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 I'd love a Karcher Steam Stick to try and do battle with my kitchen floor. Glossy black tiles are not at all compatible with toddler twins learning to self-feed. At all.

Non -tester
I would love to use this on my shower and oven, but most of all (not sure if this counts) I would like to use it in my classroom to clean off the 100 years old grime in particular corners! In our school, there are certain restrictions on using strong chemicals so I think this would be both safe, hygienic and cheap.

Tester here
Where have you used the Steam Stick?
Have used it on my laminate floors and my bathroom sinks and taps.

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

I was quite impressed with how my floors came up and the taps and sink too. I was hoping that the black bits around the grouting would blast out like I had seen on a review video but it didn't really work like that for me , however it was on my first use and I'm not sure I was pressing it down and steaming enough if that makes sense!

What were your impressions from the first few uses? It seems easy enough to put together and felt sturdy and instructions seems straight forward-only thing is I would like an indicator that it is ready -it feels like the green light should flash or turn red when it is ready to go.

Looking forward to trying it out some more -and going to have a go at the dreaded Oven door!

I'd definitely give this a go around the cokker area of the kitchen and in the hard to reach places in the bathroom. Would love one of these!

Non-tester

Our downstairs loo! I can't keep it clean - 3 children of my own, plus countless visiting hoards, and it's always disgusting. I'm sure they get more pee on the floor than they do in the loo, and the sink?....ugh!

Non-tester: we've recently moved house and have inherited pale travertine tiles in the kitchen, unfortunately with dark brown disgusting blooming grout.
I'd love to get right in and blast out all the grot - have scrubbed and scrubbed but to no avail.
Likewise the grey stone hearth - years centuries of grot.

Non tester: kitchen... My oven, floor ,tiles etc

Non tester: I would love to try one of these in my bathroom and on my tiled floors, places which I never feel are as clean as they could be.

Non tester here but would love to try it.

We are a large household with 4 teenagers and two muddy dogs.

I'd like to try it on the limestone tiles that run through a large area of the ground floor. The main issue is the grout. It gets grubby very quickly and moping just doesn't touch it. We have had to resort to scrubbing the grouting with bleach as this seems to be the only thing that shifts the stains. This results in a lot of bleach fumes, bleach splashes all over myself and the walls and aching back and knees. I also doubt that it's good for the tiles either.

The other area that gets really grubby is the skirting board in the hallway where the dogs shake themselves off can it be used on muddy dogs?

Our oven is an embarrassment. I just don't have the time to scrub it and so it in in dire need of a steam clean.

I would also like to tackle the soap scum and grouting in the shower cubicle.

We have a Karcher Window Vac and a pressure washer which we have always been very impressed with so I'm hoping that the steam stick would be just as efficient. I just can't justify the money at this time of year though.

I have tried 3 different steam cleaners in the past and have sent them all back as they have all been really inefficient and difficult to use.

I would love to give the Karcher a thorough seeing to

Non tester

I'd love to use it on my oven, kitchen floor, extractor, cooker hobs, bathroom, windows, kids grubby toys, stubborn carpet stains, my dirty walls and just about anything I can possibly steam clean!

Non-tester
I would love to try this on my grout in my bathroom, my childrens toys and stains on my carpets from the children!

Tester

Love love this product. Used it everywhere and am most pleased with its ability to make my floor like new again after the daily parade of paws and shoes!

Eady to use and assemble and love that no chemical cleaning products are needed!

Non-tester: wow it sounds great! From reading, it sounds like I'd pretty much need it for the entire house! It all needs a good deep clean - I mostly have time to keep it tidy but proper cleaning just never gets to the top of the list. So amongst other things: huge patio doors covered in grime, grubby walls in hallway, shower screen covered in soap residue that is impervious to scrubbing, kitchen floor that is vile, skirting boards, windows, oven etc. I'm making our house sound delightful aren't I

non tester- I would love to do my shower. Even after a good clean with bleach it never looks clean.

Non tester:

Would this clean my oven?

I have two children under two well, nearly. DS turned two yesterday!! and ANYTHING to make cleaning easier would be great. Especially floors as the baby will be getting mobile far too soon.

TESTER

• Where have you used the Steam Stick?

So far deep cleaned my bathroom and tiles looking so much better (did buff them with a towel afterwards) got all my poky corners on floor clean and taps came up a treat (will need to put a little more sealant around the bath taps as think steam loosened some of it but in all fairness it needed doing) also kitchen floor, playroom floor and steamed my curtains to as we use blinds mainly so curtains get dusty. First go I hadn't set it up properly but dad was here yesterday and showed me where I went wrong and then dd2 and I were obsessively steaming everything! DH steamed the kitchen bin too and was impressed!

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

Def bathroom although kitchen floor feels cleaner than normal I do like a. Ice smell when I mop the floor so did put some Zoflora on the White cloth thing that comes with floor attachment so it's clean and smells nice. But tiles and taps and Lino in Bathroom are gleaming

• What were your impressions from the first few uses?

Very very impressed I love my kaarcher window cleaner so thought I would like this but love versatility and that dd's can easily use it too!

Dd2 (she'll be 8 next week!) steaming bathroom floor yesterday

Non Tester

Would love to try this steam cleaner on the kitchen tiles especially around the range cooker, where the grout has gone from a lovely light grey to a dirty dark grey/black. The top of the kitchen units (top units) would do well with a steam cleaner too, maybe I wouldn't need to line them with old wallpaper anymore to save me cleaning the grease build up on there.
....Oh, and the bathroom shower screens and the....[the list is endless]..

I'm a non-tester. I would love one! All the little crevices around the shower unit ... Why do they even exist if not to get grimy and be impossible to reach?!

I also have textured tiles on the kitchen floor which seems to act as a dirt magnet, and all the mop products just seem to push dirt around but never pick it up. I would love to blast it away with the steam.

I'd also tackle the family bathroom as the cats had their litter tray there as kittens and now its gone i just can't shake the desire to keep cleaning it!

And i'd also give it a whirl on the oven in the hope it might help remove whatever it is on the element that smokes to high heaven and stops us using the grill.

Non-tester here.

Initially, the reason I'd like to try this is because my kitchen floor is so hard to clean. It's some kind of tiles put down by a previous owner, and they have a slight texture that means when I mop them, the dirty water collects in all the tiny valleys on the surface of the tile. The only way to get it actually LOOKING clean is to get down on hands and knees with a scrubbing brush. (I rarely do this.)

However, having read that other testers have used the steamer on ovens, showers, etc I can see that it could be very versatile and really cut down on cleaning time. We have a couple of windows where mildew collects easily, I bet it would make short work of those!

Another non tester with semi circular shower doors. A bloomin' nightmare to clean, they are covered and soap scum that nothing seems to touch, even scrapers prove fruitless as they are straight edged. Would live to get stuck into them with this wee machine.

Marking place. I've been enjoying cleaning with it so far (childish really but the steam is fun!)

Non-tester
Would like to try it on our wooden floors as only time I can mop and leave wet is last thing at night once everyone in bed, especially the crawling baby, who is also weaning!

Non-tester: on my white tiled Kitchen floor. It constantly looks grubby and in need of deep cleaning.

Non-tester: I would love one of these to use on pretty much all my floors. I have dark tiles in my bathroom and they show up soap marks on my wall in shower area and water marks around the bath area.

In my living room and kitchen I have dog paw prints and toddler grubbiness on my laminate and tiles! Would love to get cracking with a steam wand on those.