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With so many steam mops on the market, it can be hard to choose the right one for your home. CHOICE does the hard work for you by testing leading brands on tough stains. Our steam mop buying guide tells you what you need to look for, and how we test explains our testing rigour.
Our steam mop review covers both stick and canister steam mops. Our expert testers try out every steam mop to reveal:
Our interactive comparison tool helps you find out which brands have features like hand-held accessories and jet nozzles and which ones don't leave floors wet. Our Recommended list will help you see quickly which models come out on top.
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List of brands we tested in this review.
This is the price we paid in March 2015.
enter value/s in increments of 1 between 45 and 599
We recommend steam mops with an overall score of 80% or higher.
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Steam mops come in barrel/canister form as well as the more typical stick type and we define both types as being steam mops (steam mops can sometimes be referred to as steam cleaners or steam systems). Steam cleaners which have suction abilities are not part of this category.
A carpet glider attachment is designed to freshen up and rejuvenate your carpets, although we find they won't actually clean them.
How well the steam mops clean a range of common substances off vinyl floor including a muddy footprint, tomato sauce, soy sauce, mustard, coffee and red wine.
enter value/s in increments of 1 between 0 and 0
The ease of use score (30% of overall score) is made up of: mop head moving score, ease of using the controls, mop reach and replacing the mop pad.
Capacity of the steam mop's water tank. Canister/barrel models, by design, have a larger capacity and will require less topping up.
enter value/s in increments of 1 between 0.05 and 1.2
A Similar model is identical in most aspects except for a few. This means that a majority of its test results are identical so you can reasonably expect to get the same results from the model we tested, but for those aspects which aren't identical, we'll note these as "Not Tested" in the Compare tables.
A Tested model refers to a model that is still current and available in the Australian market. You should be able to order this model through your local retailer, or find it online.
These models can't be found in retailers or online or are no longer manufactured. You may still find these models on second hand websites, or in second hand dealers. Test methods may change over time, so criteria which can't be directly compared will contain an N/A.
An Identical model is exactly that. Performance characteristics will be identical and the only difference will be something trivial such as colour, which won't have an impact on performance.
These are models we haven't yet tested but that are available.
