at the lower end of full carbon poles, but well outperforming the carbon composite poles we have tested.
This was really interesting because often the HiMod version of a pole is more rigid. Boss has focused on weight and strength over rigidity.
The Boss Carbon (full carbon fibre version of the same pole) is actually more rigid than the Mod, however, it weighs in at 365g heavier.
Weight
This is the area where the Mod excels.
The Bladeright website claims that it weighs 990g. We cannot guarantee the accuracy but we use the same scales to measure all poles we review and we measured it 10g heavier at 1000g.
This is extremely light for a window cleaning pole, and you can really feel it when you are holding it. It feels so light, and it does go a long way to compensate for the average scores on the deflection test.
This is the lightest pole that we have reviewed so far, and we really liked it.
Ergonomics
The Boss Mod has a standard round cross-section.
It is nice and small on the end section of the 22ft as it is only a 5 section pole.
We personally prefer non-round pole shapes to work with. If you are okay with round poles this one will be good for you because it is comfortable and light, and the carbon fibre is not so smooth it is slippery but instead, it’s grippy in your hand.
Clamps
Boss poles use the same clamps across their whole range of poles. It is a standard clamp design that they have made some very significant changes to, leading us to rate the clamps very highly.
For general day to day use the clamps can be adjusted easily without tools and they have shims in the clamps to help them tighten better.
In addition, the clamps bolt onto the lower pole section instead of being glued on. Many people find that glued clamps can loosen over time and spin on the side where there is no clamping force. The Boss v3 clamps tighten down with an alan key to stay securely in place.
Because the poles are round, they have made another change to make the pole clamps stay in place. They have built a key into each pole section and clamp, so the clamp sits into a groove and cannot spin around, even if it should loosen. This is a really clever idea and works very well.
The clamps also have plastic inserts to reduce wear on the sections and improve clamping friction with less force being required. These plastic inserts are actually hidden inside of the clamp, and you will only see them when you completely remove a section of the pole.
All in all, these are simple clamps with some really nice extra features to set them apart!
Other considerations
The Boss Mod comes with a pole tip with a Euro thread on it instead of an angle adapter. This makes it possible to attach a variety of accessories to it and brushes. However, you have to tighten these up correctly to stop them from spinning. There is no quick-release brush stock that comes as standard.
In fact, Boss does not make their own brand of brushes, rather they make their poles compatible with brushes from other brands.
The Boss Mod is available from 22ft all the way up to 75ft!
The Boss Mod 22ft is priced at £490.80 incl VAT. It really punches above its weight for what it offers in a sub-£500 pole, especially as similar poles such as the Gardiner Xtreme 22ft costs £642 (true it includes a brush but that alone’s not worth £150)!
The Boss Mod is a great pole, especially for the price tag. They have focused on weight rather than stiffness, and because of its very low weight, it feels really easy to use. Coming from a small company it does not have a huge range of accessories but can be compatible with accessories from many other brands. It is definitely worth considering for your next pole!
If you are interested you can only buy it directly from Bladeright, you can click here to check the latest price and all the available options.
Have you ever tried the Boss Mod? Is our review correct? Please let us know what you think in the comments, or leave your questions and we will try to find the answers for you!
Pole comparison table
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*We only had an 18 ft pole to test so the span was about 200mm shorter. The shorter the span, the less it should deflect.
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