Swiffer Carpet-Flick® Review

Seriously, the Swiffer Carpet Flick is an interesting product that I was hoping would give me the results I was looking for.  But on my particular carpet, it just wasn't efficient enough to warrant continued use, or purchasing more of the sticky pads.

The Swiffer Carpet Flick is a lightweight sweeper with a silver handle (with a hanging ring for easy storage) and a sunshine-orange base unit.  The sweeper comes with single-use, disposable sticky pads that are supposed to pick up the dirt and debris that accumulates in carpet.  This could be anything from pet hair, to crumbs, to lint, dust bunnies, to thread, and everything in between.  The Swiffer Carpet Flick isn't designed for hard floors, like vinyl, wood, or tile, so sweeping the kitchen was out of the question.  I decided to try it out in my living room and master bedroom.

Previously, my husband tried out the Swiffer Carpet Flick with only marginal results.  I found it in the garage where he had stowed it away and I thought I'd give it a try.  I figured that even though it didn't work in one particular room, it may be useful in another.  Unfortunately, my trial wasn't any more successful than his.

The result of my experiment is that I spent more time running the Carpet Flick back and forth repeatedly, trying to pick up the same little bit of debris than I would have if I'd just used my vacuum.  My carpet is medium-high in height and the Carpet Flick simply couldn't get deep enough to be of much use.  I think this product may be more beneficial if your carpet is low-pile, and you just have a few crumbs or pet hairs that you want to get rid of quickly.   Personally, it's no big deal for me to pull out the vacuum cleaner and quickly vacuum up any problem spots that occur between my scheduled regular cleanings.   

Even with its swivel head, sticky pads, and lightweight handle, Swiffer Carpet Flick is no more efficient than the old-fashioned sweeper I used to use during my teen-aged waitressing days.  At least with a traditional carpet sweeper, you don't have the expense of purchasing disposable, non-recyclable pads.  The crumbs and dirt collect into the bin, and when it's full it's emptied into the trash can.  

In my opinion, the Swiffer Carpet Flick has more cons than pros.  I'll probably donate it or Freecycle it to someone who would find it more useful than I did.