This is a kind of yin-yang device for me. There are things I really like, but things that are just "meh".I have a cat who likes to throw up on carpets (he's 19). The stains are never very big, which for this device is good. It's NOT a full room carpet cleaner. It's just for cleaning up spots. The "idea" of this is that you fill up the tank on one side with water and some cleaner. Then you use the sprayer built into the machine to spray the stain, and the (rather ingenious 3 way) head to scrub the stain. Then you vacuum up the spray with that same 3-in-1 head.The good:• The vacuum is very good at sucking the liquid out of the carpet. It doesn't get all of it; the carpet remains damp to the touch. But it's drier than it would be by blotting. This is this cleaner's best feature by far.• The 3-in-1 head is pretty cool, and the scrubbing part is excellent.• It's easy to take apart the 3-in-1 head to clean it. And you really need to do that, as the machine really does suck up a lot of dirt and scum.• The machine is well designed to store cords and the hose, and the power cord is LONG.The bad:• They advise using a fair amount of the their cleaning fluid in your mix. The machine comes with a sampler, but it's only really good for 2 uses. That cleaning fluid is expensive; over $30 for a big bottle that makes just 8 batches.• The cleaning fluid is an OK mixture, but not great. I've been using another stand alone carpet cleaning solution for years, and it works much better than the recommended Bissell products. It's a similar peroxide based cleaner, too. Cheaper and more effective? I'll take it over the Bissell stuff any time.• At the end of cleaning the stain, they recommend you clean the hose, and provide a cool little attachment to do so. But it uses a HUGE amount of fluid (¼ of a full tank?) in the 30 seconds they recommend doing so. That's going to get really pricy, really fast.• It's called a "ProHeat" device, but there's no heat of consequence. Perhaps the mixture is heated when you spray it (they recommend using hot water). But so what? I checked, and the carpet doesn't feel the slightest bit warm when sprayed, and the spray doesn't feel warm coming out.• The mixture sprayer only works when the vacuum part is working. So the moment you spray, the liquid you just sprayed on starts to be sucked up. A lot of the cleaning mixture never has time to work. I found myself turning the machine on, spraying, turning it off, scrubbing, turning it on, sucking up the liquid, spraying again and repeating over and over.• The hose is pretty short. The machine has to sit with its back you you right next to where your working.Personally, I think this machine has a role to play in a carpet cleaning, but it's not a stand alone device. My process is to NOT use the sprayer for cleaning, but instead use it for rinsing, filling the tank with only clean hot water. I use a separate, commercial carpet cleaning spray (Folex) to soak the stain first. I use the machine brush to scrub and let it soak, without turning the machine on. I turn the machine on to suck up the cleaner and stain. I use the sprayer to rinse and make sure all the cleaner is out, while sucking up the moisture. When I'm done, I follow their process to clean the hose, but I'm just using hot water.Used this way, it's very helpful when my cat makes the mess he does, with the frequency he does it.