The Rug Doctor is one of the best home carpet cleaners on the market. It’s also the cleaner you’re most likely to see in the store with a big “rent me” sign attached. We’ve used it and its smaller (and larger) brethren for years, and figured it was time to put together a review for it. In short, it’s not the best mid-priced cleaner out there (that award would go to the Bissell 86T3), but it’s definitely a strong competitor. Here’s what we like the most and least about it: it works well for large houses and it’s one of the best cleaners we’ve found for dealing with the various things large dogs bring home (or leave behind).

Pros of the Rug Doctor Mighty Pro X3

What we like best about the Rug Doctor is that it does a thorough job with most carpets. It has trouble with shag and shag-like carpets, but it’s miles beyond almost any other carpet cleaner you’re going to find in a department store. Many owners (including several on our team) report that their Rug Doctors paid for themselves after a few years of use, and it’s hard to disagree with the results. The construction is also top notch in most areas with features we’re happy to see, like bigger water tanks, impact resistant waste tanks, and a lack of gears that will break down in a year or two like in so many cheap carpet cleaners. It also doesn’t leak, which, unfortunately, is not something you can take for granted in every carpet cleaner.

Cons of the Rug Doctor X3

Construction is flimsy in a few areas, including in the brushes, which sometimes seem to stop working prematurely. Although the Rug Doctor comes with a 5 year warranty, we’d like to feel like it’s something we’d never need (instead of eyeing our machine at the 4.5 year mark and wondering if something would snap in six months). It also doesn’t have quite the power of the big green Bissell (but very few machines do). And while we haven’t ever seen significant leaking issues, we do know a few other professional cleaners who’ve received the odd defective unit.

Using the Rug Doctor Pro with dogs and cats

To put it simply, our favorite reason for owning the Rug Doctor is because of the marvelous job it does on dog and cat stains. Some of us have dogs that struggle to see the benefits of urinating outdoors. Some of us have cats that insist on eating houseplants (and then throwing them up strategically around the house). We all have our war stories. The point is that the Rug Doctor, when used responsibly, can help as part of a therapy and recovery plan. It cleans pretty much every kind of animal-induced stain we come across, and we come across a lot.

Conclusions – is the Rug Doctor worth it?

In conclusion, we get that the amount of money you need to buy a Rug Doctor is what people would normally only spend on TVs, dishwashers, washers, dryers…Actually, when you think about it that way, it’s not an absurd amount of money at all relative to the use it gives you. Sure, you could rent one; the models in stores have always served us well when we’ve needed them for the odd task. However, if you have the choice and the funds to match, the Rug Doctor is worth buying. It’s not the best cleaner out there, but it’s pretty close.

You can buy the Rug Doctor X3 on Amazon here, while the Bissell 86T3/Q is available here.

If you find our research on PMC helpful, you can support our efforts to keep maniacally reviewing home cleaning tools by shopping through this Amazon link. Canadians can use this link. We promise to keep fighting the good fight against every horror children, animals, and grown, yet messy humans can inflict upon a clean home.