Others say...

"I was happy with this machine."
I just needed a basic carpet cleaner to clean a relatively small 15x15 carpet in a rental condo I own. I didn't want to spend a lot, so the price of this machine (and its hot water cleaning) appealed to me. The carpet is a light beige and only one year old. There were just a few dirty spots and one ketchup stain that I thought might be trouble. This machine worked beautifully and made the carpet look new. It really lifted dirt out of the carpet. You can tell by the dirty water that is dumped out from the holding tank. A great buy and machine for a relatively small carpet. Although this machine works great for smaller areas, I don't recommend it for larger areas for two reasons: the cleaning solution tank empties quickly, meaning you have to stop the machine, remove the empty tank and refill with hot water and solution, then empty the separate dirty water tank. Also, the width of the "cleaning nozzle" is not as wide as more expensive machines, meaning that you're cleaning less carpet with the same amount of movement. For smaller cleaning areas, this machine is a great buy.

"just what I wanted"
I read all the reviews of this product and got exactly what my little house, 3 dogs, and I all needed. Getting on the floor to use the handheld ones is too hard on my knees: with this you stand up and it is very, very light. Easy to assemble, easy to fill, easy to use and cleaning up afterwards was easy after the first time. They should warn you about all the places the dirty water can leak if you don't hold it exactly right on the way to dump it out. This is small and not what you want to do a large room or the whole house in one day, but for dirty spots or small areas it is perfect. I did my whole house in five days: about 30 minutes each day including set-up and clean up after I got the hang of it. And it is fun! See how dirty that water is and flush it away. I've always spent a lot of time on the floor playing with my dogs but now I'll enjoy it more.

"Great suction"
I really only use this if there is a bad spill or occasionally I'll clean the stairs with it. Once a year I have professionals come clean all my carpet. One told me not to put soap/cleaners on stains, always try hot water first. The soap will attract dirt in the future. Often I'll heat up water in the tea kettle and pour it on the spot then suck it up with this. This machine does a fantastic job sucking the water out of the carpet. Recently a cup of coffee spilled leaving a broad area stained. Poured the hot water on and used the Bissell to pull it up--stain gone, carpet completely dry. Prob. should have just got one of those little hand held stain removers but most people don't seem to like them much. This machine was easy to assemble and the tanks for water/dirty water are easy to manage as well. I'm not mechanically adept, either. It's lightweight and easy to push/maneuver. I've had mine for almost 3 yrs.

"I love this cleaner"
This steamcleaner is as easy to use as a vacumn cleaner. I can fill, operate, and empty it while holding my inflant daughter on my hip. It's that easy.

Because it's so easy, I use it all the time. It's incredible how dirty the water is every time I use it.

You definitely have to vacumn first, as the instructions indicate, because it doesn't pick up small things like beads and thread. After each use, I clean it out really well. You have to use a screwdriver and take it apart a bit, but it's worth it to see the gunk that comes out of the carpet.

It's not a steamer, so you just use regular hot tap water, but for the money, it is worth it.

I recommend this 100%.


"Great for the price"
I am going to leave out all of the product features since they are listed above. As for my experience with this machine, I have to say that I have been pleasantly surprised by the results. I was apprehensive about buying a personal carpet cleaner since almost every review that I have ever read complained about cheap plastic parts or leaking tanks. When I came across this product in my Gold Box, I figured that I couldn't beat the price and also thought that if there was a problem, Amazon or Bissell would stand behind the machine.

Well, I have to say that so far I am very impressed. First, when the unit arrived there was little assembly required. I read one review that found the assembly difficult, but I have to say that I totally disagree with that and I am not mechanically inclined. Moving on, I found the instructions clear and easy to follow, so I was cleaning the carpet within 45 minutes of the machine arriving at my door. We have a 1000 sq. foot apartment and I would say that it took me about 3 hours to throughly clean the entire place. We also have a young daughter and 2 dogs, so there were some areas that I took longer on if you know what I mean. That being said, there was not one stain that the Bissell did not completely remove! I couldn't believe it. When my wife got home that night, she said it looked like we had the carpet professionally done. That is a great commentary.

A few drawbacks to the device are the small clean/dirty water tanks. Also, the width of the machine is not of great measure. So, basically you end up filling the clean water tank a lot and alternately emptying the dirty water tank just as often. Couple this with the small cleaning brush width and it makes for a more lengthly cleaning experience. I felt that this was acceptable for a few reasons. One, the price. Two, if you have a small to mid-size apartment, you only clean the entire carpet once or twice a year. The rest of the time you are focusing on individual areas/rooms. So a larger machine is not necessary unless you have a large condo or house. Do not buy this machine if you are going to regularly clean a large area; buy a bigger machine for that kind of job. Also, in a mid-size apartment, storage can become an issue, so the smaller size works well there also.

Another heads up is to clean the dirty water tank well after every use. If you are cleaning up urine/food stains, the tank can get pretty ripe while not in use. I recommend bleach every time. Also, remove collected pet hair from the brushes frequently during use. The hair did not reduce the machine's effectiveness, it just looked gross in the brushes which are visible through the clear plastic.

So, in conclusion, this is a great machine for use in an average apartment. It tackled pet/food stains well and showed no signs of leaking. I highly recommend this machine.