Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

When I first moved into my little 800 sq ft condo with textured tile (non-slip) throughout it looked as if the floors hadn't been cleaned in years. The landlord promised to have the tiles professionally cleaned before move-in but his idea of "professionally" clean was apparently just a regular mopping. My daughter suggested getting the Floormate Spinscrub (older model) as she has used one many times and loves it. After reading many negative comments for the new Hoover Floormate Deluxe, I almost purchased the older module but decided to give the Deluxe a try. The floors were so bad, I ended up using half of the included Hoover floor cleaner and it took over 4 hrs to clean. I can't even begin to tell you how disgusting the water looked. Many other reviews say how the water is grey...my water was solid black. The first cleaning got up a ton but they still didn't pass the white sock test. I decided to clean the floors again the next day and was finally happy to see grey water instead of black! I gave it a week and just cleaned the floors again. This time, I noticed that the suction was very weak and didn't seem to be cleaning as it did the first two times. I took everything apart to find the issue. When taking the squeegee off, I saw tons of gunk blocking where the water is sucked up near the brushes. I also found some hair and more gunk built up on the black round connection under the dirty water reservoir. After cleaning everything (including the tile brush) it began cleaning as it should. The water is still grey but best of all...the floors pass the white sock test! The poor performance was not an issue with Floormate Deluxe but instead proved it was doing it's job. I can't believe that I am actually looking forward to cleaning again. During this process, I ran out of the floor cleaner that had been included. I mixed 1/4 cup of Mr Clean all purpose with 1 gallon of hot water. While it doesn't smell as nice as Hoovers floor cleaner it still worked nicely. On the third cleaning it took about 1.5 hrs total and I used 1.5 gallons of the mr clean mixture. List of things discovered through trial and error 1. Clean small areas at a time 2. Go slow! This is not a vacuum cleaner 3. Make sure and use the "dry" function even if your tiles dry fast. You don't want to leave any dirty water behind. 4. Take off the squeegee and brushes to clean on a regular basis 5. Let the tanks dry completely before storing to prevent moldy yucky smells (especially if you live in florida) 6. The length of the cord was fine in my little place 7. Mix the floor cleaning solution in a gallon jug. It is much easier to pour and removes the pain of trying to fill up the clean reservoir in a small bathroom sink. 1 gallon = (almost) 3 clean water reservoirs. TL;DR If your floor is really bad, it is going to take a few cleanings to see great results. Make sure to take off the squeegee and brush and clean regularly for optimum performance. Don't pay rent upfront on a dirty rental until the landlord cleans it first.