After adopting two basset hounds, I decided to invest in a carpet cleaner of some sort. I spent a couple of days reviewing products in the range. I spent a good bit of time at Target, Walmart, Lowes and Home Depot literally taking various floor models apart and putting them back together to inspect their quality and ease of use.
I learned that more people were satisfied with Hoover products than Bissell. I could see how the little spinning brushes on Hoover products should clean more thoroughly than Bissell''s one long beater brush. Reviews seem to bear this out, but it''s close! I narrowed my choices down to the Hoover All Terrain Steam Vac Hoover SteamVac Carpet Cleaner, All-Terrain, F7452900 or the Bissell ProHeat 2X Home Bissell ProHeat 2X Healthy Home Upright Deep Cleaner, 66Q4. The Bissell appeared a better built product, but I didn''t really like the bar brush or the odd bladder style tank-in-a-tank.
That''s when I just happened to stop by a Target store and found this machine, Hoover MaxExtract 60 PressurePro Carpet Deep Cleaner, FH50220. It has the little brushes I like and the quality is FAR SUPERIOR to the Hoovers in the "Steam Vac" series. (I just can''t believe how flimsy they are.) The Hoover Max Extract is a much more solid machine than any of the Bissells I looked at.
I used it for the first time today and cleaned the entire house. Very nice! I would have to say that the Hoover Max Extract 60 does every bit of a good job as any professional cleaning I''ve had. Matter of fact, it did a better job than the last professional as he seemed in a hurry. The carpets took about 2 hours to dry. The real surprise comes when you vacuum the carpet after it has dried. Wow, my eight year old, dog worn carpet looks new again!
For the record, I used about 64 oz.of Hoover Pet detergent Hoover 40321130 Premium Pet Formula Carpet/Upholstery Detergent, 128-Ounce over about 1500 sq. ft. of carpet. The trick, it seems, is to go slow and make sure all of the dirty water is sucked up. It did a great job of the water extraction. The worst areas (where the dogs lie) I simply used a little extra spray and let the little brushes do the work.
Cleaning the machine is fairly easy and straight forward. It took me about 30 minutes to clean the machine and get it ready for next time. The only problem I had with it (reason for 4 stars, not 5) was that the brushes did not spin the very first time I used them. I simply reached down and loosened them up by popping them out as if to clean them. They worked flawlessly after that!
I am very pleased with the quality and sturdiness of the Max Extract 60 and thrilled with the way it cleaned my carpets. I would highly recommend it to a friend.
I purchased this carpet cleaner at Target after reading many on-line reviews of many different carpet cleaners. I gathered from all the reviews that carpet cleaners in general seemed to break after a few years if not a few months. I got the impression, however, that Hoover carpet cleaners seemed to be less problematic in general than Bissell carpet cleaners.
I therefore strongly advised that my wife purchase a Hoover carpet cleaner rather than a Bissell carpet cleaner, even though she much preferred the style/design of the Bissells (Hoover could take some pointers from Bissell in the styling area).
I advised the purchase of another Hoover carpet cleaner, but it was not in the store and I liked the description of the features on this one, even though there were zero reviews on this particular model at the time we purchased it. We went ahead and purchased this MaxExtract 60 carpet cleaner.
We have since used the carpet cleaner about 8 times in the 3 months since we purchased it. We have not had our carpets cleaned professionally or otherwise since we purchased our home new 8 years ago. We have 3 kids though no pets. The entire path from our entryway to our kitchen was fairly dark from heavy traffic, even though we make a habit of taking our shoes off. After just a few passes with the carpet cleaner, you could see a significant difference. After a few more passes, the heavy traffic area looked like new from a color perspective though there was some carpet fiber wear and matting that no cleaner will remove. We proceeded to clean the rest of the carpets with less drastic results but overall the carpet looked brand-new again.
We have used the carpet cleaner since the original cleaning multiple times to clean-up from kid messes, including multiple #1 and #2 messes from a potty training child (he''s just like an untrained dog, though this one knows how to take his diaper off). On some of the #2 messes we had to use the hand-held attachment (this model does not have a spinning brush on the hand-held attachment; I think the 77 brush model might have the spinning brush feature) and this worked very well.
We have even cleaned up sun-lotion from our trouble-maker son, which we have historically seen long-term staining from; no stains with this carpet cleaner. I''m not seeing a big need for the spinning brush attachment and the 60 brushes that are available seem to work fine; not sure how much better 77 brushes would work but it may not be worth the extra $$
I concur with other reviewers that the carpets are dry in about 2 hours. The carpets are only damp after the cleaning; they are not soaked at all.
The size of the clean and waste water containers seems like a good compromise between cleaning time and effort to push the cleaner. You can run through a round of water pretty quickly (3 rounds for a deep cleaning of a 10X10 room), though the separate soap dispenser seems to last 2-3 water rounds. The size seems pretty good relative to Bissell cleaners and other older Hoover cleaners
Cleaning the cleaner is fairly straight-forward; just pop everything off and rinse it off. In some spots you may need to use a pointed utensil to remove clumps of hair and carpet fibers. You also may need to run your finger along the two metal screen filters to remove any collected carpet fibers and hair. I did not go to the level of removing each individual brush and cleaning it; just ran it under some water and spun the brushes using the male motor attachment; this seemed to work adequately and pooled any hair and carpet fibers in one spot so I could remove it.
I have not seen any issues with dripping or pooling water as I''ve read with some Bissell cleaners. There is a little dripping when removing the clean and waste water receptacles and I clean the cleaner on linoleum instead of carpet but have not seen any significant issues.
The length of the manual attachment hose is sufficient to allow me to clean stairs all the way up to the first stair landing before I need to carry the entire cleaner up the stairs. This is a lot better than a vacuum we have where the vacuum needs to be carried up each individual stair.
I''m a little worried about how thin the gasket is between the lower and upper parts of the waste water receptacle. Given that the water level does not reach this gasket line before the motor makes the high pitched sound indicating that the water needs to be emptied, however, it hopefully won''t be an issue.
The handle on the waste receptacle is touted as a means for carrying the carpet cleaner. I only use this handle to carry the waste receptacle itself; it appears to be a piece added on top of the waste receptacle and I''d be worried it would crack if carrying the entire weight of the carpet cleaner. I use the main handle and put one hand under the bottom of the carpet cleaner to carry it upstairs.
Overall we''ve been very pleased with this carpet cleaner. I''ve had good luck with a Hoover vacuum lasting over 7 years thus-far so I''m hopeful the motor on this cleaner will last as long. The attachments on this carpet cleaner seem more sturdy than the ones on our vacuum, though I could see us replacing the hand-held attachment once the brushes wear down.
Update: It''s been 2 years since we purchased this carpet cleaner and I continue to see great cleaning results. Nothing has broken so far. We had a number of black spots more recently on our high-traffic section and it took all these out like a champ. My son go ahold of the cap that keeps the clean water in and ended up losing it, so I partially inflate a zip-lock bag and stick it where the cap used to go; that seems to keep the water in fairly well. One of the best purchases we''ve made; carpets look pretty new other than wear/matted down fibers in spots. We might end up trying to sell our house in 5 years and we might be able to get away without buying new carpets.
Buy Hoover MaxExtract 60 PressurePro Carpet Deep Cleaner Now
Two days ago, I acquired this Hoover MaxExtract 60 carpet cleaner. I purchased it with some degree of skepticism, since my experience with shampooers has been...shall we say...less than ideal. Too many experiences with shoddy construction, poor suction, messy dirty-water tanksand brief lifespan. The last time I''d used a home model was about ten years ago, and when it died, I swore off buying dodgy plastic consumer rubbish ever again!
A couple of weeks ago, I realized that the last time I''d cleaned my carpet was the 4th of July 2009, the weekend I proudly moved in to my new (to me!) home! I marched into the grocery store, rented one of the big red carpet cleaners, and spent a busy day industriously shampooing all of my new carpets. I returned the machine the next day, satisfied at my shampoo job, and started moving in.
Since that day, I''ve made any excuse to avoid going and renting the blasted thing again. Too many time constraints! I don''t have a free day to do it all! It''s just throwing money down the hole! It''s all very easy to talk yourself out of getting up off of the sofa and doing something that requires effort, until something forces your hand. In my case, the tipping point was dog puke!
My housemate and I have a dog with a very sensitive stomach. Last week, she got into something that didn''t at all agree with her, and sold her Buick all over my living room carpet. As my luck goes, she didn''t hold still, but sauntered around, and left a lovely trail of evil-smelling puddles of sick and grass to deal with. Once it was discovered, my housemate attempted to clean it up by hand, but her efforts were rewarded with a stronger smell, and a wet carpet. I decided then and there that it was time to rent a big red machine, or leave my prejudices behind, and look at the consumer units again.
I started researching, looking at amazon reviews and youtube videos for everything from little spot cleaners all the way up to the enormous commercial machines. I found that this MaxExtract 60 was about the "sweet spot" -the point a level or two above the awful to operate "cheap and cheerful" machines, and a level below where the law of diminishing returns kicks in. Pre-purchase, I was attracted by the twin tank design, the automatic mixing of detergent and water, the rinse option, the automatic switch to hand tool mode, and the pour spout on the dirty water tank. I was skeptical about the dual V nozzle, the pressurized shampoo sprays, and the hot air blast, but I figured I''d give it a chance.
I discovered a couple of nearby retailers had this model on display, so I went and had a look at it. I was impressed by how far you can disassemble this machine for cleaning without tools. Both tanks are (obviously) removable, as is the front vacuum nozzle, brush bar, and even the spray bar, all without any tools. In addition to the pour spout, the dirty water tank is equipped with a latch that allows the entire top to pop off for easy cleaning. I was quite thoroughly impressed by this attention to detail, given my last experience with an impossible-to-clean unit I had, that just wound up smelling absolutely awful after a couple of uses.
I decided that in light of these new features, i''d give the machine a try. I purchased it from another retailer, on the spot (Hey, Instant Gratification!) and took it home with me.
Assembly was dead easy, remove a screw from the top of the machine (it has a card attached to it tell you what to do,) press the handle into place, and then replace the screw. From there, all you have to do is wrap the hose, and the cord, and your machine is ready to go! I was rather shocked at this ease of assembly, that I read through the entire manual twice to make sure that I hadn''t missed any steps. Satisfied that I hadn''t, I filled the detergent tank to the "concentrate" line with the included Hoover detergent, and then topped the detergent tank with water, and completely filled the regular water tank. I quickly moved the furniture out of the way, vacuumed the floor, and let fly with this brand new Hoover Suck-o-Luxe!
The Hoover MaxExtract 60 disgusted me.
Completely and utterly. I can''t even begin to fathom how horrified I was.
Made me wish I''d never bought it.
So, now, you''re probably thinking, "WHY DID THE DOOFUS RATE IT FIVE STARS THEN?" -well, I''ll clarify. I wasn''t dissatisfied with the cleaner itself. Not at all! The Hoover MaxExtract 60 exceeded my expectations, performing admirably. What horrified me was the chocolate milkshake I poured out of my first tank of dirty water!
I like to think I''m a clean person. I vacuum weekly with a fairly high quality vacuum, I dust regularly, and generally keep things shipshape and bristol fashion. After that first tank of dirt, I disassembled the machine, taking out all of the user serviceable parts to make sure there was no black magic going on! I satisfied myself with the cleaning path, refilled my water tank, and tried again. Same result! Clean water sprayed down, disgusting, thick, chocolate milkshake comes up. I swapped over to rinse cycle, and ran over the carpet again, and the water was even dirtier! Shock! Horror! all that dust and dirt really sinks into what I thought was clean carpet.
Tank after tank of dirty water later, and my dining and loungeroom were done! After all that, my impression still remains positive of this unit, my fear of consumer carpet cleaners, has, for the moment, been vanquished!
Observations so far:
-The pressurized water spray really gets the solution down into the carpet. The previous machine I had just sort of dribbled the solution weakly, and it sat on the surface, not penetrating at all.
-The rotating "spinscrub" brushes really fluff the carpet up, making even my high traffic ares soft and fluffy again. They also seem to do a fantastic job of just scrubbing the dirt out of the carpet as well.
-I still can''t comment as to whether the "dual V" nozzle is any more or less efficient than a single nozzle, but I have to say that this machine could suck the chrome off a doorknob. Walking behind the machine, the carpet is barely damp, and the room was dry in a couple hours, after several slow passes of the machine. (I used the manual-recommended push forward, then pull back while spraying, and then push forward and pull back dry before moving on to the next strip.)
-The easy pour spout is amazing. My previous cleaner had a lid that you removed to pour out the sludge, which always dribbled down the side, getting you covered with filth or dripping it all over wherever you emptied. Not so here, the spout works a treat!
-The dirty water container still has nooks and crannies, but is the easiest to clean I''ve ever seen. Pop the entire top of it off and swish it out. Sand still gets trapped in the recesses of the thing, but I found that by holding it vertically and blasting it out with my sink''s hose-nozzle-thing, I could get it mostly cleaned. The hard plastic construction of it is better than the soft plastic of other machines I''ve used, as it rinses clean much better.
-Cleaning the machine is dead simple. Take off the dirty water tank, pop off the vacuum nozzle, and pop out the brushes and take the lot to the sink. Run water through the nozzle and suction path backwards to rinse any hair and crud out, and you''re done! The brushes come completely apart, allowing you to clean them individually.
-The hot-air blast, in conjunction with the excellent suction leaves the carpet drier than any other machine I''ve used. It''s not 100% bone dry, and I wouldn''t expect it to be, but it''s certainly not sopping wet. I''m not sure how the "hot air blast" works, but I think it just runs the hot air from the motor exhaust back right behind the brush bar, and down into the carpet. I think whether its hot or not, it fluffs up the fibers, making it easier for the vacuum part to suck the crud out of your carpets.
-The machine is very, very thirsty. I find myself going through a full tank of water in less than 100sqft. I don''t think this is a bad thing, since emptying it gives me an excuse to slack off for a few minutes, and I think the more water used, the more dirt it can pick up, but some folks seem to find this a concern. Using more water freaks a lot of folks out about carpet cleaners, since it means longer dry times, but as I''ve said, this thing sucks out more of what it puts down than pretty much any other machine I''ve used, including the big red one, so its little worry.
-Hair gets itself lodged up in the individual tufts of the brushes, making it impossible to get out, but I don''t think thats a huge problem. The brushes seem to continue to function just fine.
I came into this machine with a healthy dose of skepticism, having been burned too many times in the past. I did my share of research before buying these, considering Bissel, Hoover, and a Rug Doctor machine. The Rug Doctor was more than I wanted to spend, the Bissel machines have the scary "bladder in a tank" design that looks unreliable, and frightening to try and clean. Sure, they have built in heaters, but from what I understand, those are kinda gimmicky anyway. I just use the hottest water I can in the Hoover, and since it goes through water at a scary rate, it doesn''t have time to cool before I''m done. I walk behind it, and it feels warm from first drop to last.
I would recommend the MaxExtract 60 as the "sweet spot" -best balance of price/features on the market today. It''s the entry to the MaxExtract lines, and has all of the important features of the more expensive models, without the annoying "bells and whistles" -higher end models clean bare floors, and have "auto rinse" and a few other doodads, as well as a large price jump. I don''t see the need to have a carpet cleaner do anything other than clean carpet. I have a mop for my bare floors, and I like having manual control of my rinse cycle. Overall, I''d recommend this to anyone who asked me which shampooer they should buy.
Read Best Reviews of Hoover MaxExtract 60 PressurePro Carpet Deep Cleaner Here
The spin scrub brushes would not turn/spin the first time we tried to use the Max Extract 60. We tried adjusting the water containers thinking something might have been loose, unplugging/repluggin, no avail. FInally we actually saw another review here on amazon that said they completely removed the bruch assembly. We did this and after various tighting and loosening of things, the brushes now spin. Seems ridiculous that this is a problem for multiple people. IT should work out of the box. But once that problem was finally solved, the carpet cleaner worked very well. We had to refill the clean water and empty the dirty water a lot. Not that big of a deal, but don''t expect to be able to do a full room on one tank (or even two) no way. The cleaner does a good job of soaking up excess water on the dry passes, but it stil took several days for the carpet to completely dry. THe best thing though, is it did do a very good job on some pretty dirty carpet. WE''ve wanted to clean them since we moved in and they look ten times better.
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My carpet is in a high usage place like the hallway and entrance way to bedrooms and bathroom. At the present time only myself and husband and 3 dogs occupy this house...but at times there are 6 adults living here. We have had the carpet cleaned several times over the past 30 years and was not happy with any of the services. So this year, we decided to clean the carpet ourselves, we had nothing to lose...if it didn''t clean well then we could buy new carpet... We purchased this Hoover product with thoughts of "We may have bitten off more than we wanted". The Hoover was not hard to fill or refill. It sucked up nearly all the water and with fans on, it was dry enough to walk on in a couple of hours. The carpet cleaned up and looked almost as good as when it was new in the bedrooms. The high traffic areas cleaned up much better than I ever thought it would. We are keeping the old carper and putting ourselves on a carpet cleaning schedule every 6 months. I love this hoover FH50220 product and would highly recommend it to others. Mary
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While it was a little frustrating to put together as the plastic parts need to snap together and you need a screw driver to wedge the plastic base for the top to fit properly. Make sure you wait 30 minutes after filling, for the wick to absorb the water, as the fan won''t work. Also be sure the over hang on the back of the wick filter is hung on the over hang at the back of the base unit. But we started with 34% humidity and in less than 24 hrs it came up to 50%. We used level 3 on the fan, as the higher levels are noisy, but at this level and result for what this product is supposed to do, it was great. Easy to fill, no taking out bottles, just pour into the reservoir. The humidistat on the unit registers too high. I put tape over it and use my small humidistat to measure the humidity. They could have left this part off. Anyway if you want the humidity to raise quickly, this is your item. A lot better than the old filter belt circular kinds.
