 "Makes carpet look like new..." | 2009-11-20 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3MXWEQ7PN3F2T |
I have owned this wet-vac for about a year now. I chose it after reading many positive reviews for it and I am glad I did. When we bought our house we thought we were gonna need new carpet, there were stains everywhere and the carpet looked filthy. This vacuum was able to remove nearly all of the stains and makes 20 year old carpet feel like new every time we use it. There are many great things that I love about this vacuum.
Pros:
The water and the solution are kept separate. I have had different wet-vacs in the past and always had to mix the cleaning solution with the water. When I clean I always like to use hot water, so if there was any water/solution left in the old vac I would have to dump it, wasting solution.
I love that I can choose between light and heavy clean or just a water rinse depending on where/what I am cleaning.
The extra brush attachments are great, the suction the tools get are amazing, and they clean very well.
Suction is amazing, in fact it is better than my standard vacuum.
Cons:
I don't think the hot air actually does anything to help dry the carpet because it isn't blowing on the carpet long enough.
The vacuum is fairly heavy, especially when it is full of water.
It is very loud, however most vacs are.
The dials for changing different settings are fairly hard to turn.
Overall I really think the pros out weigh the cons on this vacuum, I would recommend it to anyone. |
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 "It works. This model's features aren't worth $$" | 2009-11-04 |
| - Reviewed By royalef |
Bissell has a ridiculous number of models--often with little more than accessories being different. It's confusing to shop for. I got this one on sale, but I think it should have come with the bare floor attachment and more than a small sample bottle of cleaner. I am happy with the purchase, but I haven't had it long enough to speak to whether it lasts. I do expect to have to replace worn parts at some point and Bissell sells a lot of parts on their website.
I don't think the DryAire function does diddly and I don't consider it worthwhile. My carpets still took more than 8 hours to dry and a fan blowing across the floor worked better. The CleanShot is a tiny squirt gun on the unit. Put some formula in an old windex bottle and it will serve you better. Neither of those functions are worth the extra price. I can't recall if all the models have the 25 degree heater built in. It looks like those and the accessories included are the only substantial differences between 9200-#,9300-#,9400-#,9500-# & 66## models. If I was buying today, I probably would have bought a 93/9400 model and added the accessories I wanted from Bissell's website.
Does it work? Yes, most definitely. The color of my carpet changed. The ghostly bright patches that mark where furniture has been sitting for nine years are gone. The matted-down, blackened path to the kitchen and basement has returned to match the rest of the carpet. But there are little frustrations to deal with and you have to focus and learn how to work the machine.
The thing is heavy_ I was exhausted by end of day. The water tank will get emptied a lot. It is time consuming, so consider using a well paid professional if time is your concern. Buy the 3X formula because, depending upon the age of dirt in your carpet, you may go through a lot. The unit seems to operate in very synchronized ways, so I found rolling forward, then pulling back over the same area really was best.
My carpet hasn't been cleaned beyond vacuuming in over 9 years. For a 12x18 room, with some really blackened paths, I made 6-8 passes over the entire rug. I emptied the water tank at least two dozen times. Almost every time the water was incredibly filthy-like heavily used mop bucket water. I spent most of the day giving the rug a thorough cleaning. It made a dramatic difference. I can gives some tips now.
Saving formula: Do the first 1-2 passes over an old carpet with just hot water. While this won't get as much dirt out in a pass as if you had used formula, the carpet looked cleaner with every pass. You can also use watered down formula on light for the first pass. I did two passes and the waste water clearly showed less dirt came out with each pass.
The formula tank is small and odd shaped, so it doesn't stand on its own when filling. Once you tighten the lid, don't put pressure on the bottle or it will be like squeezing a juice box.
Clean with the setting on light. If the rug is really older and dirty, there's only so much that is going to come up with each pass. Multiple passes was needed. I then went back and did problem areas on Normal and Heavy. For the worst path issues, Heavy while moving slowly and letting the brushes spent time combing through the carpet worked really well. It goes through formula very quickly though. I also did the same, ultra slow pass, with Light. That also gave very good results. I think it depends upon whether the rbushes or the formula is what is going to grab at the dirt for that spot.
The brush chamber will collect a lot of fuzz/lint. This creates an annoyance. Fuzz constantly comes out on to the carpet. The manufacturer knows this as the manual says to do a regular dry vacuum of the carpet when it is dry to get up all the fuzz. It's hard not to just bend down and collect the stuff along the way. However a lot of wet fuzz sticks inside this chamber. When the unit is sitting that fuzz may drip. This happened when I left the unit standing for an hour unused. Also, when I roll forward there is often a line of foamy drippings, some of which are wet fuzz. I believe this is fuzz that slides back and dribbles down the back of the chamber. I thought my unit was leaking formula because they looked soapy. However even when I only used hot water (including in the formula bottle) it still looked foamy. It is all a fuzz issue. If you have a carpet without pile, you probably won't experience this. It doesn't interfere in cleaning, but I do find myself constantly vaccuming areas behind the area I work on.
Keep your eye on the spinning flow gauge. When it stops, you stop. Check formula first. If there is no formula, it won't spray water either. If you still have formula, then the water tank is exhausted. Visually it is harder to see whether the bladder is empty, so checking formulas tells you by process of elimination.
If you have any kind of problem, a basic troubleshoot is to power off and put the unit back upright. Once the unit is completely wound down, power on and start again. There are a couple of things this solves (if you jerk unit, flap door raised, pump lost prime). Also if you change the water tank and the flow gauge doesn't move, turn off the unit as above and just jiggle the tank. A few times it just didn't seat squarely and form a good seal. These are confusing moments that people might think is a real problem or the unit breaking down, but it is a part of normal operation.
I think the suction could be better when taking up water. I found the hand power tool pulled moisture from the rug better than the main head of the unit. The carpet is predictably wet as would be when you shampoo rugs. My dad would always have a fan blowing on the carpet after he shampooed/steam cleaned the rugs. I don't think the wetness is out of bounds, but I do expect better suction/pressure would do a better job. It took more than 6 hours for the rug to dry completely, but it is 40 degrees outside.
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| "Good as new" | 2009-10-24 |
| - Reviewed By User: A32UA7M7VVWO2E |
After completing a messy home improvement project, involving demolition of an existing fireplace surround and construction of a new hearth, stacked stone facade and mantle, all of which involved doing this in the midst of our family room with the existing 5 year old carpet in place, we had a very dirty carpet on our hands. The dirt and grime was worked into the carpet pretty well, and included drywall dust, concrete cutting dust, as well as dirt and grime accumulated over the years in the wall behind the old firebox. Can anyone say disaster?
My wife and I had talked about getting new carpet - but the cost was prohibitive. We talked about getting the carpet cleaned professionally - but being do it yourselfers at heart - and big fans of Amazon and the product review feature - we decided to give this a shot before doing anything more radical. Besides, we have had good luck with Bissell products in the past - we really like the Bissell Flip-It for our hard floors - but thats another story.
So - the result ? This thing is amazing. Without trying any of the Amazon reviewer's "tips" for improved performance, we tried it as is out of the box. I bought the allergan formula cleaner in addition to the fiber cleaner - and the carpet is spotless. You would not believe the dirt that this thing picks up. Using it in other rooms that were not part of the project - our 5 year old carpet looks new and is very fresh - no more sneezing for me. I could go on and on - it does stairs like a charm, is fantastic on short pile berber in addition to the medium knap carpet in our family room. The dirty water picked up by this machine alone is the best testament - I should have taken a picture - the water was pure mud the first pass. But you get the idea. I'd buy this again in a minute.
So - for about [...], the cost of a single visit from a pro cleaning service - we have cleaned our whole house and can do so any time we like again. Really a great product!!! |
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 "Worst Product I Have Ever Bought" | 2009-10-21 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2ZT4ZQXQAEOLF |
| This product is horribly designed. The water reservoir at the base of the machine causes all sorts of nightmares. This "thing" cannot be rolled around or lifted without supporting the base(which is covered in all sorts of nasty). You have to carry it from the base or it falls apart, and boy you don't want to know what it's like to clean up after it does. Most regret I have ever had about a purchase of ANYTHING. The guy who talked me into buying this thing has a special place in hell. |
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| "The worst cleaner" | 2009-10-19 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3PHGXQD4J362I |
| The only good thing in this cleaner is "it looks nice". However it just does not do the job. Its suction power is close to (if not below) zero and it's a real mess to clean it up after the use. |
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 "First time user" | 2009-10-02 |
| - Reviewed By User: ALDLZUOMEX6VS |
| Here is my 2 cents after a first use. I have no experience with other models or manufacturers but have used professional services several times. My wife and I considered a Rug Doctor model and the Bissell 9500. We bought the Bissell due to its lower price. I found the Bissell 9500 to do an adequate job cleaning our carpets based upon the dirty I water I dumped. Here are the problem areas: Neither the detergent tank nor the clean water tank have enough capacity. I was constantly replenishing either or both tanks and I only cleaned 2 12X14 bedrooms and a 20X24 greatroom. You also have to constantly monitor a "spinning wheel" (Thankfully it's there) to know if you are actually cleaning the carpets. I found the wheel constantly stopping because I was out of clean water, detergent or both. I also think that the devices uses way to much cleaning solution. At $15 dollars a bottle it gets expensive and I used an entire bottle on the 3 floors I cleansed. BTW the floors were not particularly dirty, They were professionally cleaned 3 months ago. Anyway the hot air floor drying is a gimmick and not useful. Also the spot cleaner is not worth the money either. Still undecided if we will take it back and just by the Rug Doctor. There are several reviews here that make the long term reliability of this product questionable. |
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