It would help us if we understood what you wanted the machine to do. If you are looking to clean carpets, then you need a carpet cleaning machine. Personally, I would just rent one at the supermarket or hardware store once or twice a year.

If you are looking to clean hard surfaces, then you want something else.

I have a Bissell ProHeat. I liked it when I first got it. It cleaned the carpet as well as the rental machine did. But when it broke it took forever to get the part. Then it broke about a year later. Right now the upholstery cleaning portion still works, and I can use that on small areas of carpet. But it is useless for cleaning a whole room. It did a pretty good job of pulling the water back out (still does, just doesn't put it down).

At this point I'm planning to just pay carpet cleaning services every six months or so.

Hmm - maybe you are right. In my mind, I was going to clean my carpets more than once every six months (I have pets) and also have it in case of accidents (on furniture or on the floor).

But realistically, I'll probably too lazy to bother. Especially when a carpet cleaning service will be able to do a much better job... How much do you pay per visit?

Greta,

I have pets, too. That's why I wanted the machine. It was nice to be able to just clean one room on a whim. ...sigh

I have had or used most of the ones available, and the best by far is the Hoover Platinum Carpet Cleaner. Works amazingly, pulls everything out, and the carpet is dry within an hour or so. It also disassembles quite thoroughly and easily for cleaning afterwards. Alas, price does not even come close to your requirements.

Bissel carpet cleaners clean OK, but every one I had fell apart within a few years. Rug Doctors clean really good, but are gawdawful expensive (you can however rent these), and are not very flexible (you pre-mix solution and water, therefore do not have then option of extra rinses...I like NO residue in my carpet).

You can always go over the carpet with plain water to rinse.

When I rented a RugDoctor, I didn't feel like the machine was very clean. Now that's not the machine's problem, of course. But it is a problem with rentals in general. My house already smelled like cat. I didn't think the smell of wet dog was an improvement!

Wow, that Hoover Platinum has a 6 year warranty. I'm impressed with that after my bad Bissell experience.

Stay away from the Bissell machines. Mine didn't last a year. My sister same thing. I can't find anyone who has had any luck with them at all.

I pay a professional carpet service once or twice a year. My last cleaning was in April, I'm thinking of calling them in before Christmas. As for a vacuum, I don't have a suggestion. I had a Hoover Windtunnel, hated it. Ditto a Bissell. Consumer Reports is worthless to me. It was my family's big-purchase Bible 40 years ago.

susanjn wrote: "When I rented a RugDoctor, I didn't feel like the machine was very clean."

True enough. And therein lies the rub with using professional cleaners or renting a machine: bringing the filth of others into your home. I didn't care for doing so, which is why I purchase my own, brand new, and do my own cleaning.

No regrets with the Hoover Platinum, and the cleaning beats all the pro services I have tried hands down. The only pain is the frequent stops to refill the fresh water and dump the dirty water, but this is true of most carpet cleaning machines.

I have a Hoover Steam cleaner. It works very well, when it works. However, it seems to be problem prone. I have used it about 10 or 12 times. It developed a leak after about 5 uses and I ordered a part and fixed it. It has again developed a leak. One of the seals is bad, so bad it is unuseable.

dudley, how long have you had your Hoover Platinum? I looked at it at Frys today. $359 I think.

I have a Hoover platinum too. It does work really well, but the solution is also expensive. I find that the platinum stuff in the blue bottle works far better than the pet stuff in the green bottle. I haven't had mine for very long tho. Dudley, do you use Hoover's solutions or something else?

The march issue of Consumer Reports rated 8 carpet cleaning machines and 1 rental:

Hoover Dual V Steam Vac All Terrain w/Spin Scrub F7452-900(for those with hills in their living room?)
Hoover Steam Vac w/Spin Scrub F5914-900
Hoover Platinum Collection F8100-900
Bissell ProHeat 2X Healthy Home 66Q4
Bissell Proheat 2X9200
Bissell ProHeat 25A3
Hoover Steam Vac w/Power Brush FH50010
Bissell Quick Steamer 1770 (WalMart)

Rental machine- Rug Doctor Mighty Pro

Sorry, missed the recent updates to this thread.

Susanjn, I've had my Hoover Platinum since summer of `09. I still like it, and it's the best cleaning one I have used to date. No problems at all, although just last week I had a cosmetic part break off of the fresh water tank. Does not affect operation, but you can bet I will be taking advantage of the 6-year warranty. :)

I agree that the Platinum cleaner solution is expensive, but after using my samples up I switched to ProForce cleaner solution from Sam's Club. It is concentrated, works great, and the gallon bottle is under $7 (I dilute to 50/50, so it last really long).

Admittedly I don't have a pet in the house (outside of my daughter's fish), but my son is a genuine mess maker and it cleans everything up superbly. I just did the stairs last week, and ugh, the extracted water looked like chocolate milk! :-(

Have any of you used these machines on ceramic tile? I'm wondering if the brushes would help clean the grout and then the suction would pick up any of the dirty water. I've been thinking about purchasing one of the Hoover's to use in my kitchen. I could buy a Hoover FloorMate but the carper cleaners seem to be better made.

mcmann, I use the Hoover Floormate on my tile and wood floors. It is specialized as a hard floor cleaner, whereas carpet/deep cleaners are specialized for, you guessed it, carpeting. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Hoover Hard Surface Cleaners

Thanks for the answer - may I ask which one you use and are happy with it? I have lots of ceramic but can no longer get down on my knees the way I used to so the grout just isn't as clean as I'd like. Do the brushes manage to scrub the grout lines or do they only hit the top of the tile? Thanks.

I have the H3060, the very first one on the page I linked to above. Don't be shocked by the price though; I bought mine brand new for about $75 less than what Hoover advertises it for.

I like it a lot. It comes with two brush block assemblies, one specifically for cleaning grout. Hoover also sells a special grout solution too.

It works very well, and never "reuses" water, so you're always putting down fresh water and dirt is never spread around. I guess the only gripe I might have (and even then I understand the design decision by Hoover perfectly) is that it scrubs very lightly. With brushes spinning at a very high speed there is a balancing act of pushing too hard (which could damage wood or linoleum) or pushing just hard enough to clean tough spots. Hoover erred on the side of caution, so any ground in dirt, scuff marks, etc. still require a pre-scrub by hand to loosen them up.

Otherwise, no complaints. Spills, normal dirt, etc. are all picked up very well and the floor left sparkling.

Thanks for the information. That's the Hoover I was thinking about buying specifically because of the grout brush. The tile in my kitchen is oatmeal colored with matching epoxy grout. The floor was installed 5 years ago and except for cleaning the grout I really like it. When I scrub the grout with a brush and a little OxiClean it looks brand new. But my kitchen is large and I was hoping I could buy a scrubber to save wear and tear on my knees.

Now I'll do a little research to find the best price. Thanks again.

Sounds a lot like my floor - all oatmeal/tan color, as is my entire kitchen. It's a nice, warm color, but lends to all my appliances being bisque, which as you know is hard to find.

FWIW, I purchased my H3060 at the HSN. They had a great price with free shipping, although admittedly that was the summer of `08 and I have no idea what deals they have (if any) now.

I would definitely recommend the Hoover Platinum, it is very easy to use, cleans very well and I love that you don't have to mix the solution with the water so that way you can rinse the carpet when you're done, which leads to carpets staying clean longer because soap residue actually attracts more dirt.