REASONS TO BUY
Lots of cleaning accessories
REASONS TO AVOID
Large and heavy
Average cleaning performance
Takes a long time to heat up
Pure Enrichment PureClean XL Rolling Review
A large and cumbersome device that doesn't offer any advantages to outweigh its large cumbersomeness
Credit: Pure Enrichment
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Our Verdict
With a massive water tank and multiple cleaning accessories, the Pure Enrichment PureClean XL Rolling looks like a great machine for big cleaning jobs. However, in our testing, it did not live up to that promise. The water tank takes 8 minutes to heat up, whereas all the other models we tested take less than a minute. It also does not offer hands-free pad replacement, so you'll have to wait for everything to cool down if you need to change pads in the middle of cleaning. Those things combined mean it is more time consuming to clean big messes with this machine than other, smaller steam mops. For big messes we recommend the Shark Lift-Away Pro instead. Though its water tank is 1/3rd the size, it heats up 8 times as fast. It also offers hands-free pad replacement, so you can change pads on the go without waiting for the machine to cool down.
Our Analysis and Test Results
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Performance Comparison
The Pure Enrichment PureClean XL Rolling performed at or below average in all of our testing metrics. For full details on its performance, the sections below compare its performance in all of our tests to its competing models.
Cleaning Performance
Like all of our mops, the PureClean XL Rolling cleaned standard messes on tile and stone flooring fairly well. Its cleaning head releases fairly even steam, so even the corners of the rectangular pad clean fairly well. The steam isn't perfectly even, so cleaning edges (where you can only get the extreme edges of the cleaning head in contact with the floor) takes a few more passes and a bit more elbow grease to get celan than with top performing mops like the Bissell PowerFresh Deluxe or the Shark Lift-Away Pro. This respectable, but not outstanding performance earned it an overall score of 6 out of 10.
When it comes to stubborn stains, the PureClean XL Rolling's standard floor cleaning pad is mediocre. The steam can loosen bad stains a bit, but certainly can't remove them. However, it does have a number of cleaning brush accessories, and we were always able to find one that let us get out stubborn stains with a little added elbow grease. This is somewhat similar to the performance of the Bissell's scrubbing brush. However, the Bissell's brush is coarser than the coarsest of the PureClean's brushes, and thus a bit more effective. Also, you can pretty seamlessly switch between the Bissell's brush and its standard cleaning pad thanks to a convenient foot pedal. The PureClean requires that you change the brushes by hand, thus you need to wait until the machine is relatively cool to switch between brushes. Finally, though we found that these brushes worked reasonably well, they wore out incredibly quickly. After just a few cleaning sessions they were useless globs of plastic.
The PureClean can handle standard mopping duties, but it struggles with more stubborn stains.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
The PureClean has no control over its steam power: it's essentially all or nothing. This should be a dealbreaker for those that want to go against our advice and clean floors other than tile or stone, as the full blast steam power increases the risk of damage on less than ideal floors.
User Friendliness
The PureClean was one of the least user friendly models we tested, earning a score or just 3 out of 10.
The PureClean's annoyingness mostly springs from its water tank. First off, the opening is a paltry half inch, so it's really easy to spill when you're trying to fill it up. For context, every other model we tested had openings of 1 inch or more. The tank is also opaque, so you can't tell how much water is left. Only one other model we tested had a tank that wasn't clear. Finally, you might think that the huge, 1500ml capacity would let you clean large areas very quickly. That isn't the case, as it takes the machine a full 8 minutes to heat up. All of the other models we tested had tanks of 400 to 500 ml capacity, but they all heat up in less than a minute. So you can either take about 3 minutes to fill and heat a 500ml tank 3 times, or you can spill a bunch of water filling the PureClean, and then sit around for 8 minutes while it heats up. We'd choose the former.
The large body can be cumbersome to drag around.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Lastly, the PureClean uses a velcro attachment for its cleaning pad. We didn't like velcro attachments, as it requires getting your hands intimate with the dirt and grime in the pad to remove it. In contrast, the Bissell has an elastic attachment with a convenient pull tab, and many of the Shark models have hands-free pad changing.
Maneuverability
The PureClean is maneuverable enough, but certainly did not impress us with its agility. That resulted in an average score of 5 out of 10.
The PureClean feels like an old vacuum cleaner, with one large rolling unit on the floor with a hose that runs to the mop. This is larger and more cumbersome than all of the other models we tested. The Triangular head also isn't ideal for edge cleaning, but does a good job of getting into corners. The power cord is only 16 feet, which we didn't find particularly limiting in any of the homes we tested it in, but most models have at least 20 feet of cord.
The scrubbing brush deteriorated after a few uses.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Features
The PureClean does include a number of cleaning accessories (including 3 different cleaning brushes with multiple heads). However, these accessories don't feel nearly as high quality as those included with the Shark Lift-Away Pro, so we only awarded it a score of 6 out of 10. Case in point: the scrubbing brush, which we found to be the most useful accessory, wore out after just a few cleaning sessions.
Value
At $140, the PureClean is one of the most expensive mops we tested, and we don't think its mediocre performance warrants such a high price. If you want a mop with lots of accessories that is capable of cleaning large areas and large messes, we think the $160 Shark Lift-Away Pro is well worth the small bump up in price, and a much better value overall.
Conclusion
The Pure Enrichment PureClean XL Rolling failed to impress us in our testing, and comes with a fairly high price tag. Whether you just want to clean standard messes, or want a big mop with lots of accessories, there are better options available.
—
Max Mutter and Steven Tata
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