Setec Astronomy
04-08-2017, 06:18 AM
For years I've wanted to get an real extractor, instead of a toy like the LGCM. For me, most of the point of having an extractor is the heated output (for better cleaning and faster drying), so heat is a must.
The Mytee Lyte seemed to be the answer, but there were so many bad reviews, I mean really bad reviews. This was balanced by seemingly just as many good reviews (hey, kind of like looking at the reviews on Amazon for anything, seems like half say it's the best product in the world, half the worst). The Mytee Lite reviews did seem to break down that heavy users seemed to be the ones with the problems, while hobbyist/occasional users seemed to be trouble-free. But the people who did have problems seemed to have major problems and the warranty support/customer service seemed horrible. It was suggested by some members that the Lite was a hobbyist machine and didn't have the ruggedness of the larger, more expensive Mytee models which were more suited to pro use. I'm just a hobbyist, so that's ok.
There were also a couple of other things about the Mytee Lite that I didn't like...unlike even a $50 shop vac, it had no float shutoff, so if for some reason you overfilled the recovery tank, it would overflow into the electrical cabinet part of the machine. Couple that with the manual suggesting that you shouldn't use a GFCI outlet...and that sounds like a recipe for disaster. Also it was very difficult to find out what the actual electrical requirements of the Lite were...there were threads about people who innocently bought it and then found they needed a 20 amp outlet. The product page here, nor the product page at the Mytee site indicated the current draw, you had to dig into the manual to find it.
So I could never pull the trigger (no pun intended) on the Mytee Lite. There were the YouTube videos where people showed scars from getting burned by hot solution lines and QD's. Most of my outlets are 15A...and although in my great plans I'm going to re-do my garage and have 20A outlets all over...I don't have any in there now, and who knows if I ever will. I also would have to store the Lite down a small flight of stairs, and it looked like the wheels weren't really amenable to that. So I had looked around and set my sights on another brand of extractor, that was a bit larger (more like the size of a Mytee HP60), but it had separate 15A cords for the heater and vac, it had big wheels to make it easy to get up and down steps, it had an excellent reputation, float shutoff...the only problem was it was almost twice as expensive as the Mytee Lite, and then the company got bought and it was supposed to be discontinued, although it seems it may still be available.
So a couple of years ago Mytee started changing things in their line. I swear they've redesigned the Lite twice in the last few years. They've introduced hose and QD covers to keep people from getting burned (210°F is the claimed heater output). Last year they introduced a heated S-300 Tempo, at a price point slightly under what the Lite was, and jacked the price way up on the Lite. The Tempo has very small tanks (1 gal), and the heater wattage, vacuum lift, and pump output are all lower than the other extractors in the line, although they claim the same 210F output temp (due I presume to the lower pump flow).
To Mytee's credit, they do now show the "amp draw" on the product pages of their website (unlike here); the Lite is listed at 19 amps, and the Tempo at 12. There are still some things about the Lite that make no sense to me, like the switches are on the back at the bottom, which is the opposite end of the machine from where the hoses come out, and the farthest away from where you are likely to be when you are using the machine. All their other machines have the switches on the front, higher up.
There is still no float shutoff in either the Tempo or the Lite, although the larger units do have one. People have pooh-poohed my gripe on this, saying that you're not paying attention to what you are doing if you overflow it, the recovery tank always holds more than the solution tank, etc. To my mind, you might be extracting a spill, rather than just extracting solution you have put down, or you might from your own doing or because you're pulling out another detailer's product, foam up your recovery tank.
The Tempo is attractive from a size/price standpoint, but I'm a bit concerned about the low heater wattage and water lift, and I don't know about the effect of the lower pump spray volume. It seems like a half-way solution between a LGCM and a "real" extractor (maybe they are trying to fill the niche left by the departed Aztec). The Lite seems to have been improved, but it still has some nagging design features and it's much more expensive than it was. There is still the concern about customer service and basic internal design issues, although AutoGeek stands behind this product and Mike Phillips has said he has never had any problems with the units in the Show Car Garage.
So what do you guys have to say about this? That's presuming that you didn't get bored after the first paragraph. Hopefully I caught some of you guys on a Saturday morning drinking your coffee, as I was when I wrote this.
The Mytee Lyte seemed to be the answer, but there were so many bad reviews, I mean really bad reviews. This was balanced by seemingly just as many good reviews (hey, kind of like looking at the reviews on Amazon for anything, seems like half say it's the best product in the world, half the worst). The Mytee Lite reviews did seem to break down that heavy users seemed to be the ones with the problems, while hobbyist/occasional users seemed to be trouble-free. But the people who did have problems seemed to have major problems and the warranty support/customer service seemed horrible. It was suggested by some members that the Lite was a hobbyist machine and didn't have the ruggedness of the larger, more expensive Mytee models which were more suited to pro use. I'm just a hobbyist, so that's ok.
There were also a couple of other things about the Mytee Lite that I didn't like...unlike even a $50 shop vac, it had no float shutoff, so if for some reason you overfilled the recovery tank, it would overflow into the electrical cabinet part of the machine. Couple that with the manual suggesting that you shouldn't use a GFCI outlet...and that sounds like a recipe for disaster. Also it was very difficult to find out what the actual electrical requirements of the Lite were...there were threads about people who innocently bought it and then found they needed a 20 amp outlet. The product page here, nor the product page at the Mytee site indicated the current draw, you had to dig into the manual to find it.
So I could never pull the trigger (no pun intended) on the Mytee Lite. There were the YouTube videos where people showed scars from getting burned by hot solution lines and QD's. Most of my outlets are 15A...and although in my great plans I'm going to re-do my garage and have 20A outlets all over...I don't have any in there now, and who knows if I ever will. I also would have to store the Lite down a small flight of stairs, and it looked like the wheels weren't really amenable to that. So I had looked around and set my sights on another brand of extractor, that was a bit larger (more like the size of a Mytee HP60), but it had separate 15A cords for the heater and vac, it had big wheels to make it easy to get up and down steps, it had an excellent reputation, float shutoff...the only problem was it was almost twice as expensive as the Mytee Lite, and then the company got bought and it was supposed to be discontinued, although it seems it may still be available.
So a couple of years ago Mytee started changing things in their line. I swear they've redesigned the Lite twice in the last few years. They've introduced hose and QD covers to keep people from getting burned (210°F is the claimed heater output). Last year they introduced a heated S-300 Tempo, at a price point slightly under what the Lite was, and jacked the price way up on the Lite. The Tempo has very small tanks (1 gal), and the heater wattage, vacuum lift, and pump output are all lower than the other extractors in the line, although they claim the same 210F output temp (due I presume to the lower pump flow).
To Mytee's credit, they do now show the "amp draw" on the product pages of their website (unlike here); the Lite is listed at 19 amps, and the Tempo at 12. There are still some things about the Lite that make no sense to me, like the switches are on the back at the bottom, which is the opposite end of the machine from where the hoses come out, and the farthest away from where you are likely to be when you are using the machine. All their other machines have the switches on the front, higher up.
There is still no float shutoff in either the Tempo or the Lite, although the larger units do have one. People have pooh-poohed my gripe on this, saying that you're not paying attention to what you are doing if you overflow it, the recovery tank always holds more than the solution tank, etc. To my mind, you might be extracting a spill, rather than just extracting solution you have put down, or you might from your own doing or because you're pulling out another detailer's product, foam up your recovery tank.
The Tempo is attractive from a size/price standpoint, but I'm a bit concerned about the low heater wattage and water lift, and I don't know about the effect of the lower pump spray volume. It seems like a half-way solution between a LGCM and a "real" extractor (maybe they are trying to fill the niche left by the departed Aztec). The Lite seems to have been improved, but it still has some nagging design features and it's much more expensive than it was. There is still the concern about customer service and basic internal design issues, although AutoGeek stands behind this product and Mike Phillips has said he has never had any problems with the units in the Show Car Garage.
So what do you guys have to say about this? That's presuming that you didn't get bored after the first paragraph. Hopefully I caught some of you guys on a Saturday morning drinking your coffee, as I was when I wrote this.