Spotbot carpet cleaner a wonder, in spots - CBS42
Spotbot carpet cleaner a wonder, in spots - CBS42
<div readability="91.1506198892"> <br />Birmingham, AL (WIAT) - Recently, and quite unexpectedly, I reviewed the Dyson Digital Slim, and discovered a very fine vacuum cleaner. What I did not expect is that I would soon receive a message from the fine folks at Bissell to review one of their products. Don't worry, cbs42.com is not turning into a vacuum/carpet cleaner review site- but I did think that this was an intriguing product that some of our readers might want to know more about. <p>When you go to the grocery or hardware store, you've probably seen those vacuums you can rent for a day- and maybe you have tried them. In my experience they do a pretty incredible job of revitalizing old carpet. Bissell's Spotbot line of products promises to do the same thing, on a much smaller scale. Make no mistake, the "spot" in Spotbot means about a six inch circle when used in its automated settings. This is not a device that you will clean your whole house with- but it is a device that does exactly what it says, and does it quite well. </p><p><img width="675" src="http://www.centralmediaserver.com/wiat/design/spotbot/spotbot0.jpg" /> I chose two trouble spots in my house to test the Spotbot out on. The first was in near proximity to my litter box. Despite my best efforts, a cat upset at a unclean litter box would occasionally make her presence known on the carpet. There was not a visible stain, but I knew it was there. This brings us to the options on the Spotbot- there are two main settings to use the circlular brush underneath the device- a standard 3 minute cleaning cycle and a 6 minute deep cleaning version. I almost always chose the longer cycle- Wouldn't you want something to be cleaner with the only penalty waiting an extra 3 minutes? I did. The next option you have is the mixture of the soapy formula and water to put in one of the two reservoirs on the unit. Lines clearly tell you how much water to put in, and then you fill the rest with a Bissell brand product. Also included was an optional additive for extra cleaning power- but I could not notice a difference between the two mixtures. Once that was set up, you have an important decision to make- where are you going to put this thing?</p><p>Bissell puts the name "spot" in the name of the thing- and you should really listen. You are not cleaning a large area with this- you are attacking a recent (or not so recent) spot on your carpet. Near the litter box, this ended up being about six different 6 minute cycles to get the area I wanted- but at the end there was no denying that the carpet smelled and looked fresh. <br />Also, check out this picture of the waste water- it is clear that something is coming out of the carpet- something I'm happy to be rid of. </p><p><img width="400" src="http://www.centralmediaserver.com/wiat/design/spotbot/spotbot2.jpg" hspace="0" vspace="0" alt="" title="" border="0" align="left" height="239" /><br />Downstairs, in the den, the Spotbot faced a bigger challenge. The carpet downstairs should probably go- so much so that we cover a good bit of it with an area rug. I chose one of these covered areas where a visible stain had been hidden to see just what the Spotbot could do. </p><p>The answer is that the Spotbot performed incredibly- you can see the clear circles in the picture. <br />As you can see, the Spotbot works- but this also highlights what could be a problem- it works too well. If your carpet is a little older and worn in, the Spotbot will turn some small circles brilliantly clean, leaving you with the knowledge that your carpet is dirtier than you think. Basically, the Spotbot told me that I need new carpet, or that renting one of those steam cleaners was in my future. </p><p><img width="200" src="http://www.centralmediaserver.com/wiat/design/spotbot/spotbot1.jpg" hspace="0" vspace="0" alt="" title="" border="0" align="left" height="334" /><br />So should you spend $150 on a Spotbot? If you have kids and pets, and relatively new carpet, I think I can safely say that this is a great product that does pretty miraculous work. One caveat is that you have to buy Bissell's cleaner, and it is a little expensive- but a bottle does last for about 15-20 cleans. All in all, I was quite impressed with this product. You can find more about it on Bissell's website. </p></div>
