Look for a used Electrolux on ebay. It worked great the few times I used my new one in the '80s. Got rid of the carpets in the '80s, so now it sits in the corner.

yungman, I bought the Hoover Steamvac. It has good ratings. It works great and I use it in the home and car. There steam part is misleading. The isn't any steam. Does not matter though. In my research none of the cleaners work any better than this one and it is $139 at Wal Mart. It sprays the solution down evenly and vacuums it back up really good. Link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hoover at Wal Mart

I got Hoover from walmarts I always use Oxyclean for carpets in mix. If get one have dirty place in carpet first use it on you jumpup and down how good job does.

Bissel ProHeat.

Not attacking you gorper. I read that the bissel only heats the water 25 degrees over what you put in it so basically that's a non issue. One guy that reviewed it said it didn't vacuum the water well at all. That is a big deal. Anyway, it's way more expensive than the Hoover which vacuums water up like mad. Not worth the extra money (like a hundred bucks or more)in my opinion.

I have some friends that have to use their carpet cleaner at least 5x/week. They have a Hoover, but I am not sure of the model. They recently picked up a higher priced, fancier model at a garage sale. They say the Hoover is by far the better machine. Sorry but I don't have the particulars on the new machine either. If I remember I'll find out and post back.

jennm 2009
According to Consumer Reports, both the Hoover F7452-900 @ around $270.00 and the Hoover F5914-900 @ around $170.00 rank above the Platinum F8100-900 @ around $400.00.

I've gone through (2) Hoovers in the last 4 years. Moderate homeowner use only. The valve in the detergent tanks fail - apparently the plastic isn't detergent resistant. And, the brush drive system failed on both of them. They were both higher end consumer models about 2 years apart. I now use the last machine as a wet vac in my basement since that's all it's good for.

I bought a Bissell. It's far from perfect. The bladder system is a little clunky. The detergent tank doesn't have a flat surface to rest on to fill it. But, so far, so good.

Hmmm Dodgeman.

Interesting. I've had my Hoover for quite a while. Maybe three or four years and it still works fine. I flush water through everything and make sure everything is drained really well before storing it. I don't store the detergent container in the machine at all