When considering purchasing a carpet cleaner such as this one, there are several issues that need to be addressed. One is the value of owning your own cleaner as opposed to renting one. Another is about the value of having one on hand permanently in terms of storage and footprint. Yet another is about usability. How hard is it to use? The primary one is, "does it work well?" It is this last question that I'll address first because it is integral to assessing the value. The answer is, at least in my case, "yes".To test this, I tried it out on two relatively tough jobs. The first was cleaning a carpet in a garage and addressing black marks and stains in two high traffic or stain-attractive areas. There were black marks spread around the doorway where people entered as well as some stains in front of a deep freezer that were made either by leakage of food products or repeated times when people stood in one area. These were all dark and entrenched. I followed the directions in the manual and pretreated them, then I used this deep cleaner to clean the entire carpet. The stains were completely removed and the carpet was visibly cleaner all over. This did as good a job as could be expected on the carpet. I posted a "user image" of the before and after showing the dark marks that disappeared.The second big test was on a sofa which had not been cleaned for decades. The upholstery had water stains (where water or drinks had been spilled and altered the underlying dust patterns) as well as discoloration. This was cleaned very well, too.In terms of usability, cleaning a floor with this deep cleaner was about as easy as it gets. You essentially press a liquid release on the forward stroke and the cleaner sucks up the wet dirty water on the back stroke. The cleaner is big, but not exceptionally heavy. I'm not sure that someone with arthritis that is painful could use it, but most able-bodied adults should be able to manage without issue. Because the head of the machine is large, however, you cannot get into nooks and crannies. It really is best to remove all of the furniture that you can.Usability for upholstery cleaning is a little less slick. The brush attachment does not have a rotating head and its release of liquid is a little strong. You have to use elbow grease to some extent and you'll notice "streaking" as the water is not applied evenly. I recommend cleaning in multiple directions (up and down and side to side) to make sure that there is no streaking after the fluid dries. As a secondary capability, it's hard to complain about the "squirting" that the brush does, but it is worth keeping in mind depending on whether or not one of your primary concerns is using this to clean furniture.The final aspect of usability is the smell of the fluid. It's not intensely strong, but it can linger if you're doing a wide area. If you're sensitive to such smells, you may want to consider whether or not you'd like to buy a cleaner that doesn't come with a recommended fluid type (the Bissel brand) and find something which will accommodate more mild cleaning fluids without manufacturer's warnings. There is a limited 3-year warranty, and I don't know if it would be seen as a violation or user fault if you failed to use Bissel's fluids, but it is a possibility.On the not so great side, there was a misalignment of one of the parts which made it impossible to properly attach. The brush holder screw would not line up if I inserted it into the slots that it was designed for. I could either align it properly or screw it in, but not both. So, my brush holder is held rather improperly by a single screw and I don't think it'll hang in there in the long run as the screw may eventually be stripped. In fact, I'm pretty sure the unit I was given was returned for that very reason since I noticed some scarring in the plastic where someone else appeared to align it as I did and the screw dug into the plastic at the same point as where I tried to screw it in. This problem may be fixed in newer versions, but it's worth mentioning just in case.Other than that, I truly wish that this were not a one-trick pony and was able to function as a regular vacuum cleaner as well. Since it is a bit large, the ability to simply vacuum with it and not store two machines would be nice. Storage will be a bit of an issue since the head is pretty enormous. Given that it has suction and rotating heads, I'm not sure why it couldn't manage this, but it does not. Perhaps it is a matter of doing one job well rather than multiple jobs poorly. I didn't knock a star off of it for that reason (I did that because of the misaligned holder), but it is a consideration, especially if you're in a place with limited storage space.Finally, in terms of value, the cost of this is not particularly high if you compare it to having to rent a carpet cleaner multiple times. If you move from apartment to apartment, and part of what you have to worry about at the end of each contract is cleaning the carpet so that you can get your deposit back, this may be the machine for you as it would save you money in the long run. Similarly, if your home has a lot of carpets and you have to clean often for allergies, it's also going to be a good investment. The main long-term value concern isn't the price of the machine so much as the cost of buying more Bissel fluid. The bottle you get with the cleaner is enough for only two applications (you have to fill the cup twice each time). You could use other cleaning fluids, of course, but it's not recommended.This is an excellent deep cleaner and I have to imagine that only the most brutal of stains wouldn't be cleaned by it given my experiences. You can see by the water that collects just how much dirt is removed. While not perfect, I think it represents good value for people who need to frequently clean their carpets.