What are the top rated portable spot cleaner and stain removers on the market? What are the best portable spot removers available for pet owners? Which portable carpet cleaners are the simplest to use, and which do the best job? In this review, we’ll look at the best portable spot removers, listing the pros and cons of each unit. This review will also include information that isn’t a clear point for or against each model but would factor into the decision to buy (or not) for some consumers.
Carpet Spot Cleaners for All Types of Stains
Which spot cleaners are the best ones on the market, which are the cheapest, and which ones give you a good combination of low price and high performance? Read on to find out which portable carpet cleaner is best for you.
1. BISSELL Little Green ProHeat
A separate turbo brush for this spot cleaner designed for thoroughly scrubbing upholstery costs extra.
The Pro Heat designation doesn’t mean it is a steam cleaner. However, it does contain a heating element to help keep water you add warm as it works. It will warm tap water modestly and keep hot water hotter longer. This makes the Bissell Little Green model 14259 a good choice if you have many set in stains that need several passes of warm water.
The unit is easy to use. It is portable and easy to carry. Assembly is a little more challenging because the instructions aren’t clear.
The spray nozzle clogs often, a problem compounded by adding the wrong soaps or too much soap. It sometimes leaks from the hose and the bottom. Bissell’s portable cleaner soaps are not safe for vegetable dye rugs, though that is not a problem with this carpet cleaner per se. If you find that the Bissell portable stain remover isn’t color safe for your carpet, switch off the hot water setting to reduce the impact.
The unit needs to be cleaned after use to avoid it from smelling when it is put in storage. It does a decent job picking up biological messes like vomit and pee after you’ve removed any solid debris. The only caveat is that it doesn’t pull up all the water, so floors are moist after you clean them. Fortunately, this unit doesn’t leave soapy residue like some of its rivals.
2. Hoover FH11300PC Spotless
If you ask anyone in the cleaning industry, it is always advisable to act as fast as possible whenever you spot a stain on your carpets and upholstery. Not only is it the right thing to do, but it also gives you the best chance of successful stain removal. However, there are times when you fail to notice an inconspicuous stain or simply don’t have the time to clean immediately.
Let’s face it guys, the days of cleaning with elbow grease and club soda are long gone. Nobody wants to slave all day cleaning spaghetti and coffee stains all over the carpet. Fortunately for us, technology has allowed each and every home owner to take the hassle out of cleaning.
Thanks to machines like the Hoover FH11300PC carpet and upholstery spot cleaner, you no longer have to break your back trying to get rid of stubborn stains. Not only is this spot cleaner super lightweight and portable, but it also incorporates features that are simply out of this world. Where else are you going to find a cleaner that actually cleans itself? That’s right; the Hoover promises a convenient deep clean for both carpets and upholstery and after you’re done cleaning, just let it clean itself. This is all made possible by patent pending self clean technology that flushes the hose clean immediately after you’re done cleaning.
Do you often forget to clean out stains as soon as they appear? Not to worry; the Hoover boasts of the best and most powerful stain removal on the market. Thanks to the clever incorporation of extremely powerful suction and high-performance formulas, this bad boy is guaranteed to loosen and remove stains and dirt from every inch of your carpets and upholstery. As if this was not enough, the manufacturer also included a Bonus expert cleaning gel that is very handy in pre-treating and eliminating stains. It is all these features and much more that make the Hoover a one of a kind spot cleaner and a must have for every household. So, before you whip out the detergent and get ready to put that elbow grease to work, just grab your very own Hoover and watch the stains just fade away.
3. Bissell Spot Clean Model 3624
If you are a pet owner, you can use either the standard detergent or pet stain detergent intended for the portable machine.
It is described as a professional unit, but its performance is par for home use. One of the benefits of this unit is the long flexible hose and variety of attachments that let you use it to spot clean without having to put the entire spot cleaner on that spot. It has a very long twenty two foot long power cord. If you want to be able to clean a spot and then pull out the hose and attachments to clean everything else around it, the model 3624 Bissell Spot Clean is the best choice.
It has a better than average two year limited warranty. Getting the unit to an authorized repair center for repair under the warranty is a hassle. The service is particularly slow for pump replacements, which tend to go out after a year of heavy use.
One of its weaknesses is how much water it leaves in the carpet. You can reduce this issue by cleaning the suction gate regularly.
4. Bissell Spotbot Pet Stain Remover 33N8A
The model number for the pet specific portable spot remover is model 33N8A.
One of the benefits of the Spotbot is its low maintenance usage. You can put it on a dirty spot and the brushes will scrub out poop stains, vomit and other biological matter (though you have to remove the biggest solid matter for it to do a good job).
You can select either a normal cleaning or deep cleaning. The deep cleaning you want in response to pet messes lets you get one or two cleaning jobs out of one tank of soapy water. Do not use this carpet cleaner on loop rugs – it will rip it up as it tries to deep clean it.
This mini carpet cleaner can work on off white carpets if you run multiple cycles. You need to run a separate manual cycle after the automatic cycle for this to work. You can also use the hose to spot clean after running it on the automatic cycle.
The unit starts to stop working after a year. Whether this is due to the spot cleaner’s suction dropping or leaking start, it rarely lasts a year.
The unit has Microban surfaces that help control odors, but you need to clean the hoses used for manual cleaning or the mess residue in them will stink. If you use too much soap or the wrong type of soap, the residue can build up and generate odors as well.
5. Bissell Spot Clean Model 5207A
The Bissell Spot Clean model 5207F is too new to have a good track record, so this review is of the older model 5207A.
Another benefit of the Spot Clean is how large the cleaning area is relative to others on this list; you may be able to clean a large stain with one pass of this unit instead of multiple applications of other Bissell Spot Clean carpet cleaners.
One of the biggest strengths of this spot remover is the removable clean and dirty water tanks. You can remove them and refill them without having to lug the whole unit or awkwardly drain the entire thing.
The downside is that the dirty water tank fills up faster than the clean water tank drains, so cleaning can require several trips to empty the dirty water tank before the clean water tank is done.
It has the same heat wave technology to keep hot water warm, though it can’t warm cool water to a good temperature for thoroughly cleaning carpet.
6. Rug Doctor Portable Carpet Spot Cleaner
Use the Rug Doctor portable machine detergent with this model, though you can use the Rug Doctor pet stain remover on spots before using this spot cleaner on the same stain without any problems.
The handheld suction head is very powerful, and the hose connected to the head is much longer than average, so it is less effort to clean furniture and stairs. Conversely, the spot cleaner uses relatively little soap so you have to make multiple passes to get some spots cleaned.
Its noise level is average. While it is heavy, it has wheels and an extendable handle so you can move it around.
The Rug Doctor portable spot cleaner needs to have the soap reservoir cleaned with hot water then sprayed through the spray head to flush out residual soap to prevent clogging and odors when you put it away.
One of the weaknesses of this unit is that it routes dirty water through the bottom of the unit on its way to the dirty water tank. When the unit does leak, it leaks dirty water.
Rug Doctor’s customer service if the unit breaks is hard to get a hold of. Sending it in for service at an authorized repair center can run up to fifty dollars, and you are liable for the charge even if the repair is done under the warranty. One of its strengths is pulling out almost all of the water from the carpet.
Conclusion
If you need a good, little, thorough spot cleaner, the Bissell Little Green Pro Heat is a good choice for you. Rug Doctor’s mobile design without relying on you carrying it makes it a great choice for those with limited physical mobility but still need a decent spot cleaner. If you want a versatile spot cleaner that lets you move it from spot to spot on the carpet with minimal effort in between while letting you clean anything else in the room, the Bissell Spot Clean Professional is the right choice for you.
If you need to scrub pet messes out of the carpet regularly, such as when you own a pet that frequently has accidents, you want the Bissell Spotbot pet specific model. The best portable carpet cleaner for someone on a budget is the Bissell Spot Clean model 5207A.