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.
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SpinScrub
Pressurized Edge-to-Edge Cleaning
Max Extract DualV Nozzle Technology
Auto Rinse
Clean Surge
Multi-Surface Cleaning
Included Tools
