Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

One pass performance? Not quite, but close. I have owned many carpet cleaners; Hoover, in multiple models, had been my previous favorite (although the Hoover definitely has flaws) until now. Sitting at the top of the price range in non-commercial units this machine out performs the rest with a few minor flaws. Pros: Cleans exceptionally well Almost a one pass machine The roller brush is exceptional and powerful, no other machine can even get close The adjustable locking position handle is an ergonomic dream Easiest machine to fill an empty No assembly required Cons: Cord wrap and tool wrap are horribly designed (this is what cost my review 1 star) No water heater Let's get to the nitty gritty; this machine performs. It cleans exceptionally well with the most powerful brush and suction I have ever seen. The handle locks in several different positions making it very comfortable and well balanced. You lift the front with almost zero effort, roll the machine to where you want to start, and press the little red button on the handle while EASILY drawing the machine backwards. The engineers who designed this aspect of the machine really should earn a reward; it's that amazingly simple to use. My dog had thrown up in 3 spots under our couch on Berber carpet and our Hoover was broken. By the time we purchased this machine it was well soaked in and dried. In ONE fairly quick pass the machine got up all of it. It did take a second quick pass with suction only to dry the carpet completely. Our carpet had been professionally cleaned about 6 months ago and there were 2 stains they couldn't remove. Sure enough this machine removed those stains in 2 passes with the scrubber on. I'd like to compare this with the Hoovers as that, I believe, are the most popular units. 1. Brushes - this unit has a single horizontal brush that's large and extremely powerful. The Hoover uses several vertical independently spinning scrub brushes. While on paper I would think those little brushes on the Hoover would work better, especially for spot cleaning, however the horizontal roller on this machine vastly out performs the Hoovers. It's honestly not even close. On Hoover models I found myself always working the machine back and forth trying to get one of those little brushes on the right spot to scrub the carpet fibers. On this machine I literally just make one pass without having to work the machine side to side at all and it scrubs and removes everything. 2. Weight/fatigue - All of the wet vacs are fairly heavy, including this one. The difference is felt during use. The Hoover isn't horrible, but this machine is so well balanced, with the mid point right over the rear 2 wheels, combined with the locking handle, it takes very little effort to tilt the front of the machine off the ground to move it into place. There is no question, that during use you will become much more fatigued using the Hoover. Rug doctor wins hands down. 3. Water Tank - Many of the other brands are using on board water heaters. I have to admit I have used none of those models so I can't really comment on if the Rug Doctor is loosing any points here. I always felt the water heater is kind of gimmicky since the water does not really have time to cool before I'm needing to refill the tank. Not measuring I'm fairly certain the Hoover has a larger clean water tank. Although the Hoover wins points for possibly a larger tank and on board heating the fact you just lift this tank up to fill it and set it back and place earns it massive points. There are absolutely no locking mechanisms and lifting it out of the unit for filling there is no resistance. If you look at the picture of the Rug Doctor you will see three red handles on the top of the base of the machine. The front one is the waste water tank, the middle one is for carrying the entire unit, and the rear is the clean water tank. You literally just lift the tanks, nothing needs to be moved or unlatched. It's pretty amazing! 4. Dirty water tank - This is one of the things I HATED about all the Hoovers. Hoovers have used several mechanisms to lock the dirty water tank in place. First you would to release the handle and set it on the ground to expose the tank, then some of the tanks had a handle that had to be rotated or locking latches on the bottom of the tank. Then you had to lift the entire lid off the dirty tank and try to empty the multiple chambers in the dirty water tank. The lids are two layered and would always have trapped debris in there.. such a horrible design. This unit, just like the clean water tank, you literally just lift it up with no resistance. It's a single chamber with a large cap that unscrews. Emptying it could not be any easier. This feature won my wife over instantly. Hoover really needs to steal some design cues off this part alone. 5. On board tool and cord storage - Ok Rug Doctor you guys failed here miserably. The tool storage is a joke. It does not fit the parts well and when and if you can get it put on the right way it torques the hoses at bad angles and the parts only sort of sit in the cradles. The cord wrap is on the side of the handle. The cord coming out of the handle directly competes with the space needed to wrap the cord on the cord winder. It's such a bad design we removed the hose from our machine and used the hose/tool wrap area to wrap the power cord. Rug Doctor please re-visit this...it's horrible!!! This is the only reason the unit is not a 5 star review from me. In summary - it's expensive, but I think it's worth every penny. This is not a Dyson product where you are paying for a pretty machine that may not function all that well. Its ease of use is so far beyond everything else on the market. Well done!!