Hoover FloorMate Deluxe Hard Floor Cleaner Machine, Wash and Dry Mode

Cleaning is my life. With 11 cats and a clumsy husband, it has to be. I owned the original model Floormate back at the turn of the century. It worked fantastically for 9 years and then started to fail in various ways. I've been using a Swiffer wet mop ever since. Lately, the Swiffer has been leaving streaks and some sort of white film on all my floors, so I bought another Floormate. Right out of the box, this one is superior to the first. The tanks are on either side, allowing you to get under lower objects when cleaning. The controls are straightforward, allowing even an instruction manual tosser like me to use it right away. The brushes scrub dirt off the floor. Now, if your careless spouse dripped syrup on the floor and nobody noticed for a week, you're going to have to go over it quite a few times. The Swiffer would never get that up. To address the issues some others have had: Go slow. Give the brushes time to work. Remember that the brushes engage and the nozzle pressurizes and sprays with each forward pass. On the backward pass, all of that has to switch gears and the squeegee has to engage. Also remember that none of this happens instantly. It's a floor cleaner, not a life support machine. If you run it back and forth quickly like a vacuum, no, it won't clean well. As for the leakage: Yes, it does leak a bit. But again, you have to remember the mechanism and the fact that the entire bottom of the machine gets wet while it does its thing. Give it an extra backward pass to compensate. And when you stop cleaning and take off the tanks, that little reservoir where the cleaner tank connects has water in it. Blot it out with a paper towel and it won't leave a puddle on your floor. This machine cleans really well, judging by the gray and brown water in the holding tank. That came off my freshly Swiffered floor. It handled my tile extremely well, cleaning muck off of it in one pass and doing a halfway decent job with the grout. The regular laminate floors worried me because any amount of water on them makes it swell and curl, so I went gently, not using too much solution and making sure to get it extra dry. Yes, it did leave streaks, but that smooth, shiny surface is prone to them. The LVP came clean in the wink of an eye and because of the wood grain texture, had no streaks. My sheet vinyl came clean easily, though there were a few extra passes to get up the kitchen grease that spatters in front of the stove. I love that this is so light and compact. I'm a small person and large machines make me not want to use them. It feels quite sturdy and I think it might well last as long as my old one did, or perhaps longer. I have no trouble at all recommending this to a friend because the darn thing simply works.

This came in the mail on Friday and I got to use it Saturday. It was triple packed so no damage was incurred via shipping. ASSEMBLY & USE: This floor cleaner was easy to assemble - almost intuitive. Using it needed directions. I didn't realize that while cleaning I should be pressing down on the dispenser button built into the D-shaped handle. Solution still is released even if you don't push it (it can be tedious to press down constantly) but just not as much. Then there's a boost button to press for extra detergent which was intuitive and self-explanatory. Using it while pressing down on the solution dispenser button does not "drown" your floor. When NOT pressing down on the solution dispenser button when pulling the cleaner back, it expedites your floor drying. VACUUM: A word on the vacuum part, which can be "activated" by switching to the "Dry" mode - keep in mind that this is primarily a wet floor cleaner and not a dry vac. Just like your advised not to order a steak when you go to a seafood restaurant, you shouldn't use this as a vacuum the way you'd use your regular dry vacuum. You're going to wear out the squeegee faster, for a start, but the solids you vacuum up will go into the dirty water tank making it more disgusting to clear out. If you have hairs on the floor from yourself, family members, or pets, that will more likely tangle in the suction parts or the filtered part of the dirty water container and that's sick to clean and weed out. Then when you dump that in your sink, you're dumping solids that don't always dissolve in water, so you're in turn doing your sink a mis-favor. True, one of the reasons to get this is the superior cleaning this does to traditional cleaning methods and the ease, oh, the ease! Nonetheless, you're way ahead if you sweep away solids with a broom and dust pan first, or use your regular dry vacuum instead of this. Cleaning that gunk will have to be done manually one way or another. Better to get at it before using the floor cleaner than not. If you use the floor cleaner to get it, the energy and extra work you thought you saved will get you anyway when cleaning out the suction section, brushes, filter of the dirty water container and from the sink hole. I did sweep very thoroughly before I used this but I didn't vacuum. There was a minimal amount of gunk and hair, but I was grateful it wasn't worse, like if I hadn't swept. Get it? Good :-) CLEANING QUALITY: Most of my house is carpets but my kitchen and hallway (connected) are imitation wood laminate and my bathroom floors are ceramic with brown grout. I did the bathrooms last - the dirty water dispenser wasn't so bad. But the kitchen... Check out the photos some people have shared (black mud water) and that's how my dirty water container looked after the first run. Nevertheless, the floor felt different. My spouse said it even looked lighter in color (blushing cheeks). After the second run, it was a slightly lighter black mud water. With the third run it was mud colored... I tell you, it was starting to get tedious and I was starting to grow suspicious that maybe the solution had a chemical reaction when touching the floor to turn a certain color. My suspicions were wrong and yes, paranoid. There was sediment with every cleaning in the dirty water dispenser. Then I went over the floor a fourth time and the water was a lot closer to looking clean. Really it needed a fifth or sixth time but I was beat (I had to move heavy things out of my hallway and bathrooms, plus I was house cleaning other things in between.) While the floor cleaner didn't get the corners and baseboards, doing so the old fashioned way - by getting down on my hands and knees with solution and a brush was infinitely easier and definitely way more enjoyable since with the floor already cleaned. And that's when I noticed something else: the smell of my floor: fresh. There was a slight solution smell but that is only close up. Before cleaning the floor, I remember dropping something that creeped its way under the stove. The floor smelled like it had a lot of foot traffic - not a foul smell, but like black pepper mixed with floor, if that makes any sense. Side note - I cleaned under the stove and refrigerator too...got rid of so so so so so much dust (first sweeping it, then wiping the floor with a Clorox wipe). Behind the fridge I found a collection of dust around the fridge vents, thank goodness I found it before my motor burnt out or a fire hazard happened. It was time to wrap everything up so I made sure both containers were empty and relatively dry. Then I popped out the brushes and rinsed them and cleared out the squeegee. That was that. EFFECT ON ALLERGIES: Normally I wake up slurpy - thanks to the "benefit" of allergies. This morning was different. Even though my bedroom is wall to wall carpeting, much like the rest of my house sans kitchen, bathroom, and hallway, I didn't think about how the minority clean hard floors would impact my allergies. I woke up still having allergies but no slurpiness - no runny nose and less crusty eyes. Yes, cleaning under the stove and the booming Dustopolis under, on, and behind my fridge I'm sure were a great help, but I also believe having such clean floors for the first time really made a difference! BOTTOM LINE: I love this floor cleaner. If I move, I'd try to find a way to take this with me in my car instead of ship it with the movers. I'd use this magic machine to clean floors in a place I'm moving out of to make the floors as good as new and definitely use it in a new place to clean the floors like they've never been touched, even if it takes more than 4 runs like my floor did (blush).

The first time I used the Hoover Floormate it leaked all over my floor. I chalked it up to user error and tried re-seating the tanks. It still leaked to some extent but was usable. Initial impressions were good. As the floor dried, I could see that the unit only cleans the "loose" dirt. Any dried stains (in my case dog drool from his food and water dish) will not be cleaned unless I go over the area 4-5 times, and sometimes they still persist. The Floormate worked moderately well for about 2 months until it suddenly started emitting a high shrieking sound and a burning smell. I checked the Hoover web site for information, and it directed me to a service number. I called 3 times, each time I waited for over an hour only to give up out of frustration. Before I disconnected eact time, I requested a call back. One week later I received a call from an out-of-state repair shop. The technician asked me a series of question and told me that the unit was under warranty. The person asked me what the specific issue was and after I explained she requested that I turn the unit on she could hear the issue for herself. I complied and she said, "I don't hear anything out of the ordinary". After a bit of back and forth she finally agreed to solicit a repair request with Hoover. I said, "you're not from Hoover?" and she replied "No, we're an independent repair shop that just assess as to whether a warranty claim is valid". 40 minutes into the call she finally entered the claim and told me that Hoover would be in touch via email. She also said that I would have to drop off the unit at a local repair shop, which is an 80-minute drive from my home. I received the email form Hoover and contacted their service rep. The rep wanted me to go through the entire process again, this time requesting video proof of the problem. Before we got too far into the conversation, I told them that I had surgery scheduled and would be out of commission for 3 months, so I could not drop off the faulty item at the repair shop. They said that a drop off is my only option. At this point I had enough of this nonsense and decided it was better just to take the loss, toss the unit in the garbage and never buy products from Hoover again. I also have a Hoover rug cleaner which broke after about 6 months due to a rusty turbine, which is a known problem they refuse to address. BUYER BEWARE!

I usually don't take the time to write reviews, but because I needed honest opinions about this floor cleaner before I purchased it myself, I thought it would be time well spent on my part! I was a bit skeptical that this could get my floors as clean as I was needing. As a mom of 4 boys, under the age of 10, you can imagine the messes they make and the amount of time (or lack there of) that I have to keep things as deep cleaned as I would like! So after this Christmas break, my poor floors took a beating, and I just don't have it in me to scrub the grout like it needs to be! I ordered this, hoping it would at the very least put a dent in the grout stains, where I wouldn't have to scrub on my hands and knees as long! I am happy to report that this floor cleaner met and exceeded my expectations!! It works a lot like my bissell carpet cleaner, so I was used to dumping and refilling the tanks repeatedly before I got finished! Also the length of the cord is pretty standard in my opinion, so disregard that part of any other review you read! Honestly, my floors must not have been as bad as I originally thought because my water didn't get nearly as dirty looking as most of the reviews, and I can tell that it thoroughly cleaned the tile and grout lines!! I expect that the next several cleanings will result much the same way, but already I am thrilled with this cleaner! I'll touch on some of the pros and cons of this machine in my opinion: 1) It scrubs the grout good enough for me, I do wish the scrubber brushes were a little stiffer though to really make the grout come clean faster, but I believe with time, the grout will get cleaner with each scrubbing! I plan on using this machine at least once a week or every other week, and continuing with my spray mop between good scrubbings. 2) I feel like the dry mode really worked well, it was actually difficult to push forward and pull back in a few spots on my tile, due to unlevel tile placement! This made me feel like it was really getting all the water up out of the grout lines, and my tile was dry for the most part, except in the low spots where the squeegee just couldn't run across (again, nothing to do with the machine itself, just unlevel floor) 3) This machine can be used as fast or slow as you would like. I read that to get the good deep clean, run the machine slower. I tried it both ways, and I can say without a doubt the best way for me to use this machine is to put it on wash mode, lay down a lot of water and cleaning product and then run the machine back and forth over it multiple times to get the scrubbing action down, and then when I feel like it's cleaned good enough, I switch it over to dry mode and suck up all the water. I use it about the same way I would a vacuum cleaner, the same speed, although I consider myself a very thorough vacuum-er, so my floors are getting a good scrubbing. 4) The way this machine works, (which is one part of the reviews I didn't find) is that in wash mode, the brushes run the entire time, whether you are putting out water (this is done with the button on the handle) or not. So you can lay down your cleaning solution, let go of the water button and still scrub the floors, because the brushes are still spinning. Although, when you pull the machine backwards, it does suck up some of the water, not as much as the dry mode, but enough so if you have a spot that needs the solution to sit on for a minute, just remember not to pull the machine back over it and move over to clean next to it. The brushes will stop spinning once you put it in dry mode, that's when the machine sucks up all the water, and squeegee's the floor dry. Keep in mind, with differing floor levels, you may not get perfect squeegee results, but I guarantee it will be better than not having it at all!! Also keep in mind, that this machine, as awesome as it is, will leave drops here and there, or tire tracks. I will more than likely run a damp dust mop over the entire floor once I'm finished using this machine just to get rid of any spots or streaks that were left behind!! I didn't have time yesterday when I used this, and today my floors like great, and I don't notice any spots or streaks! I even did the paper towel challenge and ran a damp paper towel across the floors and into the grout, and it was perfectly white, that never happened before with my spray mop and microfiber pad! The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars, is because I really hoped it would scrub off stubborn spots better, (this is where I think the tougher brushes would come in handy) but it did get them soft enough I could wipe them up with a wet rag. Next time I will pretreat tough spots and get them cleaned off before I start up my Hoover! Hope this review helps you make up your mind to just buy it and have cleaner floors!!

UPDATED: Now that I have had 8 or so months to use the machine I thought I would come back and update. I have had enough time for the honeymoon period to have ended and the shine is off the rose. I still give 5 stars. The things I don't like don't detract enough to lower my rating. I still love how it works and am satisfied with the job it does. There are a few things I wish were different. The cord is not long enough. I don't like having to change plugs when I am cleaning a floor. I worry about the on/off switch. It is a rubbery push sort of thing that just feels sketchy. I wish the design would allow for the brushes to get right up to the baseboards. No changes to my original rave though! There are not enough words to say how much I LOVE this machine. I received the box when my husband wasn't home but was way too impatient to try it out to wait for him. I was able to put it together with NO problem at all and before you could say "WHEN was the last time you mopped?!" I was up and running. We do not have any carpeted floors in our house - it's all wood, tile or laminate. My new love handled them all with equal ease. Truly the worst thing was dumping the dirty water and that was not because it was hard but because of the appalling amount of dirt that apparently was underfoot. There was one time when it stopped running and no amount of plugging and replugging could make it work. I was nigh unto freaking out but then I read the directions (should do this first, I know) and saw that it would stop when the dirty water container had reached it's quota. Sure enough - dumped it and was back on my way. There is only one tiny bit of sadness about it's performance and to be fair it is not the machine's fault. We have slate floors in the kitchen and by their very nature they are not smooth or uniformly even. There were some places that were not scrubbed as well as I wanted them to be but it was because of the way the floor was not level - not because of some inefficiency on the part of the machine. I read reviews of people who were unhappy because they didn't think it cleaned well as they did. If you are the get-down-on-your-knees-and-scrub-every-inch-of-your-floor type of cleaner then you will not be happy with this machine in all likelihood. There are many areas of my life where I demand perfection. Housecleaning, however, is judged on the "that's good enough" scale. I'd far rather be playing, creating, or ministering to spend undue time cleaning. This little machine made quicker and cleaner work of this particular task than any other of the cleaning machines I possess (several) and I can't imagine anyone not loving it.

Cool concept, but was disappointing. The Floormate was pretty easy to set up initially. The lever on the handle to release water was very stiff. I was OK with it, but I am not sure if my wife would be comfortable with it. The brushes remove surface dirt and it sucked the dirty water up well, but it did not really do anything to our grout. The brushes were not stiff enough or powerful enough to really clean grout at all in my experience. I could see someone with completely smooth surface floors liking this machine much better. After cleaning our whole house I admit the machine picked up a great amount of dirt and left the floors pretty clean. I could still get a little bit of dirt on my paper towel when I checked to see if the floors were completely clean. The tanks do leak if you put the machine in the upright position and let it sit for a minute, but that is not a big deal since you can suck up the water when you resume cleaning. the tanks, brushes, and front piece all need rinsed after use as well. If the machine cleaned better and was even passable on our grout I would consider keeping it, but at the end of the day mopping is not any less trouble. This Floormate might be a good value for some when compared to more powerful commercial units at over $1,000, but for me this machine really did not save me much time or scrubbing effort at the end of the day so I am returning it.

I am soooo happy with this Hoover FloorMate Deluxe Hard Floor Cleaner Machine!!! I bought the original Floor Mate 8 years ago and it was a wonderful machine, I was so excited when I found this new version, and they haven't changed it -- I really really wanted the same machine. This Floor Mate feels a bit heavier, very solid. I used it yesterday for all my floors, it worked perfectly! This is a perfect machine. Being part disabled moping floor is just not happening. I did see where some folks said it was leaking after turning it off? I am wondering if they understand that you need to set it on a cloth when your done using it, as the brushes are wet -- so they will leave a puddle on the floor as they drip dry. Its not a leak, its just the water still on the brushes. Just set it on a rag towel and let it dry. That may be part of the mentions about leaking. For tough spots on the floor, I will just have a bowl of water with my basic pine sol in it and I splash a bit on the spot, then let it soak. This loosens up tough spot and by the time I get back to that area, it wiskes it away. I love love seeing all that dirty water filling up the tank, such a feeling of wonder to know you've gotten a floor perfectly clean -- so much cleaner than a mop can ever do and so much faster!! Great bush cleaning, great suction and such a value price for what you are getting! I will update this review if I have any large problems, but I'm very confident in the machine. So glad this beautiful new version is the same buttons and features, and, like I said, its a bit heavier, more solid feeling. Clean with ease, folks!

I just recently bought this machine and I adore it! I have a senior dog who unfortunately is incontinent. Poor baby girl goes for a walk and doesn't realize that she is still dribbling. Luckily, I have tile floors on the main floor of the house, but, I need to clean them at least once a day if not twice a day. As you can imagine, I was getting reallllly realllllllly sick and tired of scrubbing my floors, specifically the grout lines every day. So, I went hunting for a new method and came across this bad boy! I tried his predecessor and was not impressed but after reading all of the reviews, I decided to try him out. Not going to lie, it took some trial and error to figure out the perfect method. First time I used it, I wasn't very impressed, I just didn't feel like it did anything. Second time around, I used a different floor cleaner solution. Again, wasn't thrilled. Finally, I decided to give it one last try. I sprayed Clorox Urine Remover for Stain & Odor on the tiles specifically making sure that the grout lines also got sprayed and then used the Hoover FloorMate to deposit the solution and scrub the floors and grout, I do a pass over a 4 ft by 1 ft area twice. (Up spraying solution, down sucking up the dirty water, up spraying the solution to rinse, down sucking up the moisture and any remaining dirt and move one to the next row). I usually work in a 4 x 4 foot area and each area takes about a minute and half for each area. The solution in the tank is a tsp of bleach and water. Finally, if for some reason I deposited to much solution on the area I will use the dry mode on the hoover to suck up the remaining solution, but, most of the time I don't need to use it. The whole first floor which is about 450 sqft take about 40 minutes to clean. If I was just doing a quick once over without the clorox spray prior, it would probably take me about 20 minutes. This method cleans my floor beautifully. One, it get's rid of the odor. Two, it loses up any dirt and picks up the dog hair. Three, leaves the floors disinfected. Four, the grout lines are nice and clean and not at all grungy (the brushes actually seems to clean the grout lines, maybe not perfectly but well enough that you don't need to scrub them each week like I was doing before. Now, I just steam my grout lines once every six months and the Hoover FloorMate keeps them relatively clean until the next deep clean. One of my major complaints with using a Swiffer and/or Steam Mop [Yes, I have owned both, and all four Swiffer models] was that they never cleaned the grout but rather made it worse). Five, dust is nonexistent. Six, I can do it daily and doesn't strain my back or hurts my knees. Seven, no dirty water is left on my floor. Eight, no need to pre-vacuum. I only have a few complaints. First, it does tend to fill up rather quickly and I have to re-fill the water tank usually three times per session. Next, it doesn't seem very well balance and has dropped a few times after I stood it up to re-fill/empty the tanks. The cleaning solution it comes with is completely worthless. It also does seem to leave a bit of a puddle by your feet while doing a section, but usually once I start on the next section I suck up the puddle, but I has resulted in wet sock a time or two which is an annoyance. Overall, I would definitely recommend this machine to anyone who wants to keep there floors clean and specifically the grout in between the tiles clean! I am thrilled that I purchased this product and I will do so again in the future.

Es mi primera aspiradora y al recibir buenas criticas de la pagina de amazon de EU decidí probar suerte con esta, tengo pisos de azulejo tipo madera en mi casa y el uso del trapeador y la escoba solamente al principio fue suficiente pero con el tiempo empezaron a acumular entre los bordes suciedad que no pude quitar con escoba y trapeador y que solo cepillando se removía. El cepillar todos los pisos de la casa no era algo que me gustaría hacer constantemente para que los pisos amaderados lucieran bien, por lo que adquirí esta aspiradora, y fue una agradable sorpresa ya que con la primera pasada se vio una mejora que si lo hacia con puro trapeador, al pasar la aspiradora cepilla realmente los pisos y los deja muy bien, no tan bien que si pasaras cepillo manualmente. Una de las cosas que me encanto es que ahora no tengo que ensuciarme las manos para secar el trapeador y cambiar el agua constantemente por lo sucia que queda despues de una pasada, ya que la aspiradora cuenta con un tanque para el agua con jabon y otro para recoger la suciedad, por lo que el agua que el piso recibe todo el tiempo es limpia y no agua sucia o medio sucia por las pasadas que se le da con la jerga. La Floormate cuenta con un boton que de acuerdo a las instrucciones se utiliza en los casos en que hay una mancha mas pegada o el piso esta mas sucio sin embargo en mi caso en particular tengo que presionar todo el tiempo este boton ya que de lo contrario no limpia el piso bien, pues por los bordes de los pisos estos absorben mas agua. Por esta misma situación he decidido mejor antes de pasar la aspiradora pasar la jerga rápidamente por el piso para que este se humedezca y al pasar la aspiradora pueda remover mejor la suciedad. Un dia se inundo una de las habitaciones por una fuga y con ayuda de la aspiradora seque inmediatamente, ya me habia pasado alguna vez en otro cuarto por tener mucha presion en la tuberia y para limpiar todo me llevo una hora aproximadamente pero en esta ocasion con ayuda de la aspiradora secar me llevo unos 15 minutos. Por ultimo cabe mencionar que la aspiradora no es capaz de aspirar mas que polvo, pelos de animales cuando mucho, pues si por ejemplo hay un grano maíz palomero este no sera aspirado, por lo que antes de pasar la aspiradora debe pasar la escoba. Después que se acabo el limpiador liquido que viene en el paquete utilicé fabuloso con agua y me funciono muy bien.

I got tired of mopping my floors, so I bought myself this. I love it. Description is exact. But heavier than a vacuum and a bit louder too. Cleans my apt laminate floor and tiled bathroom floor with ease. Easy to snap together. Comes with a small bottle of cleaning solution. Only thing, it is hard to find the cleaning solution that goes with it in stores, most is carpet cleaner from this brand, cant use solution that has lots of suds. DIY solution should work as long as its not bleach or dish soap.

Worst and waste....don't buy.......first non return....second no spares and service available in india....even one min its not working.....0 🌟 is not there to give my rating....

El producto es bastante bueno. Lástima la capacidad que lo obliga a uno a tener que llenar el receptáculo varias veces. Tal vez para áreas pequeñas funcione bien una sola llenada, pero para áreas grandes hay que llenar dos o tres veces el tanque. Fuera de eso, talla los pisos de maravilla, ojo funciona aún mejor si se pasa muy despacio y se deja actuar bien a los cepillos y a la succión. De hacerlo así los pisos quedan como en su anuncio secos, así que si hay que dedicarle un tiempo. Los productos de limpieza duran muchos usos si se compran en original. En realidad limpia bien pero no es el producto de 10 minutos antes de que lleguen los invitados, hay que darle su tiempo a trabajar para que deje los pisos como tallados a mano. Lo recomiendo ampliamente.

Ah, the Hoover FloorMate—the mop that dreams big, tries its best, and occasionally just pees a little when you give it cold water. Let’s start with the positives: this thing cleans like a champ! My floors have never been shinier, and I’m honestly questioning whether I was living in filth before. It scrubs, it vacuums, it dries—all with the enthusiasm of a golden retriever discovering its first snowfall. Bravo, Hoover! Now, the quirks. First, it doesn’t like warm water. At all. Pour in anything more than lukewarm, and it throws a little tantrum, leaking like a nervous intern on their first day. Solution? Treat it like a spa guest and serve only cold water. Then there’s the Clean Boost button, which I suspect was designed by someone who enjoys chaos. Touch it, and you might summon the ghost of all past spills. Water goes everywhere. The floor? Cleaner, yes, but also a slip-n-slide. My advice? Pretend that button doesn’t exist. It also seems to be connected to the system leaking. Despite its little personality quirks, I genuinely love this machine. It has taken my cleaning game to the next level, and I honestly can’t live without it (well, I could, but I’d rather not). Final verdict: 4.5 stars! A lovable, slightly dramatic cleaning companion.