Review: Shark S3901 Lift Away Pro Steam Pocket Mop

I’ve had my Shark Lift Away for a couple of weeks now.  I fully expected not to like it as much as my elderly Karcher, and I thought I would give it away as a present to someone else.  I was very much mistaken, and my old Karcher single tank yellow machine is that one that will be passed on.  I never thought I would say that.  

The big attraction for this steam mop is that the central part which houses the water and thermostat lifts away to allow it to be used by hand for lots of different things.  It makes the mop much more useable than simply a mop.

It is powerful.  Holding the steamer and pressing the switch for any length of time seems to have the steam get even hotter and better at cleaning things.

I have to admit that I have used the brush attachment more than any of the other ones, as it does such a great job of cleaning grout, the grooves in doors and skirting boards….

In The Box

A fair few extras come with this mop.   There is a window squeegee, a surface cleaner, steamer attachment, carpet tool, cloths for using with the tools, and even a handy bag to keep all the attachments in.  Ours will hang up nicely behind the door of our boiler cupboard.

Floors

I do like that the cloths fit snugly to the bottom of the mop and I don’t have to change a cloth just to scrub a bit of the floor that is slightly dirtier than the rest.  I found the flip action by accident when I lifted it up, and it’s a fairly nifty function.  It has to be clever enough to know which way it’s facing for the steam, and that’s impressive to me.

The cable is sturdy and long enough for me to do my kitchen and hall if I use a plug that is right in the middle of where they both are.  With previous ones, I’ve had to move sockets while just cleaning one room which is never a good thing.

Using it on our office floor made a big difference.  We call it an office, but it’s really just a room that houses computers, desks, gerbils and any other rubbish that tends to be left lying around.   Even after regular mopping, the floor just never seemed that clean.  I’m much happier with the floor after using a steam cleaner.  All I have to do now is persuade the gerbils to stop throwing sawdust all over the place :-).

Before: After Regular Mopping

After: Using Steam Cleaner

Does it remove elbow grease?

To be honest, I think you’d have to buy a thousand pound and upwards steamer to get that kind of finish and it might just lift the shine off anything you steam too, so it doesn’t eliminate the need for any scrubbing, but it does loosen all the dirt off enough to make it a much simpler job.

Steaming Clothes

Technically it wasn’t clothes, but I used it to try to get the creases out of a pair of curtains that my other half decided to hang before I got a chance to give them an iron.

They’ve annoyed me for a fair while, but because it’s the ones in the back hall that lead out to the garden, I’ve not really got to the point of taking them down again.   I was hoping this was going to be an easy fix, and while I don’t have a dedicated garment steamer, I figured that a couple of the attachments might do a good job of it.

It took two steamings to get the worst of the creases dropped, but that is far better than having to take them down and iron them.

Windows

I used it with my Karcher window hoover, which worked perfectly for me.

There is a window tool in my box and it is probably fantastic for shower screens and outside windows, but I wanted to clean up the dirty water at the same time as I cleaned, and the combination was actually perfect for me.  There was no need for any hard rubbing to clean the windows, it just needed a good old blast of the steamer and the dirt came away very easily.

The cable was long enough to do the inside and the outside of my kitchen windows and although I wouldn’t use it on a very cold day, it was perfect when I tried it.

I also used it to clean the glass panels on the downstairs doors which is a major day-to-day issue for me.   They never look clean, no matter how often I do them, so it was nice to get it done faster and with less hassle.

What Does You Tube Say?

Would I Change Anything?

• I’d change the action of the steaming chamber when it’s lifted out to use with attachments.  At that point, we have to hold down a trigger for the steam to work.  I’d prefer it to be the same as using the steamer to do floors, and just press “on” for it to work.  Now I’ve seen it in action on the floor steamer, I can’t help but want it for the hand steaming side of it too.
• The size of the water chamber could be a little bit bigger.

Do I Like It?

I sure do.

• It’s faster to use than my Karcher and doesn’t hurt my hands when I’m using it.
• It’s the little touches that make it fab, like how the attachments turn when you move your hand over a surface.  You don’t need to twist your wrist as the attachment swivels with the movement.
• The cable is very long for a steamer and that pleases me very much.
• The biggest draw is that after using it, even if the units or worktops are old, they’re going to be sanitised at level of 99% from all bacteria.
• There are no chemicals needed at all.
• It heats up in about 30 seconds from cold water.  That’s fast.

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Thank you to JML Direct for the Shark S3901 Lift Away Pro Steam Pocket Mop for reviewing.