If you have a ton of small spaces or crevices that need mopping, it’ll be harder to maneuver this mop into those small spots.

Roll with the prodigious amount of steam however and window cleaning is very good indeed. On tall patio doors, the water runoff was fairly serious even on the lowest steam setting. We appreciated that this cleaner was very lightweight and was easily able to maneuver around areas to clean. While lightweight, even when filled with water, it is hard to prop the unit up when not in use—it fell over a few times during testing because of this. Our testing found the bristle attachments were extremely effective at cleaning grout, which is part of what makes this model especially great for tile. The steam comes out between the bristles, which you can hear the whole time, and truly did loosen and remove debris.

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The Polti Vaporetto Smart 100_B has a large 2 litre water tank that feeds the boiler, but you can pop out the tank at any time for a refill without waiting for it to cool down or even disrupting cleaning. The detachable steaming unit weighs in at a reasonable nicely light 1.6kg with a full tank, and is made even easier to handle with its large top handle. It clips in and out of the mop frame with a little wiggling and can be taken to the sink to fill up.

Carmel absolutely loved using the Polti, even if it is a bit on the pricey side. The controls are excellent, the design is practical and it feels weightless in the hand, so much so that you can lift it to clean windows, curtains and more. Use on a tiled wall was particularly easy too, so if you hate cleaning your bathroom, this is a great cleaner to consider. Uniquely, the Shark’s floorhead and cleaning pad are double-sided, giving you twice the surface area for more cleaning. It comes with a second cleaning pad, too, which our Ecommcerce Editor Molly thought was excellent value for money during testing.As a steam mop, t feels a little flimsy. There is a lot of flex from the handle downwards, although this is more due to the skeletal design and removable main steam section, rather than any issues with the build quality.

The larger the steam mop's reservoir, the more water it can hold, which means you can steam for longer without having to refill your mop and wait for it to heat up again. That said, toting around more water can make a steam mop heavier to operate. If you've got a small space or plan to use your steam mop for only certain areas of your home, you can get away with a lightweight mop with a smaller reservoir. Unlike some other options, the multiple attachments were easy to swap between and we found them quite effective. As an added bonus, the included instructions were simple, easy to follow, and accurate, so we never found ourselves guessing if we were using the right thing. All of the steam mops on this list have attached cords, so think about your house, the outlet locations, and if you’ll need to constantly plug and unplug the steam mop to adequately and safely move around your home. Also keep in mind that steam mops maintain their heat by being plugged in, so if you need to change plugs, you might need to wait for it to heat up again. More than just a steam mop, this lightweight cleaner comes with eight accessories, including a handheld steamer and multiple brush heads for tile and small areas, making this steam mop a great value, on top of being super lightweight and very easy to use. This truly depends on your cleaning goal and the type of mess in your household. “Steam mops are typically not the best for dealing with dust, hair, and other dry debris on floors so be sure to sweep and/or vacuum before steam mopping for best results. Also, be sure to leave adequate dry time for floors to ensure the shiniest sparkle,” advises cleaning expert Cohoon. Steam mops can sanitize and shine floors, so if that’s the goal, then go for it!The design of the mop is so top-heavy, that it cannot stand up on its own, and even when leaning against a wall, we found it to be pretty unstable. The included wall mount is helpful for storage, but won’t help if you need to pause mid-clean or put the mop down to change accessories. If you only want to steam clean floors, consider a simple machine that doesn’t convert to a handheld. It will be light, easy to manoeuvre and you won’t have to store fiddly tools that you’ve no intention of using. As a steam mop, it worked very well and cleaned up the test spills in our lab with just a few passes. We found that the steam is dispersed across the whole pad, so it’s an effective cleaner from edge to edge. The head of this mop is very maneuverable, so cleaning in corners was easy and effective. The downside is that the head swivels and moves so much, it’s a challenge to just mop in a straight line. This steam cleaner never let us down during testing; in fact, our tester Carmel thought it was so excellent that she found it difficult to step away from it as she envisioned other things in her home she could clean.

Once your steam cleaning is finished, this unit is extremely easy to clean–one swipe of a wet wipe cleans the head. A great value, this product is recommended for households without kids, or pets, high-traffic areas, or anyone who needs a more powerful unit. If that’s your situation, you’re better off investing in a steam mop that is a bit more expensive and much more effective. The cord on this cleaner is an extremely long 23 feet, which is useful for moving all around the house, but can easily get caught, tangled, or trailed through newly cleaned floors, so keep an eye on it. We should also note that we didn’t love that plugging this model in is what turns it on, so you’ll want to make sure you have it set up in a spot that’s steam cleaner friendly. A.k.a. 2-in-1 cleaners, these are upright steam mops where the steam generator can pop out from the middle to be used as a smaller, handheld cleaner. They come with various tools for steam cleaning smaller stuff. Along with the new features, it has a similar digital ‘Auto Select’ Technology to the previous model, which allows the steam mop to automatically adjust the steam pressure depending on the floor type you’re cleaning. It also features an extra steam on demand button that is designed with a one-touch control instead of needing to hold down a button each time you need extra steam.

Three levels of steam are available via a rotary dial. B&D refers this to as Autoselect but there is very little ‘auto’ about it. The dial is simply labelled with different hard floor types to simplify choice rather than three steam levels, although it amounts to the same thing.