Kärcher SC1 Steam Stick - Review thread - non testers - chance to win one of your own! NOW CLOSED

[KathrynMumsnet]

This thread is for the 30 Mumsnetters who are currently testing out the Kärcher SC1 Steam Stick.

Kärcher say "The SC1 Steam Stick is the UK’s first handheld steamer that can also be used to clean floors. The Steam Stick cleans deeper without chemicals killing 99.99% of all bacteria just using tap water, making it an environmentally and family friendly alternative to chemical cleaners. It’s an innovative new way to help you effortlessly clean the most difficult and frequent household hotspots; whether it’s cleaning everyday dirt from floors, limescale from bathroom tiles, spot cleaning stubborn carpet stains or eradicating tough, dried-on oven grease."

Non-Testers: If you’re not an official tester but you’d like another chance to be in with a chance of getting a Steam Stick (RRP: £99.99) for yourself then please share on this thread where in your house could really benefit from a deep steam clean? Is there a task or area you always avoid? Where would you most like to put it to use?

Testers: We'll be asking you to add feedback twice - we'd like your first impressions now and once you've had a bit of time to test out your Steam Stick, we will add some more questions.

So, for your first impressions, Kärcher would love to know:

• Where have you used the Steam Stick?
• What cleaning chore have you been most pleased with the results from using the Steam Stick?
• What were your impressions from the first few uses?

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

non tester
everywhere needs a good clean - who has the time with 2 little ones?!?!!!! especially when its back in the same state 2 minutes later!

the bathroom would really benefit though.....

Non tester - my kitchen, definitely, and probably the curtains!

Non tester - I'd love to use this on my hard floors kitchen,bathroom livingroom and bathroom and as its small I'd see it as great space saving in our small house. I'd like to try it on our carpets to freshen them up and kill the dust mites as my son has allergies.

Non tester. I have a light stone coloured relief textured tile kitchen floor and all the indentations get very dirty and Imhave to Scrub them with a scrubbing brush. It would be interesting to see if one of these would help.

love it to deep clean my patio

Non-tester: Where wouldn't I use it?! But, seriously, the bathroom as it gets grubby easily and I can't easily reach the higher tiles, ceiling and it gets mouldy quite easily because I can't reach. this would be perfect, and DH is already looking at buying one.

Also the kitchen - it's new, and I want to keep it looking pristine.

And, the wooden floor in the front room, the windows in the front room (again as I can't reach up high so the top gets missed. DH doesn't do window cleaning for some reason). Winter sun always highlights the smudgy dirty higher windows (high ceiling victorian house).

oooh, just saw you can use it in the oven! I have a new oven, and it would definitely be used to keep it clean!

Tester here thank you for picking me I have enjoyed testing this product and comparing it with another brand which I bought recently in October.

1. Where have you used the Steam Stick ?

So far I have used the Steam Stick to clean the kitchen,utility and study floors which are laminate wood and the bathroom floors which are tiles. Have also cleaned the bathroom : bath, basins , toilets and shower cubicle and kitchen stainless steel sink, laminate work tops and windows throughout the house.

1. What cleaning chore have you been most pleased with the results from using the Steam Stick?

I have been most pleased with the bathroom and the kitchen especially the stainless steel sink which looked shiny and brand new! The floors were left extremely clean but also a little wet not as wet as a traditional mop and bucket but still enough wet to leave kitchen out of bounds until dry. Extremely good though especially in front of patio door which often is muddy from football boots kit etc removed this with very little effort compared to a mop and bucket. Windows again excellent results would have been better I think with a "squeegee" type attachment but the attachment provided with a small terry towel cloth cover was still serviceable. Found that you had to wipe the drips produced from the steam at the bottom of the windows with a seperate cloth but this was no problem / minimal effort.

1. What were your impressions from the first few uses?

I think this is a very good, well made efficient machine which certainly produced an impressive amount of steam so I think everything I cleaned would have received a deep hygienic clean. Other comments/thoughts are

1. A measuring jug would be handy- this is supplied and clips onto the handle of my other cleaner.
2. Takes a while to be ready to use (3 minutes) a green light illuminates when first plugged in ,feel this should either change colour or go out when ready to use rather than having to guess.

My other cleaner takes 15 seconds and changes from a red light to a blue light to show when ready to use.

1. Found it a bit fiddly to attach the terry towelling cloth to the floor head- you have to fold it to size then clip it onto the floor head by pressing the clips at each end. Also Terry towelling although serviceable think could be a better material eg velour/microfibres like those Vileda floor cloths.

My other cleaner the floor cloth simply velcros on and off but may be in time this Velcro could lose its " stick " so may be clipping on is better / more secure,but still think a velour / microfibres type cloth would be better. Either way both types are easy to clean simply pop in washer.

1. Set up from box at first when looking at different attachments/tubes/hoses/brushes seemed as though it would be difficult. However if you read the instructions carefully and set out the pieces in order it is fairly straightforward, however it did take me ages to realise that you did not need the hose to attach to the floor cleaner head it can click straight onto the tube (s) instructions here I feel are not very clear I worked this out myself.
2. I agree with another tester about thinking you have to keep the button pressed in manually to produce the steam while cleaning which I think would pose a problem for people who have grip problems etc or older people but apparently you just press the child lock button in?
3. One tester said they thought the flex was long enough, I think it should be longer unless I have a larger than average kitchen, I found I had to unplug and plug into another socket which in turn made it have to reheat again - although not as long as at startup. My other cleaner has a much longer flex so I can clean the kitchen and utility floor without having to unplug it but some people may find a longer flex would get in the way and this to be a disadvantage .
4. More powerful than my other cleaner. The Steam Stick produces an impressive amount of steam and left my home sparkling and confidence that it was deep and hygienically cleaned without the use of chemical products.
5. Good selection of attachments , nozzles and brush with a handy drawstring bag to keep them in.

Thank you again for selecting me to test this product overrall my first impressions are that it is a good product , time saving ,producing excellent hygienic results and set at an affordable price. I will recommend it to friends and family.

Put some more photos of product on (sorry couldn't work out how to put more than 3 photos on my above review !)

Non-tester. I would like to see if it would reach the edges of the bathroom tiles which the mop never reaches properly. I'm sure many nasties lurk there, especially the bit around the toilet base.

Tester here - again. Some more thoughts: the cloth are fiddly to attach and also it would have been nice if more were included. I couldn't find details of whether more cloths could be purchased.

I haven't received any more correspondence about feedback (didn't get a link to this thread either, just happened across it), so not sure if there is something else I'm meant to be posting, e.g. photos?

• Where have you used the Steam Stick?

I've used it on vinyl flooring, on grouting and tiles, behind the sink, and around the hob. Next I plan to clean behind the toilet, around the shower cubicle and also clean the oven.

• What cleaning chore have you been most pleased with the results from using the Steam Stick?

I was very impressed with how clean the floor was. I think I need to use a different attachment for the grouting, as it didn't come up as clean as I hoped, but I will keep trying.

• What were your impressions from the first few uses?

It's a bit daunting, I'm still worried about getting it wrong as the instructions are not very detailed. But I am impressed with how clean things are so far.

Non tester- we are about to put our house on the market and I would love to steam EVERYTHING so it gleams. Wooden floors, cooker hob, bathroom tiles, kitchen tiles, bath- I would love to give it a try.

Non-tester.

I would use it everywhere. Our house has wall to wall carpets in every single room (including bathroom, loos and kitchen euch it's revolting, and if we could afford to replace them I would if I could persuade dh to agree which I can't anyway), and every single carpet has 20+ years' worth of stains. When we moved in 10 years ago we hired a steam cleaner which was cumbersome and heavy and difficult and took a lot of time. In one weeks' hire we did one floor not very well. That was before we got all the furniture and book cases etc. We used to do the sitting room leading up to Xmas every year, but we haven't even tried for the last few years.

Small spills can be scrubbed by hand but I'm not strong enough to do it properly (ms) so the carpets are just getting worse and worse.

So I would do a little bit every day, and by the end of the year we might have clean carpets! Then dh might do the patio. Then we could do walls (15 ft high ceilings here) and maybe curtains. Ooooh, the place would be unrecognisable!

Tester-now the tree is down I intend steam cleaning the carpet. Agree about the cloths, but whilst one was in washer I just used a new dishcloth. Agree about light changing colour to show its ready and a measuring jug.

Our Bathroom, Its not a mess but a good cleaning would do it great :)

Non tester. I would love to try a steam cleaner especially since we changed to having more hard flooring in the house.
If I had one I'd use it a lot for the kitchen floor and the bathroom. I'd also be interested to try a steam cleaner around our taps (if you can?) as they get gunky quite quickly. Cleaning the oven with steam is a great idea as traditional oven cleaners contain some seriously corrosive chemicals!

Non tester. I would use this on my oven and kitchen floor and in the bathroom. It sounds amazing!

Non-Tester.

I'd use this in the conservatory first! After a damp and cold winter, the window frames could do with a good clean and the floor could do with a good clean.

Non tester
With hard floors and three small children I ve been trying to clean chemical free. This would be the answer to my prayers!

Non tester: I'd love to use it in the kitchen, mainly the oven. I hate the smell of chemicals left behind when regular cleaning even after rinsing, it seems particularly nasty when it's near food.

Non Tester:

I would love to use this to clean up after DD who has discovered mud, crayon and food. I also have 2 dogs who love going for muddy runs with DD and jumping in muddy puddles.

non tester

id love to use this in my kitchen floor....and also my bathroom. something about steam cleaning is so refreshing and...clean!

Non tester: would love to clean my bathroom and kitchen - floor, tiles, the works. But also my children's toys: bricks, Lego, trike that's been left in the elements. And a real deep clean from Christmas.

Non Tester - I would love to try a steam cleaner on my stainless steel deep fat fryer. The fat seems to bake on the lid and filter, so is almost impossible to shift, no matter how hard I scrub. I am sure that if the steamer can clean this then it can clean anything!