I have the Hoover Steam Vac that you are talking about and have had it for five (5) years +. I find it does the job that I want done (clean old spills, animal stains (all), and good, deep cleaning if you use really hot water. I don't use boiling water, but I do heat the water on the stove. Careful and use only  a gallon at a time. I have a friend that borrows it twice a  month to use on his carpets and it is still cleaning as good as the day I got it.

We just purchased an up-right steam cleaner called  "H2O steam cleaner" and use it for our pet's accidents. works very well. uses tap water. doen't vaccum but steams and residue is picked up with cloth

You should know there are two different ProHeats.  I have the one with "Microban" which sounds like something you should consider.  

Used my cleaner on area rugs and carpets last week (warm weather) and am still impressed with the results.  Even my husband has noticed the difference between cleaning with the old Hoover and the ProHeat.  Indicated in a previous posting that it seemed the carpets stayed clean for a longer amount of time.   They are looking as clean as the first day, which was not the case using the Hoover.

I just got my Costco mailer and the ProHeat 2x is on sale with a $30 off coupon. 

Which Costco mailer did you get?  Today is the 29th and I haven't got one as of yet.  Is the coupon for the Bissel that is around $200.00 there at Costco?
Thanks!

I got it just a few days before my last email.  I purchased mine online as I live serveral hours from  the nearest Costco.   They usually offer same deals online.

All-      

I have owned several Hoover steam cleaners and have been relatively impressed.  I have recently purchased an Oreck.  I have yet to try it but have gotten rave reviews from my friends.  You know that stiff crunchy feeling you get after you clean your carpet and it dries; well apparently the Oreck doesn't to that.  There are two separate liquid containers one for the dirty water and one with clean hot water (no chemicals).  The cleaning solution is actually in a separate bottle.  So after you clean you rinse to ensure the all residues are removed.  It is now $399.00 off with a $100 discount for buying it on-line and you get some freebees too.

Good luck!

 

 

I have had a Hoover V Steam cleaner for about 6 or 7 years, I am just now having to think about replacing it, Just thought I would do some checking to see if there was anything better out there. It doesn't look like there is. I have been very satisfied with it. It cleans very well without overworking you, not much harder than running your vacuum except for refilling the water tank and dumping the dirty water. I only had it in the shop once, and that was a mfg. defect in the seals in the water tank and they replaced them for free. So it has cost me nothing except the purchase price of about $200.00 in those 7 years. I think that's pretty good.

If you made it this far in the reviews to hear what 'new' information is out there. Thank-you, for reading this far, and hopefully your back side doesn't hurt as much as mine from reading and sitting through it all.
This is what I have found out (as CR would do it)
What to look for:
    1) No belts
    2) Separate tanks for dirty and clean water (the dirty water can be emptied and thus less weight to move around. Also you won't be washing your carpet with dirty water)
    3) a warranty
    4) 12 amp or larger motor
    5) good suction (better suction equals less water in the carpet - I take it) Usually comes with the larger motor (maybe ??)
    6) Removable brushes -for easy cleaning. From- get this, because everyone on this site that is looking for one has one, including myself, cat and dog hair. Brushes also provide a scrubbing motion for greater dirt removal.
    7) LIGHT WEIGHT (this is self-explanatory, I hope)
    8) A bare floor option- if needed or you are just wasting your money. HOWEVER, usually the more money spent the better the machine as in...
    9) a detachable tool caddy - for upholstery
    10) the attachments can be stored on the main console. Thus not to lose them in storage when you might need them.
11)   a LONG cord length- I can see that you will get carried away and the cord will come out just as you have the last far square meter to finish. Then you have to walk across you you use cleaned carpet.
12) Ease of use, but hey how will you know that until you use it. Again thanks CR
As to not 'paint yourself in a corner' start in the furthest corner (in) and work yourself out. Again look at long to cord to make this happen.

Better to buy than rent because you can do the carpets at your leisure and not be rushed to return it.
Rug doctor is the best. However you either pay at least double, of any carpet cleaner you get in any retail store, to own it. OR you rent it.

the sites that I used- 
http://homeparents.about.com/od/carpetandfloorcare/tp/steamer.htm
(they had a pointer to this forum)
http://www.carpetcleaningstuff.com/
www.amazon.com - sorry even though I am CDN you have to go the American site to get                                             reviews. You must navigate to get to it, under    home and                                                         garden->Vacuums->Vacuums cleaning and storage->steamcleaners
http://www.epinions.com/Vacuums--reviews--steam_wet_dry?_redir_att_abrtd_=1

You can make up your own opinion from all of this research.
Sorry for making this so long. However I THINK it's going to be helpful. So you won't be as frustrated as me, hence the humour.
LASTLY (YAAA!!!, and the crowd goes wild) You need a membership to post or reply to the forum. I never knew I had one and that I was paying for information that was out of date and non-existent. I made it a reply because I never knew (too confused by this time) how to make an original post.
   
   

Hi Ralph,

Thank you for your very informative message. However, I must admit that I am lazy. Could you possibly suggest a few models that I could investigate further? My wife wants to purchase one sooner rather than later, and it appears CR will not have a review until 2009.

Thank you for your assistance.

I just subscribed a few minutes ago. Have I wasted $26.00? I want know the merits of steam cleaning vs shampooing. I am looking at buying either the Bissell Pro Heat 2X ($199) or the Bissell Power Steamer-Turbo ($149). Has anyone had experience with either of these units? I'd appreciate your comments. Thanks. 

I am very disappointed as well to find no reveiws of carpet cleaners. I puposely did not buy the Bissell I saw at Costco yesterday because I wanted to check CR reveiws first... I could have saved gas and time had I known.

I did submit my personal opinion about the Bissel Pro-Heat 2X on a previous page, so you can take a look at that. I love it! Also, the Bissel "tough stain" pretreatment works very well. Even my husband is impressed with the machine.

We have used the Hoover carpet cleaner(s) for several years. They do an excellent job of cleaning if you are slow and patient. I would recommend at least a second rinse to extract more dirt. We have also found the Hoover brand shampoo to be the best.
The bad part is they are very cheaply made and do not last. We have now gone through our third.
They remain however much less expensive than commercial cleaning and can be used for spot cleaning in between a shampooing of the whole room.
A number of years ago we had a water line burst and used it very effectively to clean up all of the spill very quickly.

I have been looking on your site for info on steam cleaners for several years without success. The only thing I can find is a discussion group and LOTS of negative comments about CR lack of attention to their concerns. If this reflects the management of your organization, I suspect that too much $ is going into salaries and nice cars, etc., and the expenditures on basic research is falling, and I plan to discontinue my membership after it expires (member for over 3 years). Please post your reply to the discussion group.
http://discussions.consumerreports.org/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=cr-vaccuums&tid=7

I also was disappointed to find no reviews.  I finally bit the bullet and bought the Hoover Steam Vac duel V from Costco and I LOVE IT, love it, love it.  I have two older dogs, one of which vomits from time to time.  I've had excellent success using this machine for spots and for whole room cleaning.

I happen to use about 3/4 c. sudsy ammonia (also known as detergent ammonia) in lieu of soap and I have no resoiling problems.  I also use really hot (tea kettle hot) water.

I know that most of you are looking for carpet steam cleaners but I was looking for a review on steam cleaners for hard floors. There were none.  After trying out my mother-in-laws Shark-which I disliked for the following reasons: steam came out in front of the machine obviously floating up in the air w/very little on the floor and it left streaks, the "mop" head was large and wouldn't fit inbetween my sink pedestal and wall in the bathroom and was "stiff", overall not that impressed.  I just purchased a Bissell Steam Mop and I love it!!!!  The mop head rotates on a ball, similar to the Dyson idea, it was producing steam w/in 7 seconds of plugging it in and the steam comes out of the center bottom.  The pads pull up onto the top of the mop head, instead of the Shark head that seems just to get the front of the pad dirty because that is where the steam is.  It did leave my floor wetter than the Shark but dried very quickly.  I had to fill the Shark water tank twice to do my kitchen, bathroom and foyer, with the Bissell,  I had plenty of water left and it did a better job of cleaning the floor.  I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE WHO IS LOOKING FOR A STEAM CLEANER FOR HARD FLOORS TO BUY THE BISSELL.  I bought mine at Meijers.

I really liked this review of carpet cleaners.  Based on simple analysis of stats.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R3FXXGB9NIDBTU/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm


I too am very very disappointed that CR does not review carpet steam cleaners (aka carpet shampooers).  To be honest I take what CR reccos as the best products with a grain of salt.  It appears to me that they do not do enough testing when it comes to product durability.  And, quite simply a product that works great but doesn't last can hardly be considered a so called "Best Buy".

Hi: I don't know exactly how old these discussions are...But I did the same as others, thought I would check to see what "advice" CR had on Steam Cleaners.  It has been so interesting to read that there are so many others out there like me, with critters, kids, & grandkids.  I am currently using the Hoover Steam Vac, but it is really heavy, and I was considering looking for a new one.  Mine is very old.  I think it is doing a good job and it does great on the lineoleum, the floor is practically dry when I am done.  I had a "Professional" do mine and he sucked.   Wasn't as good as what I do, so was glad to read other comments about the various shampoos other use too.  If anyone has further advice I would love to hear it.  I do use very hot, water in mine too, but didn't notice a difference whether it was real hot or tap water warm.  Still surprised CR hasn't given it much consideration.  We are all trying to save $$, which is what I thought CR represented.  So very disappointing.  Thanks for reading.

Add me to the long list of people who are disappointed that CR has nothing on carpet shampooers/steamers.  I am also amazed that in over a year, there has been no CR response.  For an organization that presents itself as CR does, this leaves a very bad taste in my mouth.