Steam cleaners - any good?

[PrettyCandles]

I need to find a way of cleaning without fragrances. Are steam cleaners any good?

What are they good at/useless at cleaning?
Are they a faff to use (compared, say, with grabbing a cloth and a spray bottle of Flash)?
Any recommendations/warnings?

Well I have one and it is completely useless. Useless on carpet, furnishings, floors and windows. Waste of money. Sorry

Oh.

TheFrogs - what type of steam cleaner do you have?

I have one from Lakeland (for the floor). I use it a couple of times a week. It's bloody marvellous! Easy to use, store, not too expensive.

One +
One -

Any more ?

Mines a vax pull along type of thing.

Following this As I have an easy mop thing from lakeland and I am ambivalent to be honest but have been wondering about getting a jet one

I have a POLTI steam cleaner - not for everyday use but does carpets brilliantly and very powerful!

Is the Polti the sort of gadget that can be used for cleaning splashbacks?

Damn, I just typed out a long reply and managed to delete it!!

I have a little yellow steam cleaner which I bought from one of the shopping channels. It cost about £30 and is fab.

I don't use it all that often coz I'm lazy but when I do it does a brilliant job.

Yesterday, i cleaned the bathroom with it and it's great at getting into all the nooks and crannies around the bath, sink and loo in my pre-historic bathroom. It also did a very good job at cleaning up the grout on the tiles. It even blasted the lime-scale off the taps!

I used it on the oven a while ago and that looked amazing after I'd finished it!

Mogs0, do you know what make and model it is?

This is the one I have but it's been discontinued.

I have found this one which looks like an upgraded version. You can usually get a discount code for new customers with these type of catalogue sites.

Here is a thread I started ages ago about it! I actually paid £45 for it but I still feel it's worth it at that price.

I really can't decide... I want it as much for all the little clean-up jobs as for the big floor-washing, shower-cubicle-cleaning sessions. Is there one which will do both types of job? Or would I have to get two, one of the little kettle-like ones and one of the broomstick/vacuum cleaner type ones?

If I have to wait for ages while it gets up steam, then I won't use it for small jobs. Likewise if it's very heavy to handle or lots of faff to set up. After all, that's why we have a rechargeable dustbuster as well as a full-size vac.