Vax S2 Hard Floor Master Upright Steam Stick

In our household we don't have much hard flooring but we still all try our best to avoid getting the job of cleaning it. Using a mop to clean floors is quite a long and arduous process and personally I hate it profusely.

Enter the Vax S2 Steam Cleaner.
First off, setting this machine up is incredibly easy, removing the water tank was uncomplicated and as was re connecting it to the device. There are also two screws which are their to hold the unit together more securely which provided no issues.

Placing the micro-fibre cloth onto the floor head was easy as well which tightens with a simple drawstring.

Once connected to power the unit heated up in less than a minute which I was very impressed with - seems like it produces hot water faster than our kettle does!

The actual cleaning process was equally impressive.
I thought that our kitchen floor was clean - it had been cleaned the day before.
Oh how wrong I was. After I cleaned the floor which was effortless and very quick (about half the time than it would have otherwise taken) I rinsed out the micro-fibre pad and the water was borderline brown due to the amount of dirt it had picked up. This was very impressive.

Next off I tried it on the bathroom tiles, again it was much easier than using a mop and did a more thorough job, although it didn't pick up much extra dirt - it needs to be noted that tiles are much easier to keep clean than linoleum flooring. So there was not much dirt on the tiles to begin with. It did however seem to clean the grouting more effectively which was nice.

One of the major advantages of I noticed over conventional cleaning methods was that the cleaner did not leave any streaks when the flooring dried. Although one negative point was that after a few minutes I noticed the flooring getting very wet - a little too wet so I took the cloth off and dried it off a bit by wringing out the water which negated the issue.

The only gripe I had was that it said it wasn't suitable for laminate flooring which is a bit of a shame.

Lastly I tried it on some some of the carpeted rooms. It comes with a carpet `glider' which is good and made the process very smooth.
The carpets did seem noticeably cleaner - according to my mother, despite the fact it is not sold as a cleaning device.Yet thankfully it did not leave the carpets at all wet. They did smell noticeably fresher as well.
It does call the process `Refreshing' in the manual so if all it is supposed to do is freshen them up it did do a very good job of it. Even going so far as to cleaning them a bit as well!

The capacity of this cleaner was about right, it was not too heavy but allowed me to do about 25 minutes of cleaning per fill. I filled it up about 5 times to do the whole house which was not too much hassle.

On the whole this is a great cleaner which definitely makes cleaning hard flooring an absolute dream! It also does a good job of freshening carpets even cleaning them a bit
A great product from Vax that I am definitely going to recommend from now on!

Positives:
Not too heavy
Is ready to use in less than a minute.
25 minutes of steaming time is enough for most rooms.
Freshens carpets effectively and gets rid of odors as well as partially cleaning them.
Pretty much returned our linoleum to `as new' cleanliness which it hasn't been for 10 years.

Negatives
At times it can make hard flooring very wet requiring you to wring out the pad.
Cannot be used on laminate flooring.

Notes: My mother also tried out the device and absolutely loved it. In her words, it would make a fantastic mother day gift.

I am not a great fan of mopping. It's wet. leaves water on the floor which is dangerous and has the problem of emptying dirty water out in a sink (why do I always spill a bit?) I'd heard people rave about steam cleaners and, nothing ventured nothing gained, gave it a go.
I really enjoyed using this. Filling and heating are easy, you even get a measuring gauge to tell you how much water to put in. It takes a little more than the promised 5 seconds to heat up, but not much and you do get about 20 minutes of strong steam cleaning which is usually enough for a kitchen floor. The handle is... ok, but probably the reason it scores a 4 rather than a 5. It's a little cumbersome, and you need a firm grip to keep pressing the steam button. However, the cleaning power it has after that makes up for it. I have used it on my kitchen and bathroom floors and they are looking good. It cleans most stains and even took the sticker that (ahem) some 8 year old had left as a sign of love that hadn't shifted no matter what I did. The heat is very strong and the steam barely has a chance to condense before it evaporates. Certainly, I had no puddles of water on the floor. As long as the steamer is heated up fully, it basically has no water, only steam.
There's a useful little triangle that you slip on over the microfibre cover that means you can use this on your carpets, too. I refreshed my living room carpet and it did give the fibres new life. The stains were loosened enough so that, between the steam cleaner and a drop of Vanish spot remover, they have really faded. The carpet smelt fresh, too. I'm working my way around the house now, refreshing carpets as I go.
Its small footprint (less than a foot in either direction) means that the cleaner sits very quietly in my cupboard, ready for use. I haven't quite got rid of my mop bucket, yet, but the mop is sad and lonely, and very worried about eviction...

I got this mop 3 months ago as my new 3rd floor flat is hard floors throughout: flagstone Terracotta tiles in kitchen, Lino in bathroom, parquet floors in hall and lounge, varnished floors in bedrooms and painted floor in Dining room.

The mop heats up in a minute or so, and is ready to use in this time, very quick. I did not like the smooth white cover it comes with as it comes off too easily but I bought the blue 'long hair' mop cover which is much much better and doesn't come off. Both wah well. It takes a little while for the steam to come through sometimes, moisten the mop cover first (I use a spray bottle).

The floors dry in a few minutes, a lot quicker than a regular mop. Not too slippery

I tend to use part Ironing Water (like vaporesse) as it gives a nice fresh smell as you mop. I can mop the whole top floor (8 decent sized rooms) on one water fill.

TILES AND LINO: the mop is very good. It cleans and mops at the same time. No better really than a regular mop, but a lot more convenient. Quicker drying. What the mop was designed for, I guess

PARQUET: It mops very well leaving a nice shine

VARNISHED FLOOR: I do use it but have the feeling it doesn't do them much good. This may be as there are not enough coats on my floors though.

PAINTED FLOOR: Cleans well and leaves them nice and shiney.

Down Sides
The mop is very heavy, not suitable for a disabled/old person. You need to give it a bit of welly, certainly does not glide.
I am not convinced the rug attachment does much.
I would recommend spending the extra £10 on the long hair microfibre mop cover, the strings come out a bit to start, but this settled down after a few uses.

ALL IN ALL: convenient to use as you do not have to mess about with mops and buckets (as I live on 3rd floor this is a REAL consideration), but I would not spend over £100, certainly if money is a consideration. It doesn't revolutionise cleaning, but it is a lot more convenient.