The Hoover PowerDash Pet+ Compact FH50704 is a small, cheap carpet cleaner that does one job well and several jobs not at all. Suction at the nozzle is good for the money and the tanks are larger than the price suggests, so it covers more ground per fill than most machines near it. Against that: a 7.5-inch cleaning path, weak results in upright stain testing, and no hose or attachments for stairs and furniture. Buyers who want a light, low-maintenance machine for routine carpet upkeep are the fit; anyone who needs to lift set-in stains, or to clean anything that is not a floor, is not.
Full review
Good suction through a 7.5-inch path
Suction at the nozzle is rated at 1.93 kPa, which is respectable for a machine at this price and is the PowerDash Pet+'s main technical argument. The catch is immediately next to it on the spec sheet: a 7.5-inch cleaning path, where most full-size uprights are at least ten inches across. Narrow is not automatically bad, because a narrow head concentrates airflow and gets into the strip of carpet beside a skirting board that a wide head skips. It does mean the machine covers a room in more passes, so a living room takes meaningfully longer than the same room would with a full-size cleaner. Treat it as a spot-and-traffic-lane machine rather than a whole-house one.
78 ounces of clean water per fill
Tank capacity is where the PowerDash Pet+ quietly beats machines that cost more. The clean water tank takes 78 ounces and the recovery tank holds 52, which works out to roughly 130 square feet of carpet per fill. That is a genuinely useful number on a compact cleaner: the usual compromise for a small footprint is a tiny tank and a trip to the sink every few minutes, and this avoids it. Filling is a single-fill system for water and solution together, with no measuring cup and no ratio to get wrong. For a machine bought largely because it is easy, that is the right design decision.
Stains are where it gives up
The PowerDash Pet+ does badly in upright stain testing, and that is the one weakness a carpet cleaner cannot really absorb. Ground-in, oily and sugary messes take repeated passes and often do not fully clear, which is a poor result even allowing for the price. Moisture extraction is closer to average, so carpets are not left soaking, but a carpet that is dry and still marked is not a cleaned carpet. Anyone buying this to rescue a set-in pet accident or a spilled drink from last month should recalibrate: it maintains carpet that is already in reasonable condition, and it does not restore carpet that is not.
No hose, no stair tools, no upholstery
There is no hose connection port and no attachment set, which rules out stairs, car interiors, sofas, mattresses and every other job that is not flat floor. Competing machines at similar money usually include at least a small upholstery tool, so this is a real omission rather than a nitpick, and it is the limitation most likely to be discovered after purchase. The nozzle does come off for cleaning, which helps prevent clogs, and the brushroll compartment opens without tools so hair can be pulled out after a session. Maintenance access is one of the machine's better traits; it just applies to a narrower set of jobs than buyers expect.
Light enough to carry, quiet for the class
Top Ten Reviews rated the PowerDash Pet+ the easiest of the machines it looked at to transport, and gave it full marks for manoeuvrability. At around 13 pounds it goes up a staircase in one hand, which is more relevant than it sounds given that the machine has no stair tools and has to be carried to whatever it cleans. It also runs quieter than most carpet cleaners, with only a couple of models in that group producing less noise. Top Ten Reviews also noted it pulls 24 ounces of water out in a single go, which is what keeps carpets from ending up soggy after a pass.
Four years from one owner's unit
Pocketful of Joules has used a PowerDash Pet+ since 2019 and reported it still running as well as it did new, with no replacement parts in four years. That is a longer service record than most reviews of a sub-$100 cleaner can offer, and it lines up with the design: few moving parts, a brushroll that comes out for cleaning, and detachable tanks that can be rinsed properly instead of growing a smell. Against that, an iFixit answers thread on this machine failing to power on shows the other side of a cheap build. When the trigger stops dispensing, the usual causes are the handle base not clicked fully into place or the clean water tank not seated, both fixable without tools.
Strengths
- +Very good suction at the nozzle for the price
- +Able to cover a larger area than similarly priced models before you need to refill its clean tank or empty its dirty water tank
- +Easier to clean and maintain than most similarly priced models
- +Has a larger area of coverage per clean tank than the Bissell TurboClean
Watch-outs
- −Has a very narrow cleaning path
- −Didn't perform well in upright stain test
How it compares
The Hoover PowerDash Pet+ Compact FH50704 stands out for its lightweight design and ease of maintenance compared to the Bissell ProHeat 2x Revolution Pet Pro Plus 3588F and Bissell Big Green Pet Pro 3288, but it performs poorly in stain tests, especially upright stains, unlike the Bissell Revolution HydroSteam 4120 which uses steam for better results.
Rating sources
“I have the same issue , used it only 3 times Jun 30, 2022 by wolfie53077”
Our 3.8 score is the average of these published ratings. Ratings marked * were derived from the reviewer’s written analysis or video transcript — the publisher didn’t print an explicit numeric score, so we inferred one from their own words. Click through to verify. More about methodology.
