BISSELL® Big Green® PET PRO Carpet Cleaner, 3288

This is the 3rd Bissel carpet cleaner Ive owned. The first 2 were the Bissel Pro Heat. I bought a second one after the first was stolen. I loved it so, that I replaced the stolen one with the exact same thing. This review is comparing the Bissel Pro Heat to the Big Green Pro (hereafter referred to as BGP) The Pro Heat has a separate reservoir for cleaning solution so upon finishing cleaning, any solution not used could be used with the next cleaning. The BGP does not have a separate reservoir. With the BGP, the cleaning solution is added directly to the water and if you dont use all the water, the solution is wasted. The instructions for the BGP states to make passes (first with solution, second without) until the water being extracted appears clean. The Pro Heat has a clear channel where the extracted water can be easily seen. The BGP is a white plastic. Unless youre in a very well lit room, seeing if the water extracted is dirty let alone finished being extracted is difficult. The Pro Heat has a built in water heater heating the water to 180 degrees. The BGP does not. As hot as your tap water can get, is as hot of water the BGP will clean with. One gripe Ive read with other carpet cleaners is the weight of the cleaner. Stands to reason, the heavier the cleaner, the closer to the carpet the cleaner will stay hence, the more water that can be extracted. The Pro Heat Im guessing to weight about 13 pounds, stays well to the carpet, and extracts water pretty good. The BGP is more than twice as heavy weighing 29 pounds (I believe is what I read). I could use the Pro Heat for 3 hours and not feel it in my back. 10 minutes into using the BGP, I could start feeling it in my back. Because of the weight and suction, the BGP could use some assistance with self propelled rear wheels. If you have back problems or are very limited strength, the BGP probably isnt for you. The carpet here was new just over 2 years ago. I usually clean the carpet every 6 months, but for a variety of reasons, I didnt get to it like normal. Before getting the BGP, I used the Pro Heat on a Friday night and then again Saturday morning. Two weeks later, I used the Pro Heat one last time just to make sure the carpets were as clean as possible since it had been 2 years without them being cleaned. Because the carpets were new upon moving here, I wanted the best carpet cleaner. I wasnt concerned with the cleaning ability of the Pro Heat as the 3rd cleaning yielded very little unclean water. But with the new carpet and plenty of money in my pocket, decided to give the BGP a try. Howd the carpet turn out with the BGP after having cleaned the carpet 3 times with the Pro Heat and within a month of getting the BGP? Only one phrase to describe it: holy-fn-cow! I could NOT believe how dirty the water was. It looked like the carpets hadnt been cleaned in 2 years. I am sooo disappointed in how the Pro Heat cleaned. All this time I thought my carpets were getting clean when the truth of the matter is, they werent... not like how the BGP cleans them. Im convinced the BGP cleans better than any professional carpet cleaner. Professional carpet cleaners have hot water and suction, they do not have a carpet bar that scrubs the carpet. For what youll pay for a pro to come clean your carpets twice, youll have pretty much paid for the BGP. You DO NOT want any other carpet cleaner. With more than 8000 reviews and no 1, 2, or 3 star ratings from the United States, theres a reason why. The BGP EARNED the 4 and 5 star ratings that it has. Again, do NOT buy any other carpet cleaner. Save your money, pimp your spouse, your dog... the neighbors cat... whatever it takes to be able to afford this carpet cleaner. You will not be disappointed in it like I am in the Bissel Pro Heat. One thing I like about the BGP over the Pro Heat (and others like it), is the upholstery hose on the BGP is detachable and can be stored away until its needed. The Pro Heat, the upholstery hose doesnt detach and must stay on at all times. The holder for the upholstery hose on the Pro Heat is junk, and continually drops the hose. As mentioned previously, the BGP is heavy. When removing it from its shipping box, I recommend setting it on its side, cutting the bottom, and pulling all 4 flaps out, then tipping it back upright. From there, lifting the box up makes getting the BGP easy to get out of the box. With one person, youll have problems lifting the BGP out of the box while keeping the box down and in place. As to cleaning, the BGP out cleans the Pro Heat and any professional cleaner out there. For this, it gets 5 stars. As a whole, Ive given it 4 stars for reasons mentioned within: no onboard heat for water, no separate reservoir for cleaning solution, the need for low assist self propelling rear wheels, and white plastic instead of clear where the extracted water can be seen.

I should start this review by saying that my carpet is original to my house, which is 26 years old. I have had the carpets professionally cleaned and I have done them myself many times. I have owned several carpet cleaners in the past and really hesitated spending this much money for another. I have to say it is worth every penny! Seriously, it got out things I thought would never come out. My son had spilled Dr. Pepper behind a metal file cabinet in his bedroom, and of course didnt bother to mention it to me. It had set in for about six month by the time I found it, and the file cabinet had rusted on the soda. Not cool! So while I held out little hope, I pre-treated the stain with the cleaner that came with the machine (mixed with water) in a spray bottle. I let it sit around 10 minutes while I did other parts of the carpet. When I went over that area, almost all the stain came up, including the rust. I did go back and use the pre-treat again several times and each time more of the stain came up. There is a very faint rust stain that did not come out but you really have to be looking for it to see it. I found this machine to actually be more quiet than others I have used, which is not to say it isnt loud, because it is. But compared to other machines, even my husband commented that it was not as loud as the last one we owned. It cleans way, way better than other models I have tried and I didnt spend half my time running to the sink to empty and refill the tanks. I was blown away by the amount of water/solution that was sucked out of the carpet. Most other machines, even the professionals, leave the carpet so wet. Last time I had my Berber carpets cleaned it took 4 days to dry! With this machine it was mostly dried in 3 hours. I did have one spot that took till the next morning, but it was the area I went over several times. It was easy to operate and cleans on both forward and backward stroke. I also used this on my sofa, chairs, and an area rug with similar results. The hose is long enough to clean up the stairs, and the electric cord is long enough to not have to move it, at least in my house, very often. The Cons- It is heavy, which I guess is why it works so well but if you have stairs, you will probably have to carry it up in pieces like I did (machine, tanks separately). It did drip a little when I was carrying it to be emptied, which I hate, but every other machine I have owned has done the same...........Grrrrrrr! I dont like the water flow indicator. This little disk spins on the tank to show you the water flow. If you arent paying attention (I get into the zone when I clean and did this several times), you will be moving the machine around but no water/solution is being released. The way the tanks fit together make it a little difficult to tell when they are locked together. I was releasing solution into the carpet and nothing was coming back up. Had to turn the machine off, take the tank off and put it back on and fiddle with it to Lock it down. All of that said, I will and already have recommended this machine very very highly. Its really all about the clean!! The cons I listed are all small things that are more bothersome than real problems. I am please with my purchase and love that my carpet looks almost new again. Good for another 26 years??

I bought this machine because we are moving and I wanted to clean my carpet as we moved out. I thought my carpet was clean but it picked up a lot of dirt. It did a good job cleaning the carpet. I like it didn’t leave my floors overly wet and had good suction power.

First, I am an engineer .... which means I analyze everything. I was concerned about the hand tool portion of this product, but I neednt be. It worked very well. This product not only gets the carpet deep clean, it sucks out nearly all the moisture from the carpet and allows it to dry in no time. Seriously, by the time I got to the other end of my living room, the side I started on was already dry. The tanks (clean and dirty) are super easy to use. I prefer to fill and empty in my laundry room wash tub and these both work great in there. The unit has a little spin indicator when you are applying solution. This is great since you always know the moment you are out. The cord wrapping mechanism is the best I have ever seen in a product. Super easy and fast. Yes, it is more expensive than the typical cheap model, but it is worth it in spades. Additionally, the materials this thing are made out of are super durable. It is built like a tank and I expect many years of use. It is a bit heavy compared to the consumer models, but it is oh so much better at getting the job done. It is worth the little extra space it takes up in the closet and the fact that I have to move it up and down stairs for my wife to use on different floors (it is a bit much for her). At the end of the day, I am a consumer where the most important thing for me is does it work well and last a long time. Everything else is secondary.

Firstly, I have to say that I am -was- a huge fan of the Rug Doctor. Weve rented the Rug Doctor many times over the course of a few years after out carpet cleaning machine died. We did like the Rug Doctor, but when you add up the costs associated with it, $25-30 base rental + $7 for the hose, as well as the cost associated with running to the store to get it and return it, let alone the hazards associated with the last people who rented it and didnt clean it when they were done (pet hair EVERYWHERE). Either way, we certainly thought the Rug Doctor was good until we purchased this Bissell. As others have mentioned, it picks up to much more water and leaves your carpets much drier right after going over them. Its been about a year since we rented the Rug Doctor. We went over the carpets in one direction and just for kicks we went over it in the other direction (vertical and horizontal). We got so much more dirt out of our carpets than we would have ever gotten with the Rug Doctor! It was just as much gross as it was amazing! This Bissell Big Green is very easy to use and comes with everything you need to get going, including 2 small bottles of solution and a sizable hose for spot cleaning. I would HIGHLY suggest you purchase additional solution (I used the Bissell Deep Clean-dark blue bottle) if you have more than 1-2 rooms to do that have really dirty carpet. I did three moderately sized rooms and had to refill 5 times. This may seem like a lot, but I went over everything twice or even three times in high traffic areas. Even with the extra passes, the carpets were dry very quickly. After the carpet completely dried, the carpets look amazing! Before they were starting to look different colors across the carpets, and now they look uniform again. The carpets are soft, correctly colored, and vibrant. There even is a nice sheen to the carpet. I do think it pullet the carpet back up where it was more pushed down from excessive traffic because it looks better than it has in years! I do have two of my three rooms on a second story and had to move the carpet cleaner up the stairs. The machine is heavy! I took off the dirty and clean water tanks so you basically only have the machine itself and it was a slight bit heavy to haul up the stairs. I dont know if it would be doable for everyone without assistance. For the three rooms, it took 5 refills of water/solution and about three hours. Make sure you do read the directions! I was not holding the dispense button enough, which did cause for a little extra time because I redid that area. You are supposed to move forward holding the button and then move backward over the same area still holding the button in a slow manner to allow the spinning brush to do its job. Then release the button and go forward and backward to get the excess water sucked up. Reading the directions first will surely help cut down your time. Overall, if you are on the fence about purchasing this machine, just do it! I thought about it for a few hours and ended up just purchasing it. When you consider how much it costs over time to rent a not so great machine (now that I see how much better you can get with this machine) and time time and effort required to go get it and take it back, as well as the convenience of having your own machine if you need a quick cleanup, its totally worth the cost. I would HIGHLY recommend this carpet cleaner, it really DEEP DEEP cleans! Fair warning: I have only had this machine for about a week and used it once. I was just so amazed that I couldnt wait to write a review. If I do run into anything, I will be sure to update this review.

Do not hesitate. This machine is spectacular. I just ran it over a living room pile carpet that I cleaned last week with a rented Rug Doctor Wide Path. My new Big Green actually did the job this time and, get this... with less than half the cleaning formula and water. Here are some things that you will like about the Bissell 86T3 (in no particular order...): 1) Easy to see flow indicator for clean water / fluid tank - gives you clear indication of tank status and when its time to dump and refill. 2) Cleaning brush rotates at all times and is motor driven - not only while cleaning fluid is being dispensed - and it does a very thorough job. 3) Because of #2 above, cleaning happens while machine is moving forward or backward. You have the option of working a heavily soiled spot back and forth a few times, sure. 4) Machine is easy to move in both directions - as comfortable as moving a (littler heavier than usual) vacuum cleaner. Handle is at comfortable height for my 6ft tall frame. Much easier to handle and heft around than Rug Doc. 5) Both tanks remove for SUPER EASY disposal and filling (and relocation of entire machine) 6) Cleaning water and formula is dispensed very sparingly so the +/- 1.75 gallon cleaning fluid / water tank lasts much longer than Rug Doc 7) Bissell cleaning formulae do a much better job than any others I have used and only small amounts are needed - really !! 8) Upholstery hose / brush is super easy to attach and detach (right on top - easy access), and it works very well. 9) Because fluid is applied sparingly (which it should be!!) - carpet is left much dryer when you are done. 10 ) I ran this over a (pre-treated with Bissell formula) barf spot that seemed to be stuck forever in my sons bedroom Berber carpet. Rug Doc did not touch it. Big Green vaporized it into new condition. Incredible!! 11) Big Green construction quality, ergonomic layout...everything.... is about as close to perfect as I can imagine. 12) Replacement parts for Big Green are very easy to obtain !!!!! 13) Suction power for carpet and upholstery brush hose is strong and effective. Very little water / formula left behind and drying time is short. 14) Air warmed by passing over vacuum motor is directed down towards carpet to aid in the drying process - very smart design. Here are some things that you *might* think are drawbacks... 1) Brush is narrower than Rug Doc. - Yeah, only a little bit and I thought it would annoy me, but I did not notice or care at all. 2) Machine is heavy. - ALL commercial quality carpet machines are heavy. This one is very easy to handle, however. To make this machine lighter and easier to move to another area - simply take out the clean and dirty water tanks and move them individually, then the vacuum base unit, to the new area. Cleaning your carpets is a great way to get s little exercise. 3) Cant clean right up to the edge. - True ! About 1 of the edge cannot be reached in upright mode. I have yet to see an *effective* upright machine that actually cleans carpet and goes right to the edge. Youll need to use the upholstery brush and some elbow grease for the edges - no matter which machine youre using as far as I know. 4) Machine leaves blobs of carpet fuzz - True ! Every so often a small (like 1/2 a teaspoon sized?) blob of carpet nap fuzz will be left behind when changing direction of travel in upright mode. This is to be expected when running a rotating brush head over pile carpet. In the course of cleaning a 20 x 20ft room, I received about 5 of these blobs. The blob can easily be picked up by hand and thrown away, or vacuumed up when the carpet is dry. This is a minor, minor issue and is far outweighed by the clean and fresh carpet result that you will achieve. And, contrary to what other reviews have said, these blobs do not create an additional stain / cleanup burden. 5) Some online reviewers have claimed that 86T3 has only one motor, where the BG10 has two. - I have not disassembled my own machine to investigate, but I believe this claim is false. My understanding is that the BG10 has an elapsed time meter and a slightly different power cord arrangement that lends itself to being a commercial rental machine - but is otherwise identical. I do really wish that Bissells online information on this subject were more definitive, but...marketing channels and all that. Its interesting to note that the 86T3 has a 5 year warranty, versus 1 year for the BG10. Definitely a head scratcher - but in my view its a non-issue. 6) I wish that Bissell had included a mesh storage bag for the upholstery hose / brush. - A teeny tiny pet peeve thats easy to remedy. I have used three different types of carpet cleaner: 1) Rug Doc (rental), 2) Hoover upright (owned), 3) my new Big Green. Big Green wins hands down and renders the other two as close to useless in my first-hand experience. I am giving away my hoover upright. Not one gram of buyers remorse for the Big Green. Got a question? Please feel free to ask. No - I do not work for Bissell, nor do I own their stock. Are they even publicly traded ??

We had usually hired professional carpet cleaners for years, twice a year, each visit about the price of this cleaner, just to have the carpets dirty again in a matter of days or weeks. I made an executive decision, said enough, and looked for the machines with the top reviews, regardless of price. This one came out near the top despite not being the most expensive. My wife was skeptical but when she saw the results she was won over. Adapter for upholstery cleaning a big plus. And trial size cleaning solution bottles included makes it easy to use right out of the box. But water does need to be changed after every 20-30 mins (half a large room) of use. Other than that, well worth it!

When I first bought my home, there were some pet stains that the owners could not remove. I did not have time to clean it myself, so I hired a professional cleaning company. Needless to say, I was not impressed. So I rented the Rug Doctor and after several passes, I was able to remove the stain. I continued to rent the Rug Doctor over the years for my carpet cleanings and had been pleased. The last time I used one, I did notice the carpets were somewhat stiff. I am going to attribute this to the fact that I may have used too much cleaning solution. Then spring came around again and I wanted to clean the carpets again. I had stains from drinks, heavy traffic areas and again some pet stains. I own two lovable cats, who sometimes like to leave love spots. I went to my local grocery store to rent the Rug Doctor and they did not have any machines available. I went to several other stores and could not find one. Someone told me to try the Home Depot or Lowes. I went to Lowes and they had the Bissell instead of the Rug Doctor (RD). Never having used one and very unsure that it would perform as well as the RD, I decided to give it a try. First off, I noticed the rental rate was higher due to the deposit required. I loaded it into my car and home I went to give it a try. I am not sure if it is lighter or easier to maneuver than the RD when removing from my car. I followed the simple instructions and off I went cleaning the carpets. One of the things I noticed was the cleaning solution is applied in both the forward and backwards movements. Cleaning was pretty straight forward and exactly as I expected. First mistake I made was dumping the dirty water. I slipped and dropped the dirty water all over the floor. Quick fix, use the vacuum aspect and suck up the water. Another positive I noticed was the filling of the water. No more filling a large bucket and dumping it into a smaller fill slot. You fill the bucket, which removes and add solution, tighten the cap and place it back on the Big Green. No more water saturated lines on the carpet when I pour too fast. Place the empty container that will collect the dirty water on top, secure the latch and off you go. I have read that people are experiencing clumps of dirty hair, etc when using the Big Green. The ONLY times I notice this is when I fail to vacuum my carpets thoroughly first. I also noticed that the suction is somewhat better than my vacuum, so it is picking up cat and human hairs (that vacuum cleaners can and do miss) and depositing them on the carpet. No Problem, just pick them up. As a note I noticed this as well with the RD, so it is NOT a specific problem to the Big Green. You must vacuum before using the cleaner. The other major positive was the drying time using the Big Green. It is MUCH less than the RD. So I purchased this on 6/22/12 and opted for next day delivery. I ordered this mid-morning to mid-afternoon I believe and by 9am the next morning I had my Big Green. Less than 24 hours for shipping! I opened the box, removed a few cardboard packing materials, removed the bottle of solution from the tank, filled it with water and off I went. No more than 15 minutes total from unpacking to cleaning. No assembly required!!!! I am happy with my purchase. If you are familiar with using a RD, the Big Green is similar in size and maneuverability. This is not a small upright vacuum size. For me it seemed to maneuver easier than the RD. It removes stains, leaves your carpets feeling great and dries faster than any other cleaner I am aware of. The Bissell cleaning solutions smell nice and are not over powering. Pros: cleaning capabilities Less drying time Carpets feel soft ease of use Cons: cost, rather expensive but worth the cost for thorough deep cleanings

I have previously owned a Bissell but it wasnt a deep cleaner. After reading the reviews and Amazon running this on a lightning deal, I purchased it. After vacuuming all the carpets, I started this machine up. I have used a Rug Doctor and thought that it did a fair job. This machine BLOWS a Rug Doctor out of the water. It came already assembled, all I had to do was remove all of the packing material and lift the handle. My first impression: 1. While heavy, it maneuvers very easily. Much easier than the Rug Doctor. I attribute this to the fact that the handle pivots forward and back like a vacuum cleaner does rather than being stationary. 2. I liked that you didnt have to fill a bucket or other tank to fill the clean reservoir. The clean tank comes out of the machine to be filled. 3. This thing SUCKS! I mean that in a good way. When using the RD (rug doctor) the carpet always stayed wet for hours. With this machine, even with spraying in a forward motion and then again when pulling backwards (so 2 applications of solution with only one removal), on a second pass to remove the water, there was very little left in the carpet. 4. I LOVE that I can see the water that has been pulled out of the carpet. It lets me know just how much water is being put down and how much is being pulled back out. 5. The machine does tell you when you are out of solution and its easy to see the level by looking at the tank. Its similar to knowing how much milk is left in the carton thru a frosted surface. 6. Dumping the waste water is fairly easy. The only downside is that once you remove the top portion (where you see the water being sucked into the waste tank) there is nothing really to hold onto when dumping the tank since the handle is on the top part. 7. Even after thoroughly vacuuming the carpet, this machine found hair that my commercial vacuum did not get out of the carpet. 8. We do have a cat and dog. The dog is very stubborn and if anything hits the floor, she either will try to eat it or cover it up by peeing on it. There was a single spot that after treating with an enzyme solution and cleaning with the RD, there was still an odor. After a single pass with this machine, the odor was gone and there was no longer a strange feeling to that part of the carpet. 9. When using the RD, I felt that I had to go over the carpet several times, keeping in mind that all of our carpet is under 3 years old. With this machine, I could tell with my bare feet that there was a definite difference to how the carpet felt after just one pass. 10. The carpet was dry within 3 hours even in the areas that I had made a forward and backwards pass. Our carpet has a pretty deep pile as well. About 3/4 of an inch in length to give you an idea of what type it was used on. 11. The only problem that I had was operator error. When I filled the tank the second time, I did not get them lined up exactly right and it would put water down but nothing was being pulled back up. I unhooked the latch, reseated the top tank and viola! Back in business. So far I have not found any downsides to this machine but I will check back in after the next time I use it.

After owning a little green and having that ultimately break after 7 solid years of pet and kid ownership, I was looking for a replacement. We already had a traditional upright cleaner, but the hose/commercial cleaner combo caught my eye on the Big Green. We wanted a little more HP than the little green could offer from the hose. I also knew that to get the best you have to spend the best and laid out 4 large for the Biggen. Machine comes fully assembled which a rarity these days. Out of the box and onto cleaning in about 5 min. Construction: This thing is built like a tank. Thick, HDPE, and ABS plastic in most places with very little pieces of the cheap crack prone plastics used in the lower models. Thick, heavy cord with plenty of length. Solid no frills handle. A single switch! ON/OFF. Any questions? Tanks are of superior quality com paired to the standard uprights you find in department stores. I know because 1 went tumbling down an entire flight of stairs full of solution with zero breakage. Tanks lift right out of the machine with no latches to mess around with. There is not a single piece you touch that feels like the bean counters were looking over an engineers shoulders on this one. Vacuumm is of commercial grade and will rival most shop vacs. Lights dim when you turn it on, indicating the power within. Design: Commercial, and heavy. I can totally see this machine being rented or used by professionals, and it shows as soon as you start using it. Locating the pivot for the handle at the wheel axle was genius compared to the horrible Rug Doctor design that tips constantly. This machine cut my time by 2/3rds over our old upright. The water tanks are easily twice as large and allow you to clean MULTIPLE rooms before attending to the tanks. Our old upright would have to be changed about 2-3 times per room. Hose attachment works great with about 3-4 times the suction of the Little Green. The hose brush is also about 2X as wide which makes cleaning stairs and your auto go much faster. It also accepts Bissels standard brushes so you could swap out a narrow one for tight spaces if desired. No provisions for hose storage. I am neutral on this. It would be nice, but we had this on our old upright and removed it. I can see why they didnt put them on this. Hoses can be a pain while cleaning carpets because they tend to fall off. With the commercial theme of this vacuum, professionals would not mess with such a large hose falling off. Another nice feature is the flow wheel that spins when water sprays. This gives you instant feedback if the vac is spraying or not. No spinny, no water. This would help diagnose a pump failure if one ever happened. Cleaned carpets dry in about 1-2 hours depending on pile length. They used to take about 6 hours to dry. Negatives: Clean water tank runs out about twice as fast as the dirty tank. I dont know why Bissel engineers can never get the golden ratio right with these things. From my experience, you always need a much larger capacity water tank than dirty because of how much water is retained in the carpets. While this machine certainly leaves the carpets dryer than our old machine, it is not even a close call on what will run out first. I tried rolling the machine down my stairs like a dolly. The handle locks in upright position so I didnt think twice about it. WHAT A MISTAKE! The upright handle lock gave way sending the dirty tank full of dirty water tumbling down my stairs. Luckily I have the machine to clean it up and the tank didnt damage anything. I then see a handle on the front of the machine for lifting. This machine is fairly heavy and I am a grown man, but having to carry this machine full of water anywhere is not fun. The handle lock should be able hold the weight of the machine and tanks for a machine costing 4 large. Not a major flaw, but I cant see a single women operating this machine if she had to navigate a flight of stairs. This is a mans machine, or a womens machine in a rancher. Hose is about 4 stairs too short on length to cover an entire flight without having to carry the machine to the other end. Conclusion: This is a solid machine that instantly proves its worth in how much time it saves you cleaning your carpets. Yes, it is worth the price when you can clean 1200 ft^2 of carpeting in 2 hours. That used to take me all day. Minor quibbles as stated above, but shes got it where it counts. Great suction, wide cleaning path, easy to operate, cleans better than anything Ive used before, and saves you time. If you value having clean carpets dont waste your money on lessor products. They are too much of a pain to use which causes you to use them less. This machine is so easy and fast that you wont dread cleaning them.