BISSELL Little Green Mini Portable Carpet Cleaner, 4075

Why it's worth it

The Little Green Mini is a compact spray-scrub-suction unit for spills, pet accidents and car seats. It won't clean a room, but it stores in a cabinet and weighs about as much as a gallon of milk, so it comes out for messes a big machine never would.

Some version of the Little Green has been Wirecutter's recurring portable spot-cleaner pick across multiple guide updates, and the reason is boring and correct: it's the machine people use. At roughly the weight of a bowling ball, you carry it to the mess in one hand. A full-size upright commonly runs 15 to 20 pounds or more, which is enough friction that a small spill just doesn't seem worth the trouble.

It handles the messes that happen most often. A knocked-over cup, a hairball, a muddy paw print on the couch arm. You spray, scrub with the tool head, then pull the water back out. Owners with cats and dogs describe it as the thing they grab weekly rather than seasonally, and several mention buying replacements over the years rather than switching brands.

From our review of 6 bissell carpet cleaners

What we like

• +Some version of the Little Green has been Wirecutter's recurring portable spot-cleaner pick across multiple guide updates, and…
• +It handles the messes that happen most often
• +The kit is sensible. You get a 4-inch tough stain tool with a removable lens so you can see what you're pulling up, a HydroRinse…
• +For upholstery and car interiors, it punches above its size

What to know

• –The tanks are tiny. Owners cleaning anything larger than a spot — a 9-by-13 area rug, say — report filling and dumping three…
• –It won't erase everything
• –It has no motorized brush