United States · since 1876
The two-tank principle, applied to hard floors and to carpet
Bissell has been in carpet cleaning for well over a century, and its CrossWave range applies the same principle to hard floors: clean water and solution on one side, everything that comes off the floor on the other, never mixed.
A mop and bucket does the opposite. After the first room you are rinsing with dilute dirt, which is why a mopped floor dries with a film. Any machine in this category without separated tanks is a mop with a motor.
The CrossWave HF2 keeps a cable in a market that has gone cordless. It never stops mid-floor, and it has no battery to lose capacity in three years. What you accept is a cable across the floor you are cleaning — which, on the floor you are already cleaning, is a small nuisance.
The C3 Pro is rated for tile, sealed wood, laminate and carpet, and publishes both tank volumes — 0.82 l clean, 0.62 l dirty. On carpet it refreshes rather than deep cleans: spray extraction machines push solution into the pile and pull it back with far more suction. Knowing which job you have is the whole decision.
Portable carpet and upholstery cleaner · 48 oz clean water tank · spray, scrub and suction · for stairs and car interiors
A portable spot cleaner with a published 48 ounce tank.
Best for: Stairs, car seats and one spill at a time — not a whole room of carpet
≈ $130
Wall-mounted wet and dry vacuum and blower with a 12 amp motor and a 4 gallon semi-translucent dirt tank carrying an LED full water tank indicator, a wall mounting kit with a 32 foot hose, and seven attachments with an accessory bag for bare floor, carpeting and upholstery
A 32 foot hose, a 12 amp motor and an LED full-tank warning.
Best for: A garage where the vacuum should live on the wall and reach the whole car
≈ $250
Six gallon wet and dry garage and auto vacuum with an 11 amp motor and a 23 liter dirt cup, two stage filtration to extend filter life, a blowing function for clearing debris and inflating airbeds and toys, and a specialized auto tool kit with crevice tool, precision blowing and suction tools, a precision wet suction tool, an upholstery brush and detailing nozzles
Six gallons and 11 amps, with an auto tool kit and an inflation function.
Best for: A garage and a car, where the drum size means emptying it rarely
≈ $175
Multi-surface floor cleaner that vacuums and washes simultaneously, with a dual-action brush roll rotating at 3000 rpm, two-tank technology keeping solution separate from dirt, an antimicrobial treated FreshStart filter, and approval for tile, sealed wood, laminate, linoleum, rubber mats, pressed wood and area rugs
A 3000 rpm roller, mains power, and one of only two machines here rated for rugs.
Best for: Hard floors and rugs in the same pass, where scrubbing beats convenience
≈ $170
Compact upright carpet and upholstery cleaner with a 4-row DeepReach PowerBrush and powerful suction, a 7 foot hose, a 4 inch self cleanout tool that flushes debris at one touch and a spraying crevice tool, for carpet, upholstery, pet beds and area rugs
The cheaper Bissell plus a 7 foot hose and a self-flushing tool.
Best for: Carpet, stairs and a pet bed, by someone who wants one machine for all three
≈ $160
Compact upright carpet and upholstery cleaner with a 4-row DeepReach PowerBrush and powerful suction for carpet and area rugs in small spaces, a removable nozzle for rinsing, and two 8 ounce trial formulas, designed to pair with the maker’s Pro Max Clean and Protect formula with StainProtect
A four-row brush upright at a hundred dollars, with no hose.
Best for: One room of carpet and nothing above the floor
≈ $100
Cordless multi-surface wet dry vacuum and mop with ZeroGap Technology on the right side of the brush roll, Tangle-Free Technology against hair, a self-cleaning mode that flushes debris, and approval for tile, sealed wood floors, laminate and area rugs
Cordless CrossWave with right-side ZeroGap, and rated for area rugs.
Best for: Hard floors and rugs without a cable, if you can live without the published figures
≈ $220
0.82 l clean / 0.62 l dirty · hard floors and carpet · antibacterial roller
The one here that also handles carpet — and publishes both tank volumes instead of neither.
Best for: Homes with a mix of hard floor and rugs, where one machine has to cover both
Corded · two-tank system · self-propelled · one-button self-clean
Corded, so it never runs out — and self-propelled, so the cable is the only thing you drag.
Best for: Large hard-floor areas cleaned in one go, and anyone who dislikes managing batteries
