Great with pet spots

After fairly thorough research both at Epinions and elsewhere, I purchased this carpet cleaner a few weeks ago from Amazon.com. It was on sale for $128 after a couple of discount coupons, so I figured the time was right. My husband and I have multiple animals (both dogs and cats), so having a working carpet cleaner is essential, and my Bissell PowerSteamer ProHeat that I've had for several years had stopped dispensing the soap when it cleaned. My initial intent had been to have my older cleaner fixed, but I decided that at that price, a new one was in order.

I am not disappointed in the Hoover. I cleaned the bedroom carpet (some fool put in white plush some years ago before we bought the house, and it is a nasty mess after a rainy day or two) this morning, and I am delighted with the surge feature. I did my usual pre-treat of the nastiest spots with Windex (yes, it really works, at least on white carpet), and did the usual routine. The carpet is clean again, and it was less work than the Bissell.

Since the soap is mixed with the cleaning water in the tank, though, a separate run using clear water to remove soap over the pre-treated areas was necessary after the initial cleaning cycle. The carpet is about the same dampness as it was with the Bissell: acceptable, but not as dry as I would like. I may decide to run a rinse cycle over the whole carpet, but I'll wait to see if there is soap remaining after the carpet dries. The instructions say to vacuum after the carpet is dry, and that may remove residue.

Like all carpet shampooers, it is heavy and requires some effort.

The water/soap tank is above the dirty water return tank. To remove the soapy, dirty water, you must release the handle and lay it down, but the soap tank doesn’t leak, so that isn't a problem. I had a bit of trouble figuring out how to latch in the soapy water tank. It requires pressure back and then pressing on the latch. However, once it is in place it doesn't leak at all. The separate return tank has double latches on the sides that release it from the machine. It is very secure and tight. It seems to fill just slightly more often than you need to add water and soap to the clean water tank. (If I seem obsessed with leakage, it is because the rest of the floors in the house are cork and need to stay fairly dry and free of any ammonia product, and my previous cleaner tended to leak a bit as it was moved from place to place.)

The machine is easy to clean up after shampooing and doesn't seem to collect too much lint in the brushes (at least not yet).

Of course, this carpet it routinely shampooed at least every couple of months, so the water coming off of it isn't as nasty as it was the first couple of times I cleaned it just over a year ago after we moved into the house, but there was considerable residue of granular dirt in the return tank when I emptied it. In general, I think the carpet looks better than it did after cleaning with the Bissell (but it was 5 years old). The rotating brushes do a great job on spots, and just letting the thing sit on a spot and grind away removed at least one stain that I had not previously been able to clean.