The first thing you’ll want to do when you get the Nugeni Steva+ Handheld Upright Steamer and Vacuum ($449) is take everything out of the box. But don’t throw the box away because you’ll probably find you overlooked something. According to the parts list, this thing has more gadgets and gizmos than Little Mermaid. By our count, there are 28 pieces that make up the Nugeni Steva+ system. Since it’s both a vacuum cleaner and a steamer, and has handheld and upright options, it needs a lot of equipment to be so versatile.
Paroatory
A handheld vacuum cleaner and a steamer can be placed in an upright unit. There are three vacuum attachments (hard floor tool, crevice tool and brush tool), plus an extension bar. You can place some of these tools on the charging base. The Steva+ has so much stuff for the steamer that many – but not all – come in their own little storage box. There are detail brushes, a squeegee, clothes brushes and cleaning cloths. The storage bag gives you another option to store your accessories. This should be a space-saving all-in-one, but you’ll probably want to make sure you have enough room in your closet to store all your gear. The kit also comes with a small brush to help get rid of some of the nasty stuff that gets on the accessories.
With the possibility of steam and vacuuming, Nugeni Steva+ is several cleaning machines in one.
Once you’ve arranged the hoses, nozzles and such around you in a circle, you might think you’re ready to go. You’re not. Read the manual. You will notice that there are several warning pages. We got a little nervous reading the manual: water plus electricity plus hot, hot steam. But we watched the instructional video and felt we could handle this. Since the vacuum cleaner is cordless and requires 2.5 hours to charge, we started with a steamer.
The filling container was one of the things we missed in the box. It’s marked for 500 millimeters, or about 16 ounces, though the steamer can hold 19 ounces, which is enough for 28 minutes of full steam. If you’re going to use a steam mop, place it in the mop stick, then place the velcro cloth on the plastic plate that clicks into the bottom of the mop stick. The steamer needs to be plugged in to work, but the 28-foot cord gives you plenty of room to move. If you are using the four-pound steamer as a hand-held unit, you can choose to attach a shoulder strap. Makes you feel a bit like a Ghostbuster with a proton pack.
Jenny McGrath/Digital Trends
Jenny McGrath/Digital Trends
To start steam, press the power button. There is a trigger under the handle and it takes about 20 seconds for fumes to start coming out of the unit. The dial allows you to adjust the steam level; you’ll want to use less for delicate items and on certain floors. The trigger allows you to release vapor intermittently, but holding it down and pressing the power button for three seconds releases a continuous cloud.
Gross-buster
You can attach a squeegee or various types of brushes to Stevo, and if you wish, cover them with washable cloths. (“Can it steam clothes?” asked our husband. Yes. “Can it steam hams?” Unclear.) We easily got rid of some soap in the shower with a squeegee, which we ran over all the doors and tiles.
You may need to add an extra closet to accommodate all the accessories.
In the kitchen, we used a soft-bristle brush to degrease the sheets from the previous evening’s baked sweet potato fries. It was ridiculously easy. The real test came with the oven door, which was last cleaned in half never. Both the squeegee and the brush managed to lift some of the hardened, coarse dirt, but we still had to break out the magic eraser. Alternating between the two methods, the cleaning took probably half an hour, but the sponge and steamer seemed to make each other more effective.
The steamboat is much less scary than we originally thought. The base itself heats up a bit. The manual warns that you’ll want to wait about half a minute before changing the attachments, as they are in direct contact with the steam and get very hot. The handheld part of the steamer stays upright on its own without the mop stick, but there was no good way to store the tool when the hose was attached. They simply collapsed on the floor when not in use.
Jenny McGrath/Digital Trends
Jenny McGrath/Digital Trends
Using distilled water in steamers helps prevent mineral build-up. Nugeni recommends this, but also confusingly claims that tap water is OK. It was a little difficult for us to pour out the water from the tank when we finished steaming. Because of the way it’s designed, it can be difficult to shake off, which could lead to unpleasant odors down the road.
Degreasing the pan was incredibly easy with the steamer.
The vacuum cleaner can also be manual or upright. Its battery lasts about 16 minutes on turbo, 20 minutes on normal. That’s comparable to the Dyson V8, which takes twice as long (five hours) to charge. The vacuum is certainly the weakest link in the functions of Steve’s duo. We’ve found it’s best to leave it on turbo, especially when dealing with pet hair. The brush extension has small gripper teeth that grip the hair quite well, but it needs to be cleaned frequently while vacuuming.
Our bathroom feels less awful after we let out the germ-killing steam, but we wish the vacuum was a little stronger. The Steva comes with millions of accessories, but that also means you’ll spend some time changing them — for example between vacuuming and steaming, and again if you’re switching from hardwood to carpet with a steamer. There are some places you shouldn’t use a steamer: for example, on unsealed floors, velvet, leather or pets. At $450, it’s quite a space hog, especially considering you’ll still want to hold on to your magic erasers.
However, we are somehow hooked on the power of steam. And feel like a Ghostbuster.
DT editor’s rating: 3/5
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Categories: GAMING
Source: newstars.edu.vn