The best carpet cleaners for removing stains, tried and tested at home with expert advice

Reviewed by Kulwinder Rai

Steam mops for hard floors are a familiar concept but the Bissell Revolution HydroSteam is the first wet, upright consumer carpet cleaner with an integrated steam function. It performs its headline party trick by forcing steam into dirty carpets via a bank of 27 steam nozzles, located in front of, and underneath, its fixed, dual-brush roll assembly.

The overall weight is heavier than Bissell’s Pet Pro (reviewed below) and while still manoeuvrable, a trip up the stairs does require some extra bicep action. The steam functionality also doesn’t extend to the supplied accessory tools.

Operation is incredibly simple, however, with three choices. The first is the SteamWash Max mode, which is activated by pulling a trigger to dispense steam, water and cleaning formula. It takes eight hours to fully dry.

The second allows you to soften deeply embedded stains by passing over them in Pretreat (steam-only) mode. Lastly, a faster, water and formula quick dry cleaning mode deals with everyday, light staining and sees carpets dry in around 30 minutes.

The Revolution HydroSteam chews through more cleaning formula than rivals, but on its SteamWash MAX setting, it positively scythed through absolutely all but the toughest of carpet stains in a couple of passes.

Even deeply embedded, dried-in wine stains succumbed to its ministrations, once given a couple of passes of pure steam pre-treatment. In bald performance terms, this machine categorically outperforms every other consumer-grade wet carpet cleaner I’ve tested, no mean feat.

Key specifications

• Weight: 10.2kg
• Power: 1,300W
• Capacity: 3.8-litre clean water tank; 1.9-litre dirty water tank
• Settings: SteamWash MAX, Steam Pretreat, Quick Dry modes
• Attachments: 3-in-1 stair tool, 8cm tool and three trial bottles of cleaner