Bissell Steam & Sweep Hard Floor Cleaner, 46B4

So Far, So GREAT!, October 13, 2010

I have been researching mops, steam mops, wood floor sweepers, etc. for about two months. I have read every pro and con of pretty much everything out there. I have a ton of wood floor and tile in my house and I absolutely cannot stand to clean it. I hate sweeping the wood floor, I hate the debris that flies in the air, I hate bending over with the dust pan, I hate the sticky feeling my swiffer leaves behind, I just overall have hated my floors for 5 years because they never ever feel clean. I had a friend sing the praises of the Shark steam mop the other day, so I finally decided to break down and buy SOMETHING. I didn’t even care if it did an excellent job, I just wanted something. But- my one qualification was that it be a combo steamer and sweeper. I just had to solve the sweeping issue at the same time. Which leaves you with pretty much the Bissell or the Shark. I looked at the Shark at Wal-mart and the bottom of it made me laugh. The vacuum hole is like 3 inches wide and has no brush or anything. I was not impressed with that. So I went to Target and picked up the Bissell. And now I want to marry it and become Mrs. Bissell because it is so fantastic. A few things about this machine you might want to know: It has an awesome, LONG strong cord. It has a really cool “dyson-like” ball joint that makes it super easy to manuever. The steam works great, the water tank looks tiny, but it lasts a really long time, it comes with two pads that are thick and strong, it lays completely flat when going under furniture, it fits under the counters in the kitchen, it doesn’t leave very much water on the floor (I read other complaints of other manchines that leave a ton of water), it dries really fast, it heats up and is ready in 15 seconds or less, it has a clear compartment on top so you can see what debris it is picking up. One caveat- the suction is not super strong, but then again I like my vacuums to sound like a jet engine and suck my skin off if they had the chance, so maybe I am picky. But the brush feature does pick up a lot of stuff. And having the cleaning pad right behind it helps to trap stuff too. So for instance it picked up small leaves, not a band-aid wrapper. It picked up cracker crumbs and bugs, but not a tag to a shirt. The machine is meant to be used with the vacuum and the steamer going simultaneously to save time, however, I like to use just the vacuum and dry cloth to dust mop/vacuum my floors and then activate the steam and do it seperately. But I did use it together and it did okay. Another nice feature is that it is a light and easy machine so you really enjoy using it and don’t feel like you are lugging out a Volkswagen to do your chores. I have had it two days and I have been using the vacuum constantly. I love that thing! And once you do an initial clean- the follow-up cleanings are a snap! I finally feel like my floors are clean. It has changed my whole feeling about my house. As far as anything I don’t like, you do have to squeeze a trigger for when you want steam and if you are steaming your whole floor then your finger hurts by the end and that is a little annoying. It does also take some upmh! to push it when you are steam cleaning at first. I am sure it gets easier as the floor is cleaner 🙂 Anyway, this machine is one of the best purchases I have made in a long time. I highly recommend it!

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Almost Perfect…, October 25, 2010

By 

Mercedes L. Johnmeyer “The Most Happy” (Summerville, SC) –

  

  

  

I bought a steamer about a year ago for our old house which had tons of tile. I bought the Eureka Enviro and, while I really liked it, it wasn’t quite what I needed for the new house we just moved into. My kitchen here is a very high traffic area and has two doors in it…one to the garage, one to the back porch. This produces lots of dirt/sand, leaves, and whatever else to collect on the floor. I have a shark sweeper that I use to pick up dirt, then my Swiffer to clean the floors (which still manage to feel dirty afterwards).

Well, I recently saw the commercial for this product and when I saw it was a sweeper AND a steamer, I knew I needed to own it. I went to Target that very day and bought one. Now, after using it a bunch of times, I must say I absolutely love this little guy. It’s so small and light, and it does a GREAT job steaming the floors. Scuff marks that have been there since we moved in were gone in just a couple passes.

So…why 4 stars you ask? Well, the are only two small issues I have with this which is keeping me from giving 5 stars. They’re not a huge deal to me, but they may be to someone else. The main problem I have is that you have to hold the trigger down the entire time your steaming. I read this in the previous review and thought ‘Awwww, that’s no so bad. How hard can it be?’…yeeeeah, it really does start to get a bit bothersome by the end of cleaning. That little trigger is kind of tough to keep held in, especially if you’re cleaning a large area!

The second issue is…once you start steaming, even if you let go of the trigger to stop the steam, the pad is still wet (obviously), which means if you run it backward (pulling the machine towards you) over a dry section of floor that hasn’t yet been vacuumed, then the dirt will just stick to the floor or get pushed around instead of getting sucked up into the sweeper cause it’s now wet…make sense? So, that said, I recommend using the sweeper setting FIRST on the entire area you wish to clean, THEN go ahead and steam it.

Overall though, this is a GREAT steam/sweeper for the price (which happens to be cheaper at both Walmart and Target). I still use my shark sweeper everyday for quick cleanups, but I am so glad that when I do go to steam my floors, I have the vacuum option up front to pick up little bits of dirt before I start steaming. OH…and do NOT be fooled by the small little water tank that’s on this thing, it actually steams quite a large area. I filled it up and steamed my whole kitchen, dinning room, and foyer…only used HALF the water in the tank! So that’s not an issue at all. Anyway, I absolutely recommend this if you’re interested and it’s definitely been a fabulous addition to my cleaning arsenal!

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