New and Improved Swiffer Sweeper® Review

My first Swiffer Sweeper came in a kit that included the Sweeper, 2 Dry Sweeping Cloths, and 2 Wet Mopping Cloths. Depending on the job that you are undertaking, you can choose to either do a mopping job, or a sweeping job, and the uses are intended to be quite varied. If it is something that you end up liking, they sell the wet wipes in 12, 24, and 48 count replacements. Likewise, they sell the dry cloth refills in 16, 32, and 64 count packages. The price goes up depending on how many you think that you need, and how often you want to put the Swiffer Sweeper into use.

When you first open the package you see that the sweeper is broken down into 5 different pieces. The shaft of the sweeper is three metal piece of a silver color that snap easily into each other with a discernable "click". You then have an elongated green plastic handle that attaches to the top of the shaft, and of course the sweeper assembly that attaches to the bottom of the mop. When you have it all put together, it measures out to about 42 inches in length, which in my opinion is plenty of length to push around the sweeper with ease. When everything else is assembled, you take one of the cloths and fold it around the head of the sweeper. There are 4 holes on the top that grip the cloth and keep it in place while you are using it. A very easy assembly, and you can have everything ready to use, right out of the box, in about 2 minutes.

With the Swiffer Sweeper, you use the wet cloths to clean up dust and works best on wood floors. On the opposite side you have the wet cloths that tend to work best on tile or ceramic surfaces in bathrooms, kitchens, or laundry rooms. Putting them to use, you find out right away that the Sweeper does work relatively well, but that it also has some limitations when it comes to getting the job done. One nice thing about the Sweeper, is that when you are pushing it around, the head can swivel around, and let you get to odd corners or nooks in your woodwork. This is a nice thing, but would be even nicer if I had the full faith that the Sweeper was going to get the job done.

I recently wrote a review of what I thought about the wet cloths that come with this starter kit and are sold separately. I found that they worked well on your basic dust, hair, and fresh spills on the floors, but that they didn't do much beyond that. If something has been on the floor for a while, or if you are attacking a build up in an area like under the fridge or in an area frequented by family animals, you may get a little frustrated. One of the cloths will attract a lot of pet hair right away, and when it does that, you will end up pushing around a lot of the additional debris that you find on the floor. Also, when you come up against tougher stains/spots on the floor, this sweeper doesn't really hold up to pressure. When you try to push the sweeper hard, the handle starts to seem very flimsy, and won't work in the way that a sponge would on your hands and knees. This means that you end up with areas that the sweeper and its pads simply will not work.

When it comes to using the Swiffer Sweeper on a normal wood or tile floor, and you are doing it very regularly, you may find that the Swiffer Sweeper is helpful. You may also find that you really enjoy its handle that has a grip, and the rotating head of the Swiffer that makes it very maneuverable. It however, is not meant to help out with the huge jobs, nor do I feel it is really durable in the scheme of things. I haven't broken the shaft on my sweeper, but there have been times when I tried to apply pressure to a spot on the floor and the shaft started to bend the wrong directions. I think the Swiffer Sweeper works best on floors where you are just trying to clean up fresh spills, pet hair or dander, and slight dust build-ups on wood floors. It does have its uses, but realize that buying the replacement cloths can get pretty expensive. This is useable product in my opinion, but nothing exemplary.