Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
123 of 128 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good, but don't expect miracles. Good scrubbing, but weak dry vac., July 18, 2005
Nothing is going to get your floor as clean as good ol' handwashing on your hands and knees. But who is willing to do that anymore? This machine is a reasonable tradeoff between convenience and efficiency.
It really will scrub sealed floors clean. Don't expect to save much time over traditional mopping, though. You must slooooowly push and pull it several times over a spot to really get it clean. Stubborn or ground in stains may require a second or third wash. And it's impossible to fully clean edges or corners.
A couple items are worth mentioning. First, the dry vac mode is extremely weak. I could not get it to suck up a simple peppercorn or corn flake! Pre-sweeping with a broom or other bare floor vac is a must.
Secondly, Hoover recommends only using their special floor cleaner with the machine, which I find annoying, expensive and hard to find. I emailed them about this, and they said I could also use vinegar and water, which is too mild in my opinion. I felt daring and have used other floor cleaners in the machine without any problem. However, I would avoid using pine, orange, bleach, or ammonia based cleaners -- as the instructions specifically mention not to use "solvent" based cleansers.
So overall, a solid product. Just be realistic in your expectations of what it can do.
|
|
|
86 of 90 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very good floor cleaner, April 5, 2005
I have an earlier model of the FloorMate, which I've owned for about 3 years now. I have ceramic tile floors on the entire first floor of my house, so this cleaner has been a huge time saver for me. Tile floors are pretty indestructible, but they're not self cleaning. The FloorMate really makes quick work of an otherwise nasty and time-consuming job. And as another reviewer pointed out, you'll be amazed at the dirt the FloorMate will pick up from floors you thought were already clean. Another thing I really like is the fact that it sucks the water off the floor right away - my floors are always in use (busy household, lots of little feet), so I can't afford to wait half an hour for the floor to dry. With this feature they're dry in about 5 minutes.
So why only 4 stars? I knocked off a star because the machine doesn't do as stellar a job on the grout as I would like (that may be fixed with this newer model). It cleans grout well enough , but I still have to pre-treat sometimes. I also don't think the dry vacuum feature is as good as my regular vacuum cleaner - but it's still okay for a quick pickup. If you have pets (as I do), you'll probably want something like a Dyson anyway, just to deal with all the pet hair.
All in all, the FloorMate is a very good floor cleaner and I highly recommend it. I'm by no means a clean freak, mainly because I just don't enjoy housework (who does?). If you're like me and you want clean floors without a lot of work, you'll really like this cleaner.
|
|
|
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good machine, May 12, 2005
Just bought it today and used it right away (floors needed scrubbing real bad). It assembles very quick. You really don't even need the instructions. I did have to look at the instructions to figure out which of the two brushes were for the lino/vinyl floor. I used it on my linoleum kitchen and laundry room floors. It took a few minutes to get used to. You can't use this thing like you would when you vacuum. You have to go slow and let the scrubbers do their work. Just let the machine rest on its own weight and it does the job. The water in my tank turned so black I couldn't believe it. You don't have to keep checking to see if the pickup tank is filled. The machine will change sound when the tank is full. And to think I've just been pushing that dirt around with a mop! Since I have a very large kitchen and laundry room (over 600 sq ft combined), I had to fill the cleaning tank several times and empty the pickup tank several times. A house with an average sized kitchen should get by with only filling and emptying the tanks once. It comes with two scrubbers, one for vinyl/lino and one for floors with grouting. This machine is not for hardwood floors because you are using water on the floors. I had no problems with the suction picking up the water. The machine only puts out water when you hit the trigger. It left the floor virtually dry as I used it. I could walk on it immediately. I read the reviews on the model 3000 and 3060 and the 3030 seems to have fixed those problems. Nothing on the market will get your lino/tiles clean as the day they were laid down. So, if that's what you're expecting, I think you'll be disappointed in any floor scrubber. My lino is about 14 years old. When I bought this house 3 years ago, I had a pro steam clean the floor and this scrubber does about the same job. Of course the floor is 3 years older now. Until I put down new floors, this machine will make life a lot easier. The folding handle is a good option to help you store it. No complaints. Can't give it a 5 star rating because I don't know how reliable it will be. Instead of dreading mopping the floors, now I'll happily use this machine. It cut my time well over in half and I didn't have to stress my back using a mop. Did I mention I'm a guy, 6'2" stay-at-home dad! Try finding a mop for me:-) Now my 8-month old can crawl on a clean floor and my 5 year old can keep up her food experiments with gravity. It even passed the wife test.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
