I cleaned a relatively new carpet because of a pet 'accident'. The carpet was thoroughly vacuumed with a less-than-a-year-old upright before using the carpet cleaner. While I was operating it, I noticed the cleaner was getting up more pet hair. The water was much dirtier than I had expected as this is a low traffic room. I also used it on a high traffic hallway and it got up more dirt than my previous Hoover carpet cleaner had. Carpet dried quickly. The only beef I have with it is you can't lock the handle in the 'in use' location. This makes it awkward to move over sideways to do the next strip of carpet.