We recommend currently available hard floor cleaners with a CHOICE expert rating of 75% or higher.

How easy the controls are to use and whether there are any indicators to alert you to an empty clean water tank or full dirty water tank, as well as battery level indicators.

How easy it is to fill and empty the clean and dirty water tanks.

How easy it is to move the cleaning head on the floor.

How easy it is to clean the roller (either automatically or manually).

The CHOICE Expert Rating is made up of floor cleaning (40%), floor drying (20%) and ease of use (40%). 

We measure how long it takes for our laminate floor to dry after mopping. The shorter the time, the higher the score.

We apply four stains (coffee, mud, jam and soy sauce) to laminate flooring for our cleaning test and mop the stained floor before evaluating cleaning performance.

The ease of use score is made up of: ease of filling and emptying the clean and dirty water tanks, ease of using the controls and whether it has indicators to alert you to an empty clean water tank or full dirty water tank, as well as battery level indicators, ease of moving the cleaning head on the floor and ease of cleaning the roller.

Noise is measured at the user's position. For comparison, a typical conversation is carried out at about 60dB, while city traffic is measured at around 80dB.

Shop Ethical rates the environmental and social impact of the company (not the product) using independent sources. This rating is not included in our total score. N/A means there is no rating for that company.

The model has a claimed origin somewhere on the model itself. This ought to be taken with a grain of salt, given it's rare that all the materials for a product came from the one country.

Recommended retail or typical price.

The measured running time on a full charge.

Capacity of the hard floor cleaner's dirty water tank, as measured by our tester.

Capacity of the hard floor cleaner's clean water tank, as measured by our tester. 

The detergent to be used, as recommended by the manufacturer.

Rather than just the length of the cord, this figure is the distance between the power point and the front edge of the floor mop, and includes the power cord (and hose and wand, if applicable).

The manufacturer's stated wattage.

Generally refers to manufacturer website.

Whether there is a self-cleaning mode to help rinse debris from the floor head.

Whether the unit is also able to be used on carpet (most are dedicated hard floor cleaners).

A filter will help separate solid debris from the dirty water for easier disposal.