Monicad, Nottingham

I have owned the Vaporetto 2400 for 5 years and am most pleased with it. My carpets look almost new when I have cleaned them without the need for detergents or overwetting. I have cleaned the bathroom and kitchen waste, it is particularly good for this. All that is needed is steam from the nozzle aimed down the sink waste to thoroughly clean this area. If the shower area is grotty it cleans everything, including grouting, back to sparkling clean again just using the steam nozzle. The upholstery attachment is good and I have used it on the car upholstery to freshen that. The window cleaner attachment I only use on my bathroom tiles not the windows, I cannot be bothered taking the machine to each window. When my grandaughter spilt nail varnish on her carpet, after mopping up the worst, the Vaporetto came to the rescue and the stain is hardly noticeable on her light gold cord carpet. The one thing I do not use is the waterbottle supplied to fill the machine, it gets air locked and takes for ever; I use a small funnel and 2 litres of tap water from a jug.

Impressive first use

I bought this today, and used it for the first time a couple of hours ago, so I can't claim extensive experience... but so far I am pretty impressed.

First off, I bought this for £13.99 at my local Wilkinsons, and then saw it here for £40 odd pounds. So that is nice. Grin.

Pros:

My kitchen sink has not shone so brightly since it was installed 4 years ago. It has a mirror shine. All those grimy little edges around the base of the tap have been blasted clean. the drain hole is shiny. and I am confident that the whole thing is sterile, because that metal got HOT!

the machine was easy to understand, fit together and use. the instructions were simple. the attachments are self explanatory.

I was really impressed with the amount of black gunk it blasted out of places that I had cleaned yesterday with a cloth and a good quality cleaning fluid.

Cons:

the water reservoir does not last the 13 minutes claimed on the blub above. nearer 6 mins, in my estimation.

waiting for the unit to cool, before re-filling the reservoir is a frustrating business (5 mins) and I simply didn't bother, risking scalds but saving time.

it took me 4 fill-ups to clean by drainer and double sink - but then I did it very thoroughly.

the lead is not long enough for me to use it in the bathroom without a looooong extension cord.

Overall:

An excellent purchase (at the price I paid), and while it was slow, I felt very confident that it had done a very good job. the list of things on which I will use it is growing... starting with my bedroom windows.

Karcher handheld steam cleaner

I already have a very good heavy duty Karcher steam cleaner, I wanted a small one for tiles, bathroom etc, so naturally went for a Karcher. It does what it says, but I am not that impressed, it does not remove built up limescale you are better off using a chemical cleaner, but it does clean hard to reach areas and did a good job of some split cream in the bottom of the fridge, I am not sure what the other hand held cleaners are like but I would save your money unless other ones on the market are any better.

Electrolux Z360

This cleaner does a reasonable job - BUT the On Switch needs a very firm push, and enough strength in the thumb to maintain the pressure on the switch for as long as you want steam. This makes it very difficult to operate for anyone older - I can only use it for a minute or two at a time, and that is obviously a major snag. Test your strength before you buy!