Hey 2hyperkids,
I have been a carpet cleaner for near 20 years. For my money always go with the stain master. There is a major difference in how the carpets are made. Stain master will soil a bit quicker because of the way it is made, but will clean up better and if you keep the Teflon protection up to date it will last the best.
The new carpet fiber is made more of a "plastic" filler. It will be more resistant to dirt, but when it gets damaged from wear it will not clean up as good because the fibers get scuffed and lose their shine.
I hope that helps.....
Second question is the speckled look tends to clean the best. Third... Nothing will look good on your stairs in a few years...Sorry! Stairs are just impossible to keep clean.

It is HARD and I hear ya! I've been in your same boat for months now & also undecisive till today I think I'm ready to pull the trigger.

What I learned from scouring this & other forums is the general concensus seems to be to go with SmartStrand & you won't go wrong (Shaws Anso Nylon gets good comments too) but most popular is the SmartStrand. Most say to get at least an 8 lb. pad (probably with the moisture barrier) and getting the SmartCushion pad will increase your warranty by a few years.

You will find that every store you go to will call the same carpet (or a varying degree of density in the same style & color) an entirely different name. It is FRUSTRATING to say the least trying to price shop. I pretty much felt like I was putting together a puzzle by reading all these forums, deciphering info from people who made mention of this style being the same as that style...etc)I also learned that Mohawk bought Karastan so Karastan has an authentic version of SmartStrand (of course naming it their own name).

People have said over the past several years Lowe's had the best prices due to a big deal Mohawk made with them & only recently did the local retailer get the new improved SmartStrand Ultra & Silk styles that won't be sold by Lowe's so they're back in business!

I found a style/color I liked at Lowe's, got their price & then shopped at my local retailer to give them a chance to come close to the price, and they did! I'm paying about $400 more (with a $6,000+ order!) with our local guy but want to patronize them & trust their installers more. I feel the carpets are virtually the same & had a carpet sample to compare color I wanted. I made sure I found out the "density, face weight and twist" numbers by finding it on the back of the sample or calling the store to confirm, so with this I'm confidant I'm comparing apples to apples. (Note: I also shopped at 3 other carpet stores and prices were $1,300-$1,500 more! It's craaaazy)

Hope this helps a little. GOOD LUCK!

(PS: shopping for decking is exactly the same story! very very frustrating! Wish manufacturers would just call it ONE NAME and list the specs, decisions would be made much sooner!)

Carpet Medic has wires crossed a bit. !st off lets explain what stainmaster is. Stainmaster is the fiber that is used. It is purchased by all mills and the fiber is used as a part of the construction. Stainmaster fiber is used in good carpets and not so good carpets. Friezes will work fine on steps. Sorono fiber used with Smartstrand will outclean any Nylon treated carpet. And you will not have to place the protective film on it either as it molecularly cleans better than a nylon. A nylon is much more porous, there for dirt particles will adhere to it more.Nylon is extremly resilient meaning it has great memory. Our experience with smartstrand is that it will outperform a nylon. We have not had one complaint on Smartstrand and have sold it from the get go. And to take it a step further, we do not push smartstrand as we a re a Shaw store, but the facts speak for itself based on our history and experience. We sell a ton of carpet. I will state this. The most complaints come from Olefin cut piles, Polyester 2nd...then Nylon...then Smartstrand. But we sell about 100 times more nylon because it is what we push being a Shaw store. Hope this helps.Stainmaster is all sizzle with very little steak in my opinion. I can do so much better as a buyer than stainmaster.Sorry about the grammar. It is late.

I have been trying to compare prices with two different Mohawk dealers, but they apparently use different names for the same products. Can anyone tell me whether Mohawk Intelligent Style andd Posh Origins are the same? How about Skillful Intent and Chic Appearance? All four are described as SmartStrand Sonora.

2hyperkids,
I am struggling with carpet for my family room, which also has a high-traffic path from garage to kitchen and 4 steps.

I had beige and really want more a mid-brown. I myself lean against the multi-color because while you can never be timeless, some things will date a house more than others. I'm afraid the multi, which seems so current to me now, will seem dated. But this is just a guess, and as they say over on the kitchens board, nothing is really timeless and we're fooling ourselves if we think it is.

I am still figuring mine out as to the quality level and what is best--I don't really get all the ratings. Since one of the companies I'm looking at is a Flooring America affiliate, it isn't clear exactly who makes the actual carpet.

2hyperkids-Smartstrand all the way. We had stainmaster in the last house & to the day we sold it, the formula stains on the carpet from where our little guy threw his bottle out of the crib would reappear in a few days after every steam cleaning. We went with Smartstrand in the new house & absolutely LOVE it! No other carpet was softer--it feels so luxurious to walk on after a long day at work. It proved it's worth when DS2 cut his foot and didn't realize it until after he had trekked into his room all the way to this bathroom and back a few times leaving quarter size blood splotches back and forth along the way. I nearly had a melt down! After getting DS2 bandaged up, I decided to keep it simple to start cleaning--a clean white cloth & regular cold tap water. The stains came right out! Within 5 minutes I had cleaned all the stains and you couldn't even tell anything was ever on the carpet, much less blood! No stain recurrence either. The Smartstrand paid for itself that night. Additionally, on the topic of frieze vs. plush--the Smartstrand plush fibers are so much longer than the typical plush fibers out there that it's like having the best of both worlds-you get a casual yet elegant look from it.

FUN4U- If I remember right, Intelligent & Posh Origins are the same.

Hope this helps!