BISSELL - SmartClean 1605 Self-Charging Robot Vacuum - Titanium/Disco Teal
Model: 1605
SKU: 4312400
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Customers love the SmartClean 1605 Self-Charging Robot Vacuum for its budget-friendly price point and easy setup. They appreciate its strong suction that effectively picks up dog hair and debris, and the invisible wall feature that helps control where the vacuum cleans. However, some customers find it a bit noisy and wish it had a longer battery life.
I’ve had the Bissell Smartclean Robot Vacuum for two weeks now and it is an excellent robotic vacuum that offers great suction, ease of use, several different modes, great battery life, and an awesome auto-docking feature. When opening the box you will be greeted by the robot itself, a power adapter, the battery, two edge cleaning brushes, an “invisible wall”, the docking station, and documentation. The battery is 2800 mAh and Bissell says that you will be able to get up to 80 minutes of runtime, I’ve had no issues with the battery dying on me and would say that their estimate is quite accurate. Charging time is around 3.5 hours from 0-100%. The robot has 5 different cleaning modes consisting of spiral, along the wall, “z” formation, random, and auto. You can configure between 30, 45, 60 minutes of cleaning, in addition to until the battery runs out. There’s also an option to change between normal and turbo suction modes. The robot has a bumper on the front of it which allows it to detect and go around objects in its path. The edge brushes underneath the device let the robot clean the edges of walls and other crevices. They work very well and can get further into the crevices than normal upright vacuums. The main brush itself is also very good. I ran the Bissell Smartclean after running my Dyson on carpet, and the Smartclean picked up more pet hair and dirt even after running the Dyson, that’s impressive. The brush will however get tangled with hair if you have a shedding pet. I’ve had to cut off the hair from the brush a few times now, it hasn't much of an inconvenience as I’ve had to do that with my Dyson, but just something to be aware of. The waste bin can hold a decent amount of debris and is as simple to clean as, emptying the bin and washing the filter with water. The “invisible wall” is great for when you have a room you don’t want the robot to clean. It takes 4 AA batteries and prevents the robot from entering the room. The docking station has the ability to charge the robot and configure when the robot will clean on its own each day. You do not need to charge the robot from the docking station, the robot itself has a charging port that can be used. As mentioned, you can set the robot to automatically return to the docking station to recharge on its own. Some of the most impressive features of the robot include the automatic return to docking station, the ability to detect stairs before it drives over them, and an easy to understand manual the details each error code you may encounter. It also doesn’t make as much noise as my Dyson, you’re able to watch TV while having the vacuum running. Overall, this is a fantastic autonomic vacuum cleaner that you don’t have to worry about. It’s nice being able to come home to a clean home after work each day. It has great suction and cleaning power that overshadows my mighty Dyson. It’s very flexible with the different modes it has and can be configured to meet your needs.
Posted by nthnkirsch1
Once I opened the box, the Bissell SmartClean was easy to assemble (you only have to insert the lithium ion battery pack and snap on the edge cleaning brushes). Everything is included in the box except for four AA batteries for the “Invisible Wall” device that will prevent the SmartClean (SC) from exiting an area or entering an area. There is a charging dock where the SC “lives” when not working. The instructions show that the charging dock be placed (usually along a wall) so that there is unobstructed space 40 inches to one side of it, 12 inches to the other side of it, and 79 inches to the front of it (and it needs to be within about four feet of an electrical outlet for the charger’s “wall wart”). Our house is mostly small rooms and there is something sitting along the walls virtually everywhere, so these placement restrictions on the charging dock might be an issue for some other people too. The SC is circular and measures 13 inches across and is low enough to tuck under kitchen cabinets to clean in the “toe kick” area. The main level of our house consists of three rooms of frieze carpet, while the kitchen, half-bath and a hallway/entryway are sheet vinyl, and there are a few thick throw rugs on the vinyl. The transitions from carpet to vinyl are the old style metal strips which means the SC has to “climb” up from the hard surface onto the carpet or up onto the throw rugs. I was surprised at just how easily the SC managed these transitions (including the rugs) as I thought they were going to be problem areas and cause it to hang up on them or avoid them altogether. However, navigating these transitions becomes harder for the SC as the battery gets depleted. Based on my observations, I would probably set up an every day cleaning schedule as the SC does not vacuum in the same type of thorough and defined pattern that a human would do with a conventional vacuum cleaner. The noise produced while cleaning is such that most people could have this run during the night on another level of the house and would not be disturbed by it. My wife and I live alone and do not have pets, so I cannot comment on how well the SC handles pet hair. The debris that is collected goes into a small plastic “dust bin” located under the main cover on top of the SC. You open the hinged top of the dust bin and empty the collected material and use a small brush (like an old toothbrush) to clean the filter that is enclosed in the dust bin. It is a rather simple procedure. Having observed about a half dozen cleaning session so far, I think it would be best to confine the SC to a moderately sized area as there were a couple instances where the battery started to run low while it was some distance away from the charging dock and it did not make it back to the dock on its own even though it ran for over another 20 minutes after the “Lo” battery indicator lit up. Confined to our carpet, the SC will run for about 40 minutes before showing the low battery signal, and I would expect the SC would have a longer run time on hard surface flooring since there is less resistance to impede the device as compared to carpeting. I’m also not sure what the long term effect will be on the appearance of our nicely finished cherry wood furniture from the SC’s front “bumper”. The bumping and banging on the oak doors and baseboard do not really concern me, but it can get a little annoying at times. I’m not quite sure of how the SC detects obstructions in its path as sometimes it stops before making contact with an object and other times it will run into an object repeatedly as it tries to find its way around it. Is it a replacement for a conventional vacuum? I could see how it might provide relief of this mundane task for some people, but for large families with children and pets, you would still want to use a conventional vacuum for “deep down” cleaning on a regular basis while the SmartClean helps to keep things under control on a daily basis. This is our first experience with a robotic vacuum so I have nothing to directly compare this Bissell to, but our conventional upright still earns its keep.
Posted by pillboy
I had high hopes for the Bissell SmartClean Robot Vacuum, but it just didn't meet my expectations--especially for the price. I live in a fairly small place with couches, tables, chairs, and other items that just get in the way of this vacuum. While it's able to navigate around the larger items (and walls) just fine, it had problems with things like end tables and other lighter objects (decorative plants/planters) which it ran into and physically moved them. It didn't knock anything over, but it did give them a good nudge. I found this to be a little concerning as there are breakables on the end tables that I can see possibly getting bumped off. The features on this vacuum are pretty straight forward. Timer to schedule cleaning and settings on the vacuum that tell it the method to clean. I did find that it was very good at moving around the perimeter of the room and getting right up against the baseboards, much better than a normal vacuum could perform thanks to the edge bristles. I wouldn't ever recommend using this while you're planning on being in the room as it is quite loud. Cat wasn't scared by it, but was definitely intrigued. It also did fairly well navigating over some hallway runners and cleaned off some of the top fuzz that can accumulate. I expected it to get stuck, which it did a couple of times, but it was able to back up and try again with success. I would recommend this for anyone who has tile/hardwood flooring and mainly wants to keep tabs on the dust bunnies along the edges as it does this quite well. The fewer obstacles, the better. By obstacles, I mean any kind of furniture. I can see this being extremely useful in a kitchen to get up under the cabinet overhangs and around the edges where things can tend to accumulate. If your living areas are fairly spartan, this would be good as well. Bedrooms as well if you don't have clothes and shoes all on the floor as it would be quite useful at cleaning under the bed. In summary, this vacuum will either work for you or it won't. For me, it doesn't, but that's just because my home setup isn't ideal. If you have a fairly spartan house or only need it for areas with minimal furniture, then it should be fine and save you some trouble.
Posted by abl001