Ranking The Consumer-Level Carpet Shampooers

[wstonehocker96]

I'm glad to be back on this site after taking off for a few years. Anyways, I'm ranking the consumer-level carpet shampooers. 1 is the best and 4 is the worst.

1. Hoover: If you like shampooing your carpets and want something that lasts forever, this will do the trick. The TTi-era shampooers are pretty good for the price, but the old Maytag-era shampooers are indestructible.
2. Dirt Devil: The models made prior to TTi's takeover are pretty good. Royal has taken over, which is nice.
3. Bissell: I give these guys credit for being the leader in the carpet shampooer market. At the same time, they have reliability issues. The only Bissell shampooer worth buying is the Big Green, but don't bother with Bissell's crap warranty if you buy one.
4. Eureka: These had the tendency to leak like crazy, but the Atlantis having a fold-down handle is a good thing.

What do y'all think?

 

[lesinutah]

Issell

Is the leader in this category. The big green clean machine, proheat, little green clean machine etc. Its still owned by the original family owned company.
Dirt devil I've only seen handvacs. Hoover is Being branded in the commercial line.

 

[wstonehocker96]

Lesinutah

I can neither confirm nor deny your claim.

 

[lesinutah]

Bissell

Eureka has it's version of the shark vacuum. Hoover is rebranded royal commercial vacuums, dirt devil is always the little brother never the baddest on the block.

 

[huskyvacs]

Your post is worded in both past tense and present tense. Are you talking about shampooers available for sale today, or do you mean for all time past and present?

 

[tekjunkie28]

I have had 2 Bissell carpet shampooers. The first one I wore out and couldn't source a brush. Now I have the pet pro heat 2 or whatever. I love it except I wish I held more waste water. I also try not to use soap but my carpets are still fairly matted.

 

[dysonman1]

Currently, Eureka has no shampooers as Eureka isn't even Eureka any more. They were bought by the Chinese a few years ago. Good luck getting Eureka parts.

Bissell is awful. I refuse to even estimate them for repair. I tell people "we don't work on Bissell".

The Hoover Smart Wash is a decent shampooer. They made shampooing as easy as vacuuming. BUT, the only repair parts are the brushes and the tanks. Nothing else.

Hoover, Dirt Devil, Royal, and Oreck are all the same company (TTI).

 

[loganvac]

Personally I like alot of the Bissell carpet cleaners from over the years. The biggest issue of all that I've seen with the Proheats however is the models with the built in heater would often clog up with residue from the carpet cleaning solution.

 

[mark40511]

I'll chime in

I just recently got a Hoover Turbo Scrub (very similar to the old Hoover Steamvac's) but more cheaply made I'm sure, but easier to clean.

I'm not sure why, but Hoovers just extract MORE WATER than Bissell's. The only thing I can think of is the motor amperage. Mine is 10 amps (some are even 12 amps) but all the Bissell's are lower.

But about reliability - I can only go what I've read online.......the turbine rusting.......belts breaking on the smart wash which can't be repaired and Hoover just sends you a new cleaner every time it breaks, etc. I just make sure to take the brushes off and just put everything in front of a fan for hours before storing it. I definitely like Hoover better than Bissell...

I will say this: I have a bissell portable deep cleaner.....It's got to be approaching 10 years old and still works.

 

[loganvac]

Water Extraction

Amperage doesn't matter as much as the design of the motor fan and waste water containment does. Perhaps a Hoover could hold more water than a Bissell, however most Bissell models combine a bladder inside of the waste water containment that holds fresh water. This bladder takes up space, so I could understand how its perceived that a Hoover extracts more water than a Bissell. I have a Spinscrub and a Proheat and I don't notice a suction difference at all personally.

 

[wstonehocker96]

A Bissell shampooer without those breakable heaters are actually good machines...are they? At least for Hoover, it's not often when they need major repairs.

I agree with the fact Eureka is not what they are these days thanks to the Chinese. The fact there are no videos of Eureka shampooers on Youtube is for the better, as they are leaky pieces of dog crap.

 

[jo]

I’ve had…

A few of the original steam vac with spin scrub by Hoover. Fantastic machine and heavy duty plastics in comparison to a Bissell which I received and found many broken plastic parts inside. The plastic of the bissell a is hard and thin and cracks very quickly. The plastic of the Hoover’s is by far thicker and more flexible.

With ANY of these machines you MUST fill the solution tank with water and run a tank full of water through it to clean out the soap residue. If you don’t then next time expect the machine to be clogged and gummed up. Those small dispense holes are susceptible to clogging from gummed up soap solution. If you are lazy and don’t do it you might as well throw the machine out after the job is done because likely it won’t work the next time you go to use it and you’ve basically stored a machine you destroyed.

The machines are NOT cheap and so many go right on the trash from broken parts and clogged dispense tanks.

Every Bissell I’ve experienced has been horrid in comparison to the Hoover products but I also know some of the Hoover products haven’t been very good either. I bought my own spin scrub model because I knew the original was very reliable so I got that design instead of the newer models which had problematic reviews. I had one issue with it but the local vacuum store which is a Hoover warranty service place gave me a new brush unit as that’s what wore out on mine under warranty and since then then never had any issues and I NEVER loan the machine to anyone as I don’t trust anyone to wash it out properly or even maneuver it properly so as not to break the suction nozzle corners.

Jon

 

[suckolux]

I have a friend whose grandmother has pets and carpet and she's always trying to clean her carpet with the neighbors Bissell then I have to come out and clean it because it's still wet days later. My Hoover spin scrub gets it out just fine.

 

[ralph123]

Rug Doctor would likely be disappointed in not being mentioned given that they have consumer machines as well.

 

[vacuumdevil]

I think your post belongs in the vintage section at this point.

 

[jo]

I agree

The Hoover spin scrub really sucks the water out quite well.

These “steam vac” type machine as not much more than 20 years old so this is the right place for the topic.

Jon

 

[wstonehocker96]

I have to agree with you guys, the Steamvac is the best extractor if one is on a budget.

 

[panasonicvac]

I always thought that the Dirt Devil Platinum Force or the Royal Procision were the best portable carpet cleaners for the money. Thereby I would've personally ranked Dirt Devil as the first, Hoover as second, Bissell third, and Eureka the very last.

 

[kloveland]

Oreck….

This weekend I bought an Oreck Rinse o matic at the flea market. Aka Regina steamer. It’s kind of awkward but to me works better than the Hoover. It seems to allow you to dig deeper into the carpet with its nozzle design. It’s the model with the power brush similar to the helix shaped Oreck brush roll. The only problem is the shampoo cartridges are no longer made. I think. So I tried refilling them by
prying the cap off with a fork and it worked. I got the tip from another collector.