Hoover Powerscrub XL Pet Carpet Cleaner

I am really impressed with this carpet cleaner. Not only does it do the job of cleaning, but a lot of reasonable thought has gone into how this is going to be used, and how the end user needs to interact with it. First, assembly is a breeze; I had it up and running 10 minutes after it arrived. You need a Philips head screwdriver for two screws and that's it. Second: it really cleans well. I emptied several tanks of nasty brown water from carpets that looked pretty clean to the eye. The included shampoo has a pleasant odor that dissipates quickly as it dries. The suction is really good, although you will want to take your time and watch whether water is still coming up before you stop, which is easy, because they made the waste water tank clear and gave you a straight shot to see where the water being pulled out of the carpet is coming up into the tank. My low pile wool carpets were dry to the touch 3-4 hours after being cleaned; my deep fiber nylon carpet is taking a bit longer. Third: the entire assembly cleans up really well. Every bit of this device that handles water, especially the waste water, comes apart easily and smoothly so it can be cleaned. I was incredibly impressed. The only wet part you can't get to are the lines that run the cleaner or the rinse water to the head of the vacuum. That should be fine, since they shouldn't be in contact with waste. But the entire suction head of the device lifts away with a single release lever, the waste tank splits in half, with enough access to get to all parts of it, and the filters are all easy access. This is wonderful, because a thorough cleaning and drying after use is how you prevent mildew, which is the bane of any cleaning device that uses water. It is not a light piece of equipment, but that is actually a good thing. The head stays down no matter how far away from yourself you push it, which is good when you are trying to reach a place but you don't want to step in the wet carpet you just shampooed. I had the best of intentions of planning out my cleaning pattern, but inevitably there was a bit that go left out, or needed another run to help dry it, and it is nice that the weight of the head stays down so that it maintains suction at all times. It is also pretty big -- it is bigger than any other cleaning device in my home. If you live in a small apartment, say with just one closet to store your regular vacuum cleaner, mop, and other things, this beast is going to evict everything else. And you can't let that happen -- you do need to vacuum your carpets before you use this guy -- it uses very narrow suction to get the water back out of your carpet, so if you have long pet hair, long human hair, heavy dirt, or similar, it could clog it up. While it does clean out nicely, its going to be a long day if you have to stop every 5 minutes to remove a wet lump of afghan hound hair. And a final tip: when you go to remove the tanks, or when you are starting to clean it so you can put it away, I recommend moving to a hard surface, like kitchen tile. It uses water, it is going to leak some of that water when you take it apart. The waste water tank doesn't leak, but there is likely to be a little bit of dirty water that comes back out of the nozzle. And there is going to be a little clean water where the clean water tank sits. I found I could handle everything with just one-half of a paper towel, so it is pretty minor. But better and easier on tile than on your freshly cleaned carpet.