BISSELL ProHeat 2X Healthy Home Full Sized Carpet Cleaner, 66Q4

About a year ago I was in the process of purchasing a house, and was debating between purchasing a carpet cleaner or paying to have my carpets professionally cleaned. My house was a foreclosure, and had sat vacant for a couple years, and in the interim there had been plenty of maintenance people going in and out. (A lot of things had to be fixed up to make this house sell-able.) The carpets were pretty dirty in areas and had many stains in them, so I wanted to try to get as many of the stains out as I could. (One carpet is supposed to be a very light gray, almost speckled white, but it was a dark gray.)I figured it would cost about the same to purchase a carpet cleaner, or to pay to have my carpets cleaned once, so I figured I would go with the carpet cleaner that I could reuse. I am so glad I went with getting this carpet cleaner. I did my research, and Bissell is a pretty good brand, so I felt comfortable going with one of their lines. I chose this one because it was one of their higher end cleaners, and had some really good reviews.Before I moved anything into the house, I went through and cleaned everything thoroughly especially the carpets. After vacuuming, I had to clean the carpets twice because of how dirty they were. I went over them with the high traffic setting, and the water was dark gray (almost black). I went over it a second time on the high traffic setting, and it came back a much lighter gray. I then used the rinse setting and the water was even lighter gray this time. (My carpets were REALLY dirty!) I was able to get a lot of stains out from the initial cleaning, but some of the tougher stains I still have not gotten out, but I don't think a professional cleaner will be able to get them out either. (A couple look like the carpet was slightly bleached, and some are finger nail polish. I haven't had the time to look into getting those removed too much to repair right now.) On the first cleaning I was very happy with how clean everything got. The carpet that was supposed to be light gray, turned out to be more speckled white than gray, and the cleaner was able to get the carpet back to it's almost new color. (There were some lower tread areas under the cupboards that were still the original color, and the areas I cleaned were now only a shade or so off of those areas.)I have since loaned the cleaner out to a couple of my friends, and they have all been very pleased with the results too. I have also adopted a dog who has had accidents on the carpet, and this has been a life saver because I have been able to use the hand tools to clean up after her. She also got sick once, and left a nice trail from her kennel to the back door, and I had to use the carpet cleaner for that as well. It looked like it might stain, but after using the cleaner, I can't tell where the trail was, or where she got sick. After cleaning up after her I also noticed that I should probably clean my carpet again because the areas I cleaned were several shades lighter than the rest of the carpet.I would recommend this carpet cleaner over any of the others because of how easy it is to use, and how well it cleans. I love the fact that it has a built in heater to heat the water I put in. I like being able to select the amount of cleaner used in case I have a lighter job. I also like having the hand tools and being able to clean my stairs or other hard to reach spots with it, and even use it to do spot cleaning (for the dog messes) instead of using the whole cleaner.UPDATE 2/27/12: I just used this to clean the carpet in a bedroom, and I noticed that there was shoe polish stains on the carpet. I used it on the high setting, and used the spot shot to get a little more cleaner there, and the shoe polish stains are mostly gone. There is one stain still there, but it was a larger one to start and is now about 1/3 it's original size. I didn't even use any of the tools, which I believe would have made a difference. I still love my  BISSELL 2X Pet Stain and Odor Advanced Formula, 32 Ounces, 74R7 .

I read reviews for several of the Bissell cleaners...never realized there would be so many! I wanted a cleaner that would be durable for the long haul and able to do deep cleaning. Based on the Amazon reviews I selected this model and I am not disappointed at all. Although probably 90% of the unit is plastic, overall the unit appears to be well built. There is some minor assembly required. The only "flimsy" component would be the rack that holds the tool hose. Which reminds me, Bissell includes a bagful of tools for cleaning stairs, upholstery, crevices, near baseboards, etc. using the extendable hose...very useful. I was a bit skeptical about the bladder for fresh water within the dirty water container, but it sure saves space and seems to work just fine...time will tell about the durability of the bladder. Bissell provides a very long electric cord, so I can go every where in a large room without moving to a different outlet. Yes, when filled with water and cleaning solution the unit is heavy. Not too much of an issue for us as we live in a single story home. The unit is much lighter if you move it around to the cleaning location by removing the water reservoir first.Cleaning with this unit is nearly effortless. I was concerned that if I wasn't too careful I would get sections of clean carpet and perhaps streaks where I was not as diligent...not a problem at all...there were only a couple of small areas where I needed to go back and do a little touchup. I'm not really sure that the hot air blower really does anything worthwhile...it seems to me that your best bet is to make sure the unit picks up as much solution as possible from the carpet. I've cleaned 3 types of carpet, low nap industrial carpet in our barn office and tack room, a medium nap and deep nap in our house and the Bissell handles them all. As others have noted, it really is surprising the dirt that is picked up in the cleaning process.What I really like is that now I'll be able to touch up soiled areas before they get out of control!As other reviewers have stated...order Bissell cleaning solution when you purchase any cleaner because the complimentary bottle that comes with the unit will not be enough to do more than a small area.