The machine is heavy and not very agile, but it does a great job. The results are similar to professional carpet cleaning. To get into hard-to-reach areas, simply add the attachment. I used the attachment for my stairs and it was perfect. I previously had a lesser expensive Bissell carpet cleaner that was ok and light weight. Which is why I wanted to stick with Bissell. However, the other machine did not have the cleaning power of this one. It took about 6-8 passovers, but this actually got blood stains out of white carpet. Highly recommend if you can deal with the weight. Nominal assembly required.