Review by Lissie:

If your new machine LEAKS, see note #2 below. I am just amazed at how many people write that their machine leaked from day one, and they returned it. It will leak if you skip a crucial one-time set-up step.

Paid 0 at Best Buy. This is my first carpet cleaner so I have nothing to compare it to except my own expectations. Even though the name is SteamVac, like all the others in this class of cleaners, there is no Steam to it. That's just false marketing, but all the manufacturers do it, so no particular knock on Hoover.

First, let me say I'm ashamed to admit that our carpet hadn't been cleaned in 4 years, and that we live in the country where lots of dirt gets tracked in from outside. So the carpet was pretty darn dirty. The Hoover F5914-900 did a very nice job the first time I used it - a drastically noticeable difference in the appearance of the carpet. The water in the dirty water receptacle was black. Did it return the carpet to new condition? No, impossible. Will it take another treatment or two to really get it clean? Yes, that is the price I pay for ignoring wet-cleaning the carpet for years. One of this cleaner's best features is the ability to dry the carpet quite thoroughly. Since the front of the machine is made of clear plastic, you can see when you're vacuuming up water. If you want to dry the carpet as much as possible, keep vacuuming until you no longer see water being pulled up. As time has passed, the SteamVac has done an excellent job of maintaining my carpets.

My only gripe is that the dirty water container fills up too quickly and should be a little bigger. Ideally, the dirty water receptacle "should" be full right as you run out of clean water. Then, you shut down, empty the dirty water, refill the clean water and back to work. But this process gets out-of-sync with the dirty water receptacle filling up before you run out of clean water. So this can be a little inconvenient, but not a show-stopper.

The machine is well constructed but it IS plastic, with lots of compartments and latches and hose holders, etc, so one must simply be careful or those things will no doubt break off.

A few other notes:

1. If you are not the type to read manuals, do read this one. Assembly and operation are easy if you sit down and read the manual through before starting. It's not like a vacuum cleaner where you just plug it in and go.

2. My machine leaked badly BUT it was my own fault. There is a one-time only setup procedure where you squeeze the trigger and push the Clean-Surge button to lock a rod into place. Push the Clean-Surge button firmly. There may be a loud SNAP which sounds like you broke something, but you didn't. Until you get that snap, the Clean-Surge (which releases extra water-cleaner solution) is on all the time, hence the leaking. I didn't push the button hard enough initially, so I had the leak problem.

EDIT December 2007

Apparently many people are assuming that without a loud snap, the Clean Surge will not work. All that matters is that your machine doesn't leak. If your SteamVac doesn't leak, it is assembled properly and the Clean Surge will work!!! The only reason I emphasized the "snap" was because so many people were having leak problems, which are easily solved. And it's possible that Hoover has changed the design after getting so many returns from people who didn't read the instructions in the manual. So don't get hung up on the snap. If your machine does leak after assembly, you know what to do.

3. ANY time it seems like there is no suction, the problem is that something is not seated properly. It is easy to snap the lid onto the dirty water container without lining it up properly, which causes a vacuum leak. If there is a vacuum leak, there is no suction at the bottom of the machine, where it is needed to suck up water from the carpet. So recheck the dirty water lid.

4. If you have velvet or velvetine furniture, do NOT use the powered tool, use the utility tool. The powered tool is too strong for delicate fabric.

5. Like others have suggested, find a cheap alternative to the Hoover brand carpet detergent. One gallon of water doesn't clean a lot of carpet, and at 5 oz of soap per gallon, you go thru it fast.

6. Always be sure to dry vacuum your carpet with a regular vacuum cleaner first before using this machine to wash it. Be sure to remove and clean the brushes when you're done using this machine. Otherwise hair, thread, and balled up carpet fibers will dry on them and between them. Then the brushes won't turn. These are not "use and put away" machines like vacuum cleaners, they're "use, clean, and put away".

7. Here's something I do which you *might* want to try. For a very dirty carpet, I fill a cheap plastic 2 gallon watering can (or smaller for a smaller carpet) with hot water and a tablespoon or 2 of Oxy Clean. I then sprinkle the carpet heavily, being careful not to soak it. This saves trips to the sink to load up on clean, soapy water. Then use the Hoover normally.

8. Others have suggested using boiling water. Not for me, thanks. Too dangerous to handle and unnecessary, unless you've spilled or tracked in grease.

After reading countless reviews here, I have concluded that the problems people have encountered are from failing to properly set up the machine initially, failing to seat the dirty water lid properly, or failing to clean the machine after use. I recommend this Hoover. It won't perform miracles, but I think if it is not abused it will last a long time and do an excellent job of maintaining a carpet.

Review by :

The F5914 really cleans carpets well. On my worst carpet area, the cleaner did as well as a commercial carpet cleaner. I recommend the following to make it a successful cleaning:
1) I supplement the hot water with some boiling water to really get the temperature up. By the time the water hits the spray nozzle, it has really cooled off so make it hotter. Bissell uses a heater, but it can't be that powerful without reducing motor power. Best to supplement.
2) Patience. Go slow and go over really bad areas. You will HAVE to pretreat and hand wash heavy stains, but so do the pros. Don't expect a diamond out of coal. You still have to do the work.
3) Clean often. I have one carpet that I waited way too long and it just won't come clean. The pros can't and I can't. BIG lesson learned there.Have fun with this. I can't believe how much dirt there was in my "clean" areas, so it will be great to have this around to clean when I desire to. I saved more than the price of the cleaner this weekend.

Review by K. Stankovich:

I spent days and days reading reviews for the perfect steam mop and I felt that the Eureka Enviro Steamer was the best choice. I'll sum up what I LOVE about my Eureka Enviro Steam Mop.

Eureka Euro Features:

1. Swivel head (a must, can get around objects)

2. tall and removable handle (yes you can take the handle off and steam your counters to sterilize them)

3. Eureka has been making steam mops for over a decade and this is the 2nd version of their VERY POPULAR steam mop.

4. Long cord.

5.Weight is on the floor where the water tank is, this makes it easier to use and makes for less scrubbing (tanks on the handle make you scrub and push down more to remove grim)

6. NO PUSH TRIGGER! This means CONSTANT steam. Who wants to hold down a button the whole time you're mopping?

7. The steam vents are from SIDE to SIDE..not one hole in the middle like some.

8. THICK and tough waffle cone pads. Picks up plenty.

9. HIGH heat (220 degrees)

10. About 3 minutes to heat water.

11. Leaves very little water on floor, dries quickly.

12. TOTALLY GREEN! Okay, I'm not a green fanatic (I don't recycle, sorry guys) but this product makes me feel like I'm making a difference! No wasteful trash (i.e. disposable pads) and it uses JUSTS water. No chemicals!

OKAY NOW SOME THINGS YOU SHOULD HEAR OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT OTHER MOST POPULAR MODELS:

MONSTER STEAM MOP:

1. BAD HANDLE (complaint after complaint about flimsy handle and it breaks when pushing too hard).

2. takes 5+ min to heat up.

3. does not have a swivel head.

(compared to Eureka: does heat up more- 266 degrees and does have extra burst of steam in front, more expensive)

SHARK STEAM MOP:

1. very flimsy handle and plastic tank (both break easily)

2. you have to "pump' the handle to get steam.

3. hard to push because the weight of the water is half way up the handle on the tank)

4. tends to "sleep" in the middle of the job as it takes a break to re-heat the water for the next pumping action.

5. heats to about 110 degrees.

BISSELL STEAM MOP:

1. Again, top/plastic water tank-very flimsy.

2. leaves very wet floors.

3. uses a "trigger" again to get steam.

4. thin pads, get soaked easily.

5. not hot enough (110 degrees)heats pad, but not more than hot water from your sink.

6. One steam hole in the middle, not all the way across like Monster or Euro or HAAN.

HAAN STEAM MOP:

1. cost more money

2. handle breaks again and not tall enough

3. does have attachments and removable handle

4. water has leaked from tank and burns hands when lifting up to steam object (like counters, beds, etc).

H20 steam mop:

1. 130 degrees temp

2. tends to leak from the tank and the tank is flimsy.

OKAY THESE ARE THE IMPORTANT THINS TO CONSIDER FOR ALL STEAM MOPS.

1. They aren't going to clean your grout. If you steam it and then get in there with a brush or rag I'm sure it will come up, but ALL fiber pads don't have "fingers" deep enought to get in the grout (neither will any product likely except a good ole fashioned brush) But they will be sterilized!

2. You need to take in consideration what type of water you have. All hard water will clog up your steamer over time. Use soft/distilled water (we installed a water softener in our house because we had VERY hard water)You could clean it with a de-calcification product (like CLR) or vinager occasionally.

3. You should NOT use a steam mop on unsealed wood or waxed floors. We are talking HIGH HEAT here and you're going to ruin wood if it isn't sealed, or melt that wax and make a mess.

4. Water should be at least 155 up to 212 degrees to kill germs (depending on the type of bateria). Steam is nice, but not if it isn't hot enough to kill bateria.

5. These are not ALL IN ONE floor cleaners. You are STILL going to have to vacuum. Heck-do what I did-invest in a Iroomba robot vacuum (HSN has Flex Pays) AND a steam mop. You'll have floors you can eat off of every day for very little effort.

6. My opinion is that ANYTHING that is rechargeable ins't going to last as long as something with a cord. Batteries have weird electronic memory to them (yeah I'm obviously not a tech pro) and they are luckly to last 6m! Don't waste ANY money on those rechareable products. They are a waste.

All in all this is the BEST product I've found for the cost, unless you want to invest a fortune in commercial grade steamers. I'm THRILLED with this purchase!!!

Update: After 10 months, I'm still thrilled. However, many complain that the first couple of uses the mop tends to leak a lot and leave the floors very wet. Although I never did experience this, many have and the solution they have found is that it requires a couple of uses to "season" the product and then the appropriate amount of steam and heat becomes reliable.

Review by A. Chandler:

Know going in If you get the Envirosteamer, know that, though it cleans the best, the first two times you use it the water goes through holes faster than it will in subsequent uses, so it will go through steam faster and your floors will be wetter than normal. Enough people wrote me to know this happened the first one or two times as it did my first time of use, then after that the mop was normal, our floors are great and it lasts waaaah longer. We don't know why. Just know that going in. After the first two initializing uses it steams perfect! Also obviously the steam lasts longest if you don't hold the mop above the floor to walk to another area since the steam pours out as it will with any steam mop if you do.

(update: This review was updated on 11-2-09 after I got to compare the Bissell as well as add notes about the Ladybugg steamer at the bottom, and then on 11-30 when I got to compare the SteamFast SF-140 and on 12-7 to compare the Steam Boy)

I live in a neighborhood where EVERY home is "green built certified" this means that, to have that certification, the builder built no homes with carpet. All the main floors are polished concrete and the upper floors wood. The bathrooms all have tile and/or slate in every home.

Because of this, as you could imagine, steam mops are quite the neccessity...not only because they get the hard surfaces better than anything else, but because they are also "green" and clean chemical free. I'll be honest, for us...that's a bonus but we weren't cleaning chemical free before. We like chemical free for our pet's paws but I'll confess I was mopping with chemicals before I got my steamer and just kept the pets out of the room while doing it because, up until then, I couldn't get it clean any other way.

Okay, so that said...we decided to have a steamer show down to compare 7 different steamers because my friends and I knew as long as we are in these homes we are gonna have to have a steamer to get all these hard floors clean...we may as well figure out which one to buy next go round. Because my own home is graced with 2 cats, 3 dogs, and two gregarious cooks, my kitchen floor (which had not ever been cleaned by a steamer since my steamer had just arrived) was the testing spot.

Mind you, I vaccuum twice per week and do a mega mop twice a week. I THOUGHT I had pretty clean floors in spite of my pet capacity.

I thought wrong. These picked up dirt so well it's scary

So here's the results:

1. steam mops are the mac daddys of clean floors. What these things picked up was tremendous and no comparison to my vigorous prior constant major mopping.

2. So now I'll break down the elements of each mop we used and then go into more detail about each at the end.

We tried out:

"S": The shark by Europro

"E" The Envirosteamer by Eureka

"H" the haan steamer

"M" the Monster

"B" The Bissell Green Tea

"SF" The SteamFast SF-140 by SteamFast

"SB" The SteamBoy T1

CORD LENGTH: so you don't have to stop and unplug and replug in somewhere else:

Shark ( will be referred to as S):20 feet

Envirosteamer (will be referred to as E): 25 feet *Note* The Envirosteamer has a clip at the top of the handle to keep the cord out of the way. When it's plugged in and you need more cord length, a light tug undoes this cord on the clip so that you have the full 25' of cord. Otherwise it's only around 20 feet. It's made to do this.

Haan: (will be referred to as H)19'8"

Monster (will be referred to as M): 25 feet

Bissell (will be referred to as B) 17 feet

SteamFast (will be referred to as SF): 18.7 ft.

SteamBoy (will be referred to as SB): 16 ft.

STEAM TEMPERATURE: this is a primary element. The hotter the steam, the more dirt picked up and hot steam will also kill parasites, mold and mildew and loosen more dirt:

S 110 degrees. lame

E 220 degrees. very hot

H 212 degrees. very hot

M 266 degrees. hottest...although the envirosteamer and haan seemed plenty hot enough. The shark didn't clean nearly as well and this was one reason. 110 degrees just isn't going to melt off stuck on grime.

B 125 degrees. Note that, because of this low steam temperature the manual said that if I wanted to sanitize the floor or pick up caked on spills, I had to hold the steamer on the spot for 15 seconds but no more than 20 because that could damage some floors. Now I don't know about you, but if I can sanitize with one swipe of the other steamers because of their sanitizing temps my floor will be done WAY faster but I don't have a timer to worry about the extra 5 secons where my wood floors could get damaged. My sink water is hotter than this so it would take less time to use a regular mop if I have to hold the steamer on every spot of my floor for 15 seconds to santize. Just sayin

SF: 137 degrees. Not hot enough to clean well nor sanitize.

SB: 120 degrees. Not hot enough to clean well nor sanitize

BUILD:

We found how it was made corresponded with issues with the steamer. The Shark, for example, was quite flimsy and they actually sell replacement handle kits because so many people have issues with the handle breaking! We know this because my neighbor's shark broke and the store had a replacement handle kit on the shelf because he said "it happens often". That's an extra cost.

Envirosteamer: Was 5.4 lbs which made it lightweight but strong enough that you didn't have to press down to clean. Very well made and strong parts

Haan: not made as well as the envirosteamer but it's more expensive so this was a surprise. A bit flimsy and you need to press down on it more to clean at 3.15 lbs.

Monster: hefty and well made at 9 lbs but a bit too heavy unless you want a good workout. (Note: They have changed the Monster handles on the mops now and they are all plastic and people are having breakage issues)

Bissell: It's 8.4 pounds but that includes a water filter that you have to get for this one (see notes below)

SteamFast: very flimsy plastic all over, but it's also more affordable than the other mops so it's a bit of a trade off. 7 lbs.

SteamBoy: They didn't even ship this preassembled like the other mops. We had to assemble it! Pretty flimsy plastic. 9 lbs but that includes the water filter you have to get with this one (see notes below)

WATER CAPACITY: Very important because having to stop and add more water just adds on to the time you have to spend cleaning, especially if you are cleaning a hallway or livingroom or some other area that has no sink:

S: only holds up to 10 oz of water. Lasted for 10 miinutes of cleaning

E: holds up to 20 oz. of water. Lasted for over 20 minutes of cleaning (we stopped at 20 and it was still going)

H: holds up to 11.83 oz of water. Lasted for 13 minutes of cleaning

M: holds up to 17 oz. of water. Lasted for 15 minutes of cleaning

B: holds up to 13 oz of water, lasted for 12.5 minutes of cleaning AND you have to undo and remove the tank from the machine every time you fill it up then hook it back on and the steam tank is on the handle rather than the base so the steam doesn't flow directly out after heating up which may explain why it's not as hot once it leaves the machine. The way this mop is made the water flows past heating elements which can, according to Bissell, develop calcium deposits on it so this is the only mop where, because of this, you also have to use a water filter with it and replace the water filter when there is build up which means and extra 12 bucks every few months. The better mops are made to heat the water in a metal tank so this is not an issue and you pour the water directly into the tank.

SF: Holds the least amount of water and I had to stop and fill up and get the water reheated often in trying to clean the floor. Only holds 8 oz of water and if you use 8 oz it gets your floor too wet so we wound up filling it with just up to 7.5 oz of water for best results and it only lasted 7 minutes when we did that before we had to refill again.

SB: up to 24 oz BUT it only lasted for 12 minutes of cleaning. I think because of the build. This one also is made so that the water has to flow past heating elements down the handle, rather than flowing directly from a hot tank to the floor at the base. Because of this it can develop calcium deposits inside the mop so you have to also buy a water filter for this mop and replace it every few months when there is build up which means extra cost and, quite possibly, more repairs. Because this does not flow directly out of a hot tank it cools on the way down and possibly with this one evaporates somehow because we tried it twice and the steam simply didn't last as long as it should.

STEAM HOLES: We found a difference although you'd think they'd all be the same. The shark only had one hole that the steam came out of so it wasn't cleaning things on the edges, just in one spot. All the others had steam coming from bottom and sides. Steamboy also didn't have holes near the edge

SIZE: The taller it is the less stooping, the wider the mop head, the more it covers

S: 40"Hx12"Wx7"D

E: 50"Hx13.25"Wx6.75"D (the fact that this depth was smaller made it reach under applicances better...it fit better under things)

H: 50.5x11.5x7.5

M: 48x12.7.5

B: 45.25H (this was uncomfortably short) x11 x8.4 (even though this didn't fit under cabinets because of the depth it did swivel the best)

SF:49x11.8x7

SB: 28.2x6.9x7.9

Conclusion of comparison: First it must be pointed out that, in order to use the shark and the Bissell and the SteamBoy, you had to keep pumping the water. This was the most annoying feature of anything...the others just steamed on their own and didn't wear out your fingers. Hated this feature of the shark and Bissell and SteamBoy. We liked that the Monster, the Shark, the Envirosteamer, the SteamFast and the Bissell came with 2 cleaning pads rather than one. The Haan only came with one at the time of the review (I double checked since when she bought hers it was also only one and as of today, that hasn't changed) so that ups the price even more because I can't imagine only wanting one to clean. All worked well on sanitizing mattresses and showers. too.

But the winner picked by all of us unanimously as the mop we want to have for our next steam mop order?

The Eureka Envirosteamer. It picked up the most dirt, was made as well as the Monster but was less expensive, held the most water, emitted the most very hot steam so it sanitized as well, lasted 3 times as long with one water resevor fillup as the others, and had a cord as long as the monster. BUT if you have carpets than I would recommend the Monster because it has a carpet attachment that allows you to steam clean your carpets and it picked up pretty close to the same amount of dirt as the Eureka Envirosteamer, and had close to the same features...a bit heavier though but that may make it last even longer. It is costlier, but to clean 2 surfaces I would think that might make it worth it.

UPDATE: The Haan just started including 2 pads with the mop according to the product description page. Not that this changes our opinion since it didn't work as well and the parts were flimsier, but it should be noted that this issue of not having enough cleaning pads has now been resolved and is equal to the other mops.

ANOTHER UPDATE: 1. The Shark came out with a new machine that holds more water and has a longer cord BUT it still only heats the water to 110 degrees so it won't sanitize or get rid of trapped grime at this "bathwater" temperature.

Another update: Since this review, we tried out canister mops. They work great for tight areas, but not on floor cleaning because the steam has to travel from the canister, down a long tube, then out the base so the steam is even cooler than the shark by the time it reaches the floor, even on the most expensive models. However, if you are looking at something just to steam tight areas like grout, and don't need it for your floor, the Vapamore performed the best out of the canister mops we played with when using the short cords for cleaning so the steam left the tank hot.

Also: Don't spend money buying extra pads for the Eureka. I was in a pinch and used a kitchen dish towel...the rectangular kind...just clip on both ends. It worked just as good or better...because they are thinner so the steam penetrates faster and therefore reaches the floor hotter. However, I would recommend still only using the thick pads that come with it for your wood floors just to be safe. But the super hot steam penetrating the dish towel worked excellent on tile and hard floors. Also, you can flip both the towel and the pads that come with it on the Eureka to double the usage...when it gets dirty, just flip it over and use the other side. I use several old dish towels with this but I like best the kind that just have a bit of texture but no squares sewn on them...but they all work great. So do the pads.

Also we noticed that a reviewer above us on the page flattered us by adding all of our information you read in our review about cord length, all the mops, steam temperatures we measured etc into her older review that is first on the page that originally contained none of this information. However, now that she edited her review to include our 6 hrs of research we apologize that it makes reading these two reviews very redundant. We promise when we first posted this review that no other review on this page contained any of the information on temperatures etc in our review until we posted our findings and they were copied into an older review higher on the page via editing. It's pretty boring now for the reader to read the same thing twice. But we are flattered someone felt it good enough research to want to copy into their review so we hold no grudge...I just didn't want anyone to think we were being redundant. )

WHY YOU WANT THE TANK ON THE BOTTOM/MOP HEAD: All steam starts out at 212 degrees. Some mops increase the heat from there. Some mops heat the water up, then it has to travel down tubes and get to the base, and then leave the holes, which results in a cooling process. This can also result in calcium deposits along that piping which eventually clogs the waterflow or makes you buy and store filtered water to use in the mop. On mops like the Envirosteamer, the water is heated in a stainless steel tank at the base of the mop and flows directly out onto the floor instantly with no traveling through the mop so it leaves the mop steaming hot. Put your hand over a cup of coffee directly at the top of the coffee. That's hot steam. Now move your hand waaaay up above the coffee cup where there is still steam but it is further from the heat source due to traveling. It's cooler steam. The mops are no different. Plus putting the weight at the head of the mop puts the preasure on the pad, not the handle you have to push.

CLOTHS: I like 100 percent cotton better than microfiber. Microfiber streaks. Although some complain about the Envirosteamer's pads shrinking they are meant to. I wash em in hot water. They'll fit perfect after they shrink so don't even be concerned. (they are cotton and quite absorbant.)

Review by A. Chandler:

I have had my eye on the Ladybug steamer for months now, drooling over all it could do but it was far out of my price range. I own the Envirosteamer steam floor mop and love it, but I wanted something to get into tight spaces like around the toilet, in the tub, the oven, etc. With some Santa money I got more serious about purchasing a canister steamer in addition to my floor steamer and began some comparative testing and studying. Fortunately, I live in a neighborhood that is all "green built certified" which means, in order to have a green rating, all homes were built with no carpet and lots of people hate chemicals which means it's a neighborhood full of steam mops which makes comparing the models quite easy. That's a good thing because it just saved me over a thousand bucks because I wound up no longer wanting the Ladybug. Here's how they rate...you decide which is best for you:

These are the canister mops I compared:

Vapamore MR-100

Ladybug XL-2300

Haan Canister

Reliable Enviromate

V=Vapamore

L=Ladybug

H=Haan

R=Reliable

NUMBER OF STEAM JETS SPITTING OUT HOT STEAM:

V-10

L-8

H-12

R-5

WATER PRESSURE CONTEST; (1st place being shoots steam the hardest)

V- 2nd PLACE

L-1ST PLACE:

H- 3rd PLACE:

R- 4th PLACE:

CORD LENGTH: (so you don't have to stop, unplug, water cools some, replug in)

V-18 feet

L-15 ft

H-18 feet

R-8 feet

recap: An 8' cord is INSANE. I couldn't even get across my kitchen counter or walk around my bed to steam all of the mattress without using an extension cord!

STEAM TEMPERATURE

V-256 degrees

L-297 degrees

H-212 degrees

R-218 degrees

Note: These temperatures are based upon using the small hose attachments. In every case that we used the long hose attachment included to turn these into a floor mop, the steam had to travel down the long hose so it cooled and wound up only being about 115 degrees by the time it reached the floor. Which results in very poor cleaning. Because of this, if you are wanting this mostly for floor steaming, I would suggest going with a steamer that shoots out hot steam directly onto the floor from its tank rather than through a long hose before reaching the floor as a canister mop does.

TIME TO HEAT UP:

V-10 min

L-8 min

H-3 min

R-5 min

WATER TANK:

V-1.6 liters

L-1.8+1.5 quarts

H-20 oz

R 2 liters

CLEANING:

For a controlled cleaning test, I mixed Dr. Pepper with sugar and spread it evenly across a 4' length of my stained concrete floor and kept the pets away until it dried completely in a gunky mess. I then tested each mop against it in lengthwise strips, moving them at the same pace after a full heat up, as well as testing each on its own strip of bathroom tile & grout. Here's who performed the best:

Tie: Ladybug and Vapamore. These, due to the really hot temps, loosened the gunk on impact and made it VERY easy to clean my floor. Their hot temps and heavier steam also cleaned tile the best but Vapamore actually did a BETTER job on uneven surfaces like tile with grout..but don't expect shiny white grout because it wasn't exactly returned to looking brand new either.

2nd place:Haan...but it wasn't nearly as good as the above two.

Last place: Reliable. Although the steam temp is hotter than the Haan, it doesn't shoot out as strong and only had 5 steam jets so this diminished its effectiveness Didn't come close to the V or L.

All were at temps to kill bacteria and sanitize without using chemicals such as counters and mattresses, unless you tried to turn it into a floor mop which I don't suggest because the steam was too cool to clean as well as a real floor steam mop made for that purpose...

Other notes: The ladybug was the most awkward to carry. It just wasn't made for carrying up stairs, etc.

Conclusion: Considering the Ladybug is over a thousand dollars more than any of the other mops, this was a real eye opener! I tested these with my friends and we all agreed, hands down, that the Vapamore was the best buy. And I love it! It cleaned the best BUT the Ladybug lasted much longer as far as cleaning time. However, Vapamore cleaned for 50 minutes prior to needing a refill which, for me, is all I need. That said, if you want to use this commercially and don't want to have to take time to refill, the Ladybug may be worth the steep price for you. Considering they have the same 3 year warranty though, I'd rather buy 4 Vapamores for the price of one Ladybug and have one in every room. I kid. The Reliable seemed to lack things that were just silly...like having a cord longer than my blow dryer and only having 5 steam jets.

Review by NJ Pharma:

I just purchased this steam cleaner a few weeks ago (and it is my first steam cleaner) - and thus far I absolutely love it. Admittedly I haven't been excited about cleaning tool purchases in the past, but I was very eager to receive this steamer after I ordered it. I put it to work straight away on our bathrooms, hardwoods, baseboards, etc... and am so impressed with the level of clean that you can obtain while using no chemicals. The smell of clean without a chemical smell is amazing. I know that I will continue to be happy with this for it's life, especially in a household with two Boxer dogs and hardwood floors throughout. My only concern is that we have hard water where we live, and I honestly am not eager to purchase water for use in the steamer as it seems like a hassle (or boil it prior to using as per the recommendations provided by the manufacturer) - but I am willing to take the risk and see how it goes (and see how it effects the longevity of the steamer).

Review by navyblue:

I've owned the older white model for over a year now - the old terry pads didn't bother me as far as shrinking went, but I sure wore holes in them. The new microfiber pads are a nice improvement, easier to get on and off, and appear to be more durable.

I'm a big fan of this product and was very disappointed when Bissell appeared to discontinue it - I've wanted to purchase one for my mother and mother in law.

So, for the review:

Nothing cleans your floor better than good old fashioned Cinderella-style scrubbing. But given that I have around 1800 square feet of hard flooring, three kids, and four dogs - my knees just can't take that kind of torture cleaning something that is just going to be spilled on, puked on, or smeared with banana in a matter of minutes.

I have tried all the other leading brands of hard floor cleaners, and this one is by far the simplest to use and does a decent enough job that it's a regular in my household cleaning routine.

Pros:

- Uses nothing but water. No chemicals, no expensive solutions. I do purchase distilled since we have hard well water and the filter on my old model hasn't needed replacing.

- Cleans my ceramic tile and bamboo floor quickly and effectively. The water dries very quickly. My tile never looks streaky, but the bamboo flooring does a bit.

- Piece of cake clean up. Toss the mop head pad into the laundry, wrap the cord up and you're done. Small and compact, easy to store.

- It's very quiet. I can clean after my kids are in bed and the soft steaming noise wouldn't bother even the lightest sleeper.

Cons:

- The cord really is too darn short, but I've remedied that with an extension cord.

- It's a little short for me. This gripe isn't very fair because EVERY mop, broom, and vacuum are too short for me (except for the Dyson) - I'm tall. But I will mention here that short women aren't the only people who clean! My 5'10" self and my 6'3" husband both have to hunch over to mop the floor with this. It'd be lovely if the handle could extend.

- Doesn't do a great job on grout - but nothing does. I've decided I just hate tile and grout period.

- It does take some effort to push, but cleans overall more quickly than the Powered Floormate.

- Like any machine it can't get right up close to the walls and though it's mophead fits under the cabinets, it simply cannot clean right in the crack where the floor meets. So every so often I have to get down and hand scrub those areas.

----

Highly, highly recommend for regular use. Does a great job at steaming the dried on grime and gunk my kids regularly paste the house with.

Review by A. Chandler:

(update: This review was updated on 11-2-09 after I got to compare the Bissell as well as add notes about the Ladybugg steamer at the bottom)

I live in a neighborhood where EVERY home is "green built certified" this means that, to have that certification, the builder built no homes with carpet. All the main floors are polished concrete and the upper floors wood. The bathrooms all have tile and/or slate in every home.

Because of this, as you could imagine, steam mops are quite the neccessity...not only because they get the hard surfaces better than anything else, but because they are also "green" and clean chemical free. I'll be honest, for us...that's a bonus but we weren't cleaning chemical free before. We like chemical free for our pet's paws but I'll confess I was mopping with chemicals before I got my steamer and just kept the pets out of the room while doing it because, up until then, I couldn't get it clean any other way.

Okay, so that said...we decided to have a steamer show down to compare 5 different steamers because my friends and I knew as long as we are in these homes we are gonna have to have a steamer to get all these hard floors clean...we may as well figure out which one to buy next go round. Because my own home is graced with 2 cats, 3 dogs, and two gregarious cooks, my kitchen floor (which had not ever been cleaned by a steamer since my steamer had just arrived) was the testing spot.

Mind you, I vaccuum twice per week and do a mega mop twice a week. I THOUGHT I had pretty clean floors in spite of my pet capacity.

I thought wrong. These picked up dirt so well it's scary

So here's the results:

1. steam mops are the mac daddys of clean floors. What these things picked up was tremendous and no comparison to my vigorous prior constant major mopping.

2. So now I'll break down the elements of each mop we used and then go into more detail about each at the end.

We tried out:

"S": The shark by Europro

"E" The Envirosteamer by Eureka

"H" the haan steamer

"M" the Monster

"B" The Bissell Green Tea

CORD LENGTH: so you don't have to stop and unplug and replug in somewhere else:

Shark ( will be referred to as S):20 feet

Envirosteamer (will be referred to as E): 25 feet

Haan: (will be referred to as H)19'8"

Monster (will be referred to as M): 25 feet

Bissell (will be referred to as B) 17 feet

STEAM TEMPERATURE: this is a primary element. The hotter the steam, the more dirt picked up and hot steam will also kill parasites, mold and mildew and loosen more dirt:

S 110 degrees. lame

E 220 degrees. very hot

H 212 degrees. very hot

M 266 degrees. hottest...although the envirosteamer and haan seemed plenty hot enough. The shark didn't clean nearly as well and this was one reason. 110 degrees just isn't going to melt off stuck on grime.

B 125 degrees. Note that, because of this low steam temperature the manual said that if I wanted to sanitize the floor or pick up caked on spills, I had to "hold the steamer on the spot for 15 seconds but no more than 20 because that could damage some floors". Now I don't know about you, but if I can sanitize with one swipe of the other steamers because of their sanitizing temps my floor will be done WAY faster...and I also don't have to carry a timer to worry about the extra 5 seconds where my wood floors could get damaged when I have to hold the Bissell for 15 seconds on my wood but no more than 20! My sink water is hotter than the Bissell so it would take less time to use a regular mop if I have to hold the steamer on every spot of my floor for 15 seconds to sanitize. Just sayin

BUILD:

We found how it was made corresponded with issues with the steamer. The Shark, for example, was quite flimsy and they actually sell replacement handle kits because so many people have issues with the handle breaking! We know this because my neighbor's shark broke and the store had a replacement handle kit on the shelf because he said "it happens often". That's an extra cost.

Envirosteamer: Was 5.4 lbs which made it lightweight but strong enough that you didn't have to press down to clean. Very well made and strong parts

Haan: not made as well as the envirosteamer but it's more expensive so this was a surprise. A bit flimsy and you need to press down on it more to clean at 3.15 lbs.

Monster: hefty and well made at 9 lbs but a bit too heavy unless you want a good workout. (Note: They have changed the Monster handles on the mops now and they are all plastic and people are having breakage issues)

Bissell: It's 8.4 pounds but that includes a water filter that you have to get for this one (see notes below)

WATER CAPACITY: Very important because having to stop and add more water just adds on to the time you have to spend cleaning, especially if you are cleaning a hallway or livingroom or some other area that has no sink:

S: only holds 10 oz of water. Lasted for 10 miinutes of cleaning

E: holds 20 oz. of water. Lasted for over 20 minutes of cleaning (we stopped at 20 and it was still going)

H: holds 11.83 oz of water. Lasted for 13 minutes of cleaning

M: holds 17 oz. of water. Lasted for 15 minutes of cleaning

B: holds 13 oz of water, lasted for 12.5 minutes of cleaning AND you have to undo and remove the tank from the machine every time you fill it up then hook it back on and the steam tank is on the handle rather than the base so the steam doesn't flow directly out after heating up which may explain why it's not as hot once it leaves the machine. The way this mop is made the water flows past heating elements which can, according to Bissell, develop calcium deposits on it so this is the only mop where, because of this, you also have to use a water filter with it and replace the water filter when there is build up which means an extra 12 bucks every few months. The better mops are made to heat the water in a metal tank so this is not an issue and you pour the water directly into the tank.

STEAM HOLES: We found a difference although you'd think they'd all be the same. The shark and Bissell only had one hole that the steam came out of so it wasn't cleaning things on the edges, just in one spot. All the others had steam coming from bottom and sides.

SIZE: The taller it is the less stooping, the wider the mop head, the more it covers

S: 40"Hx12"Wx7"D. Apparently built only for the height of a small child to push unless you want to bend over and push.

E: 50"Hx13.25"Wx6.75"D (the fact that this depth was smaller made it reach under applicances better...it fit better under things)

H: 50.5x11.5x7.5

M: 48x12.7.5

B: 45.25H (this was uncomfortably short as well) x11 x8.4 (even though this didn't fit under cabinets because of the depth it did swivel the best)

Conclusion of comparison: First it must be pointed out that, in order to use the shark and the Bissell, you had to keep pumping the water. This was the most annoying feature of anything...the others just steamed on their own and didn't wear out your fingers. Hated this feature of the shark and Bissell. We liked that the Monster and the Shark and Envirosteamer and the Bissell came with 2 cleaning pads rather than one. The Haan only came with one at the time of the review (I double checked since when she bought hers it was also only one and as of today, that hasn't changed) so that ups the price even more because I can't imagine only wanting one to clean. All worked well on sanitizing mattresses and showers. too.

But the winner picked by all of us unanimously as the mop we want to have for our next steam mop order?

The Eureka Envirosteamer. It picked up the most dirt, was made as well as the Monster but was less expensive, held the most water, emitted the most very hot steam so it sanitized as well and quickly wiped up caked on spills, lasted 3 times as long with one water resevoir fill-up as the others, and had a cord as long as the monster. BUT if you have carpets than I might recommend the Monster because it has a carpet attachment that allows you to steam clean your carpets and it picked up pretty close to the same amount of dirt as the Eureka Envirosteamer, and had close to the same features...a bit heavier though but that may make it last even longer. It is costlier, but to clean 2 surfaces I would think that might make it worth it.

UPDATE: The Haan just started including 2 pads with the mop according to the product description page. Not that this changes our opinion since it didn't work as well and the parts were flimsier, but it should be noted that this issue of not having enough cleaning pads has now been resolved and is equal to the other mops.

ANOTHER UPDATE: 1. The Shark came out with a new machine that holds more water and has a longer cord BUT it still only heats the water to 110 degrees so it won't sanitize or get rid of trapped grime at this "bathwater" temperature.

Another update: I haven't tried it yet but was told about an even better mop than the Eureka Envirosteamer but I can't personally afford it...still, it's worth mentioning in case you can. It's called the Ladybug XL2300 and is a canister steam mop. It heats the water to 298 degrees (woah!) so it's a super sanitizer but it's over a thousand bucks. It also comes with 6 towels. I didn't include it in my review because I haven't ever tried it and I wanted to only include mops I personally tried but it's got great enough stats that, even though it's out of my price range, I thought I'd pass it on as a super sanitizer when I read about it.

Also: Don't spend money buying extra pads for the Eureka. I was in a pinch and used a kitchen dish towel...the rectangular kind...just clip on both ends. It worked just as good or better...because they are thinner so the steam penetrates faster and therefore reaches the floor hotter. However, I would recommend still only using the thick pads that come with it for your wood floors just to be safe. But the super hot steam penetrating the dish towel worked excellent on tile and hard floors. Also, you can flip both the towel and the pads that come with it on the Eureka to double the usage...when it gets dirty, just flip it over and use the other side. I use several old dish towels with this but I like best the kind that just have a bit of texture but no squares sewn on them...but they all work great. So do the pads.

Review by Kathy J. Katsarelis:

I just purchased a previously owned townhome and needed to really clean the entire kitchen. I used an industrial grease remover and was unable to remove all the grime (YUK!!!). I had seen this product advertised and was skeptical; however, I was pleasantly surprised. The SteamFast SF-226 Handheld Steam Cleaner did an exceptional job. Following the use of the steamer, I was able to wipe down all surfaces in the kitchen. It worked great on the grout, stove-top, kitchen tile, floor tile, refrigerator, and woodwork. I highly recommend this little work horse!

Review by Chas Devlin:

Not much to say... it's a low end, handheld steam cleaner -- meaning it can't compete in any way with professional models at twice the price. For the most past, it gets the job done. Set up took all of 5 minutes -- fill with water, attach a nozzle, wait for the light to signal it's ready, and steam away!

Most people will probably use the main nozzle (as pictured) and attack the usual areas -- bathroom, kitchen, and every other nook + cranny you can think of. It did a good job on all those areas.

It's light enough to carry around for a while, and the long power cord allowed for good flexibility. It removed most of the burnt-on grease inside the oven (though it took a few cycles).

As to be expected with a basic model, it doesn't take long to lose its' steam power, and it needs refilling rather quickly (so don't pump for steam if you don't need to). Also, depending on the angle being applied, it leaked more water than steam action to some surfaces. Additionally, I wish the main nozzle was longer, as I found myself unable to reach certain areas.

To sum up, it's fine for most basic household uses - but don't expect maximum power from a model like this. I found myself wanting to upgrade.