Carpet Cleaner Reviews

Very Misleading carpet cleaner name "Steam Vac". Where is the steam? There is no steam, just hot water that gets cold very fast. I used mine around the house and it made the carpets wet...did not do much to the stains. I rented a steam Cleaner and it did a lot better. For the money I will just rent for a large job. For the small stuff a brush and a small bucket of carpet shampoo in hot water will do the same or better.

I wish I'd spent more and bought a better model with the power brushes. This model does an adequate job and is simple enough to operate that I use it frequently. I wish that they had made it so that the front cover over the area where the water is sucked up could be cleaned. I hate putting it away with the gunk like carpet fibers and lint in there (ok, so I'm a little obsessive).

I love the fact that Hoover knows how to make house cleaning easier. This was the first product my husband purchased for me and its jewel. I use it not only for carpets and furniture but to clean out my car carpets and seats. What could be simpler that pouring hot water and the solution into it and letting it do all the work. Way to go Hoover!

I've used this mostly for cleaning accidents my small dogs have had now and then. It works okay- but neither the spray nor vacuum is very powerful. After only moderate use for the past year and a half- it is already broken. It basicallly will not re-charge anymore so is useless now.

I think the idea of a spot carpet cleaner is a great one- but if you're going to invest in one at all, I definitely recommend a better quality, higher powerd one than this! :)

This little one is a good spot cleaner. I have had mine for about 3 or 4 years and it's still doing it's job. It does a great job on pet accidents. It lost a star because it's spray isn't always even. I also wish it would have come with a second small brush attachment. I know you can order one, but I have never gotten around to it.

The nickle-cadium rechargeable battery pack wennt out with-in the first month of purchase. that's why I got on line to see if i could purchase another for a reasonable price. NO REPLACEABLE BATTERY PACK I guess i'm stuck for $29.99 plus tax the dealer won't do anything after 30 days.****CRAIG*****

2 1/2 stars

Pros:

1. It can lift stains, particularly cat hairball vomit stains (my main use for it).

2. It's been somewhat improved from earlier models.

3. It's the only thing like it on the market in the sub-forty buck price range (at least when I bought my second one).

Cons:

1. It's extremely hard to clean. There are so many inaccessable nooks and crannies in the waste liquid reservoir that very quickly, no matter how much rinsing you do, vile particles and sludge build up.

2. Lousy NiCad battery. Battery life is poor. Only gives about 4 minutes of usable time per charge, which can be inadequate, plus it is not replaceable when it dies (lasted three years for me on my first one, I've got 18 months so far on my second one). Takes a long time to charge.

3. Can leak waste liquids from reservoir. If the intake reservoir is getting full of liquids you have vacuumed up, it eventually will start leaking. Or, if you try setting it down, because it is not flat on the bottom, it could tip sideways and spill.

4. Nozzle for spraying cleaning solution is flimsy. My first one broke right off and on my second, newer unit, it appears to be a new design but I still don't trust it.

5. No rotating power brush, just a little three-inch strip of brush material.

Summary: my first one aggravated me but did its job for three years before the battery died. I wanted to replace it with a better designed carpet spot cleaner, but at the time, there wasn't anything else like it on the market so I bought another one. It's a little bit improved from the first one, but still aggravating.

I'd shop around and see if any competitors have introduced a similar cleaner before considering this one again.

My mom bought this for me as a gift and thought it would be useful since I have small, growing children and I'm glad to have received it. It really does the job it was intended to do and I'm really glad the cleaner you use with this unit is readily available at my local Walmart store. The only downside is the battery life doesn't last long so this unit is really only useful for small spots or spills.

I have been using steamers for a couple years and bought this one after breaking the previous one. There is no comparison. The trigger is very difficult to pull. The steam production is erratic. The pressure is weak. I far preferred the Steam Bullet although it weighed a lot more.

I bought 3 of these to give as gifts and one for myself. I was not impressed with all of the water pistol like pressing I had to do throughout the cleaning. Too much work to get varying amounts of steam. Once in a while I got some good blasts but really had to work for it. Try another brand.

The reviewer below should note that the burst of steam comes only after you pump the trigger a few times to get enough water into the device. The instructions don't make this clear and I almost returned mine before I figured it out.

Once I did, I was very pleased with the steamer. It's powerful enough for most household uses and the attachments add to its versatility.

I bought the Bissell Spotlifter Powerbrush and had the same problems mentioned in other reviews. It is a very poorly designed product with almost no suction and poor spray. I contacted Bissell and they sent me another one that doesn't work either.

We struggled between buying this unit and the comperable Dirt Devil offering, when we saw them at the local discount stores. Liking the stiffer dual-rotating beater-bar style brushes on the Bissell better than the much softer brushes on the spinning disk the Dirt Devil had, we settled on the Bissell. At the store, the only negative factor for the Bissell appeared to be it's one-year warranty, versus the two-years offered with the Dirt Devil.

We did not consider a cordless model, presuming they would be less powerful. We also did not consider a model without scrub brushes.

I used our new Bissell briefly last night on a couple of recent pet stains, and it did a good job. Today, I used it on all the rest of the pet stains on our light living room carpet, many of which were old. Almost all of them lifted well.

The Bissell clean tank will hold a full 8 oz. (3-4 oz. cleaning product and 4 oz. water), compared to the Dirt Devil that only holds a total of 6 oz. It does a decent job of suctioning up liquid. Many with the Dirt Devil seem to complain that it's suction is inadequate, and we did test its suction at the store and agree that it is weak.

The manual doesn't document the total clean tank size, how many ounces the "Formula" fill line is at, or how many the "Water" fill line is at, but I measured them. This way I know the proper dilution, if I choose to mix some of the cleaning product into a regular spray bottle for pretreating convenience, without hauling the heavier unit around. (They suggest leaving the pretreat on for 3-5 minutes.)

Note that once you've filled the clean tank, if you have a lot left over you do not have to empty it. You can save it for next time. (The disadvantage to doing this is that you would no longer have warm water to help you clean better.)

The 20' cord was more than adequate for us to get to the areas we needed to clean. Others complain that the Dirt Devil's cord is too big, but I'm not sure if that means diameter or length. The cord on the Bissell flows nicely. It isn't stiff and doesn't stay too curled up to be able to be used easily. It even had a convenient velcro strap that stays attached, to help you manage the cord for storage.

The unit is really easy to fill, operate and clean. Both the clean tank and the dirty tank detach and reattach very easily. Even the beater brush cartridge removes easily for cleaning. It only took me a few minutes to have it ready for storage again. Dirt Devil users complain that reattaching a tank is not always easy.

This is not a full size steam cleaner and I don't think it's fair to expect it to behave like one. It's great for the purpose it's designed for. Be sure to vacuum your capet before using it, if you haven't done so recently. This will minimize the amount of hair etc. to clean out of the brushes when you are finished using the Bissell. I did not do this, and it still wasn't bad to clean out the brushes.

The unit has a solid and durable feel to it. Dirt Devil users seem to think that unit is flimsey and has an awkward manual solution/water sprayer.

I think the product works well and would recommend it over the Dirt Devil. I am happy with it

I bought this Bissell Spotlifter a few weeks ago. I chose this one because I only needed it for the occassional pet stain or baby food spill. It works great for me! I immediately put it to work and it got stains out that had been in my carpet for months! I do see how people could complain some about the suction but I think it gets most of the dirty water up fine. It took me a while to decide between this one and the more expensive "Little Green" and I think I made the right decision. I'm sure the other one is better, but it's also almost as expensive as an upright and this one gets the job done just fine. This is a good little cleaner for the money.

While the budget price might make this product attractive, it is almost completly worthless. The brush that spins has no power behind it and the suction from the vacuum is not very strong either. I succeeded in doing nothing more than pushing stains around which I still had to treat with Resolve and blot up

Looking at a number of previous reviews, I'd like to clarify a few points:

* It's not a carpet cleaner, it's a _spot scrubber_. Anyone purchasing a machine with a single brush who expects to clean whole sections of carpet deserves all the self-inflicted frustration they've expressed here. My father-in-law tried to use our scrubber to clean his entire entryway. His verdict: "The thing is worthless." My wife and I just roll our eyes.
* The spray nozzle shoots out lots of solution in a narrow, focused pattern, perfect for treating _spots_. It takes only a few pumps. The image of someone stalking around a room trying to spray anything more than about 20 inches square (again, anything more than a _spot_) in just painful.
* The thing sucks strongly enough to fill the dirty water reservoir. I suspect that some folks haven't cracked the manual or noticed the yellow knob to switch between scrubbing and suction.

All that said, I hate to think of living without this machine. We've used it suck up spills and to erase the stains left by our cats and by our son with a permanent "Sharpie" marker. You can actually watch the cat puke (or worse) get sucked up. I always felt a little uncertain when attacking stains like this with a towel or sponge. How can anyone armed with a squirt bottle and a brush believe they're doing anything more than just smearing the stain into the carpet?

I like the extra-long cord. The rotating brush may seem a little weak, but stains really do disappear under it.

What I don't like so much is that the unit can be difficult to clean, leaving ugly stuff in the intake and waste reservoir. All the reservoirs and caps and switches can get a bit fiddly as well. And it does sound more like a jet engine than a vacuum.

The Spot Scrubber isn't perfect (4 out of 5 stars), but it's small, works very well for us, and has exceeded my (realistic) expectations.

I bought one to use on pet spots on my rug. I find it works well getting out cat piss and regular stains on the rug. The vacuum part works pretty well. I liked mine so much I bought one for my Mother who has stain problems from her animals. If you want to use as a whole floor cleaner than it wouldn't work good. It is just good on cleaning out spots on the rug.

I don't know why everyone is saying this vacuum shuts off after 5 minutes. I have never had that happen with mine. compared to our upright vacuum, this vacuum was wonderful! It sucked up stuff our other vacuums wouldn't. My only complaint is, I lost a part to it and there doesn't seem to be a replacement for it so now I can't use it anymore.

Maybe I don't know what else is out there (I bought this to replace a 10 year old vacuum) but I LOVE MY SHARK ROADSTER! The strap allows you to carry it on your shoulder so you don't have to trip over the canister and get tangled in the cord. I love the fact that it has a HEPA filter and that it's bagless. I must admit that the cord is unusually short but have you ever heard of this great new invention called an extension cord? Maybe I'm just easy to please but I think it's a great buy.

It's sad to see that people who buy products don't read the manuals. If you had read the manual before using this vacuum you would have noted that it has three filters. The main filter is a HEPA filter that catches every particle that the vacuum sucks up. The other two are there to catch anything the HEPA didn't before blowing the air back out. It states in the manual that because of the filters the vacuum must be emptied out on a regualr basis. And also that the HEPA filter needs to be tapped out before being replacing in the vacuum - if you do this you will see how much dust it catches. It also says that you should wash out the HEPA filter after a heavy vacuum (I do it once a week). This will improve the suction power and the life of the filter (It took about a minute to clean). If however you are one of those people who doesn't read the instructions you will run into problems. The vacuum will overheat because the filter is jammed with so much dirt that air cannot pass through the motor to cool it off. It does have a safety feature that stops the machine before it burns out. This vacuum is the best one I have ever owned. It is lightweight and has great suction power. It also comes with lots of attachments. People need to learn to read manuals before using a product. Just because it's a vacuum doesn't mean you just plug it in and go. It was designed to capture all of the dirt, dust and whatever else you are vacuuming and not blow it back into the air. READ PEOPLE! -It's a great little machine!

This machine worked great, for about 10 minutes. Then, I smelled something burning and the motor blew up. It won't turn on at all now. The rotating brush seemed to really struggle on my thick carpet. The cleaning power though for that first 10 minutes, was exceptional. It did leave large lint balls all over the floor so you'll have to follow up with a vac after the carpet is dry. I'm not sure whether to exchange it for a new one (maybe I just got a lemon) or to forget Bissell all together.

It worked REALLY well for about the 1rst 2 months. I use it a lot, I have 3 dogs & a baby. It does not suck up like it used to, and that is the whole point!!!! It leaves the floor wet, and I can't keep everyone off of it for 2 days to dry. This is my second one, too, and it is doing the exact same thing.

this is ok for an average person

This cleaner never did a good job. Didn't suck up hardly any water that it put out, the attachments are a laugh. Your better off buying the low end Dirt Devil. Bissell does make good vacuums though.

I found this cleaner did a nice job on my oriental rug. It cleaned so well that the wonderful colors in my rug have come back. The machine seems well built but it is somewhat heavy to push and the water tank-in-tank is very small making it neccesary to dump and refill much too often. I find that I really should have done more research and shopped around more before making this expensive purchase. Live and learn.....