Swiffer Carpet-Flick® Review

Bottom-Line: Others may have different results, but for the Martin Household the Swiffer Carpet-Flick, failed to make the grade.      

Before this little orange contraption landed on my doorstep, courtesy of the UPS, I have never heard of the Swiffer Carpet-Flick. It seemed to me an odd little invention designed to do what only a power vacuum cleaner knows how to do best: clean carpets.  After all it takes powerful suction to pull set in dirt and grime from most home wall-to-wall carpeting; the Swiffer Carpet-Flick looked unequal to the task. 

The Swiffer Carpet-Flick

The unit itself is, as I mentioned above, is an odd looking device.  The semi-large, see-through orange head houses pads that are sticky on both sides in order to (theoretically) trap debris as you run it over the carpet, on either side of the pad. 

The Swiffer Carpet-Flick comes in several pieces that are easy to assemble; I had the unit together in under a minute, and without instructions.  The dirt collecting head is attached to a long pool, much like a mop.  The "Flick" in Carpet-Flick is derived from the fact that the head swivels on the pole as you reverse the unit and pull it towards you.

Cleaning with the Swiffer Carpet-Flick 

After I assembled the unit I ran it over the carpet in our Master Bedroom and it did a fairly good job at picking up stray particles of dirt and dust, but it left strands of hair, large concentrations of lint and thread unhindered.  That was disappointing.  Also the carpet did not feel clean and soft, as it usually does after running the vacuum over it. 

Next stop: the craft room.  Same results here, only this time the carpet was also littered with batting (something I did not expect), and the Swiffer Carpet-Flick never even touched it.  I eventually ended up picking the batting up by hand, along with the plentitude of stray threads that had setup shop on the carpet. 

Same story for the staircase where I had high hopes; I Flicked (which is an easy motion by-the-way) but the lent and other debris stayed firmly planted to my carpeted stairs.

My Viewpoint

The Swiffer Carpet-Flick is not going to work in our household; our carpet cleaning needs are just too complex for the unit to handle without faltering.  As it is I shall have to vacuum those areas I went over with the Swiffer Carpet-Flick in order to get them clean.  I had thought perhaps to use the Swiffer Carpet-Flick for just the staircase carpeting, but that too is just a pipe dream.

Others may have different results, but for the Martin Household the Swiffer Carpet-Flick, failed to make the grade.