About two months ago I bought a Bissell Steam Mop, and it is one of the best household appliances I have ever purchased. I hate mopping the floor; it would have to be one of my least favourite chores. I would really want to mop the floor in the kitchen on a daily basis, but I just can’t be bothered with filling the bucket, lugging the bucket, wringing the mop etc. On the other hand, I love vacuuming. I think it’s because it really is plug ‘n’ play!
So about a month ago, I saw an infomercial for a steam mop, and I thought to myself, “What a great idea!” This would solve all my mopping problems. There is no more bucket, no more wringing, and it works kinda like a vacuum. On the other hand, I NEVER believe anything I see on infomercials (except for the pedegg – I succumbed, and as soon as I receive it, I will review it) so I did some research online to find the best steam mop out there. All the ratings seemed to pan the infomercial model (no big surprise there!) but a consistent rater with consumer reports was the Bissell steam mop. It retails for $199 AUD, ($89.99 in the US) and has a 30 day satisfaction guarantee, so I thought I would give it a try. I will never look back!
What I love about it:
- it’s convenient – it only takes 30 seconds to warm up and one tank of water does my whole house (and i have a lot of tiles)
- it’s chemical free – this is really important to me given I have a baby who is soon to be crawling, and a toddler who constantly eats things that he has dropped on the floor
- it comes with two machine washable microfibre pads – these seem to really lift the dirt off
- it’s very light weight
- it does a great job on my floors – they look very clean
- because it is so easy, I manage to mop my kitchen floor every couple of days, something I could only dream of previously
What I don’t love about it:
- the floors take a bit longer to dry than with a regular mop, despite the heat
- you need to wash the microfibre pad after every clean, or i found my floors sometimes ended up a little bit streaky
- the power cord is not long enough – this was easily remedied with an extension cord
- the colour – the green is just terrible
A few other bits and pieces:
- it claims to disinfect, but you need to hold the mop head over the area for 15 seconds – not practical for all of your floors. However, it is useful if you want to disinfect a small area, eg when someone has had an accident on the floor. Also, liquid disinfectants like bleach, pine-o-cleen etc also need to be left on the surface (for 10 minutes), so there is no real disadvantage to this.
- for dried on food stains, shoot the stain with steam, mop some of the other floor, and then come back to the stain. It will then lift right off.
The Bissell Steam Mop is available at Harvey Norman here in Oz, or check out www.bissell.com for international stockists.
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