Black & Decker FSMH13151SM

Completely useless – I bought this off Amazon when I moved into my new place because we have white floor tiles. I don’t know if I have dud one but there is hardly any steam. The floors are very dry and it doesn’t even use up a single tank of water for mopping the whole house. I thought I was doing something wrong but I’ve tried unblocking the vent, turning on the… Read more

steam component only after the unit is heated, it takes 3-4 minutes for it to heat up. No gushing steam like they show on the video. And it’s taking me 3-4 times longer to mop my floors. The stains have to be worked on several times. An ordinary floor mop will be so much better! Waste of money. Lots of attachments but doesn’t work as a basic mop!

Much easier than the old mop and bucket of hot water – I had a steam mop a very long time ago and hated it as it sputtered and left sopping wet patches everywhere. However I decided to try a steam mop again after hearing my daughter sing its praises. I figured enough time had passed for the technology to have improved and it couldn’t be worse than the wring or squeeze mops right? Plus, I could not… Read more

find replacement sponges for my squeeze mop and didn’t want to buy a whole new set.

After reading reviews on this site and looking through forums, I decided on the Black and Decker steam mop for 2 reasons - the steamer snapped out to convert into a handheld and it came with a steam mitt attachment. It also seemed good value as it packed with a whole lot more accessories than other models and brands. (See photo below).

Assembly out of the box was intuitive and simple, basically slot and click. The plastic components seemed sturdy and together with the aluminium handle (pole?), it made for a light contraption even with the 500ml water tank filled. Weight is an important consideration for me as I’m a petite flyweight.

The wire length was adequate and the steam unit was easy to unsnap from the holder to fill the water tank straight from the faucet. Unfortunately, the water tank did not have a maximum fill marking, so I used a measuring jug for my first fill to check out what the maximum fill level would look like for future reference.

Safety-wise, you go through 3 Switches to turn the appliance on - at the wall plug, at the side of the steam unit (rather well hidden) and the Steam volume dial on the steamer unit itself. The steamer heats up very quickly and produces a nice strong steam.

I very much appreciated the ball-joint on the mop head as this gave great directional flexibility. Despite the drag of my natural slate floors, using this steam mop was much easier and more convenient than the old squeeze mop and bucket, especially as you don’t need to use any chemical cleaners or need top wipe over a couple of times. Just vacuum, then 1 pass of the steam mop without any chemicals.

A drawback though was the gappy contact between the mop pad and the mop head - as you can see from the photos, you can’t get full wiping contact with the floor. The floor was damp after mopping, but no wetter than using a mop and bucket, and it did dry pretty quickly.

The steam mitt is a fantastic invention. You slip your hand into the silicon mitt, attach a mitt cleaning pad, turn on the steam and - voila- superhero cleaning hand!! Tip: when using the steamer as a handheld, hold it horizontally so that the water doesn’t drip out of the venting hole in the cap.

BUT, and this is a big BUT, don’t believe all those advertisements or YouTube videos where a swipe of your steam mop or steam mitt leaves a sparkling, shiny surface behind.

If the surface was grotty to begin with, the steam is a fantastic helper but not a miracle worker. The steam softens the grime - oil, soap scum etc etc - making it easier to clean off with the supplied microfibre pad. However, you may have to add a little muscle. I have found that adding a non-scratch scourer makes the job easier e.g. cleaning the baked-on splashes in the microwave oven. Just steam, the scourer, and a little muscle did uncover a shiny surface.

I am rather pleased with the purchase.