 "CON's" and "PRO's" |
| Review Date: March 6, 2010 |
| Reviewer: T. Reise, Nashville, TN |
I bought this at Wal-Mart just over a month ago for only $70. I cannot comprehend the price on this website!
This is my first bagless vac, and there are a few "con's" that I am uncomfortable with:
1. Yes, its innards are easy to access and remove for cleaning, but the minute dust that rises -- even when handling all the parts gingerly and slowly -- is obnoxious. It gets into my nostrils and mouth, and I sneeze for a couple hours.
2. It's really high-maintenance. My former vac, a $60 Hoover Encore Supreme (Type A bags), lasted me 13 years until its motor suddenly seized. I never had to take it apart for "regular cleaning" or any other reason. I never even had to change its belt! I don't appreciate having to disembowel an appliance regularly just to keep it working. Further, I'm a single guy and I can't fathom how a busy mom or dad could tolerate having to do this.
3. The plastic hose, through which all intake air and debris pass (even when not using the attachments), accumulates and/or generates one hell of a static charge. Several times, I've brushed it against my right thigh while pulling the vac backwards and given myself quite a painful shock. I could really live without that.
4. Speaking of the hose, it's so tightly compressed that when using the attachments, I have to brace the machine against something or, rather awkwardly, hold it down with my foot to keep it from slamming into something or tipping over. I certainly hope that the hose stretches and "relaxes" somewhat with time and use.
5. The two height-adjustable wheels began squeaking -- loudly -- after only the second use. I e-mailed Bissell customer service, and their reply was that I should "use a small amount of vegetable oil" on the wheels! What on earth kind of product support is that? And good grief -- it's brand-new, with only 1 hour of moderate, proper use!
My complaints aside, here is what I do like about it:
1. The suction is better -- MUCH better -- than my former vac.
2. The dirt cup alone is easy to remove, empty and replace. I appreciate not having to buy bags any more.
3. After 13 years with a vac that had a short, 20-foot power cord, the 30' cord is a blessing.
4. The turbo-brush attachment is highly effective, particularly at removing embedded dog hair from upholstered furniture. It'll clean the carpeted stairs, too, although not as effectively as the main roller brush will. It's a good option for doing a "lick and a promise" job when I don't feel like throwing my lower back out by finessing the main unit over and across each individual stair tread.
5. The headlight is bright and wide-beamed. I can enter a dark room and vacuum without having to turn on the room light. Heck, I can almost read the newspaper (without my glasses) by it.
6. It is much quieter than my 1996 Hoover was.
Let's see if I get 13 useful years out of it... |
Great Vacuum - $65 at Wally World!
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| Review Date: March 2, 2010 |
| Reviewer: J. Norton, Lansing, Michigan |
| I got my wife one of these at WM. Great bang for the buck. She's a daily vacuumer because we have 2 and 3 year old kids. It sucked a lot of crap out of the carpet that our Hoover didn't. |
Best Vacuum for the Money Hands Down!
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| Review Date: February 27, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Michael J. Schmieder, WA State |
| My wife and I recently found ourselves in the situation of needing a vacuum in a hurry due to our dog getting fleas and our current vac taking a dive. We looked on-line at several more expensive ones and then took a look at this one after reading some reviews. Hands down it is the best vacuum we have owned. I normally detest vacuums because of the lame engineering and pain in the a** way they are put together to do even the simplest of tasks, i.e. change belts. This vac is by far the best engineered, from emptying it's bagless dirt holder to cleaning a filter to swapping out a belt (no screws on the bottom husbands). Very impressed and for only $65 (at a certain retailer with initials WM) what's not to like? It pulls up a phenomenal amount of dirt that our now deceased vac left behind - seriously,it really gets dirt out. My one caution would be in vacuuming area rugs; it has so much suction it pulls even large ones up and they can snap the rather wimpy belt it comes with. I replaced our belt with a beefier and slightly larger one from another brand vac and now we are in serious business. You can buy several of these for the price of many that are only marginally, if at all, better. Nuf, researching and reading, go get one! |
Mixed feelings...
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| Review Date: February 6, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Daniel Wells, Utah, USA |
We took this home, put it together (two screws easy as pie), and plugged it in. Man I was IMPRESSED. The price was great for the suction power (comparable to dyson) the beater was strong and did its job well, and the mini beater stair tool was AWESOME. Not only that, it came with a HEPA Filter (not one of the washables by the way, and has to be replaced every 3-6 months for 12 bucks a pop) THEN, we went to empty it...
When I pulled the bin out it seemed somewhat reasonable to empty, but I noticed that the main filter has no seal around it and dirt goes right around it (Which is why they need a post motor filter... to catch that runaway dirt. It seems like a revised main filter with a rubber seal would have done the trick, that's just me though.) Again not the biggest problem...
The biggest issue that caused me to return this one to the store two weeks after buying it is that dirt gets stuck all over the thing that hangs above the bin. When you take the bin out, the dirt falls all over the vacuum. I even tried smacking it a bunch before taking it off in hopes that the dirt would fall in the bin first. No success. This wouldn't have been a problem if I could suck it up afterward, but this wasn't possible because the area behind the bin is sealed by the bin so there is no getting to it after the vacuum is put back together. Therefore, there is a bunch of little shelves collecting dirt.
I thought, well, for the price maybe I can make due. So, I tried to wipe it out. Took me 20 minutes. Not worth my time. Finally I came to the conclusion that I would have to use a separate vacuum to clean this vacuum if I didn't want dirt everywhere. I decided this wasn't worth even the cheap price and had to return it. Killed me to do it, but when I came home with my dyson, I have been overjoyed to vacuum ever since. I guess you get what you pay for.
P.S. The wheels underneath, next to the beater bar, started squeaking the second time I used it. Could have lived with it, though it was quite annoying.
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A Pain in the Rear!
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| Review Date: January 29, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Jessica Forgety, Tennessee |
| I have had this vacum for about a year. I empty the cup with each use, and I have cleaned the filters regularly. Cleaning the filters is very messy, a matter a fact emptying the cup is pretty messy too. I live on the top floor in a apartment building, so it is difficult to get this outside to clean it. Cleaning it, and emptying the cup into a trash bag inside creates more of a mess and layer of dust/dirt than I had before I started cleaning. It started loosing power pretty quickly even with regular maintance. The belt breaks on a regular basis. I am currently looking for a new vacum that does not have these issues. |
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