Wootalyzer's Pricing Post! - The price of today's woot item is saved here for future reference
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Rug Doctor Mighty Pro X3
$299.99 + $5 Standard Shipping
Condition: Refurbished

*DISCLAIMER* Wootalyzer! is in no way affiliated with Woot!, and this post may not always be here!

These clean carpets great. Cleans dog hair also, if you can keep them lying still.

woot buzzkill

I bought one of these the other day (NEW) at Costco for $349.99. It came with attachments and cleaning solution. Costco's are regularly $399.99 on sale thru Jan. 27(?) for $50 off.

Wow... perfect timing!
If you buy one you can pretend you are driving a Zamboni just like the one on G-oo-G-le.

I was about to start the equation of how many rug doctor rentals it'd take to get my money back. Then, I remembered how overused and dirty the rentals usually are plus the pain of picking them up loading, unloading, loading, unloading... priceless.

I have actually been thinking about getting a rug doctor for the past couple of weeks. And now bam, here is one, now I just have to decide if I want a refurb or kick in another 100 bucks and get a new one

Crap, it doesn't say if it comes with the Upholstery Kit, that's a deal breaker for me because that is one of the reasons I would get it so I can use it for the car

You know, this could actually make carpet cleaning fun. Just imagine it is a small zamboni!

This system certainly did receive a Seal of Approval from the Carpet and Rug Institute at their Platinum Level, but it doesn't seem to be alone in this category.

http://www.carpet-rug.org/commercial-customers/cleaning-and-maintenance/seal-of-approval-products/systems-list.cfm

I paid a service to steam clean my carpets, which was marginally effective. The guy suggested I rent a Rug Doctor.

pupyluvr wrote:Wow... perfect timing!
If you buy one you can pretend you are driving a Zamboni just like the one on G-oo-G-le.

Is that the nicest Google doodle ever or what? (or at least close)

Where in the heck would I store one of these behemoths? No thanks. I'll rent 1x/year for 12 years.

If you are going to own a carpet cleaning machine, this is a good choice. I have this as well as a Bissell which resembles an upright vacuum cleaner. The Rug Doctor can clean twice as fast and do a better job. The water capacity is higher saving time changing water, it's wider, and has better extraction.

Not sure if this comes with the upholstery hand tool, but that does rejuvenate automobile carpet amazingly well.

You don't need high dollar shampoo, you can use a vinegar solution. There are many Internet recipes for home brew solutions.

I've owned many different carpet shampoo machines over the years and this does the best job so far. Stores easily in the closet next to the vacuum.

I absolutely have no interest in this product, but I gotta' say I'd be in for three if I really did get swept away by a certain Doctor! Love the write-up!! (Next time work in a love story between this Wooter and the tenth doctor and you've got yourself a deal!)

I have rented these many s before but I don't think I would ever buy a rug doctor.

Seeing these listed on woot all the time inspired me to buy a bissel big green carpet cleaner. It's the same kind of big commercial carpet shampooer deal, but I've got to admit i've used it about 20 times in the last year. It's come in real handy. If it ever breaks down I'll need to replace it for sure. Buy something like this and rest easy, your carpets are safe.

I wonder how they get so many to refurb? You could back in to the thing in the parking lot and I bet it would still work. All I can figure is people return them after cleaning their carpets.

Does this come with the stair and upolstery tools?

I just got a puppy. This might be required.

No furniture or stair attachments? Would love to use on furniture, stairs and vehicles as well

How many times has this been refurbished? There's a limit of 12, you know.

Will it play music? Wear fancy clothes? Wrap my curtains around its neck like a scarf? Have a stick of celery stuck to it? These things will let me know how many times it has been refurbished.

j647 wrote:I just got a puppy. This might be required.

Much easier to just use the bathtub, especially as this doesn't include any attachments.

Bought it last year the last time Woot offered it. It's been a good machine for us. With 3 kids and 3 cats we have had to use it a lot (probably over 15 times), so it has already paid off what the rental fee would have been. It also shipped directly from the Rug Doctor warehouse, and not from a Woot warehouse.

For those who may want to know, it doesn't come with the hand tool, but mine had a $20 off coupon for one, which was good since it looks like the Home Depot doesn't sell it anymore.

Bought one from here about a year ago, it was not the Prox3 model sold now. No attachements of any kind came with it, you can purchase, about 80 bucks.... Had a bissell unit, cleaned ok, but took a day for the carpets to dry. The Rug DR drys the carpets so well, within about 3 hours you can walk on it without wet socks!.. Great cleaning machine, and the refurb I got was in new condition, right down to having the plastic still on the serial number plate.

garfield43 wrote:I wonder how they get so many to refurb? You could back in to the thing in the parking lot and I bet it would still work. All I can figure is people return them after cleaning their carpets.

They could be refurbed rental units?

If you want a "professional" deep cleaning machine, get the BISSELL Big Green Machine. It leaves your carpets more dry initially, and has way better than the rug doctor. Not to mention a spring loaded suction lip (Rug Dr. is fixed) so it actually applies pressure to your carpet when you are sucking the water / solution up.

externul wrote:If you want a "professional" deep cleaning machine, get the BISSELL Big Green Machine. It leaves your carpets more dry initially, and has way better than the rug doctor. Not to mention a spring loaded suction lip (Rug Dr. is fixed) so it actually applies pressure to your carpet when you are sucking the water / solution up.

Does anyone else concur that the Bissell Big Green beats this thing? I noticed the Bissell isn't on the Carpet and Rug Institute's Seal of Approval list, but don't know whether that's significant. Thanks.

mamawoot wrote:woot buzzkill

I bought one of these the other day (NEW) at Costco for $349.99. It came with attachments and cleaning solution. Costco's are regularly $399.99 on sale thru Jan. 27(?) for $50 off.

Thanks for that info! I had not seen the sale price. And I think the Costco unit comes with the hose.

pukeboy wrote:How many times has this been refurbished? There's a limit of 12, you know.

Will it play music? Wear fancy clothes? Wrap my curtains around its neck like a scarf? Have a stick of celery stuck to it? These things will let me know how many times it has been refurbished.

One question: Is this blue box smaller on the outside?

Souffle anyone?

I bought this on a previous woot offering to use at my martial arts school. It does a fantastic job at cleaning our carpets.I do have 4 major complaints about it though.
1) the handle is not very user friendly it is at an odd angle and is kind of short it really needs to be 2-3 inches longer.
2) The fill and empty buckets are clunky, there is no way to tell how much water you have left in the fill tank and even when the machine stops squirting water from the tank there is still a good bit in there.
3) there is no pour lip on the empty bucket and it has a very large lip that means some of the dirty water and particles stay in it.
4) The hook where you wrap the cord does not have any sort of release feature so you have to wind and unwind the cord and it is a pretty small spot so the cord stays pretty tightly wound.
Overall the machine does a great job and the design flaws are not deal breakers but they couldve made a good machine a great machine. Everything is pretty heavy duty and it seems like it is going to last for quite some time.

zwoodsman wrote:Does anyone else concur that the Bissell Big Green beats this thing? I noticed the Bissell isn't on the Carpet and Rug Institute's Seal of Approval list, but don't know whether that's significant. Thanks.

It certainly has some nicer features. It has removable tanks for both clean and dirty water, (if you don't use all the clean water in the rug doctor you need to lift the machine to pour it out or eject it into the carpet I think.)it has a handle that attaches at the base for better handling, you can push it forwards and backwards, and mine even came with the upholstery attachment. The main mechanical difference is in the brush head. The bissell has a rotating brush like a vacuum cleaner, and the rug doctor has an oscillating bar brush like nothing I can think of. That limits the rug doctor to being pulled backwards while the big green can be pushed and pulled. I don't know if there is a huge difference in performance. I haven't tried them both side by side, and I didn't buy my big green to perform any carpet restoration miracles. I just use it to clean spot accidents and freshen up the place a couple times a year. It performs both of those tasks very well. I've gotten grease stains from my office chair, and ground ground in electrical tape adhesive stains out of my carpet with it. It's also cleaned up all sorts of pet excretions like they were nothing. I do feel comfortable saying that both machines are built tonka tough and worth the extra scratch.

You should check the Bissell Big Green 86T3 for comparison. Amazon has some 5 star reviews for the Bissell. I found the Bissell for $280 for a new machine. Various reviews on the web gave the nod to the Bissell. Since the refurb price for the Rug Doctor is about $150 less than the new Bissell on Amazon that might be the way to go. Check the extensive reviews for both.

If you ever share the expense of a rental with close friends or family I would suggest splitting the cost and the use of this machine among them. My sister and I each have only one room with carpet between our two homes, and our mom has only two rooms with carpet. When possible we plan a carpet cleaning the same day and split cost of the rental. If you have (or could have) a similar situation I suggest co-purchasing the machine. It is easier to justify $100 to $150 for anytime access to a rug doctor than $300, and the wear on the machine would still be minimal compared to a rental!

mamawoot wrote:woot buzzkill

I bought one of these the other day (NEW) at Costco for $349.99. It came with attachments and cleaning solution. Costco's are regularly $399.99 on sale thru Jan. 27(?) for $50 off.

yep. costco's deal is much better. brand new (not a refurb), and it includes:
-free shipping
-upholstery and stair tool with 12' hose
-96 oz. of oxy-steam carpet cleaner solution
-24 oz. urine eliminator solution

for only $50 more.

radi0j0hn wrote:They could be refurbed rental units?

I dont think so. The blue one is the "street legal" one, the rentals are red.

These rug cleaners weigh a ton and are loud as hell but they really work in high traffic areas to lift out the years of dirt tracked in on your shoes. I rented one such machine and spent about 4 hours going back and forth over the same area watching the dirty water go from black to brown to grey and eventually I settled on grey.

Note that the cleaning solution is pretty expensive and you need a lot of it to properly clean an area as you will be going over the same rug multiple times to get it clean.

how well does this clean blood stains?

So if you are at all interested in this product and you're not sure if this is a good deal, let me help you out. From the RugDoctor website, a brand new one will cost you $600 and a refurbished (same as for sale here) will cost you $450. You do the math!

http://buy.rugdoctor.com/carpet-cleaners/mighty-pro-x3.html
http://buy.rugdoctor.com/carpet-cleaners-refurbished.html

I'm buying it right now.