Is a £30 steam mop the best way to a chemical-free clean? We put it to the test

It seems like lots of people are opting for steam cleaners as a natural and thorough way to clean their homes. And one of the most popular options right now is the £30 Russell Hobbs Steam and Clean Lightweight Steam Mop. It's affordable and compact, but is it as good as more expensive models?

You've probably seen the Russell Hobbs Steam and Clean Lightweight Steam Mop celebrated as an impressive, affordable steam cleaner for anyone looking to elevate their cleaning toolkit. With similar models at twice (sometimes thrice) the price, we had to see how it would compare against the best steam cleaners our woman&home team has tested.

Our expert tester, Linda, has been cleaning her home from head to toe to find out whether the Russell Hobbs is up to the task and a genuinely good rival for the likes of VAX and Bissell. Here's what she found.

Russell Hobbs Steam and Clean Lightweight Steam Mop review

• RRP: £29.99
• Dimensions: 1,170 x 300 x 150 mm (H x W x D)
• Weight: 2.3kg
• Power: 1450 W
• Water tank capacity: 350ml
• Settings: Laminate, refresh carpets
• Warranty: 2 years (2nd year requires registration)

How we tested this steam mop

Before you find out all about what we found when testing this steam mop, it helps to know a little bit more about the person who tested it.

Linda Harrison

Linda is part of our tester network. She has a busy family home with pets and plenty of different floor types, so always needs help with having her home sparkling. She's been living with the Russell Hobbs Steam and Clean Lightweight Steam Mop for months to see what it's like.

Who would the Russell Hobbs Steam and Clean Lightweight Steam Mop suit?

At £30, it's immediately obvious that the Russell Hobbs Steam and Clean Lightweight Steam Mop is a brilliant budget steam cleaner. It's svelte, pared-back and easy to store, so covers a lot of bases for small homes and small budgets alike.

Also, unlike some bulkier models this is ideal if you want to make cleaning sweat-free and simple. Our expert tester, Linda, explains that it "leaves the heavy lifting to the gym. Its genius lightweight design makes it easy to carry around the house. And it just glided over floors - instantly making our mop redundant."

As a steam cleaner, it also comes with the bonus of chemical-free cleaning. On the website, it claims to kill up to 99.9% of bacteria, so is a brilliant switch for anyone looking to take a more natural approach to keeping their home sparkling.

Unboxing the Russell Hobbs Steam and Clean Lightweight Steam Mop

Steam cleaners can come in bulky, heavy boxes, which is why it's important to celebrate when brands make a concerted effort to get it right. With a slim, fully recycled box, Linda was happy to give the Russell Hobbs a "big green tick" because everything could go in her recycling.

Alongside the mop, Russell Hobbs sends 2 microfibre pads, a carpet glider, cooling tray, filler cup, and the handle. It's a relatively pared-back array of extras, but that makes it easier to store and simple to set up too. Linda explained the process as "intuitive and a simple matter of slotting pieces together." She also noted that the accessories "earned their keep" as valuable extras that expanded the machine's versatility. Plus, it was still small enough to fit in Linda's "overflowing under the stairs cupboard," which is proof of just how conveniently compact it is.

What is the Russell Hobbs Steam and Clean Lightweight Steam Mop like to use?

In my book, cleaning needs to be a path of least resistance, otherwise you'll never do it. Linda is new to steam cleaners, but still found the Russell Hobbs Steam and Clean Mop "was very simple to set up". Once the pad is stuck on the base and the water filled (which has a bit of a nack), it will be ready to go. There are just two settings - on and off - which you can control with a dial.

Linda timed a 30 second heat up for the machine with a quiet hissing noise. This is incredibly quick, as some mops can take up to two minutes, so you can start cleaning really quickly.

Linda started her tests on her entrance hall tiles. She explains, "I have to come clean here (excuse the pun): I don’t think these tiles had been mopped since we moved into our home three years ago (although they had been vacuumed). This area is near the front door and gets a LOT of daily use." This means that there are lots of layers of stubborn dirt, but Linda noticed the tiles looking cleaner straight away.

After a few passes, the floor was sparkling. Even visitors commented and complimented the new shine in her entrance hall, which Linda describes as a "job well done." She did note that the 5m cord was a little limiting. She needed to keep plugging and unplugging as she moved around the house. "This isn’t a huge problem if you have an average-sized home," says Linda, "but if you’re blessed with long hallways or a large open-plan kitchen-diner, it could be something to consider. I opted for an extension cable in the end." There are plenty of other models that have 8-9m cords, so you don't always need to settle for the extension cord option if you're willing to shop around.

Linda moved onto her kitchen tiles, which pose a different problem. Whilst the kitchen gets plenty of cleaning, there are more spills, oils, and stubborn colours and sticky foods that find their way on the floor. However, Linda found that the Russell Hobbs "left the kitchen tiles gleaming - much more than with our usual mop. It was a far quicker job than mopping too. The floor was slightly wet afterwards but the drying time was similar to mopping."

There was one small caveat, which is that the rounded shape at the front doesn't quite reach into the corners under cupboards. I've seen this issue on similar steam mops before. It's often a compromise that comes with cheaper models and is easily rectified with a microfibre cloth. More expensive models might be better with crevices, but, of course they come with a price.

Linda wanted to test the Russell Hobbs on some wetter spills, so used it on water on the kitchen floor. She was impressed to see that the liquid was absorbed in "a reassuring plume of extra steam in seconds".

After 15 minutes, Linda needed to refill the mop. It's a shorter time frame than some more expensive mops, but Linda was happy to see this as a "fair trade off for making it lightweight". I'd also add that you can do a lot of mopping in fifteen minutes. Another part of maintenance is "the microfiber floor pads needed swapping after each room," however, Linda did note "our house has a high footfall with family, visitors and a rescue cat that uses the cat flap on repeat."

The final test was to fit the glider to freshen up Linda's living room carpet. Linda notes this is another high footfall area for humans and pets, but felt she "couldn’t actually see a huge difference from one clean, but that could be because the carpet is a grey colour." She tried it on thinner materials, which is where she noted greater difference. The IKEA entrance hall rug cleaned well with the mop. Linda "was pleasantly surprised that one steam clean was enough to lift some ground-in dirt - evident by the colour of the floor pad afterwards."

Reflecting on her experience, Linda noted that "a big win for me was the lightweight design," she loved the feel of how the "steam cleaner glides over floors with hardly any effort. Multi-tasking and cleaning the floor one-handed while chatting on the phone? No problem." This is enhanced by the fact that the mop only weighs 3 kg, which makes it easy to transport. Linda didn't struggle moving up and down stairs to tackle grime and grease throughout the house.

Cleaning and maintaining the Russell Hobbs Steam and Clean Lightweight Steam Mop

Whether your steam cleaner is effective or not, it's important that it's easy to clean too. Linda described it as "a doddle". The floor pads velcro off and can go into the washing machine, which is simple. Linda noted "the pads are thick but fairly quick to dry. And simply wipe down the main steam cleaner to freshen it up."

Linda added that "after numerous uses, the pads did start to go slightly out of shape at the corners. But this wouldn’t stop me buying the steam cleaner as it did such a fantastic overall job for the price - plus you can buy replacement pads online."

Should you buy the Russell Hobbs Steam and Clean Lightweight Steam Mop?

The perfect person to ask whether you should buy the Russell Hobbs Steam Clean Mop is Linda. She definitively said "I would 100% recommend this steam cleaner to a friend. It was lightweight, rapid at heating up, speedy to use, and easy to store and clean. It also uses absolutely no chemicals, which is something that I love as I’m on a mission to avoid as many hormone disrupters as possible."

If you're happy to have an extension lead and clean into the corners, you couldn't invest in a better budget steam cleaner.