Carpet Cleaners Reviews

In a word this steamer is "WOW! I have owned and used steamers for several years and recently compared this steamer with two other popular steamers both made in China and available on the mass market...the Shark Euro-Pro Steam Blaster Ultra and the SteamFast 275 available from online merchants and warehouse clubs. I purchased the Piccolo to replace my older Delonghi Steam Clean Plus. Note: if your water has any hardness at all, you will greatly extend the life of your steamer by using distilled water and occassionally descaling with a descaling solution (available from Saeco coffee dealers).

First the Piccolo is smaller than I would have thought, especially considering its considerable power. My first one's handle was broken and returned to the online merchant to get a new one. I did the tests I will describe later with both my returned Piccolo and the new one. The performance was consistent. Those black/grey circles on the side are not wheels as you might expect from the marketing photo. They are just decoration...the unit has very small plastic wheels on the bottom of the unit...but it is so small it's quite easy to just carry it around and set it down on the floor where you want to use it.

The unit heats up from a full tank in about 7 minutes. The tank is stainless steel and the temperature I recorded at the tip is about 190 degrees F. The steam pressure is adjustable from how tightly you squeeze the trigger. The unit has a light to indicate boiler heating and one to show you the tank is empty (other sub $200 sometimes skip this indicator light...although pretty obvious when you run out of water).

The steam pressure of the Piccolo is impressive, particularly when compared with the other units referenced. The performance improvement of the Piccolo over the Chinese made steamers is not even remotely close. I would rate the quality of the accessories from the different manufacturers evenly...I may even give a slight nod to the Shark and SteamFast for the quality and quantity of accessories, particularly if used primarily for clothes steaming.

For my first "Experiment," I compared temperatures as refernced above. The Piccolo won here by a small margin. Secondly I put a paper cup on the floor and with both machines heated up with a full tank of water, I pointed the nozzle at the opening of the cup to see which model would blow the cup the farthest. The SteamFast product blew the cup about five feet. The Piccolo blew the cup 15 feet and probably would have kept going if it was not for the wall stopping it. Not even remotely close.

Next I took both steamers (the Piccolo and the SteamFast) out on my deck and pointed the nozzles at a hose that "overwintered" on my deck....complete with black moldy stains hiding the normally greeen hose. The SteamFast product blew steam at the hose but it did not really eliminate the moldy stains, despite holding the tip on the hose at point o range for many seconds.

Next tried the Piccolo...WOW....this sucker blasted those stains down to fresh green hose, like instantly!

So all in all, I am very impressed with the steam pressure of this unit. While you can get more bells and whistles from the Shark and the SteamFast, you won't have the copious steam pressure of the piccolo. This is a big deal.

Trust me, if you are cleaning gunk, grease, grout, moldy stains, plastic children't furniture (makes those little tikes/step 2 heavy thick plastic like new), glass, tile/hard floors, etc. the piccolo runs right over the competition.

Downsides: No product is perfect and as much as I love my piccolo be aware the hose can get hot and if the unit sits a few minutes in between uses.....and you pull the trigger, you'll get a nice blast of 200 degree water coming out...be very careful around children...this thing can scald and can send a blast of very hot water fifteen feet. This is not a deficiency of the product...all steamers do this to a certain extent.....just like when you make steamed milk for a latte from an espresso machine...the first blast will be hot water and steam and barristas will press the steam lever for a few seconds to "blow" out the hot water before turning off and putting the milk in to get a "dryer" steam. So when you take a break, point the nozzle at a sink or away from people for a few seconds to discharge the hot water. My guess is that the water coming out after a break is vapor that has condensed in the hose during the break. Since the Piccolo has such great pressure, it acts like a momentary hot water "Super-Blaster" upon re-activation of steam production. Just be careful. This is not a toy.

When you run out of water you may have to wait 15 minutes until the steam pressure comes down enough to safety remove the tank cap...don't rush this or if you do a little bit....use a towel to undo the cap, lest you want a steam facial with sputtering scalding water possible if the tank was not completely dry.

The last potential negative is that it is not clear to me whether Saeco will be continuing to produce/service this model in the US for the long haul.....I hope they do since it is by far the best steamer among the four I have owned tested.

I love my saeco and would not hesitate ordering one for every adult member of my family...particularly if I could still locate them for under $60. Still the best steamer I have found under $200 bar none. Enjoy.

I purchased this machine as a replacement for a Eureka hand held machine that was approximately [...] years old. This machine is easily twice as powerful as the one it replaced.

I use the machine to clean the refrigerator interior, sealed hardwood floors, kitchen cabinetry, and stainless steel range top and to remove soap scum from the bathroom.

I feel good about cleaning without toxic chemicals. This machine makes green cleaning possible without having to resort to more aggressive scrubbing or substandard results.

I highly recommend Saeco products in general as the proud owner of one of their super-automatic coffee makers. I assume this steam cleaner uses the same technology that makes 15 bars of pressure in their espresso makers. For those of you that are not familiar with Saeco it is not some little fly-by-night company. Saeco is the largest seller of espresso makers in Italy. I feel as confident about purchasing their products as I do Miele, Gaggenau or KitchenAid.

If you want to reduce or eliminate the use of toxic cleaners in your home this is the machine for you.

The Saeco Piccolo Steamer is really a good product.It's not that great on really tuff grease but it's wonderful on blasting grime out of crevices.I used it to clean out the inside of the refrigerator and it did a great job. It's great for getting into those tiny spaces that you can't clean.There's a lot you can do with this product. Smart Bargains shipping was very fast. Thanks so much.

I have the model 410A and it is absolutely horrible. I only have an apartment and one cat and the vacuum's foam filter has to been cleaned after I barely get through one room. I get about a quarter inch of dirt or hair in the holder and I have to stop and clean the filter. Only positive I see in this vacuum is that it is small, good for storage in an apartment. Don't waste your money. I can't believe people actually like this vacuum unless they significantly redesigned the filter.

I know this is the 410BT version of the vacuum, but I bought the 410AT version back in December 2002 (I'm assuming the BT is just a newer version of the same vacuum). Hopefully they've improved on some of the flaws in the updated model.

When I bought the vacuum back in 2002, I was originally pleased with the suction power and lightweight. I can handle this vacuum easily with one arm and move it up and down the stairs in my 3-story townhouse. Suction power is acceptable (*only* when the filter is freshly cleaned and empty) on carpet, pretty bad on hardwood floors, and good with the attachment.

Having owned and used this thing for 3 years, here are some of the flaws I've found over time. First, the vacuum is not particularly sturdy. It just doesn't "feel" very solid or well made. The seals and gaskets around the filter system are also pretty flimsy which affects its performance. I've had to unjam the rollor a couple of times when it got clogged by my girlfriend's long hairs (we have no pets). However, I will admit that I'm not sure if this is a common problem for people with long hair and vacuum. It could be something that you just have to deal with and be aware of. It's also possible this contributed to the second problem I've had, which is that the roller will sometimes stop working after some extended use. Turning the vacuum off, banging on it a little bit and turning it back on will usually fix the problem and the roller will start working again. As other people have mentioned, the capacity of the filter system is puny and the filter gets clogged very easily which really cuts down on the suction power. My house is about 2000sq ft of hardwood floors and carpet, but I have to empty the filter cup after every floor or set of stairs. Granted, I vacuum very infrequently, but that has been my experience. Lastly, related to the filter design, I've found it to be pretty "leaky". By leaky, I mean that the vacuum does a very poor job of trapping dirt and dust that has been sucked up. I can tell because of how dirty the housing of the vacuum gets after each and use and cleaning. The area around the exhaust gets coated with a fine layer of white dirt/dust which got passed the filter. It seems to pass a lot of dirt through the system and just spit it back into the air...

Overall, I'll say the vacuum was worth the money I paid for it. I bought it on sale from Amazon with a bunch of coupons and discounts, so it was very cheap. I'd say I got my money's worth in 3 years (I'm looking for a replacement right now), but knowing what I know now I would definately not pay full price for this vacuum. I wouldn't buy this for anything other than light-use (perhaps a college dorm room or small apartment?). You'll want to go with something better for a townhouse or bigger.

Pros: Small, lightweight, good attachment suction, cheap (if you can get it on sale)

Cons: Not very durable, poor filter system/effectiveness, build quality.

I have had the 410A model of this vacuum for over five years, and I think it is outstanding. If you have a small apartment (not a huge house), it is ideal. The refuse bin is very easy to empty, and the removable filter is easy to clean by flicking it several times against a trashcan. You can wash the filter in water on the very rare occasions that the foam gets saturated with dust. It is easy to disassemble if you get usually large leaves or hair stuck in the internal piping. (Other reviews noting low suction power perhaps have something stuck inside). I have saved an enormous amount of money on filters with this durable and convenient workhorse, and I never had to run out to buy filters or bags.