Hoover Platinum Collection Carpet Cleaner Vacuum Review

I bought this cleaner after reading many reviews. My little Bissel steam cleaner stopped vacuuming up the solution after just using it 10 times, so I decided to invest in something I won't have to replace once a year. I was nervous at first because the cleaner is very expensive compared to other cleaners, and putting it together, I was terrified it would break, as it's made of plastic which doesn't feel very strong to me. It was simple to put together and get started, and once I started cleaning, I knew I'd made a good choice. I cleaned the carpet in my 17 month old son's room, and was shocked at how differently this cleaner worked compared to my Bissel. With my Bissel, an entire gallon of solution was sprayed onto my carpet, but only a few ounces of the solution was vacuumed up. I contacted Bissel and they assured me this was normal, as I have thick carpets. However, the carpets sometimes took 24 hours or more to dry, which is very frustrating. Needless to say, I hardly used the Bissel cleaner as it was a pain to wait an entire day for the carpets to dry. With this Hoover cleaner, though, nearly ALL the solution was vaccumed back out of the carpet! It took about 5 hours for the carpet to dry (very thick carpet!) and the dirty water was BLACK when I was done. I'm disgusted at what a terrible job my Bissel did, and grateful that this cleaner works so well!

What I love about this cleaner:
- You don't have to mix the detergent in water, the machine mixes it for you, making it easier to clean small areas if needed without making an entire gallon of solution

- I'm a small woman and this machine is pretty big, but it's easy to push, I had no problems with it

- The machine rinses and partially dries the carpet, without leaving an overwhelming smell of chemicals in the room

- It comes with a 6 year limited warranty. Other Hoover cleaners come with a 1 year warranty. (Hopefully this means that they are confident with this machine, and not that they anticipate problems, I'm quite cynical)

- The dirty water bin is VERY easy to clean. My Bissel was terrible to clean, it took me half an hour to clean it because of the design.

- The suction is great, it actually vacuums up nearly all the water out of the carpet

- It actually gets my carpet clean! Finally!

What I don't like:

*The machine appears to be sturdy, but I'm still a little nervous about all the plastic parts. I keep thinking something might break off if I'm not careful. It's an expensive machine and I can't afford for anything to break.

*The detergent: You can use any Hoover detergent in the machine, but the the platinum detergent that comes with it is VERY expensive, much more than Hoover's original detergent. Hoover  told me that the "Recommended" shampoos for this machine are the Platinum detergent and the Hoover SteamVac Ultra carpet and upholstry detergent. They said the other brands might foam too much and cause problems. The ultra detergent is about half the price of the platinum, so I bought 4 bottles of it with the buy 4, get 1 free deal on amazon. I just used the detergent last night on a fresh chocolate milk stain and it didn't get it out, but I don't know if the platinum would have, either. Seems like decent detergent, though! And a lot more affordable!

*Cleaning the cleaner: I don't regret buying it because it cleans so well, but I do have a few comments on cleaning it. The rotating brushes on the underside of the cleaner pick up a lot of lint, hair, and gunk that vacuums do not pick up, and the junk gets really nasty in the brushes. I've actually had to take my cleaner outside, turn it over, and pull everything out of the brushes. Very gross, but it keeps from spreading on my carpet. Just wanted to mention the fact. This is still a wonderful cleaner and does a great job, but cleaning the brushes is a bit more extensive than other carpet cleaners I've owned.