Name: Mary Chrapliwy
Location:
Date: 2005-12-04
Customer Rating: -
Summary: The greatest thing since sliced bread!
Comment: This is the greatest invention since sliced bread. I have a house full of animals and people so my floor can get pretty dirty in a very short time. That's where this little wonder works its miracles.
In the past I had to drag out the mop every time the dogs came in with mud on their feet. Now I pull out this easy to load and easy to clean machine. It's circular spinning brushes leave absolutely nothing behind. I have used it on both my kitchen and my sealed hardwood floors with spectacular results.
I recently saw a commercial on TV, which claimed that the floormate leaves the floor completely dry. No it doesn't. It leaves a tiny film of moisture on the floor that dries so fast you might miss it. The mop left far more moisture than this machine does.
This is a great machine, worth every penny. It works great, is easy to clean after you're finished, it's light and easily maneuverable, and makes life a whole lot easier when cleaning time comes. I love this machine and think you will love it too.
Name: CB
Location: Burlington, Iowa
Date: 2006-04-26
Customer Rating: -
Summary: tugboatgal rates CLEAN
Comment: First of all, I'm a perfectionist, so I expect a LOT from a trusted name like Hoover. I have a very nice Hoover vacuum cleaner, which I've had for three years, and it is nothing short of PERFECTION in all areas. So, I figured this Hoover product would live up to it's claims. I purchased the Hoover H3030 FloorMate SpinScrub 500 NEW from a "new & used" source here at Amazon, and of course, had only the best experience with the purchase process.
Upon getting the machine, I opened it, inspected it thoroughly, and read the directions/instructions from front to back, even though I was super-anxious to just dive right in and use the thing. It seemed simple enough, and the instructions and "helpful tips & hints" were easy, clear and, indeed, helpful.
Now, a little history of my newly remodeled house, so you know what kind of conditions this new floor cleaner was going to be facing - I have THREE VERY LARGE DOGS, in an 1,800 square foot house, which has been newly re-floored with very expensive sealed pecan hardwood and marble tile. NO CARPET TO BE FOUND. The dogs all love to stick their entire faces in their water dish & slurp until they're full, then dribble their "face water" all over my kitchen tile and family room hardwood floors, which leaves water spots, and big doggie foot prints everywhere. Combined with the dirt the dogs track in, AND the sawdust and new-construction dust garnered by my boyfriend's DIY projects, you can guess how dirty the floors get & how quickly they get that way.
Now, for the actual REVIEW of this wonderful floor cleaner: I LOVE THIS THING!!! I have not had ANY problems with the DRY VAC setting on the cleaner - again, I'm a perfectionist and have a Hoover vacuum cleaner that would suck a golf ball through a 100-foot garden hose, and I WAS NOT disappointed by the dry vac suction on this floor cleaner. It sucked up ALL the dry dirt on my floors. I did empty the dirt cup of dry debris, as recommended, before beginning the wet-cleaning portion of my chores. The machine fills with solution & water EASILY, does NOT LEAK AT ALL, and both the dirt/dirty water collection cup and the clean water tank are easy to snap in and out without spilling or leakage. It also DOES NOT LEAK when left sitting with a FULL tank of cleaning solution & a full tank of dirty water overnight. It about killed me to leave it that way, being the clean freak that I am, but I wanted to experiment with this, since so many of the reviews I read said the machine leaked when left standing overnight with water in it. NOT SO, at least in my case.
Both the hard wood floor brush attachment AND the tile/grout brush attachment work GREAT. DO NOT interchange them one for the other - this is one of those times when the instructions should be followed TO THE LETTER. Both brush attachments have very specific uses and should be used as intended for best results. Both of the cleaning solutions (tile/grout) and (hard wood floor) smell great and work great.
The squeeze trigger to deposit clean water & solution on the floor was easy to squeeze, no problems there, but you just have to experiment with it a bit to get the right amount of water out of it for your particular need. The more water you put on the floor, the longer it will take to vacuum it up with the wet vac setting - but it is by NO MEANS as difficult or time-consuming as some of the reviews make it sound.
The wet vac function is INCREDIBLY GOOD. Yes, you do have to go over the floor a few times to get the water up, but hey, compare these two scenarios: Scenario #1: Dry vacuum your floors, then pole mop by hand with what amounts to basically dirty water after the first few passes of the mop, and then let them air dry while not be able to walk on them for who knows how long, and risk "cleaning yourself into a corner" and not being able to reach the sink or move until the floors or dry; or Scenario #2: stand in a continuous upright posture, pushing something no heavier than a light vacuum cleaner around, and get your floors shiny & perfectly clean in one step, while being able to walk FORWARD across clean, dry floors as you go? Hhhhmmmmm.
While cleaning the floors in the entire house, both tile and hard wood (again, 1,800 square feet), I had to only empty the dirty water tank and refill the clean water & cleaner tank TWICE each. That's it. It takes all of about 2 minutes to empty both tanks - super simple & quick. It took me just under an hour to completely clean the 1,800 square footage, including emptying dirty water and refilling the machine with clean water & solution. AND this thing got ALL the DOG HAIR AND DIRT IN ONE PASS!!!!!
All the plastic parts snap on and off easily & quickly - and everything on the machine seemed to be quite good quality (again, I'm a perfectionist, so I was expecting a LOT right off the bat). Also LOVE the rubber tires on this machine - no worries about scratching my new hardwood floors! Wonderful!
I am on a mission to either find out what other cleaners besides the prescribed Hoover products can be used in the machine, or to find a good, steady supplier of the two Hoover brand cleaners used with the machine. If I find something, I'll let you all know! Of course, I'll start with AMAZON.com!
PS - if you have pets, hopefully they are either afraid of the noise of a vacuum cleaner / cleaning machine and will stay away from you while you're cleaning, or you will have to put them in a room where they can't walk back & forth across your wet floors as you clean them - my dogs ended up being "sequestered" in my bedroom while I cleaned the floors, poor babies - they were "forced" to sleep on my king-sized sleep number bed for an hour. Boo hoo.
UPDATE::: Go to Hoover.com for cleaning solution for the H3030 FloorMate! It's the cheapest you can get anywhere and the shipping was super-fast!
Name: Kerby Family
Location: Lakewood, CA USA
Date: 2006-05-18
Customer Rating: -
Summary: CLEAN! OMG! My floor is CLEAN!
Comment: Ok, my husband and I recently got into a huge argument! He is starting a new company so, budget is really TIGHT! So, we let go of our cleaning lady (whom we had employed for 5 years and came once a week at $75 bucks a pop...I know I know) and I was determined to do the cleaning myself. That being said, I recalled I detested the mop and the swiffer did as the mop did, push dirt around the floor and inevitably, into my grout. EEEEW!
So, the other day (like 2) I cleaned the kitchen and MOPPED (yeah...gross) the kitchen floor. I mean really used bleach and everything! I let my daughter down to watch me in the kitchen and when I picked her up off the floor after 10 minutes, the top of her feet were....BLACK! EEEEW! I thought I got all that?
Desperate, I wanted to beg my husband (on my hands and knees) for him to reconsider my dilemma and hire our cleaning lady back (even though she broke all my CorningWare and broke some tiles on the counter and floor and is always putting my tank tops in my husbands and I wear a small him a large...and she always get my pots and pans all mixed up....), PLEASE! Immediately even! However, I considered the above mentioned "problems" and was still seriously considering begging him to reconsider and rehire her!
Being prideful, I decided to do some research online on the FloorMate by Hoover. I read and read and read, contacted Hoover and corresponded my concerns and read and read some more. I decided, what the heck, it's gotta be better than that "mop" thing. So, against many readers' suggestions, I ordered the FloorMate by Hoover H3030. I ordered this May 16, 2006 and received it on May 17, 2006 even though I checked off the 5-7 days delivery time (yeah...cheap again...new company..tight on budget?). I literally ripped it out of the box! I pulled out the instructions and followed it like a bible! I even used, as one user suggested, HOT water.
I had to empty my container twice and refill the solution twice. As you can see from the pictures I've provided (the after had slightly damp grout lines as they are not sealed), I am so shocked at how CLEAN the floor is! I mean it doesn't just LOOK clean it FEELS clean. Down to the grout! I have tile that is slightly textured and they are NOT sealed nor are the grout lines. The tile is taller than the grout by 2/16". This machine got in there and scrubbed out all the yuck! Oh, and sucked up all my shepherd/rottweiller mix dog's hair. My husband was all "wow" when he got home today. I told him that I was so happy to have this machine and even though I paid a bit for this machine, it is so totally worth it (still cheaper than my local store at $169.99 for the lower model even!)! I can't be happier.
I am amazed that others had such a hard time with this unit. I wonder if they read the instructions clearly cause, I would guard this machine with my life. You would have to pry it out of my death grip to take it from me!
So, if you are like me (slightly OCD) and are a clean freak, this machine might just be the "one"!
So...off I go to throw out the old, nasty, dirt spreading "mop" thing out! Yay!
So, thank you Hoover and just take a chance guys. Try it for yourself.
By the way, my daughter is 8 months old and picks things up and shoves it in her mouth. Now you know WHY I needed this machine!
Name: J Lane
Location: Spotsylvania, VA
Date: 2006-06-25
Customer Rating: -
Summary: Worth It! Does a very respectable job!
Comment: I researched buying a floormate for almost 2 years... I saw both excellent and poor reviews and didn't know what to make of it all. Now, 36 weeks pregnant, and refusing to pull out the mop and bucket, I purchased this item from amazon (arrived in 2 days by the way, with standard shipping checked! Amazing!). I just finished washing my immense kitchen floor (with 13" offwhite tiles with 1/4" WHITE grout lines). I am IMPRESSED! I did have to refill/empty the tanks half way through but that took all of 1 minute. I was ashamed at the amount of dirt it picked up! Advice... take your time... since you don't have to put any muscle into like a regular mop, go slowly and give the scrubbers time to do their job. Use hot water, too. I never knew anyone that washed with a cold water mop, but the directions don't mention using any certain temp water. No leaks, easy to operate. What a relief! Now to see how it does on all the hardwood in my house.... but the kitchen tile was the REAL test as far as I am concerned.
Name: Cindy
Location: Michigan, USA
Date: 2005-07-01
Customer Rating: -
Summary: Mop-No-More!
Comment: And don't sweep either! This product saves me so much time, I tell my husband how much I love it every single time I clean the floors. It sweeps and mops all at once. My floor is MUCH cleaner than a mop could ever get it. And the squeege/suction leaves hardly any moisture on the floor so it is dry within a couple of minutes.
I've used regular household cleaning products, including Lysol, regular ammonia and Murphy's Oil soap (for wood floors) with equal success.
Advice to hoover: larger reservoirs and lower profile and handle angle for cleaning in tight places.
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