This review is for the Shark Steam Pocket Mop model S3501 (sometimes Amazon lumps reviews together; it's good to have the right make and model number from the start of the review). I bought the Shark steam mop primarily for vinyl flooring (although we do have one ceramic tiled bathroom, along with ceramic in the entrance way and by the fireplace). Preamble: Our kitchen catches the brunt of stuff tracked in from outside; it's directly off of the garage and there's no "mud room" for swapping soiled boots or shoes for household slippers. To be frank, the darned floor gets (at times) absolutely grungy. Normal light cleaning is with a sponge mop head (with scrubber head on the reverse side) using kitchen floor cleaner and followed up by a rinse. Heavy cleaning entails a bucket, hot water, kitchen floor cleaner, and a scrub brush. That last bit is tough on my knees, thus the try out of the Shark. The Shark came well packaged and on time (gotta love Prime free 2 day shipping) and assembly was a breeze, no tools required. There are four parts, the main body, the handle that slides into the main body, the swivel mop head which attaches to the other end of the main body, and the "mop" (the fiber material that is the part that actually does the work). The thing will only fit together one way and I didn't need to read the manual to figure out the setup. (I did, of course, read the manual before actually filling and using the Shark). Distilled water is recommended; our area has hard water and I have no issue in providing the proper water to the device in order to maximize its effectiveness and lifetime. A measuring cup is provided for use in filling the water chamber. Fill the unit with water (it's noted that ONLY water be used - soap, vinegar, etc. are not recommended!), plug it in and wait a half minute or so to let the thing heat up. Note that only the pad gets hot, the handle and body of the mop stay cool to the touch. I wouldn't recommend grabbing onto the pad, though, once it's in operation. "Warm" doesn't cover it. The recommended procedure is to manually pump the sliding handle a few times to get the steam action going; after that the natural "to and fro" mopping action keeps things percolating (so to speak). I tried the machine an an extremely dirty floor (on purpose; I don't need it for light duty mopping, I need it to work like a scrub brush but without getting down on my aged knees). I did sweep the floor before starting the test - the Shark isn't a vacuum. For dried stains I had only to let the mop head rest for a few seconds in one spot - and the stains were lifted off when I started the mopping action again. I was pretty impressed by the ability of the mop to remove the ground in soil on the vinyl flooring; when I took a look at the mop head cover it was completly soiled! I flipped the mop to the clean side of the mop head cover and I went back over the floor again, getting even more material up and when done the floor looked about as well (for the main part) as I could have done with brush and mop. HOWEVER - our counters "overhang" the floor by a couple of inches, being about 3 or 4 inches above the vinyl. The heating duct is in part this arrangement, so that on cold winter mornings there is heat being directly blown onto ones toes. The Shark had a problem with that arrangement; it fit under the overhang nicely and did a good job of cleaning the vinyl floor - until it came to a corner or a wall. At that point the Shark left a small amount of debris in each corner. No matter how I tried to angle the mop head it simply couldn't get the last little bits of dirt up with the mop head cover edge. Difficult to explain, but one could see a small dirty spot in each corner where the counters met the walls. Of course, it must be remembered that the floor was unusally dirty; I think that under normal conditions there would not be enough dirt picked up by the mop head cover edge to allow it to be deposited in the corners. Still, I had to manually clean the corners with a damp mop after the Shark had run its course. That and the lack of an off/on switch lead me to reduce my rating of the Shark by one star. Any appliance that has a 20 foot cord that can put you away from the location that it's plugged into should come with a switch. Sometimes running back to unplug a device simply isn't practical. I'm 5'9" tall and the size of the mop is just about right - not too long to impede moving and not too short to make me bend to use it. The handle is large and easy to grip. The water reservoir cap is easy on / easy off and the whole thing weighs only a few pounds. There is a built in cord wrap for storing the device. Overall, though, the Shark is a keeper and a welcome addition to our war on the kitchen floor. HTH Regards, Jim
