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The claim. The website for Stream Clean carpet cleaner promises that you'll need "no bending and no scrubbing" to remove stains and odors, including those from pets. "Just point and stream, and your carpet gets clean!" We paid $10 plus $16 shipping for two 15-ounce cans and a mini black light that makes stains "easy to locate!"
The check. We made quite a mess, staining light-colored carpet with red wine, coffee, tomato sauce, French dressing, and permanent marker. On those stains, we pitted Stream Clean against our top-rated stain remover, Bissell OxyPro, about $7 for a 14-ounce can. We also let two staff members' dogs create their own stains, placing carpet under them at appropriate moments. On those stains, we compared Stream Clean against Bissell OxyPro Pet. We tested the products immediately after the stain occurred and after a duplicate stain had been left untreated for 24 hours. We also checked whether the black light could pinpoint stains.
Bottom line. Stream Kinda-Clean. Stream Clean beat OxyPro on only one stain: permanent marker. It got rid of the color of all of the stains but left a visible residue even after the recommended blotting—which, by the way, required bending. Two expert sniffers said that Stream Clean and Bissell OxyPro Pet reduced or masked odor from pet urine, but again Stream Clean left more-visible residue. And although its black light revealed food stains, it didn't point out pet stains, which can be hard to find after they occur. A black light we have in our labs worked fine.
This article appeared in the December 2013 issue of Consumer Reports magazine.
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