Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I was skeptical when my husband first suggested this one – though it's portable, I didn't like that it wasn't a hand-held model, which I thought would be less cumbersome. But it had so many good reviews, and – even better – heated the water by itself, that I decided to let myself be convinced. :-) Well, I love this thing – it works GREAT for getting up spot stains. It picks up pet stains, some old stains – I even once used it when I spilled a glass of red wine (!) and, to my surprise and delight, it left no trace behind on the light-colored carpet. Definitely recommend! The only reason I'm not giving it five stars is because the nozzle is a bear to clean. When it picks up pet hair, the fur goes off to the sides and gets stuck, and I haven't discovered a way of getting it all out. I've tried cotton swabs, bent hangers, rinsing, tapping...the thing that works best is a pipe cleaner, but that only does so much because it's not stiff enough to maneuver well once it's inside. It does say in the directions for the LG that you should vacuum before using it, which I try to do (hard to do when you're cleaning up a spill), but as anyone with a pet that sheds a lot can tell you even a really good vacuum leaves some hair behind, even if you can't see it. Fortunately Bissell sells replacement nozzles, though I'll just have to keep replacing them until they come up with a design you can take apart for cleaning. I imagine they haven't yet because it wouldn't be as watertight, but hopefully they'll get there at some point.