What Is the Highest-Rated Portable Carpet Cleaner
The highest-rated portable carpet cleaner, the number one rated carpet cleaner among portable machines, is the Shark StainStriker HairPro, at 4.5 stars across more than 6,000 ratings.
It holds the best stain-reduction score recorded for a : 165 against a 145 category average. The category averages 4.37 stars, and about 5 percent of the HairPro's ratings are one star against 7 percent for the field.
No other machine in the category pairs the top stain score with an owner average that high.
Top Rated Carpet Shampooer
The top rated for pets is the one that takes urine and odor out of the pile, and the machine to get for that is BISSELL's Little Green.
That is why the best carpet shampooer for pet urine is one you can carry to the spot instead of one you have to wheel into the room.
The Little Green removes pet urine stains and odors when it runs PET PRO OXY Spot and Stain Urine Eliminator formula. It carries 4.4 stars from 1,372 ratings.
For messes that have set or spread, the Little Green HydroSteam Pet adds a flow-through heater and a temperature sensor that heats the water and cleaning solution to produce steam. Its three modes split the work: SteamWash for oily and sticky messes, Steam for refreshing upholstery, grout and tile, and Wash for spills and pet accidents. If a built-in heater is the feature you want, get the HydroSteam, the pick on the best portable carpet cleaner with heat page.
Your carpets get both accidents and traffic
BISSELL recommends a deep clean every 6 to 12 months, and more often in a high-traffic room or a home with pets and children. The spot machine handles what happens between those deep cleans.
Consumer Reports Best Carpet Shampooer
For a stain or a spill, the best carpet shampooer is the Shark StainStriker HairPro; for pet urine, it's the BISSELL Little Green.
Best Professional Carpet Cleaner Machine
For a full-carpet deep clean you own instead of rent, the BISSELL Big Green Machine is the upright to get. It scrubs with an 8-row XL DirtLifter PowerBrush across a 10.5-inch cleaning path, with a 9-foot hose and a 25-foot cord that reaches across a room.
Typical dry times run 30 to 45 minutes on carpet, and the machine carries a 5-year limited warranty. It draws 12 amps, and it holds 4.8 stars from 2,099 ratings.
If you deep clean your carpet on a schedule, get the BISSELL Big Green Machine. If one carpet needs one pass, hire a machine instead.
The best carpet cleaning machine to hire is a Rug Doctor: the Mighty Pro and the Wide Track are the traditional uprights, offered at thousands of locations across the United States and Canada on 24-hour or 48-hour terms. They scrub with a vibrating brush rather than a rotating brush roll, and they carry two large tanks and an adjustable fold-down handle.
Take the upholstery and stair cleaning tool add-on at the same time: a 12-foot hose and a 4-inch wide tool that covers stairs, sofas, upholstered chairs, area rugs and auto interiors. The add-on runs the same on either term, and at some locations you have to choose the 48-hour option when you rent. Some locations also stock a Pro Portable Spot Cleaner for smaller jobs.
Bring the machine back clean and on time, or the store charges cleaning and late fees.
Settle the term and the tool add-on before the machine leaves the store.
Best Carpet Cleaner for Stairs
The best carpet cleaner for stairs is the BISSELL Little Green: 9.65 pounds, a 48-ounce clean tank, and stairs on the list of surfaces BISSELL builds it for. You set it on a tread and clean one step at a time instead of dragging an upright onto the landing, the same approach the best handheld carpet cleaners take.
The lighter machine is the SpotClean ProHeat, at 8.5 pounds with a 37-ounce clean tank, a 15-foot cord, a 4.5-foot hose and a 3-amp draw. It gives up the Little Green's 48-ounce tank and ships with a 3-inch Tough Stain Tool of its own.
You're cleaning a full carpeted flight
Run the 3-inch Tough Stain Tool along each tread, and switch to the Spraying Crevice Tool for the corners where the carpet meets the riser. The HydroRinse hose tool rinses the hose itself before you put the machine away.
Best Carpet Cleaner Spray
Every machine sold as a carpet shampooer or a steam cleaner is a machine: it sprays a mixture of hot water and formula into the pile and sucks the mixture back up together with the dirt.
For a spray machine that skips the heater, get the Shark StainStriker HairPro. Its two tanks hold Deep Clean Pet formula and Oxy Multiplier separately and mix them at the trigger into an oxy-boosted spray.
Questions
What is the best carpet cleaning machine to hire?
The best carpet cleaning machine to hire is a Rug Doctor, with the Mighty Pro and the Wide Track as the traditional uprights offered at thousands of locations across the United States and Canada on 24-hour or 48-hour terms. They scrub with a vibrating brush rather than a rotating brush roll, and they carry two large tanks and an adjustable fold-down handle. Take the upholstery and stair cleaning tool add-on at the same time, a 12-foot hose with a 4-inch wide tool. Some stores require a refundable machine deposit, and a machine that comes back dirty or late draws cleaning and late fees.
Which carpet cleaner leaves no residue?
The carpet cleaner that leaves no residue is the one that pulls the formula back out with the dirt. Hot water extraction removes the lifted soil with a vacuum instead of leaving it to dry in the pile. For a spray machine that skips the heater, the Shark StainStriker HairPro holds Deep Clean Pet formula and Oxy Multiplier in two tanks and mixes them at the trigger into an oxy-boosted spray. There is no steam and no heater, just the spray and an extraction pass.
What is the best carpet cleaner for pet urine and odors?
The best carpet cleaner for pet urine and odors is the BISSELL Little Green, which removes pet urine stains and odors when it runs the PET PRO OXY Spot and Stain Urine Eliminator formula. It carries 4.4 stars from 1,372 ratings. For messes that have set or spread, the Little Green HydroSteam Pet adds a flow-through heater and a temperature sensor that heats the water and cleaning solution to produce steam, with modes for oily messes, upholstery and tile, and spills and pet accidents.
What is the best upright carpet cleaner for a full-carpet deep clean?
The best upright for a full-carpet deep clean you own instead of rent is the BISSELL Big Green Machine. It scrubs with an 8-row XL DirtLifter PowerBrush across a 10.5-inch cleaning path, has a 9-foot hose for stairs and a 25-foot cord that reaches across a room, draws 12 amps and carries a 5-year limited warranty. Typical dry times run 30 to 45 minutes on carpet, and it holds 4.8 stars from 2,099 ratings. Buy it if the carpet gets deep cleaned on a schedule.