Disclaimer: I have not been paid to endorse these products. The views herein are entirely my own.
Have you seen the advert on the TV lately? A father drops to the floor and lounges on the ground to play with his daughter. To be fair, it’s a pretty adorable advert, but would we want to be down on the ground ourselves?
Given the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, cleanliness is something that a lot of people are taking seriously right now. Most people have a basic standard of clean, but with this virus floating around, a lot of people aren’t taking any chances.
One place that I love to keep particularly clean is the kitchen. For me, the lounge is the heart of the home, and the kitchen is the soul. What comes out of the kitchen defines the spirit of the home, and if it’s unforgettable for all of the wrong reasons then it will continue to be spoken about for years later on. Whether it’s food poisoning or dangerous diseases, pathogens are no laughing matter.
I was captivated by this advert with this sleek, simplistic, minimalistic design. If I could fit it alongside the refrigerator, I concluded, then keeping my kitchen clean would be a breeze. A few squirts, a few wipes and I’d be done – easy! The advert also plays into the environmentally-conscious minds that we all have now, by pointing out that we can do away with all of those pesky single-use floor wipes. Okay, that was me sold on an easily-cleaned home and less environmental waste.
Thirty quid- spent!
What’s in the box
The contents of the box are pretty rudimentary. There’s no bolts, washers or clips, all of the kinds of things that you half expect these things to come with. There were a few pieces of cardboard holding things in place but when I tentatively opened them expecting some kind of bag of bits, I found nothing else, just a mop foot, a mid-section, a handle and a plastic bottle. In total, just four pieces. Surely I was worthy of an extra pad, at least? Nope.
I like having a spare head for these things, so I ordered what I thought was a pack of two heads at £12 and yet still only one came in the pack – I feel short-changed! This thing now cost almost as much as it’s rival, so it’d better be good..
Assembly
Assembly is fairly straight forward. There are two arrows that point to notches on the handle and on the mid-section, and you simply have to line them up and click them into place, then repeat the process for the foot. Once locked, the interior rod lines up, acting as a push mechanism for the spray bottle nearer the foot – impressive stuff!
If I can have one gripe at the construction, it’s on the handle lever. I know it’s only a light mechanism and so it shouldn’t require a lot, but it does look and feel a bit flimsy and unfinished.
Set-Up
Hmm.. I wasn’t sold on this velcro. The pad goes over the foot – a bit like an oven glove – and then you just tuck the velcro in and press down. It all sounds very simple but there’s quite a bit of fiddling involved. One side doesn’t seem to open up (I did try!), so it seems as though you have to sort of slot the foot in and then velcro it on. Not the easiest, but no big deal.
The water bottle is absolutely ridiculous and requires the kind of grip that Hulk Hogan would be proud to possess. “Pull up sharply”, “push down sharply,” the instructions say, they’re not wrong. Fine for someone like me with plenty of muscle, not so good for someone with arthritic hands. Even still, I had to sit on the floor, wrap myself around this thing and give it the sharp pull that was instructed. A little excessive, don’t you think?
Testing Time
In order to test out this mop, I needed a good test surface, and where better than the hallway floor? It has lots of heavy footfall and it hasn’t been cleaned in about a week. It’s also sealed, so there’s no worries there – Perfect!
I marked out two large areas with masking tape and labelled them for the test. Now let’s get to it!
The Rivals
In order to stay around, the Vileda 1-2-SprayMax had to outdo the competition, my tried and trusted Vax MultiClean. Make no mistake, I abuse this beast to kingdom come. The handle and foot can be detached, turning it into a handy steam cleaner for clothes, tiles, cookers and more. It also comes with a bunch of other attachments and is multi-use, unlike Mr Vileda. The water capacity is about the same, but where one uses detergent (I used one capful for quite a strong solution), the other uses purely steam. This will be an interesting test!
Steam mops do take a moment or two heat up and they do use electricity, so that is something to consider if you’re thinking about investing. With that being said, I don’t think even an army of obedient, floor-cleaning robots could convince me to give mine away – I adore it!
Test #1 – The Dryness Test
For this test, I sprayed the floor area ten times, then wiped back-and-forth three times, just like I would if I was mopping the floor for real. I then gave it a one-minute drying time and took a photo of the result. For the steam mop, I had the mop set to its mid setting and repeated the process.
The result? Unrivalled. After one minute, the 1-2-spay mop area is still slightly wet, the Vax MultiClean area is dry.
Test #2 – The Dirty Wipe Test
For my second and final experiment, I placed a clean piece of kitchen paper on the centre of each area, wiped it back and forth with my foot five times, then lifted it and took a picture of the dirt that was left on the towel.
Without question, my baby has done it again. If my Vax MultiClean was a man, he’d be a Greek adonis! The amount of dirt left behind by the Vileda 1-2-Spray is almost disturbing, especially during times like this current crisis. There is some dirt for the steam mop, but to be honest, this was only an experiment on a small area and not a proper clean.
And The Winner Is..
Without a shadow of doubt, the Vax MultiClean has delivered once again!
Whether you’re looking to beat the bug or looking for eco-friendly alternatives, I highly recommend everyone invests in a steam cleaner. It doesn’t need to be a Vax, just find one in budget with good reviews. Whether you’re looking to clean the floors (provided they’re suitable!) or spruce up your textiles, steam really is my go-to choice. I still use spray surface cleaners occasionally, but not nearly as much now that I’ve started to use steam to clean my home. There’s no waste either, just pop the mop pad off and toss it in the wash!
The Vileda-1-2-Spray was an interesting test, but to be honest, it’s a few hours away from being cleaned up and advertised on Gumtree for half the price that it cost me to receive it. At a total cost of £42.98, it hasn’t beaten the MultiClean. A good try, Vileda, but you’ll have to do much, much better than this! As for the Vax? He’s about to make my floors sparkle, once again!
Update Summer 2022
Since writing this review, I have added a spray mop into my life once again. It’s not the Vileda-1-2-Speay mop, and it hasn’t replaced the Vax MultiClean, it’s merely a handy dandy tool that I used each day for a quick clean. I do suggest spray mops for mopping up quick spills, however, I still think that steam is the best way to go for a truly squeaky clean floor!
Header image source: Flickr
