Now granted, you have to do the work yourself, but the results will amaze you. I'm kind of kicking myself because I bought a Hoover duel V that literally fell apart within a year (light/occassional usage-various plastic pieces simply broke, without any force-clamps to hold the waste water tank in and the opening of the shampoo container simply crumbled-I contacted Hoover and they only gave me the option of purchasing a replacement for $40. I'm not about to spend another dime on their junk) thinking it was a better long-term investment than renting. Well, after the Hoover fell apart, and smelling the house and seeing stains everywhere (and with winter moving in, closed windows and all) yesterday I was just like, "That's it, I'm renting a Rug Doctor". My financially conscious mate put me through the ringer about what a waste of money it was. Here's the REAL review;

1) Unless you have stairs and upholstery, just rent the basic unit. You may want to also do you car's interior while you have it (and I've heard it can suck crazy dirt out of seemingly clean upholstered furniture, even mattresses) so if you have a need, it might be well worth it -I have leather furniture, no stairs, so it wasn't worth it for me.

2) The size of the machine may look a little intimidating, but the reality is, it's not much heavier than a residential Hoover or Bissell (both of which I've owned), the handle folds down and it has well-placed handles for easy transportation. As a side note, the fold down handle would be a good design feature for home units, or those of us relegated to storing vacuums in a tiny coat closet.

3) Unlike most "home" cleaners, you fill this by pre-mixing the shampoo/clean hot water (1 ounce to a gallon, keep that in mind) I mixed it in a 3 gallon bucket, which the reservoir held almost 2.5 gallons. You pour the mixture into the bottom tank, the large dirty water tank rests on top of it and is removable. The nice thing here is that it doesn't have any weird crevices for dirt (and whatever) to collect in. The Hoover's reservoir has a lot of deep pockets that hold onto the gunk, even when everything else whooshes out when emptying.

4) Personal tips: Pretreat areas with a laundry pretreater, such as "Shout" to get the really stubborn stains out (don't use hot water on pet stains as it can actually "set" the stain and odor). Add a dash of baking soda to the water to make sure the soap can work, particularly if you have hardwater.

5) Easy as can be to operate. Get the water as hot as you can, which will help melt some of the oily stains you can get near the kitchen area. (however, if you're dealing with pet stains, from what I've gathered on the internet, you actually want to use normal/cool temperatures or else the heat will permanently "set" the stain and odor--and I'm guessing a lot of people consider buying a deep cleaner exactly for that purpose-and most "heated" models don't offer the choice of turning off the heat). There's only one button, which simultaneously sprays the solution and adjitates at the same time. It appears that once it's on, the suction is engaged. It's also designed so that the hot air from the motor blows down on the carpet--I don't know how effective it is, seems like it would work okay.

6) This thing has INCREDIBLE agitation. It pounded out stains I was never able to blot up or scrub out by hand, EVER no matter what I used or how much I scrubbed with just a few passes (such as motor oil stains on a light tan carpet?? Or, heavy traffic soil on WHITE berber carpet that just keep mysteriously reappearing?? YES, I'm talking *extreme* circumstances and results--not just a slightly darkened traffic pattern on a darker shade of carpeting).

7) There's a clear intake valve at the top of the machine and you can visibly see brown water and debris being sucked up (my mate laughs at me because I smile when I vacuum and SEE results). The water in the reservoir was milk-chocolatey--yes, I'll admit it. Honestly, I wish I'd gone over everything again because I would've liked to have seen the dirty water maybe "tea" strength if not lighter. Plus, the next day, the carpets looked so fluffy white I had to put my face in it and anticipated a "fresh" perfumy smell, but to my dismay, it still smelled a little dirty (at face to floor level). However, I also know the carpets looked much better than when I'd used my home cleaners, which left the carpets (and house) flowery fresh afterward-but almost all stains and traffic dirt reappeared (but it smelled "clean"). So, it's all in perception.

7) It's a little heavy (equal to home models, but a little heavier than a normal vacuum, which is to be expected) so it does take some physical strength to use. Basically, it's all push and pull, no feeling like there was a need to help lift or force the scrubbing/suction action.

8) Take your time, not so long as to oversaturate the carpet, but go slow. For particular stains, let the soap and adjitation do it's thing for a few more seconds on that area, then make sure to let the suction equally have time to work to get out extra solution.

I could actually SEE white paths where I was able to get the rug doctor into high traffic areas. (see above description, I'm talking motor oil stains on light tan carpet and deep traffic stains on white berber).

I didn't feel it took long for the carpets to dry at all, but it's also winter time with the heat on (very VERY dry air). There was no residual soap or sticky feeling like with the Hoover we'd recently purchased.

You're typically given 24 hours to use this. I immediately started at this as soon as I got it home. I'd vacuumed the carpets first, and I'd definitely recommend doing the same--or else you're just wasting expensive cleaning detergent to clean surface debris. Although not necessary for clean carpets, I wish I'd had the ambition to go for the "tea-colored" dirty water (or better).

I'd say it's faster and easier to do, with better results than any home model deep cleaner. Even if you only rent it once a year, it's well worth it and you should make sure you get your money's worth by sucking all the gunk you can out of your carpet you can.

UPDATE: I rented one again following the unfortunate demise of our beloved 15 year old dog, who left various stains on nearly every inch of our carpet. Nothing else worked at all and made many of them much worse. Now, I still had a large amount of the recommended cleaner left from the last time I'd rented (which costs as much as renting the machine itself) but purchased a small bottle of an additive for pet stains and odors. The rental of the machine itself was only $24 and it did an awesome job. (Unfortunately, that was short-lived with the arrival of our new little puppy who can't yet grasp the idea that she's supposed to go potty outside, not wait until she comes back in to do her thing).

UPDATE: 2009. After our puppy was finally potty trained, I again went over all of the carpets (very light/off white plush and white berber) with the Rug Doctor (only $19 to rent with a $10 off special) and the carpets all look brand new; not a spot or trace of stains, even after drying.

UPDATE: 2010. Rented again, I do so about every 6 months, still have 1/3 of the gallon of cleaning solution I purchased 2 years ago. So, for less than the cost of buying a home carpet cleaner (although you can now purchase these for around $500), my light beige carpet (at least 10+ years old) still looks as good as new. I really wish I'd gone ahead and splurged on buying my own unit a few years ago when I could have.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 24