Bissell 3624 Spot Clean Professional Portable Carpet Cleaner - Corded , Black

I purchased my Spotclean on Amazon over a year ago (6/2013). It has worked almost flawlessly for my intended purpose. I use it to clean my carpeted stairs, stained carpet areas, upholstered chairs, and even my car interior rugs. I also just used my Spotclean to 'clean' up the mess left behind by my decrepit Bissell Proheat 2X steam cleaner. It had left awful dirt streaks everywhere. With the help of my 3 year old, we used the Spotclean to clean up the dirt streaks.The SpotClean is relatively easy to use and requires a little less effort to pull out, assemble and clean up than my Bissell Proheat 2X (which is being replaced). The suction on the hand tool is excellent. However, it DOES require a bit of hand force to extract the water. I don't mind because I want the area to dry quicker. Also, you will have to use your hand to scrub the carpet a bit if your stain is stubborn. I think some people may have unrealistic expectations concerning these machines. A hand tool does require your 'hand'. So, I consider these efforts minimal to achieve my desired results.The SpotClean has cleaned approximately 90% of the stains I have attempted to clean. I have a husband, 3 teenagers, a 3 year old, and a Cairn Terrier. So, I consider this a small feat. I have NOT used it to clean blood, wine, or ink. I really need to get a new upright steam cleaner because I can always tell where I've used my SpotClean because the area is lighter than the surrounding carpet. This is because the SpotClean did its job.The SpotClean is compact and easy to move around. It is compact enough to sit on standard stairs without toppling over. It has a bit of weight when the chambers are filled but not enough to cause fatigue by my standards. I am a 5'3 woman, and I don't lift weights. Some mentioned the desire for a longer hose and a retractable and/or longer cord. However, I think the hose length is adequate since you can easily move the SpotClean from Point A to Point B. If it is too long, then it is unmanageable to re-coil, then you would have another set of complaints from people. Also, if the cord length was longer, it would take more time than I care to spend to wrap it up. A retract feature would be one more thing to break and then we would really complain. Regarding the noise, it is louder than I would prefer but it may be just as loud as a standard vacuum cleaner. It does not bother me enough to do sound comparisons since I am just cleaning spots.I think the SpotClean cleans a decent area on one fill up. I admit, I do more 'area' cleaning than spot cleaning sometimes. Once you have taken the time to pull it out and assemble, you want to clean ALL the spots you see. If you are doing a full set of stairs, it will definitely require 2 fill ups. I pour the dirty water down the toilet instead of my laundry sink. I recommend rinsing the hand tool and the water chambers when you finish a job. I try to let the chambers dry overnight before re-assembling to put away. However, I have left the water chamber with the cleaning solution and water between uses without any problems. You will also need to spot check for lint build up on the red filter that is covered by the water chamber. You can wipe off the lint easily. These are all just precautionary steps to reduce 'yuck' build-up and musty smells. Remember that carpet cleaning is a dirty job. No matter how convenient the machine is, we still have to clean the filth collected from our handy little devices.My last recommendation is to use the recommended Bissell cleaning solution. It smells wonderful!!!! A little is all you need. Do not use more than recommended. As a matter of fact, I use a little less because I do not want excess shampoo in my carpet.

Bought this a few months ago for pet stains. it works extremely well. In fact I don't even let my dogs out now. I just clean the carpet every morning. No seriously, I had been using my shop vac and it was a pain to empty and clean it before and drain and clean it after and it didn't do a great job. Before I buy anything I always read the one star reviews first. I find those most valuable when selecting a product and some of those reviewers made good points. But first, using this machine for ITS PURPOSE will dispense most all of the negative comments. It is not for cleaning an entire room, area rug or staircase, however I have used it to lightly clean some of mine. It is designed for doing spot cleaning period. It doesn't need a longer hose, hold more water or need more suction. What it does well is dispense the right amount of water and suck it out just right. It is a well engineered balance. As far as one of it's alleged flaws I can't imagine how the hose will break while stored, as one of the reviewers stated, unless you cram it into a stuffed closet or cluttered garage.Here's why I am sold on this machine. When you have a pet stain and use one of the spray carpet cleaners or products that neutralize urine, they always leave soap behind that attracts dirt back into the carpet. And I recommend pre-treating with one of those first if you can. Using this machine AFTER you have treated the area with one of those products is what will really keep the carpet clean. I find that I don't have to clean them professionally quite as often. Which saves money. This machine has paid for itself. I find that using just plain hot water to remove the soaps from the spot cleaning products works best. Just work it into the area until you see that there is no more foam or bubbles coming out. I don't take it out after each event. I treat the stains with Natures Miracle or like products I will accrue a few treatments and then take out the machine and clean them all at once later. (I have 4 dogs and 2 were puppies. They're grown now so i don't have many problem now.) You can use their soap, but you are then adding more soap onto the carpet. It's ok to use soap for non pet stain general cleaning, but don't use more than recommended. Use less! This is a very well designed machine. You don't need any fancy models which "automatically" clean. Waste of money. Just buy this one and do as I say. Your mother will be watching you :)