Shark CarpetXpert with StainStriker Upright Carpet, Area Rug & Upholstery Cleaner with Pet Mess Extractor Tool, Perfect for Pets, Carpet Shampooer, 3 Cleaning Tools, Cleaning Solutions, White, EX201

Used this for the first time today. It was easy to assemble and instructions stickers are all over to remind you on do’s and don’ts as you use it. I was worried about the small containers and the fact that it auto sprays and I didn’t control the spray like with my old carpet cleaner but it was nice not having to press the spray button on and off the entire time I’m cleaning. And although the containers were small, I wasn’t changing them as much as I had anticipated. I do like that you can turn off the auto spraying and just do extra rounds of sucking up moisture. In the past, when I walked from the carpet to the tile floor, I had to be careful as moisture would be on the bottom of my shoes. I didn’t have that issue with this unit. I believe with the unit controlling the spraying and the extra rounds of drying, it helps keep you from over saturating the carpet. Cleaning the unit was easy. There are a lot of different things to clean but it was easy and worth doing to keep it from smelling or getting clogged in the future. I like the idea of the pet attachment, which can be used on pet liquid messes and it collects the water in it separate container so it doesn’t get into the actual large unit system. I have not tried it yet, but it’s good to know that if I have to clean up a wet pet mess that I have this attachment.

Color me impressed. My business switched office space and the existing berber carpet needed a good cleaning. Keep in mind that this wasn't a home with children or pets -- just an office with a low volume of visitors and residual dirt tracked in from the gravel lot after people made it past 2 welcome mats.My past experience with consumer "steam cleaners" wasn't great - they spit out a lot of water, did a half-hearted job at cleaning and really couldn't compare at all with a professional steam clean. But 2 things convinced me to buy this -- 1) I've had great experience with a Shark handheld that has done the best of any vacuum I've owned over the years and 2) the cost of this unit was equal to a single pro carpet cleaning session. Figured worse case we'd have a carpet cleaner on hand and we had some upholstery that needed to be tackled anyway (past experience with hiring pros to steam clean upholstered furniture felt like we paid a premium for 5 min effort per chair and they looked about the same before / after)Wow. This "carpet xpert" does a great job, easily rivaling a professional steam clean, at least in the application we used.Cleaner arrived almost fully assembled. Took a brief moment to snap on handle and push in hose. Pre- vacuumed as instructed before firing it up. (cleaner is not designed to pick up hair, crumbs, paper shards, etc. so you'll need to make sure they're appropriately vacuumed up with a clear surface to start). Operation was pretty intuitive (I did glance at instructions) with the exception of the hand held unit (the "stain striker" hand held piece has 2 buttons - not at all clear which was for spraying and which for drying. But the main unit has a very simple push forward to spray, pull back to extract/dry. The "deep clean" choice on the machine is a bit gimmicky since there is no "standard clean" option, just "deep clean" but okay, I won't dock for that.The unit does hesitate to power off - my machine takes a full second or two after the power off button is depressed before it actually turns off. So much of a delay that I actually tried at first to depress the power button more than once with the effect that I kept turning it back on before it turned off. For now I'm assuming that's not a genuine issue but I'll repost if it becomes a problem.Haven't used it on upholstery yet, but did a great job tackling the berber carpet. The water came out... disgusting. Which is exactly what one wants from a carpet cleaning machine.Oh, unit warned about water temp not exceeding 140. I didn't much follow warnings about water temperature because I'm not really sure what 140 degree water feels like exactly or how much below this maximum is intended. I know boiling is ... well 212 degrees F and 100 F is bath water. And most water heaters max at 140. But the warnings intent or preferred operational temp wasn't clear. Should the water used be... as hot as can come out of the tap? mildly warmer than bathwater? much warmer than bathwater just not hot enough to burn you? And what exactly happens above the 140 degree cut off? Does the unit melt? or is it just a warning so that people don't burn themselves? I decided to go a notch below the max temp out of the faucet to get nice hot water, hot enough to work the dirt loose but not so hot that I'd get burnt if it spilled on me and that seemed to work.

This light-weight carpet shampooer does a great job cleaning area rugs. It cleans like a champ, it's easy to maneuver, the tanks are easily removed and reattached, the cleaning head effortlessly disassembles for cleanup. It's light and small enough to carry in one handed upstairs and isn't a struggle to use.We have hardwood floors with three Persian-style rugs (knock-offs made in Belgium) that were last cleaned by our ancient Bissel shampooer. The little Shark picked up loads of old dirt and left the rugs looking bright and new. It also efficiently removed moisture from the rugs after shampooing, which reduced drying time (over night for us).The downside - This shampooer is NOT for vast, wall-to-wall cleaning. The tanks for cleaning solution and waste water are not large enought for big jobs. BUT, if you don't mind emptying and refilling the tanks frequently, this shampooer is a great deal. It also doesn't have any upholstry cleaning attachments.Note - use 'Shark cleaning concentrate' in the machine. I tried our old shampooer's cleaning solution and created a storm of soap bubbles. The Shark concentrate is formulated specially for their machine....it comes with a small sample bottle.If your home has pets, messy children, or sloppy old men in the house (like me), this shampooer is perfect for spot cleaning. It also might work best for condo owners, apartment renters, or on area rugs like ours.I'm generally very happy with the Shark shampooer and recommend it with the limitations noted above.