Product Review: Swiffer Carpet Flick

I've promised you honest product reviews, even if they aren't great--so that's what you're getting today.

The folks at Swiffer let me try their new Carpet Flick.  It looks a lot like a mini-vacuum, though it's not electric.  You simply put a Swiffer cloth in the bottom and roll over your carpet messes.  It's designed for "carpet crumbs"; everything from glitter to food crumbs to grass clippings. 

I was a little disappointed in it, honestly.  I let the kids take a handful of potato chips, smash them up, and drop them on the living room carpet (the look of wonder on their face was truly worth the trouble).  To get the Flick to work, I had to go back and forth and back and forth and back and forth so many times that it probably would've been simpler just to have leaned down and picked up the chip crumbs with my fingers.  And it only worked when I pressed the Flick very hard into the carpet. 

In fairness, I tried it on a few other items--some leaves, some dirt and some beads.  It does do as it advertises, but it requires so much elbow grease that I'm not sure it's worth the trouble and expense (refills cost $5 for 12 cloths, and the Flick itself costs $14). 

I'm giving the Swiffer Carpet Flick a 3.5 Rocks rating:

The good news is that Swiffer is conducting a sweepstakes that looks like fun.  You can find more details here, but the general idea is to fill out the entry form for a chance to win.  The prizes are as follows:

1.        Grand Prize Winner: $3,500 toward a home makeover
2.        25 First Prize Winners: A Swiffer WetJet
3.        6 Weekly Winners: A year’s supply of Swiffer Products

If you'd like, you can send them a photo of your "clean interior holiday decorated home" (they lost me right there) and they might include it in their on-line photo gallery.

My product review policy can be found here.