There is nothing new about steam.  It pretty much got the industrial revolution started.  In the recent years steam has been used for cleaning purposes.  Steam does a pretty job of cutting through crud and cleaning without using harsh chemicals.  In-Fact steam kills up to 99.9% of all germs just by using water!  It is like having free Lysol.  For pets and children this is a no brainer. And the benefits are huge.

Black and Decker is a well known household brand and they have quite a few steam products available.  I decided to take a look at the SmartSelect Steam Mop With Handle Command for my wood floors, and the hand held steamer for all my other tasks.  Let’s start with the steam mop.  I had a shark steam mop before which is simple and easy to use, but it is dumb.  It has no idea what kind of floor you are cleaning and puts out the same amount of water on wood as it does marble or tile.  This is not good as too much moisture is not good for a wood floor.

The Black and Decker BDH1760SM SmartSelect Steam Mop With Handle Command allows you to adjust the amount of steam that the unit puts out.  This makes it safe for most any wood floor.  If you get into a sticky situation, you can hit the red button which gives an extra blast of steam to clean those stubborn stains.  The water tank is removable for filling and gives you approximately 22 minutes of steam until it needs to be refilled.  The rectangular pad includes a carpet refreshing adapter.   The base is removable and it allows you to put on the included triangular washable pad for detail work and corners.  The mop has swivel steering and glides about as well as any other steam mop.  The extra long 25ft cord allows you to reach most anywhere in the room without having to unplug and relocate to a different outlet.

Both the steam mop and the hand held steamer have an LED light in the tank that illuminates red while the unit is heating up and blue when you are ready to steam.  The Hand Held Steamer BDH1800SM really is a verstile cleaning tool.  It comes with a host of attachments like a 4ft hose, a brush for tile, a detail brush, squeegee and a scraper brush.  This machine has changed the way I clean forever.  It easily cleaned my oven that had years of baked on grime.  Pull the trigger and the steam goes to work, for countertops it has a triangular pad that does a good job of sanitizing and cleaning.  Another feature I like about steam is that it can get into tight areas, like crevices, for a deep cleaning.  The hand held unit is trigger controlled with no lock to keep it on.  I am sure this is due to safety reasons. As with any steam product you will want to keep your hands away from the spray as it is superheated and can burn you if you get too close. I highly recommend both of these products.  Check out our videos below.