A couple of points about RX-20s that I decided not to post, but you should be aware of them. I ran one for 5 years, and so have some experience with their drawbacks that nobody posted. 1. The legs of the star can be easily bent. By dropping the machine, snagging on a heat register, a door metal, etc. When a leg is bent up, away from the carpet, and you don't realize it, then it sucks most of the air going into the exposed vac orifice, and the other vac heads on the carpet are not drawing as much water out as they should, leaving the carpet very wet. If the bent leg is bent down too much, toward the carpet, then the 2 adjacent vac heads are up in the air, and that leaves the carpet excessively wet. If the bent leg is from a door metal, or air vent register, it can do 2 other things. It can drive the star onto the driveshaft so hard, it requires a sledgehammer to remove it. This can also bend other star legs. It can never be straightened up, either- it must be replaced. Also, the driveshaft that turns the star can be bent, making the machine wobble in use, and prematurely wearing out the bearings of the shaft. To replace the star, with a new one cost about $85.00, and takes 3 to 4 hours to disassemble the old one, and reassemble the new one. AAARRGGHHHH !!! Yes, I have done this. Once, only 3 days after replacing the star, I bent another, and had to replace that one, too. AARRGGGHHH !! 2. The jets clog easily, and have to be removed to clean them out. Sounds easy, and frequently is, but it is the frequency of it that becomes maddening. Sometimes I could only work a few minutes, and ANOTHER clog. If the clog stops the spray, that's one thing, but a partial clog makes the spray come out in a "V", and makes a more cleaner mark than the surrounding area, that is HARD to make even again. That's if you see it. On an average residential job that should take 1 hour, add another ten to twenty minutes on fixing the clogs. I finally put in a much finer filter in the in-line filter, and filters behind each jet. Good. No clogs. Less water flow, though. 3. Swirl marks in the carpet. Some NEVER come out. All of them have to be groomed out, and sometimes on some carpets it is very difficult. This takes more time than grooming following a wanding. 4. Lint pulling. The rotary motion, and the agitation that removes the soils so well, also removes LOT of lint. It has clogged up the filter in my waste tank more times than I can count. The first thing I realize, going along cleaning, is a reduction in the air flow, and resultant additional wetting of the carpet. Stop cleaning, go out to the truck, shut it down, open the waste tank, clean out the filter, close the waste tank, restart the machine, go back into the house and start cleaning again, but have to go back over some areas to extract the excess water left behind. I hope to remember to do that. More time lost on the job. My dollar per hour factor is down the tubes. 5. It does not clean next to the baseboards, or corners. These still have to be done with a wand, if they are done at all. So, you have to take in both the wand, and the RX. In a home crowded with furniture, dry vac the center, move what furniture you can, dry vac under it, you wand the edges and corners where you can, switch to the RX, then RX them, move the furniture back, tab it, move the next furniture, and repeat, repeat, repeat. Nope. Not for me. Not at any price. 6. When you have a direct glue down carpet on a cement slab, and the cement is uneven, and the RX scalps the high points, and drenches the low points. 7. Is it QUICKER than a wand? Nope. Slower. 8. Does it leave the carpet drier than a wand? Nope. Wetter. Does it have good points? Sure. Do they outweigh the bad points? It is a matter of opinion. ------------------ What you might consider as an alternatve is my Turbo Steam Cleaning system. It involves an air driven turbine vacuum.The vacuum is used for pre-cleaning vacuuming dry, then run over the damp, pre-sprayed carpet for agitation, then wanded. It cuts the needed wand stroking down to one or 2 strokes for the heavy soiled carpets, and just extracting for light soils. Easier to use than a standard electric vac, no electric wire, and weighs about 5 pounds. Let me know if you are interested in this. Right now, there is a special on them, for only $90.00, but I don't know how long that will last. ------------------ A lot of the above also applies to the Rotovac. One special problem as I see it is the castings for the vac heads. They are rough, and not finished smoothly at the vac orifice. Rough metal whirling around on wet carpet pulls a LOT of lint. Does it clean? Certainly. However, I do NOT like the rough castings on my customer's carpets. Don't believe me? Check it out yourself. They take about the same effort to stroke as a wand- back and forth. Swirl marks hard to remove on many carpets- not just a few. They also cannot be run successfully on direct glue downs for the same reason. The ProChem PowerGlide. A lot of the above applies to it. It is MUCH heavier, more awkward to run, it is a push back and forth model, on wheels, similar to the Rotovac, and weighs about 110 pounds. Are you gonna carry it up 3 or 4 flights of steps? Not me. In the tests I did at the big ProChem road show several months back, it left the carpet very wet. A lot wetter than the wand, mainly, I think because of the large vac chamber. I found it very awkward shoving this big turkey back and forth. I would not say it was as easy as a wand. The ONLY place I would use it would be a filthy restaurant. Never in a residence. Since I don't clean restaurants, I pass. Expensive, too. This is not for me. What equipment do you run? I am in Portland, OR, and run an Astro with a Ballweber CDS TM in it. I also have a Chemstractor, and use it for both bonneting, and connect it to my TM for Rotary Steam Extraction. I have a Cleanmaster 10 gallon portable for secure buildings, and high rises. I do plant washing of rugs, and have done that since 1956. Have you been to my site? If not, surf on over to http://www.heacocks.com/ and have a look around. Lots of good info there. Jokes, too. Wanna get in to my e-mail Q & A bunch? Sorta like a forum- Q & A on lots of different subjects. I have archived a lot of them, and can send these along, if you want. I am happy to help newcomers to the business, as I recieved lots of help getting started, and I pass along what I can to help others. There are a lot of courses to take, and manuals for newcomers, as well as more advanced cleaners. Have you taken any courses, or read manuals yet? I have manuals available on my web site, as well as cleaning products, and lots of other items. Jason Tormo also has manuals, and equipment available for newcomers. Have you been to his site? I can also give you a list of about 15 forums for cleaners if you are interested. ------- Some of my history. I began cleaning with a rotary shampooer and a wet/dry tank vacuum, in 1956. I worked in a rug plant that did washing of rugs, using a high pH soap followed by an acidic rinse. This was not new when I began, and is still used by a lot of cleaners with shampoo, plant wash, and steam cleaning systems. In 1964, I helped develop the first steam cleaning machine for carpets and rugs, and helped develop the cleaning formulas with a lot of field testing. I use this type equipment from then to today. In 1975, I got my first truck mount. I still use this type of equipment today as my primary cleaning system. In 1980, I got my first Chemstractor. I use it for shampooing, bonneting, and connected to my portable and to my truck mount for rotary steam extraction. I use it still, today. In 1992, I got my first RX-20. I found it did not perform as well as my Chemstractor, and after 5 years, sold the RX-20 as inadequate. In 1994 I helped develop several formulas by field testing and making suggestions to the chemist for neutral pH cleaning and spot removal and digester formulas, which are now used by many cleaners including myself, to avoid the high pH cleaners and the need for an acidic rinse. In April of 1998, I got the idea of Truck Mount Turbo Steam Cleaning, and worked on it for months. I now use it on most carpet jobs and loose rugs in my plant instead of washing them. I am full of new ideas, and frequently come up with them. To name a few.... Wand Skis. Stair Wall Guards. Non-invasive wall drying without making holes. Filtration Soil Line Brushes. Dry Technology Upholstery Cleaning tool. I would describe myself as ahead of the cutting edge in this field, by coming up with new ideas, and developing them for myself, and other cleaners. Gary " When your only weapon is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail".