Review summary: Light and easy to use. Cleaned really dirty floors with just the steam from distilled water. No need for other cleaning products. Steam cleaning leaves the cleaned floors lightly damp but they dry quickly. Cleaning pad is larger than other models with a two-sided pad (13 inches by 4-5 inches). Comes with two different cleaning pads, one soft pad and one with scrubbing strips. Because the pads and cleaning surface is two-sided, you can clean twice as much area with one pad.
Recommendation: If you want to clean your floors without a bucket of water and a mop or scrub brush or without the chemicals and disposable cloths of Swiffer-type products, this will work for you. If you want to sanitize your floors (crawling baby?), it will do that but will take longer as you have to hold the mop in place for a certain number of seconds for germ/bacteria killing.
Now for all the dirty (literally) details:
I gave this steam mop a test like it has never been given in any demonstration you''ve ever seen for a floor cleaner and it performed better than expected. I have 50-year-old linoleum that has lost any shiny surface it ever had, so dirt sticks to it much more than it would on newer floors. The seam is starting to loosen so I worry that all the water from traditional mopping will open it up even more. True confession time: I haven''t mopped my kitchen floor all summer and it was really filthy. Under the toe kicks in front of the sink, it was simply disgusting. Add to that, I dropped and broke a jar of enchilada sauce on the floor last weekend. I used a dry paper towel to get up most of the mess but I knew this steam mop was on the way so I left the residue to see how this steam mop would handle it. I saw a demonstration of this product on one of the TV shopping channels and I guarantee that none of the "messes" they had on the floors were anything like the condition of my floor.
OK, enough about my terrible housekeeping. The package arrived last night. The box looked a little small for what I was expecting and that''s because the mop comes in three pieces. I pulled out the instruction booklet and it was really easy to assemble. No tools required. The floor piece snaps into the bottom of the main body and the handle piece snaps into the top of the main body. I continued reading the instructions on how to use the product and realized they recommend using distilled water. I have super hard water and no distilled water on hand so I made a quick run to the store. NOTE: If you don''t already have some distilled water, put it on your shopping list to pick up before your order comes so you don''t need to waste the gas for an extra trip.
Now I was ready to test this baby out on my disgusting kitchen floor. I wrapped most of the 18 foot cord around the hooks on the handle because I was going to first concentrate on the spot where the enchilada sauce was and that was near the outlet. I put the scrubbing cloth on, filled the water tank, plugged the steam mop in and waited the 30 seconds for it to be ready to use then compressed the steam trigger and ran it over the dried mess. Nothing. What? I pushed it back and forth a couple times and there was no visible change. Then I realized that the steam may be coming but the cloth was still dry. I held it in place and squeezed the trigger for about 30 seconds and tried again. It wasn''t immediate, but gradually the dried sauce started coming off my floor. The longer I worked, the better it worked. I think they must pre-dampen the cloths for the demonstration videos to make them work so soon after starting. And it took more than a couple swipes to get it off. The thicker the dried sauce, the longer it took. In fairness, if I were mopping I would have put some water on the spot then go elsewhere until it softened. And it emphasized that the "dried on" stuff they use in the demos isn''t real world dried on crud. But most importantly, the steam mop worked to remove the dried on enchilada sauce without scrubbing or pouring a bunch of water on it.
Then I moved on to the simply dirty parts of my floor. The steam mop worked much more quickly on these areas, but because my flooring is so old with no shiny surface, it still took a few passes to clean. But again it cleaned without a bucket of water and didn''t leave dirty sloppy water behind. Because my floor was so dirty (not to mention the sauce residue), the first side of the scrubbing cloth soon got so dirty it started smearing the floor rather than cleaning it. Here is where the new feature of this steam mop comes in. You lift the mop so the cleaning pad goes vertical and then put it down so it flips to the clean side of the cloth!
Last, I went to the disgusting dirty build-up under the toe kick in front of my sink. This was the true test of this steam mop. If it can clean this, it can clean anything. Without the steam mop, I''d have gone after it with a scrub brush and then had to mop up filthy water. I left the steam mop in place and squeezed the steam trigger for at least 30 seconds to soften up. It took more work than the dried on sauce but the steam mop cleaned it without having to muscle it clean!
Eventually both sides of the cloth were completely dirty so I unplugged the steam mop and carefully pulled the velcro strips apart to take the cloth off and put it in my wash. There are two cloths, one with scrubbing surface and one that is softer for wood floors. I like the fact that it uses washable cloths not disposable ones and that it uses nothing but water to clean. I wasn''t sure that water alone could clean the dried-on sauce or the seriously dirty floor but the steam made it work. And I especially like that the steam didn''t leave a ton of water on the floor -just a slightly damp area that dried quickly. I don''t want to pour dirty wash water down the drain but also don''t like pouring it outside.
As long as you don''t let your floors get as bad as mine (and don''t tempt fate by letting spilled sauces dry for several days on the floor), this should work for you much more quickly than it did for me. Perhaps even as quickly as they show on the demos (at least once the cloths get damp from the steam).
Next step will be the bathroom tile floor, which isn''t as neglected as the kitchen but where the scoopable cat litter that gets tracked out of the litter box combines with wet feet from the shower to put a gray haze on the tile.
My favorite thing about this is that I can clean my floor without getting out a bucket and mop and dealing with the dirty water. Because of that, I expect to clean my floors regularly so they will never again get so awful.
My first thought when I unboxed this was "This is all the water the tank will hold?" It''s a fraction of my H2O mop''s water tank. Second thought was that I didn''t like it being all the way on the bottom, compared to the higher position on the H2O mop. But it turns out that this mop doesn''t use as much water as the H2O mop, so that smaller tank lasted at least as long as the other mop''s larger tank did.
Annoyance unlike the H2O mop, it''s not a turn on / turn off trigger. You have to HOLD the trigger the entire time. That''s a definite minus in the comparison. It gets to be a pain when you''re trying to maneuver and keep pressure on it while scrubbing the floors.
The other letdown was that there''s no positive indicator that it''s hot enough. You just have to wait 30 seconds and then go ahead. The H2O mop had the power indicator change color to indicate when it was hot enough to use. Little touches that made it seem to be a better thought out product.
The plus is the double sided head. They include two pads, one with the scrubbing pads on both sides, and another that''s more of the regular microfiber type. The regular one works about as well as the one I''ve been used to with the other steam mop I''ve got, but the scrubber one really did a great job compared to the H2O mop. It did a much better job of getting those sticky spots where spills happened, or anything that''s still a little gunked up from my 7 year old. And having this much cleaning area times two, so you can just flip yourself around and keep going with the other side of the mop head. What this meant for me was less "cleanup" after the floor dried. With the H2O mop, you''d end up with some hair, crumbs, and such, here and there because it all built up around the edge and eventually would get pushed off as you changed direction. This one, since you can flip it over part way through the job, you''re not left pushing the same dirty material around until it finally works its way off of the material again.
It''s light and easy to use, and can work its way into places a little easier than the H2O mop because of the shape. It rotates and moves easily, and does not make as much noise as the H2O mop. That makes a low hum, like a barber''s trimmer, whereas this just makes some soft noises as it pumps water slowly.
Less water used means less time for the floor to dry as well, without sacrificing the cleaning ability.
If it weren''t for the fact that you have to hold the trigger to keep it moving water through, I would''ve given it a 5, but that''s enough of an annoyance that for me, it cost one star. Other than that, a solid product that works well.
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I''ve used a variety of floor cleaners ranging from two different iRobot Scooba models, switers, a Hoover floor cleaner and now this steam mop from Bissell.
The primary advantage of this cleaner is that it works with just water. If you have very young children that LIVE on the floor (as in crawling) this can be very attractive because you don''t need to use harsh chemicals to clean the floor as nearly all of the other cleaners do. (Although the latest Scooba from iRobot uses an enzyme based cleaner -it is HORRIBLE at cleaning).
I found the Bissell cleaned well and the removable mop head easily washed. Environmentally, this is THE best possible solution.
Disadvantages include that this is certainly more work than an iRobot to USE (but this is less work to clean-up). Clean up is simple, remove the mop head and put it into the washer. The Hoover and iRobots machine have to be disassembled and cleaned.
Although it may be possible to use it on some wood floors the instructions warn against possible damage to the finish. I tested it on a small area of a wood floor and it literally removed the top coat of polyurethane (who knew -you can use this to strip your floors -just kidding, it obviously is not designed for that). The greater risk is that the steam can warp the wood. Clearly it is designed for tile, stone, and possibly synthetic (Armstrong/Pergo) plastic floors.
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This is the first steam mop I have ever owned, so I cannot make any comparisons and I don''t know what''s considered standard or not, so I will offer my opinion on this mop in particular.
I thoroughly read through the instructions before beginning. When using the first time I filled the tank with tap water (distilled is recommended to extend product life, but not required I didn''t have any distilled), plugged it in and waited the required 30 seconds before using. After 30 seconds it took about 20 seconds of holding the trigger down for the steam to come through the mop enough to be wet.
Pros:
Easy to maneuver
Cleaned very well on wood floors (solid oak and bamboo), vinyl, and tile
Dried quickly
LOVE that the mop head flips over so easily so you can do a lot of continuous cleaning
Cons:
It falls down SO easily! It swivels so easily that it doesn''t stand up well. I have only been able to stand it up perfectly in a corner, otherwise it''s constantly falling.
I have to hold the trigger down continuously it would be nice if there was some sort of lock option to lock the trigger down when doing a large room or multiple rooms.
Overall it''s a great product and has been working well for us. I gave it 4 stars rather than 5 mostly due to the fact that it continually falls down! I''m so afraid it''s going to crack the handle or the tank one of these days because it''s so touchy. It cleans very well though.
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We have a 1423 square foot home with all wood floors. The outside patios both have slate floors. The house is old and the floors haven''t been re-done since it was built in 1947 however they are in pretty decent shape. After using this throughout the house I was amazed on how well it worked! Not only did it clean and sanitize, the floors look better then they have in years.
I used it on the slate and it did an amazing job also however the slate is only a few months old so although it did clean I''m not sure it did any better of a job then when I just damp mop them.
Love the way the mop will flip over so easily also. Wasn''t expecting so much for the price so I''m more than happy with it and would recommend it to anyone thinking of purchasing one.
The only reason for the 4 stars is it could have a longer cord. For the life of me I can''t understand why these manufacturers don''t make longer cords!
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