Finding the right tools and techniques for keeping the floors in your home clean can feel like an uphill battle —?we know, because we spend a lot of time thinking about (and testing!) vacuums, mops and carpet cleaners.
So when a new floor care tool comes along, like the Broombi, we sit up and take notice. But is the silicone broom as good as it claims to be? I took the original and mini versions for a spin around my home —?and the home of a neighbor with cats — spilling water and breaking glass along the way to find out if the Broombi is worth a spot in your cleaning arsenal.
A true standout for removing pet hair from upholstered furniture, bedding, clothes and more, the Mini Broombi would be a smart purchase for anyone with a four-legged friend that sheds a lot.
What I liked about it
It gets an A++ when it comes to pet hair (and kitty litter!) cleanup
Pet parents, gather ‘round! This is the thing you need for keeping Rover’s or Roxie’s drifts of fur at bay. The silicone blade quickly and easily picked up massive amounts of cat hair from wall-to-wall carpet, which clumped up into balls that were easy to pick up and toss in the trash. Additionally, the Broombi excelled at removing pet hair from upholstered furniture —?a few quick passes pulled up lots of hair, leaving the couch fur-free and looking a lot cleaner.
The Broombi also made quick work of sweeping up kitty litter from hardwood floors, making it a two-for-one cleaning tool for cat parents. However, when it comes to litter cleanup, you would still need a dustpan to finish the job —?and the Broombi’s dustpan is sold separately (more on that later).
But back to that pet hair: If you have a high-shed pet (or human!) and are looking for a tool to keep fur off of furniture, bedding and clothing, I would recommend the Broombi Mini over the original. The shorter blade and handle are easier to use on furniture, and the small footprint makes it easy to stash in a drawer or tuck in an unobtrusive but easy-to-reach spot so you can quickly grab it and give furry furniture a once-over as needed.
In fact, I recommend the Broombi Mini so much that I contacted several people I know who are in a constant state of war against fur to say, “You need this thing!”
The one-piece retractable, adjustable handle extends to 55 inches
When fully extended, the Broombi’s handle is 55 inches long, providing a lot of reach for high-up and other hard-to-access places. But the best part about the handle’s design is that it is retractable, so you can adjust the length by simply twisting the handle and extending or retracting the pole to the desired length.
If I can offer one piece of advice on choosing telescoping cleaning tools, it’s to always opt for a retractable handle, as opposed to a handle that extends by adding separate pieces. The beloved O-Cedar EasyWring Microfiber Spin Mop is an example of an extendable handle that retracts into itself, whereas the Delux Baseboard Cleaning Tool, an otherwise fantastic item, got dinged in our review because its handle comes in four separate parts — requiring assembly to use and to put away.
The Broombi’s retractable handle is better designed than the O-Cedar handle, which can be cumbersome and glitchy, in my experience. I also appreciate that there’s a hole for hanging the tool when not in use. The handle is one feature that the Broombi got really right.
It is excellent at restoring the nap of medium- to high-pile rugs
If you have a medium- or high-pile rug, you know this struggle: The most highly trafficked sections, like the area in front of the couch or the pathway to the kitchen, become matted over time. Even with regular vacuuming, the pile will lose its loft and nap from being walked on all the time, resulting in a dingy and worn look.
I used the Broombi to fluff up the section of medium-pile area rug along the front of my couch, which takes a beating not just from walking on it, but because I am a floor-sitter. (You can tell exactly where on the floor I sit by the sad, matted section of carpet I like to perch on.) It proved to be the best tool I’ve tried so far for restoring its nap. A few quick passes with the Broombi fluffed the carpet fibers right up, reviving sections that had become matted and sad-looking.
It is easy to clean
One of my particular nits when it comes to cleaning tools is that I feel terribly put out when it comes to cleaning the tools themselves. I just get so deeply annoyed when I have to clean, say, the vacuum or the toilet brush. So when a tool comes along that is super easy to clean, I have to give it its due. The Broombi is so easy to clean after you’re done using it — simply rinse the blade under cool running water and/or wipe it with a microfiber cloth. That’s it!
What I didn’t like about it
The silicone blade feels flimsy
The first thing I noticed when I used the Broombi was how flimsy its silicone blade felt. The blade uses what’s called “quad-blade technology,” with four ridges along the blade designed to dislodge debris and create static electricity that attracts and captures dirt, dust and other fine particles. While the flexibility of the blade is a plus, throughout testing I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was wobbly and bendable in ways that made using the Broombi uncomfortable.
The dustpan is sold separately —?and the price for the set is more than you should pay for this product
Broombi provided CNN Underscored with a sample of its signature product, the Original Broombi, which does not include a dustpan. Without a dustpan, the tool was virtually useless when it came to cleaning up broken glass and liquid spills — two things the brand claims the broom can do. We ran into this issue while cleaning up cat litter too; once it’s in a pile, you need a dustpan to get the mess off the floor. Broombi does offer a long-handled standup dustpan, but it is sold separately, or it can be purchased as part of a set for $65.
To me, $65 is a lot of money to spend on a silicone broom and dustpan set. But if you are willing to spend that much, I would encourage you instead to invest in the Dotti Broom & Dustpan. At $85, it’s still outrageously expensive but it’s also the best broom — silicone or otherwise —?I’ve ever used. It is as close to perfect as a broom can get, and it is also tremendously attractive.
It made an absolute mess of cleaning glass, mirrors and tile
Broombi boasts that its squeegee-like design makes it the perfect tool for cleaning glass, windows and other hard surfaces (like tile shower walls or marble floors). In my testing, I found the opposite to be true: The Broombi made an absolute mess of these surfaces, leaving them looking worse than they started out —?and requiring no shortage of tedious cleanup to reverse.
On mirrors and glass, the Broombi left almost-opaque streaks and large cloudy spots. On tile shower walls, it did nothing to remove product buildup and, again, left visible streaks of shower cleaner behind.
If you’re looking for a telescoping tool to clean large swaths of glass, tile, marble and other hard vertical and horizontal surfaces, especially for use in the bathroom or kitchen, I’d strongly recommend investing in the Delux Baseboard Cleaning Tool as opposed to the Broombi.
It’s useless on liquid spills, and forget about using it to clean up broken glass
Instead of doing anything remotely resembling cleaning up water, the Broombi pushed said water all over my hardwood floors. You can’t go around claiming your product picks up liquid spills if your product does nothing of the sort. Sure, it will push liquids in a straight line, but what good does that actually do?
The same thing goes when it comes to using the Broombi to clean up broken glass; without a dustpan, the tool on its own is not useful for the task. Sure, it may sweep up large pieces of glass as well as shards, but they’ll still be there in a pile on the floor. Then what?
Bottom line
If you struggle to keep your pet’s fur from overtaking your home, the Broombi is for you. In particular, I strongly recommend the Broombi Mini for pet parents looking for a great reusable tool that quickly cleans fur off of upholstered furniture, bedding, clothing and other soft surfaces. It’s comparable in function, if not in form, to the ChomChom Roller, one of our favorite tools for pet hair, and at just $20, it is a slightly more affordable alternative.
While the Broombi excels at pet hair removal and cleanup, it falls short when it comes to polishing glass, including mirrors, and tiled surfaces like shower enclosures and floors. And, absent the dustpan, the Broombi is useless for cleaning up broken glass and liquid spills. The retractable extendable handle is a nicely designed feature, but ultimately, the mini broom is more of a standout cleaning tool than the original broom.
