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: My thoughts on Eureka steam mop
Summary: 4 Stars
I own a home with alot of tile floors. Entrance way, hallway, 3 bathrooms, kitchen and laundry room. I had been carefully mopping the tile with Spic n Span and recently discovered that a residue was left which caused me to track dirt onto my new carpets. So I wanted to find a better way to completely clean all that tile. After lots of research (Bissell, Shark, Oreck etc) I found the Eureka and especially the terrific reviews done here comparing about 4 different types of steam mops. I am here to add my comments.
I have used the Eureka for about a month - about 5 complete cleaning cycles. And I would say I agree with the positive reviews. After filing, the steam starts coming out in about 3-4 minutes. All the weight is at the lowest point of the steam mop - so that works great. Good design. The head pivots easily but at least in my house, is too big to get under the dishwasher etc. in that last 2-3 inches of tile. The head is rectangular with a single line of steam openings across about 90% of the width of the head. However - there is only that single line of openings. Yes, the mop pivots 90 degrees easily (like when I mop by the toilet) BUT - because there is no crossing line of steam openings there is only steam coming out in a vertical line - which is minimal coverage when you have the head pivoted 90 degrees. One filing of water takes care of all of my tile. Drys within about 5-10 minutes. Steam seems pretty hot and gets all the dirt/spots and the tile looks great when I am done. The machine comes with 2 rectangular relatively thick towels with waffle design to cover the steam vents and actually do the mopping on the tile. They pick up alot of dirt - although less and less with each cleaning I have noticed - because the floor is cleaner now. I find I have to really work to get them completely clean afterwards. As an experiment I tried using one of the white kitchen towels you can easily get at Williams Sonoma (much thinner than the Eureka provided pads) and they do work just fine. Thinner might be better too - so more of the steam comes through. Will have to experiment on that one. Also I got the unit within about 3 weeks - certainly not the 2 months that Amazon predicted.
Negatives: As I mentioned above, I think a second short row of steam openings - running perpendicular to the main row would increase the cleaning capability of the mop especially when you have the mop head pivoted 90 degrees to get into a tight space. And I found the manual pretty sparse. Certainly not detailed. But that's a minor point as the Eureka is easy to figure out. Otherwise I can confirm that this steam mop works great.
Customer Review: Ridiculous. DOES NOT DO JOB
Summary: 1 Stars
I know,I know. Loads of glowing reviews. One such "review" caused me to buy one.
1. Sturdiest component is the impressive, 2-piece, paper-mache clamshell packaging.
2. "Product" itself is pretty rickety. The 2 baby grandsons, 3 & 2 years old, would make short shrift of it. BUT, hey, paper-mache clamshell packaging is the main attraction. We picked up a ride-around truck @ Costco for just about same price. That thing is 100 times better built, would survive/thrive with 50 grandsons. So NO "cost/manufacturing compromises" engineer-babble.
3. Warm up time: even though water reservoir is same volume as our fabulously efficient HAND-STEAMER, this thing takes way more than DOUBLE the time to (supposedly) be steam ready. More on "steam-ready" below.
4. WHAT FoggeddaboudSTEAM. There ain't NO STEAM where the steam is needed, i.e. blasting the floor. Nope, Heated moisture weakly permeates the bonnet, you wipe floor with rickety crackerjack toy.
ANYBODY who claims that this thing "does the job" would have to document their unique definition of "does the job". THEIR idea of hygiene & cleanliness seems to be out of a different playbook.
Is there a better way? Definitely not for anyone who claims that this thing does the job. For the seemingly few who's aim is to RAPIDLY get all bare floors clean & free of all kinds invisible critters get yourself one of these yellow Haan Handheld Steamers. HAND-held, NOT "floor". Additionally, also get 20 extension cord to enable unhampered reach. I'm not done, ther's more. Buy the bulk white vigar @ costco; vinegar is the best & cheapes germ killer, cleanser, deodorizer. Yup, there's more. Purchase the super professional aluminum mops & velcro bonnets. WE have a batch of bonnets. You've now spent $160 on a system that will last FOR YEARS & YEARS. Sweep floor with $7 broom. Heat up hand-held steamer. Attach bonnet. Spray floor with white vinegar (obviously you pour into plastic spray bottle). Steam-blast the area with hand-steamer: this time around the steam blast hits the FLOOR, DIRECTLY, wipe with your bonnet mop. Result? Very fast & efficient. Totally clean. Once a week throw all bonnets in wash machine. Don't reuse bonnet until washed.
There's really nothing up for debate. Different folks have different standards of personal hygiene & overall cleanliness. Additionally, some of us bill out our time @ different rate from others. In our case we insist on ZERO DIRT, ZERO TIME WASTE, ZERO GERMS. Say, this component "system" has a 5 year useful life. At today's dollars we're talking $1/week yields 15 minute total cleanup time.
Customer Review: I bought this because of comparison reviews but...
Summary: 2 Stars
I wanted to ***love*** this product as soon as I clicked "buy." I read the reviews that compared the various steam vacuums and this one came out the clear winner.
Steam vacuums weren't even on my radar until a friend was touting the virtues of the shark steam cleaner. She bought her from BBB so I immediately went to amazon to see what others had to say. The shark's reviews didn't fare so well... but that's where I read someone's review about comparing several different cleaners. She wrote that the Eureka had various features that I really liked the sound of: 1. long cord 2. big water chamber 3. very hot temperature of steam.
Well, I received the item yesterday and tried it out this morning. I'm not sure what happened but here's what I found:
1. The cord is definitely NOT 25'. I'm 5'2" and the cord is barely 3.5x my height so while I have not measured it with a tape measure, it's not even 20'.
2. The water chamber holds 12 oz total. How do I know? The instruction manual tells you to fill the little cup that comes with the steamer -- twice... for "a total of 12oz." I find it misleading my omission that they leave this info out of the product description. I don't doubt that previous reviewers had one that filled 32 oz... but it was not this model or this version of this model. I would love to know exactly which one it is as that would fit my needs better.
3. The steam didn't really seem that hot. I have no way of testing the steam/water temp but in my layperson's opinion, it's doubtful that it reaches as hot as it purports.
4. Lastly, the "swivel" feature is not very good. It swivels just enough to make it tough to control the motion but not enough that you can use it sideways (if you have a swivel sweeper, you know what I'm talking about-- that thing is awesome!) Personally, if it's not going to swivel to the side, then I'd prefer the handle to be completely stationary so I don't have to work so hard to push it in just one direction. Very frustrating because it accidentally swivels when you don't want it to.
And although a previous reviewer said it fit nicely under cabinets/appliances, I found that it does fit well under cabinets but not my dishwasher. The head is just a tad bit too fat to fit.
Overall, I'm not sure what a better product would be, but I'll have to search as this is not a good fit for me.
Oh, and as previously stated, this only works on smooth floor surfaces, not carpet. I knew this when ordering but now I'd rather pay a little more and have a duel-functioning cleaner than one for just hard surfaces.
Customer Review: Skeptical at first....
Summary: 5 Stars
First of all, I am an extremely skeptical person - I read countless positive and negative reviews about several different steam mops before chosing the Eureka 313A. I'll be honest, most of the time I think people are lying when they write extremely positive reviews because they are working for the company selling the product or receiving some sort of bonus for writing a good review - a conspiracy theory sort of thing. After reading some of the more negative reviews, I was definitely doubtful about how well the mop would actually work. I weighed the pros and cons from the reviews, and decided to order anyway.
The very first time I used it, I turned it on and placed in the tray provided and after just a few minutes, I noticed that quite a bit of water started to pool in the tray. I was a little discouraged at that point since I had read many negative reviews of water going everywhere - luckily I had placed it in the tray or I definitely would have had water everywhere. After noticing the pool of water in the tray, the "empty" light came on - this being approximately 4-5 minutes after I had turned it on. Again, I was starting to believe all of the negative reviews since there were those that said the steam didn't last long, but thought I would try again - maybe I didn't do something right. So, I refilled the mop and turned back on. The steam started coming out immediately and I was able to clean all of my hard surface floors (kitchen, hallways, and two bathrooms) - took me about 20 minutes total. It worked wonders and I couldn't believe how much easier it was than mopping with "dirty" water.
Since the very first time using, I have not had a problem with water pooling at all. The second time I used it, I was skeptical that water would pool again in the tray as I was waiting for it to "warm up", but it didn't at all. I have cleaned my floors several times already this week (after just opening last week) and have not yet had any other problems with this product. The steam lasts for a good 20 minutes with each fill and my floors dry within 5-10 minutes. I don't think you should expect anything spectacular when it comes to the drying time - your floors will still be wet in spots after 5-10 minutes, but overall they will dry pretty quickly. I wasn't expecting them to be dry immediately, so maybe that is why I'm okay with the drying time. Plus, they dry a lot faster using the steam mop than when I use the traditional "mop and bucket" method.
I definitely recommend the Eureka 313A to those who don't want to spend a ton of money on a steam mop!
Customer Review: Steams like a dream but terribly unwieldy.
Summary: 3 Stars
I take care of an active, speed-crawling baby, so steamers are a great thing to help keep the house clean for his little hands and knees. They sanitize the floor with just water, which is awesome! No more chemical films on the floor for me to be paranoid about. Sweet.
My boss formerly had the Dirt Devil PD2000B Easy Steam Deluxe 1500-Watt Steam Mop, which I loved. However, it mysteriously stopped working, and the Eureka 313A Enviro was what my boss purchased to replace it.
This steamer does its job excellently, but will have *YOU* struggling to manoeuvre the darn thing. Get ready to trip and stumble over the long and unfortunately placed(you're meant to wind the excess cord vertically between a hook facing upward just under the handle, and one lower on the pole). The swivel head often locks up, causing further mayhem. Wee!
Enviro produces steam within about 5 minutes, which is a bit long of a wait, I think. On top of that, the steam smells... quite strange. In an unpleasant sort of way. But once you've gotten used to it, you're good to go. One of the measured cups of water performs as promised and gives about 15 minutes of cleaning power. The head of the Enviro is big, rectancular, clunky, and bulky. Forget tight corners. The handle is retractable, which is handy for storage but often retracts without you wanting it to, while steaming. Eek!
Enviro comes with a single, sort of cheaply made pad. It is waffle textured, however, so it does a pretty good job at actually releasing random bits stuck to the floor. The pad is machine washable, but not dryable. The mechanism to hold it in place on the mophead is both clumsy and dangerous-- on either side, a wide sharp-toothed push clip. You push one end to raise the teeth, attempt to get one end of the pad in, and release it to secure the pad. This can be somewhat frustrating, but once you get it on correctly, your Enviro is good to go.
When you're done, you can sit your Enviro on the "cooling plate" to cool down. This mysterious "cooling plate" is simply a piece of styrofoam. However, it protects your floor from damage, so I suppose it does its job.
Overall, the Enviro has many little nuisancey design flaws, however! It does its job. It leaves the floor looking and feeling quite fresh with less effort than many other sort of mop-based cleaning tools(I'm looking at you, Swiffer)), and with a lot less chemicals. Sure, it's bulky. Sure, it smells... interesting. Sure, it'll jab your wrist now and then. But all in all, it makes cleaning a heck of a lot easier.