One of the best things about the internet is how easy it is to find reviews and opinions about almost any type of product. As little as 10 years ago, you would have had to talk to several salespeople (and hope they were honest), or hunt down back issues of magazines that cover this kind of stuff if you wanted to find steam mop consumer reviews.
Now, with a few clicks of the mouse, you can find reviews of almost any brand or model of steam mop you might be interested in on sites like Amazon.com or Epinions.com.
Steam mops use heated water to clean your floor, rather than harsh detergents or chemicals. This can have several advantages over a traditional mop:
- No chemicals means the surface is safer for children and pets after cleaning
- They are easy to load and push, so they are quick and convenient
- The steam may be able to sanitize the surface, at least according to the manufacturers' claims
If you read some of the reviews on sites like Amazon or Epinions, you'll find a bit of a mixed bag of results. There are lots of people who are very happy with their steam mop, while others have nothing but complaints.
This can be typical of online consumer reviews, but you need to read between the lines a bit to get the right information. See if people talk about how they use their steam mop, and how it compares to how you expect to.
Many of the people with complaints are trying to use the mop as the main cleaning tool, while many of the happy people use them more for small cleanups and spills instead.
The Good Housekeeping Institute did some testing on steam mops, and their findings were consistent with these results. They recommended them for frequently cleaned floors, to keep them that way, but not for cleaning up any significant dirt or grime.
There are several popular brands of steam mops that you will most likely see mentioned in reviews. Shark, Haan, Bissell and Eureka are the most popular ones, followed by Oreck, H2O and Bionaire.
Something else to keep in mind is that steam mops can only be used on certain types of flooring. They will be fine for sealed hardwood floors or laminate floors, for example, but they can't be used on cork or unsealed hardwood. Any surface that can be damaged by water is not suitable for a steam mop.