 My carpet looks so pretty! What an amazing machine... |
| Name: sparqle |
| Reviewer: sparqle, Orem, UT USA |
A review or two of this machine would have helped me a lot, so I'll leave one hoping it might help someone out there who's trying to decide which carpet cleaner to buy.
We moved into our house four months ago. The previous owner had the carpets cleaned for us, but they already looked awful. She was very tidy and clean--no children at home--and we just really aren't. The carpets on the main floor are a very light Berber, so you can probably imagine how they were starting to look with an eight-year-old constantly in and out. And we aren't shoe removers.
My only previous experience with a deep cleaner was a 5-year-old Bissell that served my mom faithfully until it finally stopped working when I tried to use it a few days ago. I am convinced the water shooter thingy only quit because it was left filthy by the last person who used it and is probably clogged up with some nasty glob of disgustion.
Anyway, I needed my carpets cleaned and I needed it done soon because my in-laws are due for a visit in just over a week. I didn't have time to wait for Amazon to ship me a carpet cleaner, and I didn't want to pay someone half what this cleaner would cost to do it for me.
After reading many reviews, I was wavering between the Bissell 9400, the 9500, and the Hoover SteamVac Agility. I probably would have gone with the Agility just for the sake of price and the separate dirty/clean water tanks, but none of the local stores had it, and like I said I needed it now. Finally I wandered into a Linens `n Things and saw the Bissell 9500. It was priced higher than Amazon, but with a 20% off coupon it actually came out a little lower, even after paying sales tax. So I took it home.
I had absolutely no problems with assembly. It took all of maybe 5-10 minutes and a Philips screwdriver.
My first impression was Wow! Bissell has sure made a lot of improvements since my mom's machine rolled off the line.
The water tank is much easier to clean and use. The piece of plastic on the top where the suction takes place on the old Bissell was difficult to clean because it was attached to the main assembly, but the new one has the suction part on top of the water tank, so you can easily run water through it to get the gunk out. I'm a believer that you have to clean these things after using them if you want them to last. I also like that the water tank is made with Microban so I don't have to worry about bacteria building up in a damp machine.
I also like that this has a separate tank for the cleaning solution. I believe that with the Hoover Agility you have to mix the solution with the water, which would make it difficult to switch between cleaning and rinsing with water only. Rinsing helps get the extra soap out so you don't feel like you're walking on chemicals. I appreciated being able to choose between `heavy traffic', `normal clean', `light clean', and `water rinse' with the turn of a dial.
The `Clean Shot' feature, which I didn't think would be a big deal, actually turned out to be quite useful. Often I would go over a spot, expecting it to disappear, only to find it was still there. So, I would just hit it with a wallop of pure cleaning solution, clean another section for a few seconds, then go back over the spot. It really seemed to help get the peskier ones out.
On the old Bissell, the nozzles and hose were constantly falling out when you weren't using them because there was no way to secure them properly. I can't imagine that happening with the 9500; everything is secured with very tough plastic and nothing fell off while I was cleaning.
The attachments worked very well, by the way. One of the reasons I wanted this machine was that I wanted to be able to clean stairs myself. The TurboBrush was great. There's a switch that you can adjust between `brush'--an actual revolving brush--and `suction.' All the tools I used seemed to suction very well, another improvement over the old Bissell. The wide stair tool is nice for larger fields and the narrow tool is good for places like stair edges, where a wider tool might lose suction. There are a few tools I didn't use (crevice tool, squeegee, medium brush tool) because I didn't need them, but I might need them for instance when I clean the carpets in my truck, or when I clean my hard floors.
The only feature I am undecided on is the `Dry Aire' in which hot air blows out the bottom, supposedly to speed drying time. I didn't notice quicker drying and it makes a warm job warmer. But who knows, maybe it really does help.
My carpet looks wonderful. I'm convinced that if I spent more time on it, especially pre-treating, it would look even more wonderful, but who has unlimited time these days, especially with an 8-month-old? It definitely looks as good as when we moved in, maybe a little better. Like I said, the previous owner was very clean, so there wasn't a ton of dirt built up other than what we've brought in during these last four months. Nevertheless, there were plenty of times during my cleaning of high-traffic areas that I would see a distinct line between clean and dirty after the very first pass.
Overall the Bissell 9500 was easy to use, a pleasure really. It's not too heavy for me and I'm quite small. All the plastic on it seems very thick and durable, and it's even kind of pretty--an amazing machine.
I'll update this review if I have any problems with it in the future. |
Works well, not perfect
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| Name: PghYinzer |
| Reviewer: PghYinzer, Pittsburgh, PA United States |
I just bought this to replace my Hoover Agility which had stopped suctioning as well as it used to. I had tried a Bissell in the distant past, before my Hoover, and it had some flaws that made the Hoover seem like a clear winner at the time. Having had the Hoover for two and a half years (yup, that's all it lasted!), I learned that the Hoover, too, has its flaws - which means that, when picking a carpet cleaner, rather than think about which desirable features you would like, you have to decide which undesirable features you want to live with.
The number one thing I dislike about the Bissell is the water tank. Whereas the Hoover has two hard plastic tanks side by side (one for clean, one for dirty), the Bissell has one hard plastic tank with a vinyl bladder inside. You fill the bladder with clean water and it cycles back into the tank body, outside the bladder, when it is dirty. I think this give you slightly less capacity for clean water, meaning you need to fill the tank more often - I could do my whole living room with one tank with the Hoover; I needed to refill once with the Bissell. Plus it is hard to just glance at the tanks and know you need more water; instead you need to glance at this little spinny whirly thing that tells you water is flowing OR realize the carpets aren't getting wet while you clean. So that's my number one gripe. I don't like the tank!
Here are how the machines compare in some other ways:
The Bissell is heavier, which is not a huge deal as you are pushing it, not carrying it around. Maybe a small issue if you need to go upstairs (we don't) but on the whole, not a problem. Maybe even a perk as it makes the machine FEEL sturdier and weigh down more on the dirt.
The Bissell has a higher profile due to the water tank being in the part of the machine that rides on the floor rather than in the handle. The Hoover allows you to go a little ways under certain bits of furniture - for example, you can get maybe an inch or two under the front of your couch. For the most part I don't notice a problem but it is a consideration.
The Bissell is quieter than the Hoover. Not that you need ear protection with the Hoover, but my husband and I both noticed a difference in the noise level between the two machines.
The attachments for the Bissell are securely attached to the back of the machine on a rack - very nice. The rack on the Hoover is removable and was ALWAYS falling off so that I just kept it in the closet.
The hose on the Bissell is permanently attached which is nice - it has to be removed when using the Hoover for floors. With my Hoover I had a lot of dripping issues in the back of the machine and the hose was a real leaker whenever I used it. I don't know if my machine was defective or if this is common but I did not like that set-up. It was a small point, though, because I found the Hoover tools cumbersome so I rarely used them. I have not used the Bissell tools yet (sorry!) but they seem a lot more user-friendly.
No leakies with the Bissell! (Even when not using the hose, my Hoover left puddles behind it)
The brush system on the two machines is very different. On the Hoover there are 5 circular brushes in a line that spin against your carpet like a car buffer or an electric toothbrush. The Bissell has two horizontal brushy cylinders that work more like a standard sweeper. In theory it seems to me like this would do a better job to lift dirt out of your carpet. Truthfully, based on the filth in the water after using both machines, I'd say they do about an equally good job. The Bissell does have a tendency to toss these little clumps of dirty fibers here and there, though, which makes me wonder if it is getting more stuff out. It might also mean the Bissell is rougher on carpet and the Hoover is better for delicate carpet or low, nubby types of carpet (where grooming up doesn't make sense).
With the Bissell, the area between the front of the machine and the wall where dirt is "safe" seems to be smaller than with the Hoover. The Bissell also has these little brushes on the side which are supposed to eliminate the side "safe" zones but they don't seem to move or get wet at all so I don't know if they do much besides groom the carpet and eliminate the look of missed spots. However, the Bissell comes with a super narrow crevice tool so if you were so inclined to get every inch of carpet all the way to the baseboards obsessively clean, you could.
I think both machines (when working properly!) suck about the same amount of water back out of the carpet. I have to agree with the other reviewers that the air dryer doesn't seem to do much, though it does add a funny sort of raced-out look to the machine (like an extra-wide muffler).
The Bissell has you load clean water and solution seperately, as opposed to the Hoover which has you mix them. This is a nice feature because it allows you to do a rinse immediately after you clean a section rather than have to go and refill the tank with plain water. Supposedly you do not need to do a rinse because the solutions you can buy today are made not to leave residue but based on personal experience, I do not believe this. When I first started using my Hoover, I mixed solution and water as directed and did not rinse. In days, my carpets would be as dirty as ever. In time I switched to using HALF the amount of solution they told me and I had better results. Then later I switched to JUST boiling water and who knew, the machine still got my carpets amazingly clean and they'd stay that way the longest. I would use a weak solution mixture some of the time,for nasty jobs, just water most other times. So a rinse IS important, IMO.
With the Bissell, if I am using solution, I will fill the solution tank with half solution and half water, and I will do a rinse afterwards. You can't use boiling water in the Bissell because the directions say that could destroy the bladder - the hottest tap water I can get + trusting the heating device seems to work well.
All in all, both machines are good. I think I went with the Bissell because I wanted a change and hoped to get a longer life out of the machine. The other thing that sold me, though, is like another poster, I needed a machine NOW. We had just thrown the Hoover out and my son peed on the living room carpet! I was able to get this at Linens and Things with those wonderful coupons houseware stores like to send out ;-) and, as another reviewer mentioned, you can find rebate info from the manufacturer if you look. A sweet deal. A good machine, very happy with it. |
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