I know lots about VLM and did it exclusively for years, almost all residential, so I feel I'm qualified to speak to it the way I'm about to.
Because it was a part time gig and I didn't have enough money to get a TM, I fell into the rhetoric and drank the VLM Kool Aid, talking about soaked, moldy carpet from HWE and all that.
My uncle (partner) bought a Legend with my money and I still wouldn't sway from the VLM methodology, because "water and carpet aren't a good mix".
I started getting lots of basement extraction subcontracts, so I bought another small TM for my truck, with no intention of using it to clean carpet. Finally used it for carpet and have not looked back.
With residential carpet, there is just no comparison in how much gunk gets removed between the two methods. When I started seeing the chocolate mike and foam coming out of my waste tank, I knew I had some apologizing to do with some customers, even though I always left their homes with great looking carpet that looked really clean.
I own an Orbot, Two Mytee ECOs and two Cimexs and VLM is amazing on CGD.
I have some high-end customers that get their carpet cleaned twice per year... We HWE the first time, VLM the second... that works great.
Problem is now people are spending a few hundred bucks on a used rotary, some chems, pads and business cards and starting their very own business. They're spewing the same rhetoric I used to and then they proceed to go out there and devalue our industry even more.
I had a guy post on MY FACEBOOK AD of a simple video of my wand cutting through some nasty residential carpet. He posted "you need to tell these people your cleaning method will leave their carpet wet for days and make their home unhealthy with mold. Do the right thing and refer them to a dry carpet cleaner."
I deleted his post, but still... it's out there.
If you go to VLM FB groups (there's a really good one) you immediately see how defensive those guys are about their method. They get defensive even when there's nothing to be defensive about. I feel like most of them simply cannot afford a TM, so they craft their argument to support their preferred narrative.