One evening night this week while my dear Wife was exercising at the local gym, my dog and I did the honors of the floor washing with the Floor Mate.  My lab likes to help me with the floors and rugs.  (Except for one vacuum brand with a gawdawful sound that scared the bejeepers out of her with its ratcheting noises.  It was gifted away).  Two clean tank fulls of water later we were done and the floors shining clean and dry as the desert air (even the last to be cleaned).  My lab laid her belly on the cool ceramic Mohawk tile (over 90 degrees outdoors) and she waited and rested for the boss's arrival and inspection.
 
My dear Wife returned home after a little more than one hour of exercising.  All the evidence was gone and neatly stored.  As my Wife always does after I use the Floor Mate, she immediately recognized that the floors had been cleaned with the HOOVER FM.  And the compliments for me flowed.  It was a good night (thanks to HOOVER).
 
Once again, I looked back on the storied and starried history of the HOOVER company and its many fine floor care products and said "thank you."  
 
Carmine D.

Looking online it does seem that there are better deals now available on these than there were 3 years ago when I bought mine. Considering that my Floormates have a few years on them, I guess its not too surprising that they are starting to malfunction and fail in various ways (bad hoses, uneven water application, cracked and broken plastic parts, etc.), so I'll probably start replacing them.  I see various models out there. I see a 2800 which I think must be the original version, the venerable 3000 which I am familiar with, a 3030, and a 3060. I know Carmine likes the 3060 best, but how do others feel? I note that on Epinions, the 3060 has far lower ratings than any other model. The ratings seem highest on the 3000, followed by the 3030. After reading the ratings, my inclination is to stick with the 3000 version.

I'm the one who recommended the Floormate back when you said you were saying that the Swiffer was a better choice. I think the Floormate does a great job. I did hope they'd last longer, considering that unlike my vacuums which are used daily, they only get used once a week, or so (more often during winter months), but I don't know of any other, better way of doing the job they do. I also have to admit that I'm apalled that Hoover forces me to spend $15 for fifty cents worth of hose. That's the kind of thinking that causes consumer to treat vacuums, etc, as disposable, instead of taking them in for repair.

Quote from cprohman on 03/27/07 at 12:21pm:

I'ts now nearly a month later, and these hoses still have not come in. The vac shop has no idea when he will get them, and says that with the ownership change, ordering parts is a mess.

Just to be clear, he was talking the ownship change at Hoover, and says he is having trouble getting parts from Hoover. Given that the hose is a genuine Hoover part, would Essco have it? Wouldn't they have to get it from Hoover, too?
 
The guy at the Hoover-authorized repair center seemed to think there was some hope that he may get it in the next week or two, so I'll probably give him the chance. We're past the muddy/snowy floor time of year anyhow.