Tried and Tested Cleaning Gadgets

With Spring just around the corner Wellbeing Magazine tested three cleaning gadgets guaranteed to make the cleaning a pleasure.

The first was the Neato XV-15 robotic cleaner available in blue/grey colour. We put it through its paces and it exceeded our expectations. Set it to clean daily while you go to work, get on with other chores or just put your feet up! It was extremely intelligent, mapping out the room ensuring it covered as much flooring as it could, it even coped well with cats, small children and furniture being moved. The shape meant it could get into corners and along edges quite well. The dust box is one of the largest on the market, but as it is is much smaller than a regular vacuum cleaner the idea if to use this regularly to pick up daily fluff and dust which is great if you have children and animals. The robotic vacuum cleaner’s low profile (less than four inches high) also allowed it to clean under beds, sofas, and kick boards in the kitchen. I was actually horrified how much dust was made on a daily basis. I wouldn’t use this to replace my Dyson but it meant that doing a big vacuuming didn’t need to be done quite as regularly as before and the carpets always looked clean. £399.99 available from uk.neatorobotics.com

We also tested the Navibot Silencio from Samsung, this one is round in shape and has little brushes to sweep the bits out of the corners, although it did clean the carpets and flooring well, it didn’t seem to cope with the movement of people and furniture and seemed to get stuck finding it’s way through chair and table legs. On the plus side the new NaviBot Silencio is quieter when cleaning than Neato and I think this would be perfect for large open spaces with less clutter than our house. Including is a new floorcloth accessory that safely cleans all hard floor surfaces and the high-grade HEPA filtration also means that exhaust air is free from dust and allergens, ideal for allergy sufferers. Samsung’s new NaviBot Silencio is available in the UK now from all major high street and online retailers. www.samsung.com

The final gadget was the Bissell Cleanview® Liftoff® Carpet washer. This innovative product boasts two solutions in one for complete flexibility. Whether it’s refreshing carpets in entire rooms, quickly removing single spot and stains or targeting hard to reach areas such as stairs and car interiors, the BISSELL® CleanView® Lift-Off® Carpet Washer is the perfect choice.
We tested the Cleanview® Lift-Off® carpet washer, and absolutely loved it. Really easy to assemble and use, no complicated instructions and cleaned the sofa, carpets and stairs alternating between the upright and portable mode.
The water solution cleaned the fabrics really well and the water extraction meant that the sofa and carpets dried very quickly.

The heavy-duty carpet washer includes a built in water heater that maximizes cleaning performance. This, accompanied by dual DirtLifter PowerBrushes with ten rows of brushes and powerful edge to edge Surround Suction™ combine, to ensure tough dirt has no place to hide.

The portable spot cleaner is great for busy families; cleaning up accidents and spills, as well as unexpected messes from pets and children quickly and conveniently. Simply lift off from the main unit and the portable spot cleaner transforms tricky areas such as stairs, upholstery and car interiors into stain free surfaces, thanks to the flexible hose and upholstery brush.

With such power and versatility all in one unit, we thoroughly recommend the Cleanview® Lift-Off® carpet washer.

Available from £399 from Argos, Littlewoods, Express Gifts, Freemans, Grattans, JD Williams, Tesco Direct and Lakeland bisselldirect.co.uk and all good electrical retail independent stores. uk.bissell.com

OUR VERDICT
After a few weeks trialling them the verdict was that we absolutely loved them and were sorry to see them go. In fact Neato (our firm favourite) seemed to become a member of the family and even my husband said he was sorry to see him go! I will certainly be watching robotic cleaners with great interest as they promise to save us many hours vacuuming and I’m all for labour saving devices. And as for carpet cleaning, I’m sold on the Bissell Cleanview® Lift-Off®, great results and perfect for households with children and animals!