Review:Vapor Clean Gaia

[richy]

I had mentioned in this thread (just bought a gaia vapour clean) that I had purchased a Vapor Clean Gaia model steam cleaner and extractor. I finally got it home late last night and took the instructions to work today and read the booklet straight through. I filled it with water and turned it on. I had no idea how long it would take to heat up but I had completely filled it. It took 10 minutes which I didn't think was too bad. First I sprayed kitchen chair with Folex that was badly stained thanks to the kids. I did not remove the Folex and let it soak while the machine heated up. Then I cleaned the chair. It seemed to clean it very well..not quite 100%..there was a purple stain (maybe grape juice) that had been there for a long time..it got about 90% of it out. It got the chair wetter than I thought it would, but the instructions said to use full steam pressure on upholstery..when I do cars, I think I may use the low setting and see how it goes. You can alter the setting of the steam as well as the vacuum...I had both on high as per instructions.
Next up I did a section of grout. Our house is 8 years old and the grout has only ever been done before by my poor wife on her hands and knees with a toothbrush and bleach. I was BLOWN AWAY by how quickly and effectively it cleaned the grout. This is one tool where I think I am going to dream up lots of uses for. Here are some before and after pics of the chair (it's still damp in the afters) as well as the grout.
Bottom line..Especially for the house, this is a must have! My only gripe so far is small: There is no clips to wrap the cord around (which is fairly long). Their website offers free shipping(Steam cleaner, steam cleaners, steam cleaning, steam vapor cleaners). I bought mine off ebay and saved about $70 or so. Be careful if you buy off ebay though, I was watching a few who actually paid MORE than they would have from the site b/c of the shipping charges.Vapor Clean Gaia - Steam Cleaner with Vacuum - eBay (item 230243058423 end time Apr-19-08 19:09:34 PDT)

BEFORES OF CHAIR:





AFTERS OF CHAIR (STILL DAMP):




BEFORE AND AFTER OF GROUT:



PIC OF MACHINE AND ACCESSORY BAG:

[Stephan]

Looks great, I got a vapor cleaner last year and the thing is fatastic at cleaning, plus when you are cleaning inside you can use it and replace alot of those chemicals that have heavy smells...

[Mr. Clean]

That company does OK on selling products, but I have found them extremely lacking in post sales service. I have one of their vapor cleaners that is at this point non-functional. They don't return e-mails, and are sporadic at best at returning phone calls.

When my machine worked, it performed wonderfully. I am looking for a replacement. If anyone has a credible reference please pm me.

[Stephan]

I have a VX 5000 commercial vapor system and it works great, I have had no problems with it...

It does a great job on pretty much everything...

[ArmstrongDetailing]

Originally Posted by Mr. Clean

That company does OK on selling products, but I have found them extremely lacking in post sales service. I have one of their vapor cleaners that is at this point non-functional. They don't return e-mails, and are sporadic at best at returning phone calls.

When my machine worked, it performed wonderfully. I am looking for a replacement. If anyone has a credible reference please pm me.

I usually don't knock companies especially on the forum but this company has let me down with their customer service as well. I used to have one of their machines and it wasn't a quality unit at all. It broke within the first few months which didn't surpise me. I paid to ship it to them for repair under warranty and then they required me to pay to have them ship it back to me! That is just wrong. But that is not the worst part. I get the machine back and the hose is all messed up with exposed wires and the machine was missing 2 of it's wheels! Then when I finally got a hold of someone there was no apology and they took their time sending me replacement parts for the pieces they ruined or lost. Frankly, I'm surpised they are still in business.

(Can you tell I am not one of their biggest fans)

[Mr. Clean]

Well if you never require any post sales support/service, you would assume that they are a fine company. I had no problem with them taking my order and my money.

[scrubs147]

Got my VX5000 from Vapor Systems. Great machine

[Mr. Clean]

Scrubs, they may have actually done you a favor. Based on my limited experience with the company you might find a better product and company to deal with.