Promising to whip up a Cyclone this powerful gutter vac released in 2021 by Kiam is well worth a second look. It is a triple motor 3600w vac available with a black polypropylene or silver stainless steel drum and a choice of carbon fibre or aluminium poles. They are sold exclusively by Equip2Clean based in Liverpool. You can check out their full range on the Equip2Clean website here.
We got hold of the black polypropylene version to test out for this review and we want to share what we honestly think of it, and hopefully help you decide if it would be the right fit for your business whether gutter cleaning is a dedicated business or an add-on to other services.
25 litre water suck
The Cyclone had an epic performance in the 25-litre water suck, managing to completely empty the bucket in just 7.9 seconds!
This is an immensely fast time.
It has a huge 76-litre polypropylene drum, so it is no problem to hold 25-litres of water.
Water lift
The Cyclone once again performed brilliantly on the water lift test, its three 1200w motors really proving to be powerful.
On their website, they claim that the Cyclone has a 2400mm lift.
In our test, we found it actually exceeded that with a whopping 2600mm!
This vac should have no trouble clearing out the most clogged gutters, and it should do it quickly!
Build Quality
The Kiam Cyclone feels like a generally well-built machine.
Its three 1200w motors run at 87.4 dB. Without the HEPA filter and hose fitted we weighed it at 26.4 kg.
It is a largely plastic construction, although the polypropylene used is very tough. It is not cheap, brittle plastic.
If you prefer there is an option with a stainless steel drum available, and this is actually £50 cheaper!
We really like the top design. The top casing has large moulded handles built into it and it is easy to grab hold of and move around. The buttons are clear and work well.
It has a large 72mm side inlet to reduce blockages and assist with sucking power. It has a knob to pull up when you connect/disconnect the inlet hose.
It comes with a deflection shield for the inside (not shown below), a HEPA filter for dry gutters and a foam filter for wet gutters.
As you use the Cyclone, there are some small signs that it was designed with price in mind. It doesn’t have some of the extra innovative features some other brands have.
The clamps to fix the head to the drum are plastic and we have found these plastic clamps can be broken if it falls over. There are no locks on the frame wheels to stop them from rolling. The drum seems to shake slightly where it attaches to the frame and easily slides from side to side. The hose is plastic but not braided or reinforced.
These are not issues that affect its performance when being used from day to day.
It is also important to remember that the Kiam Cyclone is significantly cheaper than many of its competitors.
Frame
The frame of the Kiam Cyclone is sturdy and quite standard.
It rolls easily and the wheels spin easily. It is a shame that the castor wheels don’t lock to stop in rolling if you are not working on a flat surface.
The Cyclone pivots on the frame to make it easy to empty. As mentioned earlier, the plastic clip that pivots the drum onto the frame could fit better. The vac does seem to move around a bit as it is not held tightly. However, this did not cause us any problems while testing it.
Other thoughts
This is a great gutter vac option from Kiam!
When you buy it on the Equip2Clean website you can choose to purchase it with clamped aluminium poles or tapered carbon fibre poles.
We will review the poles separately, but one feature we really like is that they all have written on them which end is the top and which is the bottom. This is really useful because often it is difficult to tell the difference with tapered poles.
It comes with a silicone flexible neck and a choice of two nozzles.
The vac we tested costs £945 for the machine by itself or £1604 with 40 ft of carbon fibre poles. They also have upgrade options to add on a wireless camera, longer hose or a carry bag.
The Kiam Cyclone is a great gutter vac. Its performance matches or exceeds many of its competitors and it manages to do this at a great price, but they have saved some of that money on build quality.
If you want to buy the Kiam Cyclone you can click here to see the full range on the Equip2Clean website.
Nice review, it’s refreshing to actually read pluses and minuses on a product. Thanks.
Thanks! Appreciate the feedback
Brilliant review guys, thanks for taking the time to do this.