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(More customer reviews)When I started doing research on purchasing a dry vapor steamer, I was going to go with a middle of the road version - not cheap at 600 bucks, but not as nice as this one for sure. I finally decided to go with the ladybug after weeks of poring over information and comparing. One of the best decisions - I use this thing for EVERYTHING. Other machines, when the water gets low, you have to turn off the machine and unplug it and let it cool for like 40 minutes before you can refill it and then turn it back on and wait for it to heat up again. I don't have time to do that - I have to squeeze my cleaning time in when my toddler is napping or sleeping.
I can basically fill the tank, plug it in and turn it on and it's ready to go in about 15 minutes - while it's heating up initially, I clear away the clutter in the room. I start in the kitchen and use the triangle brush with the terrycloth towel to clean the counters, cupboards, fridge and sink basin. This literally takes a couple of minutes tops. It took me SO much longer with crap chemicals and paper towels and/or a sponge. This you just glide over the surfaces and it just melts away the grease and junk and gets soaked up into the towel. It also cools very quickly (like almost instantly) when you stop pulling the trigger for the steam, so I can easily pop off the attachment and put on the spray nozzel and blast the nookes and crannies in the sink, around the handles and the dish sprayer. Then I'll usually get carried away and start disinfecting the drains, cabinet handles, the seal around the fridge and freezer that captures crumbs and grows mildew, the seal area around the dishwasher door that gets disgusting, the stove burners, etc etc etc. But again, this all takes a few minutes. You just fly from one thing to the next and the steam is so hot it is almost dry even after being blasted by the spray nozzel. I usually just wipe over with the another terrycloth towel for the heck of it but you don't have to. Then I slap on the rectangle attachment and toss a towel on there (btw, the short DVD it comes with shows you how to diaper the towel onto the attachments (you don't have to, but they are really nice in capturing the crud that this thing imulsifies off of any surface. It takes about 5 seconds total to do it since the clips are super strong and easy to use) and quickly steam the floor. You can seriously clean and disinfect the entire kitchen in a matter of minutes without a single chemical. Even though we had switched to all natural cleaners, they still leave residue and many have strong scents. Another thing I noticed is that with a dry vapor steamer, everything gleams when it's been cleaned (and our kitchen is super old!). I never realized just how matte the surfaces were after using cleaners since they leave a film behind and a steamer does not. It's just water that you are using.
At this point, after using the blast nearly full steam on the sink for a few minutes, I switch the machine off and can instantly open the cap and refill the tank. You don't have to refill it until it beeps that it's running low, but I usually do it after each major room (bathrooms, kitchen) that I clean because why not? You don't have to wait for it to cool like other machines, you can do it on the fly. Then you pick it up and move it to the next room (for me I tackle the bathrooms next) and plug it in and turn it on and it signals it's ready in a couple minutes (about 2-3) Again, I clean up the clutter in those few minutes and then I'm ready to steam away the bathroom germs. Triangle brush on the walls, ceilings (big mildew hotspot, we have the kind you can't really see. You have to wipe it down and then you see the telltale pink residue on the towel), mirrors, counters, showers, sinks then the floors. I do it in this order so I go from cleanest thing to dirtiest thing - the same towel will capture it all. Plus, the steam is so hot it kills germs on contact so you are not spreading any. You can certainly change towels from item to item if you wish, but you do not have to. (Incidentally, I bought a gigantic lifetime supply of terrycloth towels for 15 bucks at my local discount warehouse store. The machine comes with two, but I do like plowing through clean towels when I do a whole house clean so I can just toss them all in the wash when I'm done, and I usually wash them with the bathroom towels so it makes one big wash I'd have to do once a week anyway - no wasted water!) Then I use the nozzle to blast the toilet bowls and sides/bottoms and I am done and my bathrooms are disinfected and shiny.
For bedrooms/living rooms/etc, I use the window attachment to clean all of the windows, the little wedge attachment for the window sills and tracts (you will not believe the disgusting crap that comes out of them) and closet door tracts, and the triangle brush with towel will seriously destroy dust without knocking it up into the air. You can even use it to disinfect your mattress and carpets if you are worried about ever getting (or god forbid if you HAVE) bedbugs - the steam kills EVERYTHING. Dustmites, pests, everything.
This is pretty much my routine and it has cut down the time it took to clean the house immensely. You only need to have one machine out (okay, you have to vacuum at some point and that is another machine) and it's small and easy to pick up from room to room. It doesn't leave any smells behind - it's amazing the difference you notice when you start using it. Your house will smell completely different! Or rather, it WON'T smell ;) I have used this crazy thing to clean the weirdest stuff - things I had never thought about before. This thing is awesome. Easy to bust it out every night and disinfect the kitchen in a matter of minutes, small enough to fit in the hall closet. Plus I don't have to drain the thing - you can keep the water in there for 3 months before having to do a formal draining. This is with the TANCS version - I am not sure if that applies to one that does not have TANCS. Worth getting as it obliterates crap that is in your tap water as you use it so that just pure clean steam is coming out.
All in all this has changed things considerably for me. With regular cleaners it took me forever - I would spend a couple of hours a night just to get a few rooms done at a time and the house smelled like multiple cleaners. Now I am disinfecting my entire house, getting rid of irritants, never buying anymore cleaners or mops or swiffers or scrubbers and it takes a fraction of the time to clean. I'm finally able to sit my butt down and write a review about something because I am not stuck in the bathroom with spray bottles and antibacterial wipes and toilet brushes.
(By the way, this thing obliterates weeds in the patio and garden (nozzle attachment),and grime in the bbq grills, CARSEATS!!!!!! (anyone with a toddler with milk in a sippy cup or a snack squirreled away in the carseat flaps understands this one) and the garage (garbage bins, anyone?). I've even used it on the garbage cans in the house, the light fixtures (after I took them down of course :P), our toothbrushes once a week (a shot of steam with the nozzle from a few inches away) and my makeup brushes. Heck, I've disassembled the vacuum cleaner and steamed the individual non-electric parts (like the spin brushes and chambers and attachments and so forth). I'm sure I'm forgetting things - use this thing to your imagination (while using common judgement. Don't spray it in, oh... the outlets or your ipod obviously ;P) and you will understand why I'm being such a goober in this review and writing a novel. I can't say enough good things about this purchase.
If you made it to the bottom of this review, you are a trooper and I salute you.
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