Shark - CarpetXpert with Stainstriker Technology Corded Upright Deep Carpet and Upholstery Cleaner with Built-in Spot Remover - White

This is probably the easiest shampooing device I've ever used, mainly because it feels and operates more like a vacuum, and less like an actual shampooer. The suction is absolutely wonderful, it'll even suck up solution out of my Ruggable rugs, which my other shampooer will not do. The device automatically dispenses solution into the carpet, so there is no trigger to pull. The one downside to this is you will go through water and solution very quickly, as you are always dispensing water when the device is in use. The stain striker works good, but I wouldn't say great for large areas. It's really meant to be used for spot treatment, whereas I envisioned being able to easily go over my couch cushions and get a quick clean of my entire couch. I also had a slight leaking issue with the hose that runs from the stain striker into the shampooer. I was able to disconnect and reconnect the hose, and the leak hasn't happened since, but the connection still has me concerned. The shampooer is an absolute beast for what you receive. It's hands down the best shampooer I've had, and most natural feeling to use. I am also really happy with the stain striker, I just think it's lacking a little. I found that the big attachment has weak suction, which forces me to use the smaller attachment. Shark does provide you with sample solutions for both stain striker and the shampooer. The stain striker solution is not to be diluted when you put it into the separate stain striking tank. The shampooing solution is diluted, and it's actually the best smelling shampoo solution I've used. My wife also agreed, she kept having me shampoo other parts of the house just because the solution smelled so good.

I bought this steam cleaner in hopes of cleaning up some serious stains left by the cats. As you can see, the stains are gone. Very good investment.

Having owned Shark products, I knew when I went to buy a carpet cleaner that it had to be a Shark, and the EX201 CarpetXpert did not disappoint. To begin with, I had just spent an afternoon dragging a heavy bulky grocery store rental carpet cleaner around my house. I had to have help just to get it in and out of my car and up the front steps. My back took a beating changing out the large tank and pushing the machine that must have weighed over 50 pounds. I got tired after about 4 water changes and decided I would never rent one of those machines again. I checked to see what was available at Best Buy, and they had the Shark EX01. Since I always try to research appliances before I purchase, I read many reviews and recommendations. All reviews on the Shark CarpetXpert were positive, and once I brought it home, I knew I had made a good decision. The Shark is lightweight, easy to assemble, and super easy to operate. The tank is smaller than the rentals, but that made it easy for me to work with it by myself. Emptying and changing the water more frequently allowed me to actually see the dirt that the machine picked up with its powerful suction and high-speed brush roll. The carpets also dried very quickly. Sounds weird, I know, but I really enjoy cleaning my carpets now. Since I have an inside dog, the Shark makes it easy to keep my carpets clean and fresh. I have recommended this carpet cleaner to many friends and I would recommend it to anyone looking for an easy-to-use, efficient, and high performing carpet cleaner.

The Shark CarpetXpert with Stainstriker technology is an excellent choice for a carpet cleaner. It did a great job of cleaning our carpets and a couple of area rugs. The only issue I had with it was that I had to look at the manual to determine how to correctly store the hose and crevice tool when not in use. I always think a sign of good design is something like that should be obvious to the user without needing to look at a manual. That said, once I looked in the manual that issue was largely resolved and so I decided on four stars for this particular rating. We have two dogs and two cats in the house and so we're always looking to clean up after them as well as our two teenage sons. As such, our home is probably a really good testing ground for carpet cleaners. The Shark CarpetXpert with StainStriker technology took all this in its stride and we'll definitely be making good use of it in the months ahead. We were also very impressed with how quickly the carpets and rugs dried after cleaning.

I tried rentals some time ago and was pretty disappointed by the results. At the time I didn't have cats, but now I do and my carpet was starting to look pretty bad, so I compared some cleaners and settled in this one based off the reviews. While the carpet didn't end up looking brand new (it's been there for like 10 years at least), I was able to make it look actually clean, like night and day, in like a couple hours. Granted, I was taking my time. It goes through cleaning solution kind of fast, but the reviews mentioned that and I made sure to get an update extra set of detergent and oxy for the stubborn stains. What else can I say? The thing is light enough to be easy to move around. Disassembly for cleaning is also really simple and it doesn't involve a lot of pieces. I loved it.

The StainStriker ex201 arrived in excellent condition and was easy for me to put together. Amazing product cleaned a big black stain in front of my son's recliner that has been waiting a year to shampoo. I wanted this one since I've got a shark navigator vacuum that is working as well as the day I got it 10years ago. Customer service was amazing when I couldn't find the owner manual & sent me links while I spoke with them. My carpet was dry in an hour and looks new.

Before I launch into too much detail in this review, I just want to start off with being very plain: this carpet cleaner is a game changer in my opinion. I have had experience with multiple consumer-grade carpet cleaners, and this is one of the first I have encountered that seems built top to bottom for average folks who don’t have an engineering degree to disassemble the thing or the muscle memory of a plane pilot with a bunch of complicated triggers and toggles. Now for some more detail! When you first open the box, take a deep breath, and don’t allow yourself to get unnecessarily overwhelmed with the assembly process. Shark takes you through it step by step with easy-to-follow instructions including drawings and diagrams! They even have videos online if you are more visual and want to follow along that way. Regardless of your preferred instruction style, I would be as bold to say that the assembly was downright intuitive! Pieces just snap and twist in place with ease and there are no annoying screws to insert or knobs to tighten. Shark really appears to have had the average user in mind with this upright carpet cleaner! To get started using this machine, I decided to use the included Deep Clean Pro fluid. It is a solution that is easy to add to the cleaning fluid tank and all you do is follow the instructions on the tank for adding water to a line and then filling it to the next line with the cleaning fluid! I wanted to note that that volume is about 3oz. worth of this Deep Clean fluid and the included bottle is 12oz., so you are looking at 4 full cleaning tanks worth of carpet cleaning before you need to buy more! Shark recommends only using their cleaning fluids in the machine, but time will tell if that is true. After assembly and filling the tank, actually using the area carpet cleaner with brush roll is one of the most rewarding aspects of this purchase. It cleans so deeply and so thoroughly. When you are on the deep clean mode, it is easy to get into the motion of using it. Instead of annoying triggers or toggles, it is as simple as this: pushing the cleaner forward releases cleaning solution and scrubs with the brush roll, pulling backward activates suction to pull all that dirty solution into the waste tank! After a few passes back and forth, with the push of a button you can switch over to a drying-only mode and start vacuuming as much moisture as you are able into the waste tank to speed up your drying times! I will post some before, after, and side-by-side pictures of my clean versus dirty carpet, but let me just tell you, it is a night and day difference! The final detail I want to touch upon is the amazing hand tools for spot cleaning, including the wet pet mess tool! This may be one of the most thoughtfully designed aspects of this machine. They thought of everything, whether it is a method to clean out the hose easily when you are done, dual-sided fiber and rubber brush head on the regular hand cleaning attachment, and the thoughtful separate waste tank for the wet pet mess cleaning tool so you don’t needlessly get pet yuck sucked up into the main carpet cleaner! They really did think of it all. I did not use the included oxy-multiplier solution that is used in combo with regular cleaning solution when set on the hand tool mode, but it appears it will be an effective solution to use for some of those really stubborn, deep-seated stains. I am super happy with having this carpet cleaner in my arsenal. I have absolutely no complaints. I wanted to end this on a final note that cleaning every attachment and dirty piece of this cleaner, from the brush roll to the waste tank, could not be easier! We all know how good it is to get your carpets cleaned, but if you are unable to clean the machine that does the work easily, it can turn into a smelly, bacterial wasteland in no time! Thanks for reading this review and I hope it helps to encourage your purchasing decision! You really won’t go wrong with this one!

I have a bissell, Hoover, and another off brand shampooer. I had dog urine, coffee and mud stains that I had tried so many ways to clean out of the carpet. Different cleaning agents, all 3 shampooers I have and nothing, I mean NOTHING would get the stains out. The smelled fine but stain was there. So, here is what I did…. I bought the Shark Mess Master and the CarpetXpert with StainStriker. I poured water on each spot, yes soaked it!!! Then took the new Mess Master and sucked all that water out and it was yellow yellow! Straight dog urine!! Then I let it dry overnight. Vacuumed with my shark navigator and then, I shampooed with the Shark CarpetXpert using the oxy multiplier formula and once I was done thoroughly shampooing I used the setting to do the super dry setting so that the carpet would be dry by morning. I was shocked that the carpet no longer showed any stains and to test I poured water on one of the known spot areas again and took the mess master to it and the liquid that I sucked up was clear!!!!! The combo of both, the shark double cleaning formula and the way the shampooer sucks up the fluid off of the carpet so powerfully is UNMATCHED! I have spent probably over $3000 in tools on the last 5 years and nothing compares to this shampooer. I am so happy with this purchase as I am with all shark products I own (vacuums, cordless vacuum, hair dryer, wet dry vac, shampooer). Shark is the very best!!!!

Shark Vacuum cleaners are always in the top tier for suction and performance, so it stands to reason that their carpet cleaners would be just as good. The CarpetXpert has almost a 12" wide cleaning path with great suction and  a 30.4fl oz recovery tank. This stand up unit not only has a rotating brush roller to help scrub away stains, but it also has a built in hand tool that gives you 3  additional cleaning tools which can be used almost on the fly by just flipping a lever. The hand tool hose stays attached to the unit, but can be removed to clean out if necessary. The default tool is the Crevise Tool. The Crevise Tool is pretty small and has an opening of an inch wide with three  small rows of bristles for scrubbing. Because of the size of this tool, you could easily  use it clean a lot of other unconditional things that you wouldn't typically use a floor cleaner for. For example clothing. It's easier to remove certain stains if you have a way to pull them out of the fabric the crevise tool is perfect for this. You can even use the included solutions and spray  jet to treat the stain, and then scrub it with the bristles. The Crevise tool could also be used on stairs, couches, chairs, and even car interiors.  It fits almost everywhere. The 3.5" Hand Tool gives you a wider cleaning path and more bristles for bigger areas and bigger stains. It works great to spot clean carpets, couches and chairs. This snaps over the crevise tool for use and the bristles on this tool can be reversed if they become too flattened in any direction. The included Pet Tool snaps into place over the crevise tool as well. This tool  has a 4" width and has rubber bristles. The rubber bristles can be used to  agitate stains on more delicate fabrics. They also help with trying to clean up wet pet messes. Because of their shape they will not get caked with materials like the bristles typically do. The Pet Tool even has it's one little recovery tank  to help to keep some of the messier and stinkier messes out of the entire  unit, making it easier to clean up afterwards.  Basically everything on this carpet cleaner can come apart for easy cleaning and maintenance. The crevise tool even comes with a clear plastic cover  that can mount over it to help spray away and clean debris from itself. The Stain Striker feature includes 2 separate cleaning chemicals and tanks that only mix when applying them to the stain. Both have a pleasant aroma (not overpowering) and made my carpet and house not only look good but smell pretty nice as well. The Oxy Multiplier sits in it's own tank because it is not always needed for most of your carpet cleaning. It does make sense for it to be automatically dispensed while using the hand tool. as that tool would probably be used typically to treat and attack actual stains, not just a large area like an entire rug. The clean water fill tank can be loaded with heated water up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Anything hotter could cause damage to the machine and your  cleaning surface. Heat is great at accelerating the stain fighting process, but it can also force colors to run and damage some materials. Make sure you test small areas of any area to be treated to make sure you do not ruin it. Just as an FYI there are no triggers that need to be held down to dispense the detergents from the main tank. So you don't have to worry about your fingers going numb from holding onto a trigger for too long. Shark tried to automate  this process for you, so that the machine sprays the cleaning solution when  pushing the it forward, and then uses just the suction when pulling backwards. The brush rollers keep turning in both the forward and reverse motions to  continue scrubbing during the whole process. Once you are done applying the cleaning solvents to the floor, you can change the mode on the carpet cleaner to quick dry mode. This mode turns off the spray jets so it wont matter in which  direction you are moving the unit around.  The machine has great suction. The first time I emptied the dirty water tank,  the filled amount was pretty close to the dispensed amount used from the clean water and detergent tank. I had vacuumed the floor before running the carpet cleaner accross it, yet I still had plenty of actual dirt/sand , fabric and hairs that got pulled into the recovery tank. That just proves how good this machine works at pulling everything out of the carpets. This carpet cleaner worked great on my rugs and furniture. It made my chairs look almost like new, and brightened the rug in areas I treated. It was able to easily remove a ketchup stain and several other unidentified stains very well. However the machine is not magic, no matter how good the suction and rotating brushes  are it was not able to remove an old very aged stain in my oriental rug. Aged stains are some of the hardest to remove because of all the other elements that may have compounded onto them. Bleaches and other oxidizing chemicals are great for removing stains in the fact that we can no longer see them. Most cleaning solvents have enzymes and surfactants that can break down and lift out stains, but when those fail, most people will turn to bleaches. Bleaches don't actually remove many stains, instead what they do is change the color properties of the element they are interreacting with. Basically making them invisible to us. While there is a large array of things that bleaches can interact with, these chemicals do not have any effect on grease based stains and sometimes don't always work on all tannins or proteins. There are mainly two types of stains most people will encounter non water based stains (grease/oil) and water based stains ( virtually everything else) Normally non water based stains should be treated with degreasers and other oil removers before trying any type of water based cleaners. Water based plant stains should be treated with acidic cleaners like vinegar. Protein based stains can be treated with any type of soaps, but might need a bleaching agent like hydrogen peroxide to remove completely. It's usually helpful if you can identify the type of stain before trying to clean it. Although most cleaning solvents today try to include a little of everything, so that the consumer doesn't need to be an expert in stain identification or removal. In most cases, all we have to do is point and shoot. Because of the easy to use hand tools, you might be tempted to try to clean your drapes as well. I would not recommend it. The solvents included are water based. They might be very capable of removing the intended stain, but then will most likely make a water ring around the treated area, which will only prompt you to make more of a mess. Make sure you are cautious about using this on dry clean only items, as it is not recommended. Overall this carpet cleaner exceeded my expectations with it's ease of use, and suction capabilities. The included solvents worked great for most everything. My only complaint would be that I would like the spray jets on the hand tool to be adjustable. It sprays out pretty strong and dispenses a lot at a time. I would like to soften that to a finer mist for smaller projects. But other than that it works great!