Red wine, ketchup and coffee stains, before and after 3 passes with the Bissell SpotClean Pro
It worked particularly well on my sofa. I’ve previously tried various internet cleaning hacks involving saucepan lids and steamers, but this felt much more effective because it actually pulls the dirty moisture back out of the fabric. I didn’t notice any fading, watermarking or texture changes afterwards on the synthetic velour fabric.
The wider brush works well on stairs and larger patches of carpet, while the smaller one gets neatly into corners and sofa seams. The hose length was enough for awkward spots around the house, and the power cord meant I wasn’t constantly changing plugs.
This is definitely better for spot cleaning than whole-room cleaning. You could clean a staircase with it quite comfortably, but an entire carpet would be hard work because there’s no upright wand. You’d spend most of the time crouched on the floor.
It’s also excellent for pet accidents. Normally I’d blot everything with kitchen roll and follow up with pet spray, but this cleaned much more thoroughly because it actually lifted the mess out of the carpet fibres. I’d vacuum pet hair first though. Wet pet hair inside a spot cleaner is grim as it sticks to the brush, hose and insides of the dirty water tank.
Maintenance is mostly straightforward, although there are a few annoyances. The dirty water tank removes easily, but pouring it out neatly is harder than it should be because there isn’t a proper spout. Cleaning the hose also has to be done manually with clean water.
I didn’t notice any lingering smells afterwards, but I’d still empty both tanks fully before storing it to avoid smells and because leftover water in the clean water tank can leak.
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Should I buy a spot cleaner or a carpet cleaner?
A spot cleaner like the Bissell SpotClean Pro makes more sense if you mainly need something for spills, pet accidents, sofa marks and stair carpets. It’s compact, easy to carry and far easier to store than a full-size carpet cleaner (which are usually larger than an upright vacuum cleaner), which means you’ll probably use it instead of leaving it in a cupboard for six months.
It’s useful for awkward jobs too. It fits easily onto the stairs, the hose reached sofa seams and edges without any trouble, and the two brush heads made it simple to swap between smaller stains and larger patches. If you’ve got pets, children or not much storage space, it's got a lot more oomph than a spray bottle and cloth, without taking up as much space as a carpet cleaner.