Initial Reaction: The brute suction of this powerful machine exceeded my expectations. Hybrid design allows use as both a powerful upright & portable.
My Evolution: Although I grew up using Hoover uprights, I switched to Dyson (specifically, the Dyson DC41 Animal Complete) 5 yrs. ago. Though the Dyson was clearly overpriced, I felt that, performance-wise, it was in a class by itself … until now. This Bissell vacuum took some of the best design features of the Dyson & improved upon them.
Priority 1: I believe the #1 function of a great vacuum is SUCTION POWER! Regardless of design, ease of use, specialized tools, etc., it must lift & fully extract the dirt, dust, & hair. This Bissell definitely meets that requirement. In fact, I was surprised by the amount of debris picked up by the Bissell only a day after a thorough vacuuming w/my Dyson. Mind you, I adjusted the Variable Suction Control to the strongest setting (intended for hard floors) for use on my cut pile carpeting, & it really sucked all the debris out of the carpet. On this setting, it gets 5 stars for suction! (There is also an on/off brush roll switch for multi-surface cleaning.)
Hair!: We have girls w/long hair in our house; so, we joke that we can’t have pets, because there’s already too much hair flying around. Bissell touts its “tangle-free” brush roll, which incl. a large brush dowel & unique bristle design as well as a wide spiral groove where the brushes are fastened to the roller—all of which are supposed to help remove not just pet hair, but human hair, while preventing that hair from catching onto the bristles & wrapping around the brush. I was eager to test this because, once a month, I have to flip my Dyson over, get down on the floor, & make a mess trying to untangle all the hair & other fibers that have wrapped around its brushes. The problem of hair wrap is greatly reduced w/the Bissell, if not entirely eliminated.
Emptying: The patented Cyclonic Pet Hair Spooling System is supposed to whirl hair, dirt, & dust until these particles form a tight ball at the bottom of the tank. Then, you’re supposed to be able to effortlessly dump the debris ball into the garbage w/o having to dig into the dustbin to remove stuck hair & fine particles. In practice, the emptying of the hands-free canister is similar to the Dyson, w/neither model being completely hands-free, especially when it comes to removing long hair that still gets wrapped around the filter.
Portable Mode: This is 1 of the vac’s best features. The convenient “Lift-Off” system allows you to remove the canister w/the press of a button—leaving the frame, handle, & brush roller behind. This lets you travel w/just the guts of the vac, incl. the telescoping extension wand, to easily reach stairs, baseboards, ceiling fans/vents, & crown moldings, etc.
Value Summary: Overall, I found the Bissell easy to use & empty. While it’s comparable in design to the Dyson, the effective suction power of the Bissell outperformed the more expensive Dyson. This vac offers good value for the price. The Bissell has the quality & best features of a Dyson w/a much smaller hit to the wallet.
OTHER PROS
Setup: Out-of-the-box easy/minimal assembly: Requires a screwdriver to attach the handle. Then snap on the hose, attach the 2 accessory pieces to the upright vac, & you’re good to go.
Allergens: The SmartSeal filtration system forces air to pass thru the allergen filter—trapping particles, dander, & dust inside the vac so that you don’t have to breathe them. Includes 2 allergen filters.
Additional Convenience Features:
Lighting: LED headlamps on both sides of the floor nozzle allow you to clearly see the surface that you're vacuuming & whether or not you need to make additional passes. And the LED on the end of the crevice tool is a nice touch to illuminate tight spaces & dark corners.
CONS
Most Notable Negative: Instability: It’s not always desirable to remove the canister. So, if you choose not to go portable w/the ‘lift-off’ feature, & instead want just to pull out the extension wand for a quick suction, you can’t reach very far w/o the entire vac tipping over. It’s very annoying to have the tipsy 18-lb. vac come crashing down onto my foot or the floor. There must be some way for Bissell engineers to stabilize the upright’s platform w/o adding extra weight.
Handle Release: The ‘foot’ icon on the floor nozzle is misleading in that it appears to indicate that you should step on the rear of the plastic base to release/lower the handle from its upright position. Instead, you have to awkwardly press your foot down much farther forward on the base, in order to release the handle, so that you can then push/pull the vac.
Cord Wrap: The cord hooks are placed so close together (1 ft. apart) that it requires 20+ wraps of the 30-ft. cord—making storage slow/tedious. For the price, I’d hoped for an auto-retracting cord like I had on my Electrolux vac 45 yrs. ago.
Attachments: It would be more convenient if all 3 of the accessory tools were storable on the upright vac. Unfortunately, there’s no slot for the TurboEraser nozzle (designed for removing hair from stairs & upholstery, etc.); so, it must be stored elsewhere.
Febreze Filter: Even if you like the artificial smell of the strongly-scented P&G Febreze filter (we don’t), this extra filter doesn’t incl. the lockdown screw that the other 2 fragrance-free Bissell filters have. This oversight needs to be corrected.