Pros: Easy to use and has several cleaning levels and tools!
Cons: Not very durable.
The Bottom Line: After talking with so many repair shops about my Bissell I realize the heating design and suction on these machines create more problems than they are worth.
msphdmom's Full Review: Bissell PROHeat 94003 Bagged Upright Vacuum
After borrowing my sister’s similar product I purchased this steam cleaner from Walmart on sale for $180. I felt it had done a good job the one time I had used it, but was soon disappointed with my own machine.
The Cleaner
It came packaged in a very heavy box that required my husband’s help to get in the house and to unpack. However, once out of the box, the assembly was less than 15 minutes to connect the handle pieces and tool caddy.
My model came with 5 tools and some cleaner to get us started. The basic models all have 4 cleaning modes, ranging from a water rinse up to heavy traffic. It has a nice long cord, heat option to heat cleaning water/solution, and the option to connect a separate hard floor cleaning attachment.
Overall it isn’t too heavy and I had no problems pushing it around to clean or with lifting the water tank even while I was 7 months pregnant.
Pros The long cord was a hit, as I have limited outlet access in my carpeted areas. I also experimented with all the tools on the floor as well as the coaches and found them to work very well. I particularly liked the crevice tool that allowed me to really deep clean the carpet edges. Another tool that I used often was the Turbo brush attachment that worked great on spills and pet stains.
Some other things that I liked were the separate cleaner fluid compartment, so that I never had to worry about mixing solution with the water in the tank like other models and the 2 in 1 water tank (holds both the clean and dirty water).
This is a very powerful machine and often created fuzz and pet hair balls despite pre-vacuuming. I think this just was indicative of how great the suction and brushes were working and not a problem.
The added bonus of the heating option was nice to use when I was trying to get out a pet stain or clean one of my children’s play areas. As stated in the manual it only takes 1 minute to heat the warm water that you fill the tank with. I liked using the water rinse alone whenever I wanted to lift spot cleaner from spots that I had sprayed and tried to clean manually.
Cons Although I didn’t notice any at first they soon became apparent.
1. I quickly noticed how many times I was emptying the water tank and adding cleaning fluid. The small size of both of these compartments often had me stopping mid-room to re-fill.
2. I also noticed the cleaning fluid tank often dripped or leaked around its slot on the back of the machine, which became an annoyance that I always had to be wiping up.
3. The powerful suction means lots of fuzz and hair gets into the intake and I often took a screwdriver to this machine to clean it out.
4. I had in for repairs twice within the first 9 months. They were both under warranty and were for issues that prevented to proper suction.
I eventually had to bring this machine in for a third repair which turned out to be for a motor and was no longer under the 1 year warranty time frame and would have cost $125. I opted to take the advice of several repair shops and give up on this Bissell.
More
I ironically purchased this after thinking it was so great when I borrowed it from my sister, however we both now own Hoovers instead! The 2 repair shops I have been to had these cleaner lined up for repairs! Apparently the way in which the machine heats up the water creates problems and the powerful suction that picks up so much fuzz and hair burns out the motors. I ALWAYS vacuumed thoroughly before using my Bissell Steam Cleaner but obviously my Bissell vacuum isn’t as strong as this cleaner!
For less money and a simpler design (turns out I like the separate water tanks better) I now own an awesome Hoover steam cleaner (which all the repair shops tell me are designed better and are rarely in for repairs).
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