Power, baby! This thing really works.
Written: Jan 05 '02 (Updated Apr 17 '02)
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Pros: Powerful. Easy to use. It really works.
Cons: Not for every job. Don't throw away your cleaning products.
The Bottom Line: Very powerful, easy and fun to use. Excellent for ceramic tile floors! Great for cleaning baseboards, bare floors, toilets and tight spaces like window tracks.
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| mimimc's Full Review: Eureka Enviro Steamer 370 Upright Vacuum |
(Update: I wrote this review 4 months ago. I still love this thing. I use it mostly for my expanse of ceramic tile floor... I still haven't found anything that does a better or easier job of cleaning the tile.)I fire it up about once a week and get my floors squeaky clean. Then, after cleaning the all the downstairs tile, I use the remaining steam (and there's plenty of it left) to blast my jewelry till it sparkles, and then clean anything I want to disinfect in the bathrooms.)
I've bought a Clorox Ready Mop for really quick clean-ups or spills, but even when I use that, I have to fight the urge to follow it with the steamer, because I feel like it will wash away any soapy residue. It's the best, easiest, most thorough thing I've ever used for my ceramic tile floor. When I use it, it the floor looks clean and FEELS CLEAN, there's no sticky or soapy residue or haze. It's just plain Squeeky Clean. That's the main thing I use it for, and just that is well worth the money I spent on it.
Now ... read on to see my original giddy review, written the day after I bought 4 months ago...
I just bought this at Costco yesterday for $119. I want to say: I'm not a clean freak (not even close) but this little toy may turn me into one! I've been seeing steamers like it on TV (infomercials and Home Shopping Channels) and my interest was peaked. It looked like something that I would love to have if it really worked.
But I was skeptical and felt wary about paying shipping when I surely would have to return it. I felt that it couldn't possibly work as well as the ads showed, and that there was a 90% chance that I would be returning the thing. Then I saw this one at Costco for $119 and I decided "I'm going to try it. If it sucks, Costco will take it back and I won't be out any shipping fees." Costco is fantastic about returns as long as you keep the receipt and original packaging.
I can tell you right now: it's not going back. This thing is so cool! I usually keep the boxes for stuff for at least a month, until I know my purchase is worthwhile. But the Enviro 370A is a keeper. I'll toss the box tomorrow. This little cleaning tool is fantastic. Here's what I love about it:
It works great on --
BASEBOARDS: My pet peeve. I hate dusty dirty baseboards. I vacume them, I scrub them with Fantastic & a scrub brush ... nothing ever makes them look clean, short of painting them... and then, they just look like painted-over dirt. I have no idea why they are so difficult to clean, but it drives me crazy. The Envrio 370 with the narrow nozzle attachment blasts the soot right off the baseboards in a fraction of a second. Just have a rag handy to wipe it clean ... and it looks like you just gave it a fresh coat of paint! Amazing. For me: That's worth the $100 bucks right there.
TOILET HARDWARE: I'll make this short and not too graphic. Just like you see on TV. It blasts the yuck right out of nooks in the hardware. Take a cloth and wipe it away. Yep. It really works good.
FLOORS: I have linoleum floors in the upstairs baths, and almost an entire downstairs of ceramic tile. I'm always trying to find the perfect mop to clean them. I'm so sick of wringing out the stupid mop. Continuously trying to keep the water in the bucket hot enough to really clean.
This solves that problem, it's a constant flow of hot steam. It has a retractable scrub brush, and a "clip on" fabric overlay that gets all hot and steamy. It wraps around the entire head of the mop, so it really gets up against the wall. If you have an expanse of ceramic tile, you are going to love this. I'm ready to throw my numerous mops away forever.
For floors, the thing I really like about this is that it dries so quickly. It's just a quick shot of really hot steam. It doesn't drench your floors with water. I really liked that. In less than a minute, the whole floor is completely dry and clean. What more could you want??
However: I found that after steam-mopping the tile, I wanted to go back and hit a few trouble spots in the grout with the narrow nozzle. This just take a few seconds and it blows the tough spots away in an instant. There's usually extra steam to be used before you cool it off, so it's not that big a deal to blast a few tough spots.
The set I got came with two pads for floor cleaning, a brass brush for scrubbing the BBQ, a window squeegie, an attachment for steaming clothes (haven't tried it yet), a small brush for scrubbing other surfaces, a few nozzles for small spaces and some other brushes for I don't know what. I'm looking forward to trying to blast my diamond/gold jewelry to see if I can clean my wedding ring the way they do at the Jewelry Store. Should work, don't you think?
Ok.. enough gushing. I'll try to be objective here.
NEGATIVES: It's not for everything. It didn't do a darn bit of good on lime deposits on the chrome. It didn't blast away the gummy mess on the stovetop air filters. I didn't notice much effect on mildew in the tub (which is the main reason I bought the thing!) ... Some things jobs are still going to require those harsh chemicals.
But even so, this little tool is very satisfying. One unexpected thing was washing the gunk out of tracks of my windows and the track of the sliding glass door. You can't believe the dirt it blew away! You still have to have lots of rags handy to wipe that junk away. The steamer doesn't disintegrate the dirt into thin air ... if you don't wipe it away, you've just moved it to a new place!
Also, if it doesn't perform in the grime-blasting way you expected ... give the stain a little shot of Fantastaic or Simple Green. Then hit it with the blast of steam... it's a killer combination. You can't add any chemicals to the steam chamber, but no-one says you can't prep the area with a cleaner. If you are out to prove the thing can't do it all by itself, you'll succeed. But if you want to really super-charge your cleaning efforts, this is a powerful tool.
As you can probably tell, I really REALLY like this little tool. It's tiny, it has tons of attachments that all store away in a cool hanging bag, it has a really good sized capacity. You can get alot done on one tank of water, it takes just 3 minutes to be cool enough to refill it. It's really well made and does an amazing job on certain tasks. I won't return it for anything. I paid $119 but it's worth much more than that. If I knew what I know now ... I would have paid $200 for this little powerhouse.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 119
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Epinions.com ID:
mimimc
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Location: Murrieta, CA, USA
Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
Mother of teenage boys. Web designer. A bit of a techie, I guess.
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