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The verdict: the SmartWash+ is the carpet cleaner for people who do not want to learn carpet cleaning. Push to wash, pull to dry, no trigger, no mixing — and that automation removes the mistake that ruins most home carpet cleans, which is putting down more water than you take up. It is heavy, it has no heater, and experienced users will miss the manual control. If you want a good result with no technique, it is the machine. If you want to work a stain, it is not.
Best for anyone who wants deep-cleaned carpet without learning how to work a carpet cleaner
- Push forward to wash, pull back to dry — no triggers to hold
- Automatic mixing of clean water and formula
- Dual tanks so clean and dirty water never meet
- Wide cleaning path for fewer passes over a room
Why buy it: the automatic wash-and-dry action removes the one skill that decides whether a carpet clean succeeds, which is knowing how many dry passes to make.
What Owners Consistently Praise
Ease of use dominates the positive reviews. The recurring phrase is that it does the thinking for you. There is no trigger to hold, no ratio to work out, and no decision about when to stop rinsing — you walk forward, you walk backward, the machine handles the rest. For a first-time buyer that is worth more than any specification, because the most common reason a home carpet clean disappoints is user technique rather than machine capability.
Results on general soiling are strong. Owners consistently report the dirty water tank filling with gray water from carpet they thought was clean, particularly in hallways and living rooms. That is exactly what a good extractor should produce, and it is why the rating sits comfortably above the category average.
Coverage speed. The wide cleaning path means fewer passes to cover a room, and reviewers with several carpeted rooms mention finishing a floor in one session rather than an afternoon.
Tank handling is better than average. The separated clean and dirty tanks lift out independently and are straightforward to carry to a sink, which sounds trivial until you have used a machine where they are not. Owners rate this higher than they rate most cleaning specifications.
What Owners Actually Complain About
You lose control, and experienced users feel it. Because solution flows automatically on the forward stroke, you cannot soak a stubborn spot without repeatedly rewetting the whole strip, and you cannot make a long, dry-only extraction pass at the end of a section without dragging the machine backward over carpet you have already finished. Owners who have used trigger machines describe this as the trade they resent most.
It lays down a lot of water. Directly connected to the point above. The most common complaint after control is that carpet stays damp longer than expected, with several owners reporting six to ten hours in poorly ventilated rooms. Extra backward passes and a fan are the fix, and both are on you.
Weight and bulk. Full tanks make this a heavy machine to lift, and reviewers repeatedly warn against buying it for a house where the carpet is upstairs. It also needs real closet space.
No heat. Rivals in this price bracket at least maintain water temperature. This one does not, so the effectiveness of your clean is tied to how hot your tap runs and how quickly the tank cools.
Cleaning the machine afterwards is a job. The recovery tank, the brush housing and the nozzle all need rinsing after every session. Skipping it produces the mildew smell that fills the one-star reviews of every carpet cleaner ever made, and this machine is no exception.
Hair wraps the brushes. In a pet household or a home with long hair, the brush roll collects a band of hair that needs cutting free periodically. Left alone it reduces agitation and loads the motor.
Plastic durability. Latches, the handle release and tank lid seals are the parts most often reported failing after a couple of years. Leaks at the clean tank seal are the single most reported long-term fault.
Who It Suits — and Who Should Buy Something Else
Buy it if this is your first carpet cleaner, your carpet is on the ground floor, and you want a good result without learning a technique. It is also a sensible pick for a shared household where several people will use it, precisely because there is very little to get wrong.
Buy something else if you want control over stubborn stains. A trigger machine with a targeted pretreat spray, such as the Bissell ProHeat 2X Revolution Pet Pro, lets you work a spot properly and maintains water temperature while it does. If your need is spot cleaning rather than whole rooms, a portable like the Little Green Max Pet is lighter, cheaper and far easier to rinse out. If your carpet is upstairs, weigh the lifting honestly before committing. The full field is in best carpet cleaner, with hallways and stairs covered in best carpet cleaner for high traffic areas.
Specifications
| Type | Full-size automatic upright carpet cleaner and extractor |
|---|---|
| Action | Push forward to wash, pull back to dry — no trigger |
| Mixing | Automatic solution and water mixing |
| Heat | None — clean at the temperature of the water you add |
| Tanks | Separate clean and recovery tanks, removable |
| Typical dry time | 4 to 8 hours with ventilation |
| Accessories | Varies by configuration — check the listing for hose and tools |
| Owner rating | See the verified figure on the card above |
How We Rank
We do not buy, test or physically handle carpet cleaners. This verdict is drawn from the owner-review record: the weighted star average across a deep rating pool, the pattern in critical reviews with shipping damage separated out, long-term reports at the one- and three-year marks, and expert consensus as a cross-check. Long-horizon evidence matters most here, because the questions that decide value — does the seal still hold, is the machine still being used — only have answers after a year. Full method on how we rank.
The Bottom Line
The Hoover SmartWash+ earns a strong owner rating by removing the skill from carpet cleaning, and for most households that is the right trade. Fill it with hot water, make extra backward passes to pull moisture out, run a fan, and rinse the recovery path when you finish. Do that and you will get results close to a rental machine at home, whenever you want them. If you would rather have control than automation, the trigger machines are the better fit. Read how to deep clean a carpet before your first session, and the cleaning and laundry hub for everything else. Check price on Amazon → (paid link)