Having had my VAX S2 hard floor master for about seven months or longer now, I feel able to give a fairly good overall picture of this steam cleaner and how it performs. I had wanted a steam cleaner for quite a while and I had been watching the QVC channel where they had been advertising them all the time, and kept on mentioning to my husband how great they looked. There seemed, however, there seemed to be quite a few different models on the market and I wasn't sure which one was the was option for me. After trawling the Internet for ages I finally found the one I thought would be the best - the Vax S2 model.

They were selling these in B&Q for £72 and I almost bought it when right at the last minute I found they were selling them in B&M Superstores for £67. As it was a saving of £5 I opted for B&M - obviously. I was so excited about getting the steam cleaner I was telling everyone at work about and received some rather pitying looks from colleagues who obviously thought I should 'get out more'.

It came in a long thin box and my hubby put it together for me in next to no time whilst I made a cuppa and sat down to read the instructions. The box looked bulky but the actual steam cleaner is quite long and slender looking and I knew it wasn't going to take up mach space underneath my kitchen cupboard (where I also keep an assortment of other household objects, including my vacuum cleaner and ironing board, etc).

When I first held the cleaner it felt a little flimsy and plastic, if I'm honest, but I decided I really needed to try it out before I could judge it properly. The handle comes up to just above my waist (I'm 5'8") and you have to step on the left of the base to get the handle to lean right back. The water tank is situated right at the front of the cleaner and it holds 0.5 litres and it's completely transparent so you can see exactly how much water there is left inside as you go about cleaning the floors.

We have different sorts of floors in our home (lino in the kitchen, tiles in the upstairs and downstairs loos), hard wood flooring in the hallway and porch, and laminate floor in all the bedrooms and the conservatory. We bought this particular model as it was advertised as being suitable for all sorts of floor types (including marble!!) and we thought it was the ideal choice for this reason. I hate cleaning the kitchen and other hardwood floors in our house, it's a real chore and it can take me ages boiling kettles and mopping them over, not to mention how long they take to dry. So, we also bought this thinking that it would save me loads of time.

The cleaner also came with two blue triangular shaped floor 'cloths', which tie onto the base of the cleaner. These can be washed at up to 40 degrees in a washing machine and are obviously able to be reused time and time again. They can also be bought individually for this particular model of machine. The cleaner also comes with a grey triangular shaped base for standing it on whilst it's heating up and cooling down.

My husband filled the water tank as instructed and then I plugged it in. There are two little buttons right at the front of the machine. One lights up as soon as it's connected to the electricity supply and the other one lights up as green as soon as the water has heated up to a sufficient level. It takes less than a minute until the light turns green - at least that's what was supposed to happen.

The light on my machine turned green instantly - just as soon as I plugged it into the socket. I immediately knew that there was something wrong as the instructions state that it takes around 30 to 60 seconds to heat up. I immediately told my husband and he told me just to use it anyway and see what happened.

I depressed the base, pulled the handle towards me, pressed the small trigger to release the steam and then proceeded to navigate it around my kitchen floor. It made a 'steamy' sort of noise but it left long watermarks and streaks all over the place. When I bent down to feel the floor, I could feel that the water was cold and hadn't heated up at all. We rang the 'VAX' help line and they advised us to return it to the store.

To cut a long story short, we received a replacement model and this time it DID take the estimated 30-60 seconds for the green light to appear. I find using this steam cleaner so simple and easy, not to mention quick. It glides easily round the floor and also around corners, as the base has a kind of 'swivel head' and it also allows me to clean right up to the edge of the room, which means that no floor space gets missed out.

The only problem I do find is in the upstairs bathroom, where I cannot manage to push the cleaner right up the sides of the toilet as it's too large and the space is too small. I always make sure I've vacuumed or 'Swiffed' the floors with my 'Swiffer' broom before I start to use the steamer, as obviously it doesn't pick up debris, it simply cleans. It's so lightweight to use and there is no pulling or pushing a heavy machine around the floor, like I do with a normal vacuum cleaner. The cord is also really long and it stretches from one end of the room to the other. The cord isn't retractable, however, it has to be manually coiled up and placed on the back of the machine.

I really cannot stress enough what a massive difference this cleaner has made in terms of saving time and energy in cleaning the floors in my house. It's unbelievable how quickly I can just clean a room, and what's more, the drying time is incredibly quick as the machine uses steam, rather than water to clean the floor. As we have pets, it's been an absolute Godsend, especially at this time of the year when they come into the house and tread wet paw prints everywhere. I just whip out the Vax and it's clean and dry in no time at all.

I do think the best results have been in the bedrooms (which all have laminate floors). I've even found it's managed to pick up some stains. I press down on the handle to release the steam and leave it over the stain for about thirty seconds and it seem to 'lift' the mark out of the laminate.

It's been the best £67 I've spent in a long time and if you are thinking about shelling out for any kind of steam cleaner, I'd totally recommend the VAX S2 model. It's perfect, very reasonably priced and I'd happily recommend it to anyone.

Also posted on Ciao! as basketofbuttons