Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have dogs so I'm always on the lookout for a better and easier way to clean my carpets. I bought this top-of-the-line Hoover Platinum Carpet Cleaner a few months ago. I used it no more than 5 times for some quick clean ups in the first couple of weeks and was very impressed. It did such a good job making "clean spots" that I took it out on the weekend to do the whole carpet. I used the cleaner as indicated in the manual, and I used only Hoover Platinum cleaning solutions. After cleaning about 120 square feet, in mid-clean, the steamer stopped dead. There was no problem with the outlet; the machine was totally unresponsive. I cleaned it out, put it away, and tried it again the next morning thinking it might have overheated. Still dead, so I returned it. I expected a lot more from a top-of-the-line product from a reputable company. My experience may not be typical; the cleaner might have been defective. It has a lot of good features, but it also has drawbacks. Factor in the high cost, the PROs and CONs, and make your own decision. PROs: 1. Minimal assembly. The upper handle attaches with just two nuts and bolts. That's it. 2. 6-year warranty. 3. 30 foot power cord. 4. Spot clean function. You can dispense a thin stream of cleaning fluid or a wider spray and then the brushes will scrub at any set in stains for as long as you want before you set it to extract. 5. DualScrub technology. There are two rows of brushes, a SpinScrub brush and a power groomer brush (like a traditional beater bar brush) located right next to each other. What one brush doesn't get, the other will. 6. MaxExtract technology. This is a heavy machine with significant suction. Despite the weight, it's easy to push and pull and does not leave the carpet saturated. 7. Tank full / tank empty indicator lights let you know when the dirty water recovery tank is full and when the clean water and soap tanks are empty. 8. Powered hand tool with SpinScrub brushes, upholstery tool, and crevice tool on board. Switching over to use the on-board tools is simple and easy. 9. AutoRinse technology. Depress the trigger and push the machine forward and it dispenses the cleaning solution and scrubs the carpet. Keep pressing the trigger as you pull it back toward you and it extracts the dirty water and dispenses a clean water rinse. Release the trigger and do another pass or two back and forth and the Platinum extracts any liquid in the carpet. 10. The soap and clean water are stored in separate tanks and the machine mixes them automatically depending on the type of cleaning you select. This cleaner actually uses less soap than the other carpet cleaners I've owned, which is good since the detergent is quite expensive. 11. A computer-controlled panel that looks like it would be at home on a star ship and lets you know exactly what the machine is doing. Cool and distracting at the same time. 12. The SpinScrub brush bar detaches easily for cleaning. CONs: 1. The price: $400. 2.The electric blue LED headlight. This is supposed to help illuminate stains, but I found it blinding. The one thing it absolutely did not do was make it easier to see stains. I couldn't even tell where I had cleaned because everything was bathed in this eerie bright blue light. This feature was beyond annoying. 3. Very expensive cleaning fluid. The detergents made exclusively for the Platinum ("professional strength") come in small 50 ounce bottles and cost between $18-$22. 4. If you don't use the Platinum formula detergent, the control panel light indicates that the soap tank is empty because it doesn't "recognize" other detergents. The machine will still work. Hoover says that other less expensive detergents might foam excessively and damage the cleaner. 5. The Direct Heat Drying feature. This just seems like machine exhaust directed at the carpet. It's supposed to help the carpet dry more quickly, but I don't see how a couple of quick passes over a wet carpet blowing some hot air will make a difference. 6. This cleaner is heavy, almost 29 pounds before you add water and cleaning solution, which brings the weight up to near 40 pounds. 7. The clean water tank is 128 ounces (1 gallon) and the dirty water recovery tank is 96 ounces (3 quarts). Because it is so small, it requires frequent emptying, and the timing does not coincide with when the detergent and clean water tanks need refilling. Annoying. 8. It's challenging to get the soap tank, clean water tank, and dirty water recovery tank to slide back on the machine easily. When the clean water tank is full of water, the handle on the tank seems way too flimsy to support the weight of the tank. The bottom of the dirty water tank is not flat and takes a few attempts to get it seated correctly. 9. The soap tank is poorly designed. There are three compartments -- the center one that holds the soap and two empty "wings" on either side. It looks like you have more soap in there than you do because 2/3 of the tank is empty. This makes no sense functionally. 10. You are not supposed to store the machine for any length of time with detergent left in the tank, but the design of the tank (fills from a small hole in the top) makes it almost impossible to empty without spilling soap all over the place, and it is way too expensive to waste. Everything about the soap tank is clunky -- odd design, wasted space, lack of functionality. This could use a major redesign. 11. It is also challenging to empty the dirty water tank without making a mess. The plastic hinges on the lid are flimsy and a potential weak spot. I accidentally touched the release button for the lid on the dirty water tank while I was carrying it to dump out and it spilled out all over the floor. Draining dirty water out of the tank is so messy that I do it outside and even then, it's messy. It splatters all over the place. 12. The design of the lid on the dirty water tank and the recovery nozzle assembly (the plastic cover through which the water is extracted and from where the heated air comes) makes it hard to rinse clean without splashing water all over the place. Another outside job. 13. You cannot transport the cleaner by wheeling it in an upright position unless you empty the dirty water recovery tank first. If the machine tips back when you push it and the tank is near full, dirty water will slop out (yuck). This is a major design flaw and should have been corrected before Hoover ever released this product for sale to the public. 14. You can remove the SpinScrub brushes easily for cleaning, but not the beater bar-style brush next to it. For the very short time the Platinum worked, it was a decent carpet cleaner. I love the automatic clean water rinse and the ease of using the tools. The Platinum detergents do a good job and the machine sips rather than gulps the cleaner, but I'm not convinced the soap does a better job than other available brands and it is very expensive. The electric blue headlight has got to go. Hoover should replace it with a clear LED. A really serious concern is how quickly my machine just stopped working altogether; I hadn't even owned it for 3 weeks. For the price and considering the Hoover name, I absolutely expected better. Based on my own experience, I just can't recommend this cleaner.