swiffer me this…. You get a call from a Realtor saying they would like to show your home… that’s great, but what do you do when they want to look at it THE SAME DAY and your house is far from clean? Well, if you’re the Green Gear family, you bust out a platoon of easy cleaning products, chief among them…. the Method omop.

What is the omop?  It is a swiffer type floor cleaning tool that picks up dirt, grime, and dust as well washes it to a fancy sheen. The omop has a host of built in environmental talking points. All the packaging is made of bamboo and 100% compostable or recyclable. All of the cleaners are non-toxic and concentrated (using less water to make). The cleaning sheets are recyclable and made sustainably. Also, the microfiber shammy you attach to the omop is reusable, just wash it when it gets dirty.

But does it work? Yes it does. We’ve used it a number of times on both hardwood and laminate flooring and it cleans both of them really well. We couldn’t be happier with the way this product works.

The only drawback we see with the omop is that it is starting to show signs of wear. When you clean flooring, you need to put some elbow grease in it to get the job done right, and at times both my wife and I have experienced the omop bowing. Also, the handle broke off when my wife was using it and the grippy pads that hold on the microfiber cloth are starting to come off.

Here is the video review

RATING: 3 out of 5 Gears for Being made of recycled material, price, and being ready for prime time.

A week or so ago we reviewed a set of paper recycled towels from Giant Eagle.  If you read this review you can understand why our quest to find a better paper towel continued on.  Well, Mrs. Green Gear and I were at Anderson’s (a great store BTW, what I would expect if a trader joes ever mated with a home depot) and ran across a HUGE pack of 100% recycled Paper Towels from a company called Atlantic.  These were far and away less expensive, a pack of 12 rolls were only $6.99, that’s pretty hard to beat.  In addition, they are perforated into smaller sizes, giving you more utility.

That’s the good part, the bad part is that these paper towels are equally useless, perhaps more so, when it comes to messes.  They practically shrink when they come into contact with any moisture and as a result require me to use more towels.  Thus negating part of the eco-benefit.  If you want to see a video of this product in action, I”ll refer you to the one I shot for the Giant Eagle Paper Towels, it’s pretty much the same. 

I’m at a loss as to how i should grade these.  They earn one gear for sure for being recycled.  Not using any virgin pulp (risque?) is a big plus… And they are priced lower than the competition, but they perform far lower too, so that makes sense…. boy… decisions, decisions…

I’m gonna be tough.

RATING: 1 out of 5 Gears for being made of 100% recycled content

ASK@GREENGEAR.INFO

A quick break from reviews today to remind you that I love getting emails (and comments on the site).  If you’re a reader and have heard about a great product that I haven’t heard of, drop me a line and tell me about it.  If you read my review of the Klean Kanteen and thought i was wicked unfair, send me an email and give me hell!  I love it all. 

Also, if you’re a budding (or otherwise), green product manufacturer and want to give your products some exposure, send me an email. 

Email Folks!  Like real mail without the cool stamps.

I really like aerators!  Who Doesn’t?  They cost very little.  They Save Water and Money AT THE SAME TIME!!!!

Enough aerator love!  Today I am reviewing  the Neoperl Bubble-Stream Dual Flow Kitchen Aerator.  This is a chrome finish aerator that allows the user to choose a .5GPM spray stream or 2.2GPM flow with the click of a switch. Why is this a good thing?  Why not just have a .5GPM (or lower) stream all the time?  Well, in the kichen more than any other room, people often require a specific amount of water for a given task.. filling a water bottle or getting 2 cups of water for baking, for instance.  While a .5GPM aerator solves this task, it often takes a VERY LONG TIME, and passes the level of practicality and functionality that most people ask.

That’s one reason why this is a great product, it offers BOTH, with a default for the lower flow.  All you need to do is to pull down on the black bottom and it will give you a higher flow rate, when you’re done and pressure is releaved, it resets to .5GPM.  No fuss, no muss.  Just saving water the easy way.

Another thing I really like about this product is the fact that it’s stylish.  Most Dual flow aerators i’ve seen are ugly and look like some sort of metalic growth.. This does not, while it does protrude, it doesn’t do it too much to offend.  If you have a stainless sink, this is a perfect fit.  It’s easy to install too.

What else?  Well, the best news is that this wonderful product only costs $5 at popular stores, i got this one at home depot.

I honestly thing this product is for everyone looking to conserve water, save money on energy bills… or BOTH!

Check out the video review, complete with comic relief.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Gears for Price, Water Savings, Product Detail and Quality, and Being Ready for Primetime!

Today we’re going to be reviewing a more festive green product.  StayBright 100 LED White Christmas Lights by General Electric.  Last Year Mrs. Green Gear and I picked up a 9 ft. Strand of Multicolored LED Christmas lights (which are still going strong) for $20.  But this year, the strand is 33ft long and only 14.99 (at costco).

These look like traditional xmas lights and are graded for indoor and outdoor use.  Each light has a frosted texture to it that adds to the festivity.  Because these are made by GE you can tell that they are a quality product.  They even have a constant on feature where if you break one of the lights, the rest stay on.

The only downside we see here is that even with the energy (see green) savings of the product you are still going to spend more than you would on traditional christmas lights, so we don’t see this product moving from niche to mass adoption any time soon.  But they are some pretty nice lights for people looking to use less energy.  (quick fact, LEDs also require far less energy to manufactuer than traditional lights).  Happy Holidays!

Rating: 3 out of 5 Gears for Reduced Energy to Manufacture, Reduced Energy Consumption, and Product Quality

Green Daily, one of the sites that I link on my blogroll today listed the top 8 green gadgets of 2007. I must say, I’m pretty disapointed! First of all, 5 out of the 8 are power chargers for your cell phone or ipod. Honestly, how much do you spend per year on powering your ipod? 4, maybe 5 dollars? How much electricity does it use? My guess is not much. So automatically 5 out of 8 are completely impractical. Sure, it’s an impressive gift to show your friends at the local co-op, but the only thing it proves is that you’re an idiot who spent $50 bucks to save $5. This is a good example of how the green community sells the idea of being energy efficient poorly.

My favorite gadget on there, has to be the glowing um…. thing (seen above) that you plug into your breaker and it monitors your power consumption. When you’re using “too much” it glows a firey red. When you’re good and eco friendly, it glows a soft blue. Oh, and it costs $250. This, also, is not practical. First off, most of a home’s energy consumption comes from large appliences. What is this thing going to tell you? “Hey Mr. Green Gear, Your Refrigerator is still on! What’s wrong with you? Don’t you love the environment?” This thing wouldn’t last 2 days in my home before it met the fury of a 12 gauge. Stupid Orbish glowy thing!

Their #1 product through, is kind of interesting. It’s a regular power strip that hooks into your computer’s USB. So if you’re like me and everyone else I know, you leave a ton of things on when you turn off yoru computer, Lamp, Printer, etc… This solves that problem, for the price of a good surge protector! Kinda cool.

Check out their list, here.

Oh, and before you jump on me… What is my best green product of the year? Well, I haven’t been at this for too long, so I’ll go with the bricor low flow showerhead! And of the products I haven’t reviewed, I’d say the Toyota Camry Hybrid, Ford Escape Hybrid, Kill-A-Watt power Monitor, and Dimmable CFL. Good, Practical, Energy Saving Products… but then again… They don’t glow fancy colors!