I tested the SonicScrubber in awkward nooks and crannies around my home, here's my honest verdict

RRP: £23 | Buy now from Amazon

How I tested

I tested the SonicScrubber during a full house clean, using it on sinks, limescale, shower glass, awkward taps, tiles and grout. I focused on the jobs that usually involve loads of fiddly scrubbing by hand, especially around plug holes, behind taps and along grubby grout lines.

Related: Best robot vacuum cleaners

My verdict

The SonicScrubber is handy for the annoying cleaning jobs that are easy to ignore until they start looking grim. It looks a bit like an oversized electric toothbrush, which is pretty much what it feels like to use: small, precise and surprisingly strong.

It worked best around taps, plug holes, grout and limescale build-up. The slim neck and small brush heads made it much easier to get into corners and crevices that are awkward to clean properly with a cloth or sponge. The on/off switch slides upwards and stays in place, which helps when you’re cleaning a long stretch of grout or working around a sink.

Size is the main limitation. The biggest attachment is only 3.8cm across, so I wouldn’t use this to clean a full shower screen or tackle an oven quickly. It can do those jobs, but it feels slow because the brush head covers such a small area.

I found it most useful as a detail cleaner rather than an all-purpose cleaning tool. You still need decent cleaning spray and a bit of elbow grease, but it does make stubborn little jobs easier on your wrists.

Read next: Best vacuum cleaners

Is the SonicScrubber good for cleaning grout?

Yes. Grout is one of the things the SonicScrubber does best. The brush heads fit neatly into grout lines, and the scrubbing action is strong enough to shift dirt that’s difficult to remove with a cloth alone.

I found it especially useful on tiled areas that needed proper targeted cleaning rather than a quick wipe-over. The cone brush works well in tighter corners and joins, while the medium brush is better for standard grout lines. The manufacturer also lists grout cleaning as one of the tool’s intended uses.

It’s still a detail cleaner, though. If you’ve got a huge tiled floor or wall to get through, it’ll take time. A scrubber with a larger head like the Bosch UniversalBrush is better suited to covering larger areas. The Sonic Scrubber is much better for smaller problem areas than cleaning acres of tiles in one sitting.

Read next: Best steam cleaners

Is the SonicScrubber good value for money?

The SonicScrubber Household System has an RRP of £23, although you'll often find it discounted. That includes the powered handle, four brush heads and four AA batteries.

I think that’s decent value if you regularly deal with limescale, grubby grout, awkward taps or messy sink edges - especially if you want to reduce the amount of time and energy you put into these jobs. It’s not a replacement for your normal cleaning kit, but it’s good at the small irritating jobs most people put off for ages.

I’d be less convinced if you mainly want something for large flat surfaces. Shower screens, oven doors and big tiled areas all take longer than you’d probably like. But for awkward corners, grout and hard-to-reach grime, it works well and feels worth having around.

About the author

Poppy O'Neill is a Content Editor at Mumsnet and a mother of two. She researches and reviews the products Mumsnetters swear by, with a particular focus on home essentials like steam irons, vacuum cleaners and heated throws.

From a highly recommended retractable washing line to the best quiet fans money can buy, and Mumsnet's favourite dehumidifier to the steam generator iron that'll cut your ironing time in half, she loves to deep-dive into research and find the very best products on the market.