Eureka Enviro Hard-Surface Floor Steamer,313A
by Electrolux Home Products (floorcare)
|
List Price: Our Price: $59.54 You Save: $20.45 (26%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $36.95 (click here) Category: Home See more product details |
|---|
Tools and Hardware Reviews of Eureka Enviro Hard-Surface Floor Steamer,313A
Customer Review: I've summed up product comparisons for you!
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Customer Review: They should have called this the WOW Mop.
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this mop and recieved it two days ago. I used it yesterday and let me tell you this thing really works! It's a little frustrating going slow, since I'm used to zipping around the house with a traditional mop, but even going slow I was able to get more area cleaned in less time. My house is 3000sq feet and all the rooms are large except the kitchen, which is about average size. I have two dining rooms, one on each side of the kitchen and a long hallway that runs down the middle of the house. Usually I do the kitchen and a dining room one day. The living room and the hallway another day and then the bedrooms. The kitchen and one of the dining rooms are high traffic areas so they are always heavily soiled by the end of the day. We have 7 dogs and 7 cats so that adds to the mix-and the dirt! Well, yesterday in under an hour, i was able to do the kitchen, both dining rooms, the hall way and the living room- now that's pretty impressive! Making it even more impressive was that yesterday it rained and three of the dogs had come in muddy and soaking wet. Out they went and I brought out the mop to do it's job. I swept up the loose dirt and put the mop to work. OMG did it do an awesome job! The floors came out clean, clean, clean!
I had been using a traditional mop and bucket before, and then switched to sponge mop. I had been considering getting a swifer mop because even with the sponge mop, I still felt a thin layer of something- the cleaning chemicals maybe?- even after I mopped and the floor looked clean. I have a 11 month old who is constantly crawling and it bothered the heck out of me to let him crawl on a floor that was not squeaky clean. I actually wasn't even looking for a steam mop when I bought his one. Wal-Mart had discontinued the mop head I used for my sponge mop and the new sponge mop they stocked sucked. All it did was push the dirt around. So I went online to see if anyone sold the mop heads. I came across this products and researched several different brands after reading the raving reviews. It seemed like this brand was the best one (based on the customer reviews which I have learnd is a great way to learn about products!) so I figured it was worth the risk for really clean floors. At $69, it was pricey but it wouldn't break the bank, and if really worked, I would make up for it on the savings of chemical products and mop heads in about 2 and a half months.
I mopped my kitchen and as soon as it dried (in about two minutes) I got down on my hands and knees and felt the floors. I wiped my hands across the floor and -nothing. No film, no dust, no crumbs. The floor looked and felt clean. Our house is an old house and it has linoleum (which is partially removed because we are installing tile right now), tile and exposed concrete flooring (what is underneath the linoleum). The linoleum is pockmarked and scarred deeply in some areas. It didn't get the deepest pock marks, but when I reached down to scrub it, the grim came up like nothing. I guess the steam had soften it up. The tile came out looking great as well. I tested each area the same, with my hand, down on the floor and all the floors were squeaky clean. I used distilled water since we live out in the coutry and have well-water with a high mineral content, but so far, I still have over 2/3 of the gallon left. I actually walked in socks yesterday and they stayed clean! That's a major accomplishment in my household.
I have read people complaining that the unit only comes with two pads, which is a bit of a pain, since my floors were dirty enough to require me changing out pads to keep from streaking, but they are extremely thick pads, kind of like a smaller towel or thicker kitchen towel and you can throw them in the washer to clean them. You can't do that with a traditional mop! I plan on buying at least 6 more pads, because I want to wash them seperate from my other items and I hate to wate the water and engery on two pads, although if I had more time (or maybe wasn't as lazy) I could wash them by hand. The pads themselves seem very durable though. I'll be surprised if they don't last at least two years, probably getting the most wear and tear from being washed.
I'll be recommending this product to all my friends. I'm even going to send one to my neat-freak sister and mother-in-law. I don't traditionally give cleaning products as gifts (in fact, I'll give it to my mother-in-law as a just because gift to cover my bases) but I know they will love it so much once they use it they will be thrilled to have gotten it. I just wish I had known about these steam mops earlier!
Customer Review: Good quality, but poor design.
Summary: 1 Stars
I've used my Eureka 313A Envirosteamer for a few weeks now. I had previously used a Shark SteamPocket steamer, but found that while its DESIGN was generally good (with some shortcomings, such as some cord management issues and the need to keep pumping for it to produce steam), the quality was terrible. After less than a year of use (without any harsh treatment), the handle broke. Some glue and careful drying solved that problem, but the handle broke again in another location just a few weeks later, and could not be readily repaired.
After reading a number of reviews of the various steam mops offered on Amazon, I settled on the Eureka. Most of the reviews were very favorable, and some even made direct comparisons to the other mops offered.
I must say that, so far, the QUALITY of the Eureka seems good. The unit appears to be solidly built, and I imagine that it should hold up quite well. The problem is the DESIGN of the Eureka. Here are a few issues.
The Cord: Despite what other reviews have mentioned, the cord is entirely too short. I am not sure of the exact length, but it is not sufficiently long enough to allow for the mopping of a room that is larger than average without forcing the user to switch outlets. The cord connects to the BASE of the unit, meaning that the reach of the handle cannot be added to the length of the cord when try to reach as far as possible. Finally, the cord hooks are of the older, fixed design (as opposed to a swiveling design), forcing the user to actually unwind the cord slowly instead of quickly removing the entire cord with a twist of a hook. The end of the cord does not even fasten/hold another part of the cord during storage.
The Base: The base portion of the steamer swivels, but does not fully swivel or allow the handle to lower closer to the ground when angled to the sides. This prevents the mop base from cleaning in a number of tight spaces, especially around fixtures such as toilets. The base houses the water tank, but with just the filling hole, it is difficult to actually see how much water is in the tank. The indicator light only informs the user when there is no water left.
Steaming: The steamer takes a few minutes to actually begin producing steam. A "cold start" takes the longest time, but even a "restart" after a refilling or a stoppage of a few minutes will require a couple of minutes of waiting. In my experience, when doing a "cold start" there is always a lot of liquid water dripping out of the steamer, and soaking into the mopping pad. To avoid problems, I make sure that I begin on a surface that can withstand the excessive water (i.e. NOT a wood floor) and have a separate towel to pick up the puddle. Once the initial stream has left the steamer and only steam is being produced, it is then safe to attach the mopping pad and begin mopping. While this is not necessarily difficult, it seems as if you need the "right touch" in order to use this mop without a lot of streaking or, much worse, actual damage to the floors. When the steam is being properly produced, the mop seems to do a decent job on the areas of the floor that it is able to reach. There is generally little or no streaking, and the mopping pad seems to pull up most of the dirt. Any heavily soild areas would likely need real scrubbing with other equipment.
While the Eureka mop is capable of cleaning the floors, its design makes doing so difficult. It would be very difficult to recommend this product.
UPDATE, 3/22/2010: After using this mop for a few additional weeks, I am lowering my rating to one star, and I wish I could lower it to zero stars. More often than not, the steamer merely produces excessive hot water, as opposed to steam, which simply makes the floors wet. The short cord is truly annoying. The swiveling of the head is ineffective in tight spots. The pads are not very absorbant. The cord management is primitive. The cap for the water tank requires too much unnecessary turning to fully close / open, and raises the height of the already-tall base to prevent cleaning in low clearance areas. And finally, when there is actually steam being produced, it does not seem to be effective at actually cleaning to floor.
The Bottom Line: The Eureka Envirosteamer is a poorly designed unit that is in terrible need of a complete redisign. The manufacturer should be embarrassed to produce and sell this item. If you are looking for a good floor cleaner, look elsewhere.
Customer Review: I love the steamer, I don't love the weakness of the handle or Eureka's customer service.
Summary: 1 Stars
We bought this steamer just before Christmas(2009), as a gift to me. I have used it approximately one month (4 or 5 times) and loved, loved, loved it! I have majority hard floors, including 50's conglorium and wood. I also have five children aged 16 to 2. I NEED a reliable and quick floor cleaner, and the Enviro Steamer seemed to fit that bill. I bragged about it. I recommended it to EVERYONE. It does such a wonderful job of cleaning and sterilizing floors!! You can use other towels on it, not just the microfiber it comes with!! And then . . .
One night, after cleaning the family room floor I left it sitting in it's tray -- not in a walkway or anything, just left it sitting over by the TV. My skinny-mini, 42lb, 8 year old boy got up in the middle of the night and bumped into it. He wasn't playing swords with it. He wasn't riding it around town -- he simply bumped into it. I woke up the next morning to find the handle laying next to it, and I (pre-coffee) went about trying to fix it. I couldn't figure out what was going on with it. So after some coffee and serious accusations and threatening children to sell their Wii to replace my awesome floor cleaner; I figured out the problem. For one, the ball joint that lets it swivel at it's base is made from very thin plastic and splits right down the middle. The two joints that stick out of the "ball" to hold the handle to the base are actually Battleship game pegs (seriously the same size, shape and color). "Well, I can get this little ball back together and get this cleaner's handle back on jiffy-quick, I'll be back in business! Even if it's made from left-over Battleship game pegs (obviously all those missing pegs went to Eureka for floor cleaning products) and I might require super glue -- but we'll make this work!" Then I noticed the REAL problem with my plan and awesome ability to fix just about anything since I am a Navy wife and when tools fail I just use super glue and duct tape. The "real problem" is that the whole entire base of the unit is one piece of plastic. The female side of the handle-mechanism is in this huge piece of plastic (see pictures I submitted in "Customer Images") and the wall of this joint is less than 1/2cm thick. ANY amount of pressure (beyond a sneeze) on the handle when it's in it's "locked-upright-position" will completely obliterate the 1/2cm of plastic that holds the handle in. Not only that, but it seems that the plastic wears down and gets very scarred and dented with normal use. Normal use here constituting four or five uses. See images.
So I called Eureka, and honestly admitted my son bumped into it (and even though he was about to let his 16 year old -- and much heavier brother take the fall -- which would make sense, I mean really, a 16 year old should be able to break the handle off an Enviro steamer just being careless, but not a 42lb, 8 year old skinny-mini-midnight-stumbler. But that's a whole 'nother story) and it shouldn't have broken that easily. I explained I am not pleased with the cheap way the handle joint is manufactured. I was told this is NOT a manufacturing defect, and would not be replaced. However, I could take it to a local Eureka repair center and they could probably fix it. Mind you I have already explained to the Eureka person that no, it could NOT be fixed as it's all one big piece of plastic. Not that there's anything that wrong with plastic -- except when a floor cleaner's joint is held together by 1/2cm of plastic and Battleship pegs. So basically, I only have issue with the cheap assembly of the handle joint -- and darlin' that to me is a "manufacturer defect". No doing. She said it was our fault -- which I guess it was. However, it shouldn't fall apart so easily or be made from Hasbro games. She kept insisting that I could have it repaired (again see Customer Images) and I kept saying it couldn't. I even asked if Eureka had a "sturdier model" of floor steamer with a decent handle and was informed that this is their only one.
I guess at the end of the day: if you live in a family with only one or two children -- or none at all -- and can store your Enviro Steamer in bubble wrap so the handle doesn't break off, you'll be all good. Just don't bump into it, or sneeze too forcefully. Also take into consideration that if you have to call Eureka their "hold music" might induce you to obliterate your ear-drums with a chopstick.
Meanwhile, I'll be on the hunt for a floor steamer with a big ole' handle assembly not containing Battleship pegs.
Customer Review: Lowered expectations?
Summary: 3 Stars
Here I am, living with four children, a dog, two cats, and hardwood floors. Yikes, you say? That's right. After using every chemical product under the sun to keep my floors "clean," I realize there is a dull build-up of gunk in our high traffic areas. "Not to fear," I say to myself, "I'll buy a hard flooring steamer!" Now, I know NOTHING about steamers, never had one, never used one, so as usual, I set out to investigate and uncover the magical product that will solve my problem. Found lots of shining reviews for the Eureka Enviro, especially the extra-long review that compared several steamers. Other reviews were not so good, but that's to be expected... isn't it? I have been using this steamer nearly one month, probably 10 - 12 times, and here are my (limited) experiences:
1. Some other reviewers mentioned water pouring from the steamer. I prepared for this by gathering towels before my initial use and - YES! - water basically poured from the steamer. I quickly mopped up the mess with a couple of large bath towels and decided to try again. The steamer has not done this since and seems to emit a consistent amount of steam. As a matter of fact, I am able to use it closer to 20 minutes than the 15 minute limit claimed by the manufacturer.
2. One reviewer's steamer broke after a small child bumped into it - there are pictures, check them out. The steamer's handle certainly has a fragile feel to it. I gingerly tap the cleaning head down, afraid I'll accidentally snap its little neck. The thing is, the handle doesn't REALLY lock into place with the cleaning head, at least not the way a vacuum does. It wobbles. I am positive one of my cats could turn this steamer over. For now, I have mine in a closet, protected, but do I really want to treat this thing like my grandmother's antique vase? Not so much.
3. The Enviro is very lightweight, which is terrific for a few of us. I'm 5'2", so I appreciate a piece of machinery that doesn't manhandle me, especially if I'm going to be pushing it back and forth all around the house. However, the lightness is soooo light it just feels altogether unsturdy, so I can not really call this a plus. The height of the handle when fully extended is perfect for me, but I seriously doubt a much taller person could comfortably use the steamer for a long period of time.
4. I was super-excited about the idea of SANITIZING my floors. As it turns out, standard use of this steamer does NOT sanitize. The manufacturer's directions state you must hold the steamer in place for at least 8 seconds, but no more than 15, in order to "sanitize" a spot of flooring. Have you seen the dimensions for the steamer's cleaning head? Yeah? Have you seen the square footage you want to clean in your home? Yeah? Not gonna happen. Of course, if you only care about sanitizing a very small area, after a pet accident for example, great.
4 1/2. Here's my big question: Is this thing ACTUALLY cleaning my floor? The manufacturer's instructions for post-use of the included cleaning pads are to rinse the pads in running water and drip dry, specifically do NOT machine dry. I noticed one reviewer tried to machine wash/drip dry the pads and it caused major shrinking. After a couple of uses, these pads look d.i.r.t.y. Rinsing them in tap water does not wash away the gunk and I hesitate to use chemicals or detergents to wash them. a. Isn't the point of the steamer to be chemical-free?; b. What kind of chemicals will be left behind in the pads and will they affect the finish of the floor? How EXACTLY is one to CLEAN the cleaning pads used to CLEAN the floor, if the floor is dirty, therefore the pad is dirty? Dizziness ensues.
As I said, I have a full, busy household and perhaps my expectations were a little too high. When I ordered the Enviro steamer, I envisioned a new best friend - me and the steamer, laughing together about how dirty the floor used to look. Eh. I suppose this little steamer would be an awesome addition to a home, so long as the home stayed relatively clean to begin with, didn't have much child/pet traffic, etc. I have begun to think of my steamer as a glorified mop. Isn't that the way of relationships when the fantasizing ends and reality begins? I'm giving the Enviro steamer 3 stars: one for being cute, two for performing a decent, yet not fabulous job. If I had the choice to make over, I might go all out for a more expensive, sturdier steamer. I suppose I got what I paid for.