Best Carpet Cleaners

Top-rated upright carpet cleaners

Of all the uprights we researched, the Hoover SteamVac with Clean Surge F5914-900 (*Est. $150) easily emerged with the fewest complaints and best feedback from users. Customers should be careful when shopping for a Hoover upright carpet cleaner, though, as other Hoover models receive mixed to negative reviews. The Hoover SteamVac with Clean Surge F5914-900's 4.5-star rating on Amazon.com is rather amazing, considering the high number of reviews it has received -- nearly 1,000 and counting. It also got a near-perfect score at Target.com, Epinions.com and in editorial reviews. It received more recommendations from reviewers than any other carpet cleaner we found.

The Hoover SteamVac with Clean Surge F5914-900 has a 12-amp motor that powers five spinning brushes. It also cleans upholstery and bare floors. Although Hoover says it's not designed to clean hardwood floors and sells a special attachment kit for this purpose, users report it does work on hardwoods. The SteamVac holds hot tap water in one of its two tanks; dirty water is fed into the other. This model has an 8-foot hose, comes with a one-year warranty and weighs 30 pounds. Its signature feature, the Clean Surge, dispenses an extra squirt of cleaning agent at the touch of a button for tougher stains. On-board tools include a spinning hand tool, hose and upholstery tool.

Users say the SteamVac's spinning brushes are powerful and do a great job of lifting stains. Some say it delivers results akin to professional steam cleaning. Of all the cleaners we reviewed, this one seems to leave the carpet drier than others -- a major complaint among home carpet cleaners. The complaints we found about this machine center on its plastic parts, which users say make for cheap construction. With rough handling, plastic parts such as the water tanks can break. While this problem seems to be especially common in all Hoover carpet cleaners, fewer users report this problem in the Hoover SteamVac with Clean Surge F5914-900 than in other models.

A very similar model, the Hoover SteamVac Silver F5915-900 (*Est. $150), is sold exclusively at Wal-Mart. It does not include the Clean Surge feature or the powered "turbo tool," a handheld attachment with a powered brush, but it's otherwise identical. At Walmart.com, this model receives an almost-perfect average rating in about 400 owner reviews. As with the F5914-900, there are a few complaints about easily damaged plastic parts.

Several more expensive Hoover models don't come out as squeaky-clean in reviews. The Hoover SteamVac All Terrain 12 Amp Carpet and Hard-Floor Cleaner F7452-900 (*Est. $250) gets mixed reviews from users. While it scores well on Amazon.com and Walmart.com, and it receives a Best Buy award at ConsumerGuide.com, it fares poorly at Epinions.com and receives only a slightly above-average rating from users at BestBuy.com. Owners point out that this carpet cleaner is prone to leaks and doesn't do a great job on bare floors. We found numerous complaints on Epinions.com and Target.com that its water tank and hose attachment leak and the machine's plastic parts, including the brushes, are easily broken. A few note that it's cumbersome to use.

Hoover's SteamVac Dual V (also called V2) F7222-900 (*Est. $200) also has problems, according to users. More users give it the lowest rating than give it the highest on Amazon.com. Owners say the machine cleans well, but the tank can crack and leak. They also say the small plastic shaft that drives the brushhead can break. One user says that the machine is noisy.

Another upright to consider is the Bissell ProHeat 2X Select Upright Deep Carpet Cleaner 9400M (*Est. $250). Although it's more expensive than the top-rated Hoover SteamVac (*Est. $150) and isn't recommended as often in reviews, it receives praise from more than 200 users on Amazon.com and other sites. It also receives a Budget Buy award from ConsumerGuide.com. The Bissell ProHeat has more brushes (12 rows) and heats the water while it's in the tank, though users report that the water doesn't get especially hot. It features a slightly wider 12-inch cleaning path and a 30-foot power cord. It comes with two attachments, a stain-removing tool and a bare-floor tool. Customers say the ProHeat does a great job, comparable to professional steam cleaning, although we found enough complaints about parts breaking to cause concern. Also, this machine doesn't appear to suction as well as the Hoover SteamVac, especially on bare floors, and owners complain that the 2-in-1 water tank is clumsy to handle. The Bissell ProHeat 2X Select comes with a one-year warranty.

Like the Hoover SteamVac with Clean Surge F5914-900, the Bissell ProHeat 2X CleanShot 9500 (*Est. $300) includes a trigger to spray extra detergent on tough stains. It also has a feature that blows heated air to help carpet dry more quickly. This carpet cleaner is frequently recommended in owner reviews at Amazon.com, Walmart.com and BestBuy.com; it receives a Best Buy award from ConsumerGuide.com. The blow-dry feature, called DryAire, seems to work -- there are fewer complaints about wet carpet for this model than for other Bissell carpet cleaners -- but owners say it doesn't entirely make up for the weaker suction. We also read several complaints about leaking and broken attachments. Like other Bissell ProHeat 2X carpet cleaners, it comes with a one-year warranty.

The Dirt Devil Platinum Force MCE7900 Carpet Extractor (*Est. $200) also boasts a largely favorable complement of reviews. Though not as popular as the aforementioned Hoover and Bissell carpet cleaners, the Platinum Force MCE7900 gets good overall average scores from over 160 owners posting to Amazon.com. Many praise its triple-tank system, which allows for separate storage of cleaning solution, clean water and the dirty water that's suctioned from the carpet. Owners like that the Platinum Force's switches are built into the handle, rather than residing lower on the unit. We found only a few complaints of poor performance or durability; the chief drawback appears to be its weight when filled with water and cleaning solution. This, ironically, appears to be a consequence of one of the more frequently listed advantages of the Platinum Force -- the large-capacity storage tanks. Overall, most owners seem pleased with this model, and it's less expensive than both the Bissell ProHeat 2X Select 9400M, though more expensive than the Hoover SteamVac with Clean Surge F9514-900. The Platinum Force also comes with a two-year warranty, compared to the one-year warranty included with the ProHeat 2X and the SteamVac.

If you don't want to spend $150 on a carpet cleaner, we found good reviews for the Bissell QuickSteamer PowerBrush 2080 (*Est. $100) on all the consumer websites we reviewed. This unit offers a dual-tank system that holds a half-gallon of cleaning solution and water in one tank and collects residue in the other. It weighs 18 pounds, making it lighter than most uprights. It has an agitating brush bar and a 9-inch cleaning path (pricier carpet cleaners have a 12-inch path). This Bissell carpet cleaner has a less powerful motor, so reviewers say your carpet will remain wet for a longer time unless you work very slowly. Some say the motor isn't powerful enough to clean well, and we found complaints of leakage. In addition, the water tank needs to be emptied twice as often because it is half the size of the tanks provided with the more expensive cleaners. On the other hand, if you don't mind working more slowly and emptying the tank more frequently, owners say the QuickSteamer PowerBrush 2080 carpet cleaner appears to be a good value. We found more recommendations for this model in reviews than any other budget upright carpet cleaner. Most say it works well for the price, but several owners emphasize it's best for small areas and light duty. There is no onboard heater; this carpet cleaner uses a mix of hot water and cleaning solution. The Bissell QuickSteamer PowerBrush 2080 comes with a limited one-year warranty.

A similar model, the Bissell QuickSteamer PowerBrush 1970 (*Est. $80) costs a bit less but doesn't have a brush. It receives above-average ratings in a total of almost 500 reviews at Walmart.com, Target.com and Amazon.com. Most owners seem to feel that it does it a good job, considering its price, but caution that it cannot be expected to remove tough stains or clean heavily soiled carpet. Others say that the dirty water tank tends to spill when it's removed.

The Dirt Devil Vision Easy Steamer MCE7450 (*Est. $200) is recommended on a couple of websites, but we didn't find much in the way of user reviews. The Vision Easy Steamer has a see-through hood that allows you to watch dirt and grime being suctioned away. ConsumerGuide.com recommends this machine but says the hood must be removed and cleaned or it will get clogged and lose suction. This model weighs in at 21.5 pounds, slightly heavier than Bissell's PowerBrush. In a short review, About.com's guide to appliances Barbara Whiting also recommends the Dirt Devil Vision Easy Steamer as a good budget choice. About a dozen users at Amazon.com give this model above-average reviews, noting that this model has a power brush, and that it works well for small carpets.