21st Century Cleaning: Review of Scrubbing Bubble Automatic Shower Cleaner

So, the cool people over at BzzAgent.com hooked me up with a neat little gadget from Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner. Brilliant, huh?

When they asked if I wanted to test it out and tell people what I thought, I was like, "Uh... yeah!" I already used Scrubbing Bubbles as my cleaner of choice in the bathtubs and sinks, so I was hoping I'd be pleased, and I am. Here's the low-down.

the set-up

Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner is a daily cleaner that is safe on most showers and cleans literally with the press of a button. The "new and improved" version that I got has two sprayers that rotate 360 degrees. One sprayer sprays wide, reaching most of the shower. The other sprayer sprays more focused targeting the rim of the tub.

The cleaner machine sells for around $14.99 for the whole contraption, which comes with a bottle of cleaner that is supposed to be about a 21-day supply. We've used ours for 14 days, and I think it will last longer than 1 more week. Refills cost $3.99 each. Coupons are available when you sing up for The Scrubbing Bubbles Bulletin.

the good

Quick and Easy: This is really the biggest benefit of the cleaner. No more scrubbing the shower stall. Heck! This is so easy that Billy has taken it as his task. Each morning after he showers, he simply closes the curtain and pushes the button. Viola!

Fresh Scent: I can be picky about smells. I've always found that I like Scrubbing Bubbles smells. But this shower cleaner is even more mild and fresher than their spray foam. (I will say that the automatic toilet cleaning gel I got in my bzzagent package is pretty strong, but it works, too, so I've decided the scent is worth not donning the rubber gloves and sticking my hands in the toilet once a week!)

It Actually Works: I will admit... I was super skeptical. Most things that are toted as "easy" are not good cleaners. I typically believe that you have to put some effort into it to do a good job. This shower cleaner is curing me of that belief.

the bad

One Noisy Little Bugger: The cleaner beeps at you for about 15 seconds before it cleans. You know... so you can make sure your door's closed, curtain closed... whatever. Once it starts it makes more noise than you thought it could, but it's not obnoxious. The first time Billy used it, he thought it would wake me up, but it didn't.

Missing Spots: While the cleaner's nozzle rotate 360 degrees, they don't tilt up or down. So, the spray only hits the walls about chest high and down, leaving the top 1/3 of the shower uncleaned. This is not a big deal to me, since we don't tend to get the top 1/2 of our shower dirty. But, it's something to note in a review.

A bigger deal is that it doesn't seem to cut through on our textured shower floor. The videos on the website show a very dirty shower getting clean, so I didn't clean my shower before installing the auto cleaner. The walls are looking good, as are the ledge of the tub and the shower curtain, but the floor is falling behind. It's getting clean, just not at the same pace.

the verdict

Definitely a great product! I typically wouldn't spend $15 on a cleaner product, but when you look at it as a tool, instead of just the cleaning solution, I'd say it's worth it as a one-time investment. The refills are a little pricey, too, but I would say that if you clean your shower really well before using this tool, you could get by with every other day and stretch out the cleaning solution to up to 2 months. That only averages about $2 a month (without coupons!)

Have you ever tried an automatic shower cleaner? Would you?