Hoover Carpet Cleaner Max Extract Dual V WidePath Carpet Cleaner Machine F7412900,Black

I had not had my carpets cleaned since moving here. At that time, we replaced most of the carpeting, but the great room carpet was OK. Fast forward 8 years. We have a small dog, whom we raised from a pup, meaning with all the little glitches that come invariably with house breaking, and including one several-months' stint of a kid moving back in with her huge tank of a dog. Plus, it's a pretty sure thing that dogs drag in a lot of dirt. The carpets, needless to say, looked dingy and shabby. The hubs' sister, a OCD clean freak, announced she was coming for a visit. I can't move the furniture by myself, so it all but precluded having an outside company coming in, as they all indicate they will only do "light furniture moving."So I got the bright idea to look for something that I could buy to do the high traffic areas myself. After much research, I decided on this Hoover model. Amazon shipped it out very quickly. I'm not exactly Mrs. Goodwrench, but the hardest part of assembly ended up wrestling the machine out of the 3 boxes by myself. The instructions are clearly illustrated, even for the highly mechanically-challenged.I was up and running in about a half hour. And WOW, does this thing work! In the great room alone, I pulled out 6 full tanks of black water. I have an incredible vacuum cleaner, the Shark Rotator, that gets just about everything. This stuff was beyond the reach of any vacuum. Thinking about my husband playing with the dog on that carpet creeped me out totally! But now, well, let the fetch match begin! And my messy, stained carpet is now completely spotless! Now THAT is something to get excited about.I did not find changing water, either the clean water supply, or emptying the dirty water, to be at all difficult. Time consuming, yes. Difficult, no. Neither was reseating either of those tanks rocket science. That doesn't mean, however, that it's not hard physical labor. It is. If you don't want to have to work hard, be advised then you'd be best served by hiring a company to come in and do it for you. Plus, the machine is admittedly heavy, but that's only to be expected. Water weighs a lot, namely 8 pounds a gallon. A full day of pushing and pulling this machine around, and emptying/filling, will leave you exhausted. But when you see the fruits of your labor, you'll realize it's a good exhausted! Hard work that yields noticeably positive results is quite rewarding.Be sure to keep a rag towel handy to wipe up spills. Some leaked out each time I removed the dirty water to dump into the toilet. Be aware that when either of the tanks needs to be filled or emptied, there will be some unavoidable drips, so it's best to do those tasks with the machine on a bare floor that can be wiped up once the machine is reassembled. If you try to do those tasks on carpet, you'll be frustrated. Remember that it's dirty work that generates lots of dirty water, so a modicum of planning helps a lot.The extraction is excellent. My carpets were completely dry in about 3 hours, and for south Florida, where even with air conditioning our humidity level is always relatively high, that's a big thing. There's virtually no time for mold to proliferate.A small issue I have with the machine is the tool caddy, which came dislodged by accident a few times, and doesn't effectively hold the hose. The small brackets that are meant to hold the hose in place are too small to be effective, and are not up to the task. To divest myself of the repeated annoyance, I simply put the assembly away in a closet until the hose was needed for upholstery cleaning.Additionally, I did not find the extraction on the upholstery, using the spin brush attachment that is tucked away in the handle, to be nearly as effective. The couch and recliners were left far wetter than the carpet. Still, all was dry in about 8 hours, hardly a big deal. It did extract some very dirty water, so I know it does work. Those will likely need to be re-cleaned to obtain satisfactory results.A small (one pint) bottle of cleaning solution comes with the machine. I found a half-gallon (64ounces) of this same solution at Walmart for $17.99. Be aware that the machine uses a lot of cleaner if your carpets are heavily soiled like mine were. So be sure to buy a bottle or two to make sure you're ready for when your machine makes its maiden cleaning debut, thereby avoiding disappointment. The fresh linen scent leaves a very pleasant, light, clean aroma that dissipates within a few hours.Next, I'm going to look into obtaining the hard floor brush attachment (an extra optional piece) for cleaning the grout in between my tile from time-to-time.The only issue that remains unexamined is the longevity of the unit, for which time will be the judge. However, with all I just cleaned, the machine has already paid for itself. This gave an outstanding performance, right out of the gate. Excellent addition to your cleaning arsenal.

My wife and I had been looking to buy a carpet cleaner for awhile, and after doing our research we were a little hesitant to pull the trigger on one because it seemed like every brand had it's drawbacks. We also have a Hoover hard floor cleaner and like it, so we decided to go with the Dual V. We have used it two times now and I am happy to say that we are very pleased.Many of the reviews bring up varying pros and cons so I decided to address our experience with the Dual V.Setup- You have to attach the top handle to the carpet cleaner, very easy to do, simple instructions. Anyone can do this.Many of the reviews cite that the Hoover is a little heavy. I didn't think it was very heavy at all. Granted it has a one gallon water tank, so with that full it adds some weight. But empty, most people will be able to lug it around wherever they need it with little problems. Besides it needs to have some heft to be able to get good suction while vacuuming the dirty water.As far as cleaning goes, the machine works awesome. Our carpet hadn't been cleaned in fifteen months, and the light tan color was looking dirty, along with various stains such as chew spit, coffee, etc. Without pre-treating the Hoover cleaned them up with no problems. In some areas I had to go over them two or three times, but the Hoover eventually got them. Did it look like it did brand new? Probably not, but darn close. My wife came home and could not find the spots where the old stains were! And she has eyes like a hawk.On top of the good cleaning, the suction left the carpet only mildly damp. The carpet was completely dry in two to three hours, with the ceiling fan on and windows open. I cleaned the carpet by applying shampoo on the forward stroke, and sucking the dirty water up on the reverse stroke. I then went back over the area again with no additional solution. The hoover makes it easy to see when you get most of the water because the holding take is clear and you can see the water as it is getting sucked up.As far as refilling, I had to fill up twice while doing an area about 20 x 15 feet. Again I could have covered more ground but I had to go over many areas a few times because of how dirty the carpet was. Refilling was easy, 2-3 minute process to empty and refill. The shampoo holding take holds approx. 16 oz, and I probably had about a third remaining after doing the whole room, so I would guess you could get 4 tanks per 16 oz.Clean up was easy, Rinsed out the holding tank, pulled off the brushes for a rinse, and wiped down the bottom. Five minutes total.As far as leaking, the only time it leaked a few drops was when refilling the clean water tank. This is because the the seals hold a little water, not really a leak, just a few drops from each of the seals while taking it off the cleaner.As far as the attachments go, they do an adequate job. The handle to the attachments does drip a little while cleaning. Not a huge deal, but it does drip. The attachments do get good suction, the powerbrush spins, but does so slowly. Adequate for doing stairs, but I did clean my car upholstery to test it out, and the bulk (or length) of the handle does make it hard to get into some of the tight spots in a vehicle interior. The upholstery did come out looking nice and clean though. **The one negative about the attachments is that the hose attaches to the top part of the suction piece on the base of the machine. This causes some drips down from the front of the vacuum. I would recommend putting a towel under the base part of the suction piece if using for stairs or furniture where the carpet cleaner might be on carpet.Other tidbits such as noise, the Hoover is no louder than an average vacuum cleaner.To sum it up the Hoover is a great machine for the price that will keep your carpets looking clean and *almost* new. I have no experience with other brands of carpet cleaners, and providing the Hoover keeps cleaning like it has been, I don't think I ever will. Bottom line, worth the money. You won't be disappointed.-