Tineco Carpet One Spot review: rug rescue for emergency carpet cleaning

Even the smallest food spills on carpet can be a problem, and the longer you leave it the more set in it gets. If you live in a home with carpet, it pays to have a carpet spot cleaner around, like the Tineco Carpet One Spot. In this review I’m going to try it out to see how it works, what makes it different from other carpet cleaners, what it does well and not so well and I’ll wrap up by letting you know if I can recommend the Tineco Carpet One Spot to you.

You can also check out other reviews we’ve done, like the Tineco Wet-Dry Steam mop or the Tineco S15 Essentials Stick Vac.

What do you get with Tineco Carpet One Spot?

There are two key factors that set this carpet cleaner apart from the competition. One is that it is battery powered and rechargeable, meaning you can take it anywhere and not have to worry about finding a plug. The second thing is that it is largely automatically controlled and will sense stains and clean them accordingly. Tineco’s iLoop Smart Sensor Technology automatically adjusts roller speed and water flow according to the detected mess, and turns blue when the area is clean

In the box you’ll get the cleaner unit which has a medium length hose, a dock to recharge it on, plus a powered cleaning brush that does the work.

Just fill the clean water tank with water and the included cleaning solution to get started.

How does Tineco Carpet One Spot work?

The Tineco Carpet One Spot Cleaner is meant for only cleaning small areas of spill or stain. Because the cleaner head is small, it would take far too long to use it on large swaths of carpet.

My hands-on video review

It utilizes that special powered brush to eject a spray of water mixed with cleaner onto the dirty surface. Then the roller brush underneath scrubs the stain, while the vacuum suction removes excess and dirty water. Small screens both on the machine and on the brush head let you know what’s going on, as will the robot voice  .

It can be used on both carpet and upholstery.

When you place the cleaner head over the stain, the machine uses Tineco’s iLoop smart sensor to detect the spill and then the machine will adjust itself to tackle the spill in the best way it can. You can make multiple passes over the spill to keep cleaning until the stain is gone.

There’s a spot clean mode, which seems to use more water and cleaner, and Auto mode which is more measured. There’s also an upholstery setting.

The back of the brush has a display that lets you see how much dirt the iLoop sensor detects. As the cleaning process progresses, you can see this in real time as the display turns from red (or dirty) to blue (clean). Tineco says the machine is adjusting both the water pressure and brushing intensity needed to get that stain out effectively.

Once the cleaning is done, you can insert the power brush into the self-cleaning box, and the Carpet One Spot will rinse the brush for you. Important to note is that you have to have the machine plugged in to run the self cleaning cycle and there needs to be more than 20% of the water in the clean water tank.

Testing Tineco Carpet One Spot

In order to test out this carpet, spot cleaner, I created a variety of tasks for it. The first was to simply clean up spilled coffee. The carpet one spot had no problem, removing almost all of a fresh spill from carpet.

Next, I tried something tougher… I spilled coffee and barbecue sauce on a piece of test carpet and let them both dry for over a week.

Because these coffee stains were set in it did take me a few passes, but it came extremely clean.

I did notice that because the machine seems to use a good amount of water and cleaner mix that I did need to refill the clean water tank often; probably three times in my test session here. I don’t necessarily think that’s a complaint since I’d rather keep refilling it, then have it be ineffective, but it might be a consideration for you.

Similarly, I never thought it would get out the dried in barbeque sauce, but the brush seem to do a really good job of saturating it to rehydrate it, then brush and suction it right out. When I was finished, the stain was completely gone.

Using Tineco Carpet One Spot on upholstery

Next up, I decided to try to clean some patio cushions which had become discolored. Because the Tineco Carpet One Spot is battery powered, I was able to carry the machine right outside and work there. You switch the setting on the handle of a cleaner, head to upholstery, and this seems to ensure less water flows through the cleaner head so you don’t soak the furniture or cushions.

Because these stains were also quite certain, it took me a few passes with the cleaner head, and then I let everything dry. When I returned, I was amazed that the cushion was perfectly clean.

One thing I did notice though is that there doesn’t seem to be a manual setting. For example, you can’t control the flow of the water and cleaner mix; whether in spot mode or auto mode the machine decides for you. You can set it to suction-only mode where the device will suck up the water that’s there without adding more. I would like to see the ability to go fully manual on this to tackle certain stains. But I suppose, since Tineco believes its iLoop sensor is possibly smarter than a human, that’s probably redundant. Since it was extremely effective at cleaning, everything I tried it with, I guess I can’t argue. But it’s worth noting that you’ll have to trust the machine and not yourself if you’re going to get this carpet cleaner.

Battery life

The Tico carpet one spot has a 40 minute run time off its battery. You can also leave the machine plugged in and sitting on its charging base if you feel like you need a longer run time. A full recharge takes about five or six hours.

The Verdict: Tineco Carpet One Spot review

Overall I’m really happy with how this machine cleaned. On the pro side, there is virtually no set up required; you can plug it in charge and clean almost immediately. The stain sensing technology seems to work extremely well, and it did an amazing job of cleaning my carpets, getting probably 95 to 99% of the stains out in one session.

More positives: the machine is loud, but not deafening and probably a bit quieter than others. The battery power means I can take this anywhere and not have to be close to a plug, making it great for cleaning cars and RVs, as well as outdoor furniture and more. The battery life is pretty amazing at over four hours of cleaning, which should be more than enough for even the toughest sessions. I also appreciate that Tineco includes a bottle of cleaner too.

So what are the downsides? Perhaps initially my biggest frustration was that there is no manual mode, and I was forced to rely on the machine’s intelligence to manage my clean. Since it was clearly extremely effective at what it was doing, I had to stop being a control freak, and just appreciate what this machine can do. The machine does use a good amount of water, but the powerful suction seems to extract almost all of it when it’s finished. But if you have delicate surfaces, that shouldn’t be saturated, then you might want to be aware of that. Again, having a manual mode that would let you lower the water level might be helpful.

Even so, those are minor points for consideration in special cases, and not true cons. I think this carpet cleaner is absolutely great, and did a wonderful job in my home, and I can definitely recommend it for yours.

Tineco Carpet One Spot sells for about $399 for a version with a smaller 25 minute battery, or $499 for the version I tried with the 40 minute runtime. You can get it from Amazon or Tineco’s website.

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