Customer Reviews

Hoover H3000 Floor Mate Hard-Floor Cleaner

5 star:		(268)
4 star:		(132)
3 star:		(48)
2 star:		(50)
1 star:		(84)

 

 

After using this product for the past three months, I have decided that I could not live without it. I have tile floors in my kitchen and hallway - and the grout had become so dirty and I never felt that mopping was doing much more than redistributing the dirt. It is a pleasure to clean the floor with this machine! I use HOT water which really helps to kill the germs and by taking the dirty water up off the floor after it is scrubbed, it truly gets the dirt up and off the floor. Thirty years of dirt embedded into the grout is coming out - and my once blackened grout is now white again.

The other benefit of this is that the floor is dried almost instantly - which prevents my small children from slipping on a wet floor.

If this machine ever broke - I would replace it immediately. I put it in the same indispensible categories as my dishwasher, vacuum, and washer/dryer.

I recommend this machine - which is especially nice to be able to clean floors such as basement, garage, and other areas where a sink is not available to aid in mopping - besides, this gets it much cleaner.

Guys,

Let's face it. The 'tools' we love are named DeWalt, Makita, Milwaukee and Porter Cable. There are many more, but as 'handymen' we can all agree on one thing: Hoover ain't at the top of that list, do you agree? Well, this Floor Mate absolutely deserves to be in the 'way cool and why didn't I think of that first?' category. It is OUTSTANDING!

I got my first introduction to the Floor Mate by my better half who came home one day after using one at her friend's house. Now she doesn't get terribly excited about ANY tool, appliance or such life necessities as I do, but she was almost speechless when she got home. 'Honey, you have GOT to see this thing! The floors are spotless, it's easy to use and it WORKS!' Big talk indeed from someone that just HATES vacuuming, so I figured it MUST be better than the average bear. So I tell her, why not ask your friend if we could borrow hers? (Yeah, I'll admit it; it's the male way of decision on major purchases). So she did, brought it home and let me try it.

MAJOR IMPRESSED. We have vinyl flooring in the kitchen, wood in entries and hallways and tile in the bathrooms. I tried the Floor Mate on them all and I was simply blown away. Tile is the most notable to see, as the grout just POPS out at you in its cleanliness. If it did NOTHING but tile, it would be worth it. But just change chemicals and it will do your wood floors as well. On EVERY surface I tried it on, it made the floors squeaky clean and a pleasure to not only walk on, but to look at as well.

How does it do it? First of all it has a series of scrubbing brushes up front that are quite aggressive in their cleaning action (but aggressive only in getting down to the surface; they're soft enough I'd surmise they'd never hurt a finish). So, it adds a ton of elbow grease for you and never complains. The total way it works, as on a vinyl floor for example, is:

--Load cleaning solution in cleaning tank.
--Use the Floor Mate on 'Dry' vacuum setting to get up the majority of loose crud.
--Using the trigger, apply cleaning solution, while you've got the unit on 'WET Clean' setting. This is the step that dispenses cleaning fluid and scrubs.
--Then use 'Wet/Dry' vacuum mode to suck up the liquid.
When you're done the floor is ALMOST 90-95% dry; instead of needing a half hour to dry, it's completely dry in under five minutes (and that's being conservative; it's more like 1 minute).

This thing must be the best kept secret in housecleaning. It reminds me of a rice cooker. Once you use them, you wonder how you ever did without them. It's a pretty vertical niche application, but what this Hoover Floor Mate does, it does EXCEEDINGLY well.

I never thought I'd get excited about something made by Hoover, of all companies, but the Floor Mate truly must be used to be believed. If you've got a friend with one, borrow it. Or don't borrow it; if you do, you'll be buying one soon, it's that good.

This was a nice piece of hardware, but I wonder if it was ever tested on a really dirty floor.

The FloorMate went together well, and was easy to use, but don't think that this is a substitute for a dedicated floor scrubber. It was effective at cleaning floors that had little build up or dirt, but wasn't up to the challenge of a dirty, high traffic spot like a kitchen floor.

I cleaned a three foot by three foot area of the floor, spending nearly 10 minutes on the test area, with little noticeable improvement. The cleaning agent provided, coupled with the very soft brushes did little at removing stubborn dirt. Hoover's suggestion of using a strong detergent and a stiff brush to remove the dirt made me wonder why I needed the machine in the first place.

There is no way to disable the vacuum pickup, so using a stronger, non-recommended cleaner was not possible since the vacuum would bring it into the machine. If the vacuum could be turned off, it could be used as a simble scrubber, but even that is not possible.

The scrubbing brushes provided are very soft, with no substitutes available for harder jobs.

The FloorMate is a good machine to use if you have already spotless floors and want to maintain them. However, don't expect it to compete with a dedicated floor scrubbing machine.

With over 1000 square feet of tile flooring in my home, I bought this hard floor cleaner with high hopes. My high expectations weren't completely met, but because this machine does its primary job very well, I'm giving it 4 stars.

Here is a list of irritations:
Noise: This is a very noisy machine. I wear ear plugs when using it.
Soft brushes: This machine comes with soft, sponge-like brushes, which are good for hard wood floors. However, these soft brushes will not scrub out dirt that has worked its way into the pores of the tile. It also has a hard time with sugary messes that have accumulated dirt, such as the jelly spill behind the trash can. I wish Hoover sold additional types of brushes, such as a stiff scrub brush, since the brushes can be removed and replaced.
Speed: This machine is not faster than mopping. You must go slow to do a good job.
Small spaces: It would be nice if I could reach behind the toilet with an attachment, but I suppose that would make the machine too bulky.

Despite these irritations, this machine does an excellent, thorough job at cleaning up ordinary surface dirt. It certainly does a better job than I could ever do with a mop, and with much less mess. The floors are never cleaned with dirty water and dry quickly. The machine is also frugal with its use of floor cleaning solution. One tank is almost enough to clean a 11x15' room. When cleaning, it's a good idea to walk to one side, so your dirty shoes won't leave footprints. :)

PS: You need to make sure you install the tanks correctly, especially the waste tank and filter, or the suction disappears and the machine won't pick up anything. This also happens when the waste tank fills up. The manual could explain this a little better, since installing the tanks correctly takes some practice.

When we moved to Florida, I was not prepared to live in a house that is completely tiled. With beige tile. That shows every speck of dirt. And all the hair left behind by two dogs and a cat.

Do you know how long it takes to mop a 2000 sq. foot completely tiled house? A LONG time, especially if you do it right and change water frequently.

So, we did some checking, and based on reviews here and elsewhere decided to try the Floormate. It was an expensive gamble but it paid off.

As any pet owner can attest, vacuuming doesn't ever get up all the hair. This is what makes the Floormate a valuable tool. When you use the Floormate, you're actually sucking water up off the floor. This means that whatever residual hair/dirt that was on the floor is being removed with the water, instead of pushed around as it would be with a conventional mop. After vacuuming and Floormating the house, there is NO grit left. The floor is unbelievably clean under your feet, so much so that when I mopped the floor last week using my old mop, I noticed the difference immediately. I may as well throw out my mop now.

There are a few considerations that should be pointed out. In my house, with the amount of floor space and hair, I vacuum before using the Floormate. I don't find this inconvenient -- I would have to vacuum before using my old mop anyway -- but if you're thinking to replace your vacuum with the Floormate you may want to take into consideration how much area and dirt you're dealing with. The unit is noisy to run but no more so than my vacuum cleaner. And the Floormate doesn't deal as well with corners or working around items as a string mop would, because the unit has a straight head that has to come against something straight on. But personally I never thought my mop did a good job at cleaning under my kitchen cabinets or around my refrigerator anyway. If I were more of a cleanliness nut, or someone who had more time on her hands, I would do those areas with spray and paper towels. Some reviewers have talked about the clumps of hair caught in the filter. We did not find this to be a problem, and indeed consider the cleaning of the filter to be a small price to pay for floors that feel the way mine do after we use the Floormate.

The bottom line: if my Floormate breaks, I will immediately go out and buy another one. That should tell you something about how highly I recommend this product.

First, I'm the mom of 2 toddlers, one beagle, and I teach full time. Second, the sadistic original owner of our house put in white linoleum in the kitchen and bathrooms. My floors, at their very best, only stay pristine for moments. I've done everything to them: hands/knees/stiff brush, various mops, cleaners, and other contraptions. I just want everyone to understand that our standard for a clean floor will be different than someone who has pergo/tile/recent linoleum, no toddlers, and no dogs that dig.

What the FloorMate does is save my back, and make this routine job easier. It will "sweep" the floor - does not replace a heavy duty vacumming. I can live with that. With all that goes on at our house, it's just enough that on a Sunday night (husband off to work, kids asleep, dog outside) I can use the FloorMate and have the kitchen and both bathrooms completely done in about 45 minutes, and not be totally exhausted.

OK - Here's some advice to make your FloorMate work at it's best.

1) Use HOT water in the tank - increases your cleaning power.

2) Immediately order/purchase cleaning solution when you buy the machine. I bought our solution directly from Hoover online. Amazon does not sell it (as of now), I can't get it here in town yet (Sacramento) and the bottle that comes with the machine is only enough to do the floor 4 times. The replacement jugs will do your floor 16 times...

3) Use lots of cleaning solution to let the dirty spots soak. With the Wet scrub going, do a "forward" stroke, and at the same time, spray solution on the floor. Instead of pulling the machine straight back, lift back on the handle and recline the machine out. This will leave a puddle of solution on the floor. Let that soak for a good minute, and then come back and scrub it well, before vacuuming it dry. Doing this soak and scrub method seems to get most/all of the yuck off of my ancient white linoleum floors. I don't care if it takes 2 tanks of solution to get an extremely dirty floor clean, as long as it works.

4)When you go to clean out the recovery tank, et.al, try rinsing it out with with dishwashing soap and the hottest water you can get. That seemed to really do well to get the greasy gunk out, and made it much easier the next time. I use a discarded baby bottle brush to help reach the crannies.

I do my floors about once a week - I'd love to say that I do them everyday (and they could use it), but that's not the reality of our lives. The FloorMate makes this HATED job realistic - and I now only drag out the mop a few times a year for deep cleaning.

Consider it an everyday appliance, not a heavy duty one. My time is a premium, and the FloorMate saves me time.

Having been a longtime user of Hoover Floor scrubbers, I've had 3 of the older style Floormatics over the last 26 years, and my most recent one was damaged my a friend, I decided to try the new unit. I don't think you can really put these two units in the same class. The older version was a much more heavy duty unit, a true floor scrubber with the added option of a wet vac. The new unit falls somewhere in between a mop vac like the Dirt Devil, which I also own , and the Floormatic scrubber. If your floors are light to moderately dirty this will do a fine job, the vacuum feature is quite useful to prep the floor and it does a good job washing and drying the floor in one step. However my reservations, and the reason I will repair my older unit, is that there is no way to leave water on the floor if you want to remove wax or let a spot soak for a minute or two. Also the brushes are quite soft and I found that dried on bits of food on my kitchen floor were a little hard to remove, I doubt they would remove wax. The ergonomics of the new unit are a little different, but easy enough to get used to. It does have a low enough profile that it can easily get in the toe kick areas of the kitchen, which the older unit could not, a definite plus. The unit is light and easy to maneuver too.
If you have no-wax, tile, or sealed wood floors this is a great unit. If you need to occasionally remove wax or have floor that requires a heavy scrubbing every now and then you might want to consider the other older style Hoover model that is still available.

Okay. Listen. This doesn't "speed up" the time I spend on my linoleum and hardwood floors. I admit it. In fact, I probably spend a little longer working on them than before, slowly moving the whisking brushes back and forth to get everything ultra-clean and shining. HOWEVER, unlike working with a push-mop, swiffer, or ANY other tool(s), this is NOT back-breaking work. This is pleasant work! You can stand upright, comfortably, while moving this VERY light, rolling vacuum back and forth with the greatest of ease. Even the fact that I have to stop and clean the brushes a time or two (because we have four dogs! most people won't have to deal with this) I'm still pleased with how easy it is. No more sweating or sore muscles, no more back-breaking work. Just pleasant slide/swish, slide/swish. And the floors look sooOooOoo good when I'm done. I'm NOT KIDDING. I feel like a freaking commercial, but it's so awesome.

Drawbacks:

1) You have to clean the brushes and other parts of the vacuum (i.e. hold them briefly under running water and pinch the bits of junk off of them) one or two times per average room if you are cleaning an area with tremendous residue/hair.

2) You have to refill the cleaning solution canister one or two times per average room if you are particularly generous with the "solution dispenser" trigger. (Over time I learned that it feeds solution to the brushes on its own; I don't have to keep squeezing the dispenser trigger myself.) Filling the cleaner-canister and emptying the dirty-water canister are two tasks that you will probably have to perform 1-2 times every time you use this product. It's quick/easy, but if you're on a roll...

3) You can NOT store it with any of its tanks full. It isn't sealed so tightly that it won't leak. I left it standing on my hardwood floor overnight and in the morning there was a big puddle. It DOES say this in the manual, but I cleverly didn't read the manual very closely. So, take it apart, clean it, store it either dry or in separate pieces (I leave the solution in the tank, and the tank by the sink).

4) It doesn't clean edges or corners very effectively. This is in part because it has an airtight "squeegie" style rubber seal around the edges, which allows it to dry your floors. It also creates a "bumper" effect that keeps you from nudging the machine right up against edges. If your floor is REALLY filthy, you'll get everything clean except for a narrow strip of dirt along the edges of your walls. Annoying, but hey. It's worth it.

I highly recommend this product for anyone with a great deal of hard floor space to care for! I *do* suggest getting it with an extended warranty for repairs... it has many moving parts through which liquid and dirt may travel, so it's bound to break. I bought mine at a "Mom and Pop" shop here in town, and his advice to me was: KEEP IT CLEAN. So, that's my advice to you!

Oh yeah. Listen, some people will tell you the brushes are too soft and that they just "skim" uselessly over grime and dug-in dirt. They aren't lying. However, I've just dumped some diluted cleaner over the heavy grime and let it soak while I did the rest of the room. By the time I ran the Hoover over the soaking areas, even the most serious dirt (sticky, months old grime) came up without trouble. You can't expect magic from the machine. It's a tool. Work with it, and it works for you.

I was expecting this product to work, but was amazed at how WELL it worked! We have white oak flooring that has always been a little difficult to keep clean. When the floors were mopped, it often left a haze, no matter how much you rinsed.
We used the Old English wood floor cleaner, and in 20 minutes, the floors throughout the house were shining! They looked as good as the day we had them refinished!
The product is easy to use. As a dry vacuum, it does well on both tile and wood, and was surprisingly quiet. The "dirty" water is pretty gross, but easy to just dump out (we empty ours in the toilet, flush and go!) and rinse clean.
If you follow the directions, the product is simple and effective. Definitely worth the price. We ditched our Oreck after we got this!!

I have two dogs, a longhair cat, and a husband and stepson who like to garden and work on oily cars. I also have over 2,000 sq feet of white tiled floor. (I want kill the home designer most days!). The negative reviewers probably started out with extremely filthy floors, like me. Well, nothing but human labor can cut through dried on cake batter and tar! The very first time, I still had to shop-vac the floor to get rid of the pet hair and loose grit then did a standard very hot water/soap scrub with a push brush to get rid of the tar and grease, and did the corners and edges manually. At first the 1 quart soap capacity of the machine only did one standard 15'X15' room the very first time. It also didn't go around the toilet and do nooks and crannies. Both the machine and cleaner it comes with seemed too expensive to my husband.

But he and I have grown to love the machine because nothing has ever gotten my floors this clean before (no stuck mop strings or sponge mop pieces, not a pet hair in sight). I feel it is worth every penny because I do less physical labor. It seems perfectly safe for my tile. I am now more willing to clean the floors more often, so there is less buildup of dirt and grease. There is less need to do the corners or edges, as before. Therefore the cannister of hot soap solution (I found a good generic cleaner from a warehouse store that I really dilute) now does about three areas at a time. My whole house now takes about 2-3 cannisters to clean/per week. In contrast, my husband and I had to use a whole day of elbow grease once a month to sweep, vacuum, scrub, rinse, mop up, squeegee, and buff dry with about a broom, shopvac, push brush, bucket of 6 gallons of extremely hot water, 1 cup of cleaner, squeegee, and cloth mop to do the same job as well.

No, it is not a timesaver. The machine is heavy and the containers are small, but it rolls so I don't lift a heavy wet cotton mop and bucket. I only need the one machine instead of all the other tools and bucket I used to use. The electric cord is nice and long. The cannisters are tricky to empty at first, but with practice, easily removed, contents dumped down the toilet, rinsed out, and replaced. It is great for my hands, back and knees because I don't stoop, bend, wring, and scrub, lift and dump like before. It is safe because the floor gets very dry afterwards. It uses way less soap more efficiently because you don't mix dirty and clean soap. The house smells so good afterwards.

Don't waste your money on Swiffer/Pledge/Clorox wipes. This does way more. They only work for very light dirt. ...

I only wish that the Floormate was cheaper, came with a list of approved cleaner brands, and came with a handheld attachment for around the toilet and in corners.