Kenmore RevitaLite Review

Analysis

A step by step breakdown of the RevitaLite's performance.

The RevitaLite has right around average measured suction at the base and at the hose. It has well below average measured suction at the nozzle, with a reading of only 0.86 kPa. Top rated options all have measured suction at the nozzle over 2 kPa.

The table above describes the number of passes it took to clean each stain. The lower the number the better.

For example, it took the RevitaLite 6 back and forth passes to clean the peanut butter stain which is a better result than the average of 8.5 passes.

Note that we only count the number of passes it took the carpet cleaner to clean through the center of its cleaning path. The scores above do not reflect edge performance.

The scores above show that the RevitaLite cleaned up very well through the center of its path. It cleaned most stains faster than average – through the center of its path.

However, it did NOT clean very well along the bottom edge of its path. 

Note that it’s perfectly normal for a carpet cleaner to not clean as well along edges – but, the RevitaLite uniquely failed to clean properly along a large chunk of the bottom edge of its path.

After our upright stain test we measured the moisture level of the carpet that was cleaned, and this reading (28%) was slightly higher than average (27%) for the RevitaLite, meaning it leaves carpet slightly wetter than average after cleaning.

We then ran the cleaner over the same section of carpet three times not holding its trigger to dispense any water or soap – so that it would only extract on forward and backward passes.

After these three additional “dry” passes we measured the moisture level of the same section of carpet again, and this time the reading (25%) was right around average (25%).

The takeaway here is that the RevitaLite does leave carpet slightly wetter than average after cleaning, but it can dry carpet to an average level of dryness after additional “dry” passes.

The Revitalite has fairly large water tanks and it doesn’t use a lot of water to clean, so it can cover an above average size area before you need to refill its clean tank (with soap and water) and before you need to empty its dirty water tank (of dirty water).

The Revitalite has very tall and thin water tanks. The float assembly seated in its dirty water tank also cannot be removed, so cleaning the inside of the dirty water tank and all of the parts inside the tank can be quite difficult.

When it comes to cleaning and maintaining the cleaner head, the RevitaLite has a very similar design to Bissells. Its brushrolls can’t be removed without a screwdriver, so after you wash carpet – on an average day – you won’t remove them. You’ll just cleaning around them. Thankfully, this isn’t too difficult because you can remove the whole plastic piece that’s fitted over the brushrolls (the nozzle), and removing this plastic piece is very easy to do.

Bottom line – this carpet cleaner is more difficult to clean and maintain than average because of its dirty water tank design and the fact that you can’t remove its brushrolls to clean them without using a screwdriver.

The RevitaLite comes with an 8 ft. long hose (this is a fairly standard length) and two spot cleaning tools – a 3.5” tough stain tool and a 6.5” wide path tool. The second tool is basically just an extra large version of the first.

We used the smaller tool for our spot cleaning test.

In this test, the RevitaLite performed better than average.

Other Notes and Features

The RevitaLite doesn’t have any unique features.

Verdict

Our bottom line recommendations.

We generally don’t recommend the Kenmore RevitaLite because of its edge cleaning performance. It was the only full-size carpet cleaner we tested that had trouble cleaning along edges, and because of this negative we generally don’t recommend it.

Models we do recommend are listed here.