BISSELL® Big Green® PET PRO Carpet Cleaner, 3288
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Thomas
> 24 hourWe finally bought the Big Green Machine after renting the PetSmart version several times. All in all, this is a nice, easy to use carpet cleaner and I recommend it. More Detail: Unboxing: The cleaner is practically assembled when it arrives in its sturdy box. If you have trouble lifting heavy objects, it might be best to cut the bottom off the box and lift the box off, rather than trying to lift the machine out of the box. The accessory hose is in the box in the space between the cleaner and the box. Packed inside the waste bin is a sample of soap that you must remove. There are also a couple of other pieces of shipping material that need to be removed. I also found that the drain plug for the clean water reservoir was loose, so I tightened that up. The unit arrived in great shape with no visible damage to the packaging or the unit itself. This is basically the same unit as the commercial version, from what I can tell. I cant speak to the motors themselves, but it sounds the same as the rental version. The only things different are that the directions for use are not stamped directly on the machine, and there is no rental motor counter, which records the number of hours on the machine. Otherwise, quality, fit, and finish is almost identical to what Ive seen from the PetSmart rentals. Setup for use: Setup is fairly straight forward and easy. The bottom reservoir is for warm water and the cleaning solution. The cap is large and easy to put on and remove. That unit nestles down in the bottom, with a nozzle that allows the liquid to be drawn out for spraying. On top of that goes the dirty water receptacle, followed by the clear lid, which locks in place. You can see the dirty water as it is sucked up via the clear lid. The cord is heavy duty and long enough for all the uses I have. The only thing it cant do is reach from one end of our upstair hallway to the other, but it runs the full length of the house, so it is a long hallway! Use and Cleaning: The unit is relatively easy to move around. The large rear wheels make it an easy roll from place to place when you tip it back onto the wheels. The low center of gravity from the handles connection point at the bottom of the unit keeps it steady and even as you push and pull it across the carpet. It is a bit heavy to pick up via deadlift, but my relatively small wife can pick it up if she does it carefully. Shes not going far with it, mind you, but she was able to load and unload it from our SUV when we rented these. It has a nice grab handle on the front and the rear. The cleaner does a good job of getting the carpets clean and removing most of the moisture from the carpet. Our drying times have been relatively quick, which is good. You really dont want soggy carpets. I am giving four stars, however, because our particular unit seems not to spray well on the forward motion, or at least not as consistently as the rental versions did. It is spraying the cleaning solution, but one pass does not seem to wet the carpet enough. I found myself doing a pass up and back with the trigger depressed, and then two additional passes to remove the liquid. Drying time was still good. But, because it doesnt seem as effective with one pass only, Im holding a star back. It may be something that will improve with us, or it may just be this unit. It still cleans well. This unit needs a little help with heavy stains, as you would expect. We pretreat spots with Resolve carpet cleaner and a little light scrubbing. Then, going over the spots with Big Green it does a great job removing the stains. I make extra passes over high traffic areas or tough stains and it does make a huge difference. Ive mostly used the carpet cleaning system that came with my Kirby in recent years, but this is a superior clean than that one. Depending on the pile of your carpet and the amount of pet hair in your home, you will notice clumps of fibers/hair under the unit and in the waste area. At times clumps will become large enough that they will fall off the machine during use. Its not a big problem, and not unique to this cleaner. If you have a carpet or pets that shed, you can stop and clean it off periodically during use. Cleanup: As with all cleaners, cleaning the unit is essential to its performance. This one is easy to clean. The dirty water receptacle has a large opening and is easy to dump (I dump into the toilet) and rinse The clear lid takes a little work at the sink to get al the crevices cleaned out. Any leftover cleaning solution can be drained easily by unscrewing the plug on the bottom. Wipe down the outside and bottom of the unit, being sure to get clumps of carpet fiber and hair from the roller area, and youre all done. The handle folds down to save space vertically, should you need it. Complaints: As to complaints about drips; yes, when you stop cleaning and park the unit, there will be some dirty water spots I dont think its a leak, per se, but rather the liquid that get caught up in the roller assembly when everything is spinning and working. When it stops it drips. I keep an old towel handy and back the machine up onto the towel when I stop using it - problem solved. Overall: We purchased this for ourself because we had been so pleased with the rentals. It does a good job cleaning our carpets and controlling the odors from three dogs who sometimes have accidents. It really does leave the carpets cleaner and reduces odors, and were very pleased. Had I not had a slightly different experience with the rentals units, I might have rated it 5 stars. After a few more uses I will update my review as needed.
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VJ
> 24 hourThis is our third different carpet shampooer in the last three decades.. at least thats how I remember it. One was a Hoover with the five round spinning brushes which we lost in a house fire, and I cant remember the other It heated the water but got tossed because it eventually leaked. I will add that I worked for Electrolux one summer for some spare change when I was teaching so I have been around some pretty nice equipment and know how to clean carpeting. We have a new home now with some very nice, upgraded carpeting. We needed a new shampooer because we live on ten rural, burned-over acres with a lot of dirt and dust when it is dry and a good amount of mud when it is wet. We also have a rambunctious German Shepherd. With a sort of beach-sand, tan color deep, dense carpeting I want to keep clean I needed something that could do the job. I spent a good amount of time shopping and when I finally came near the end it came down to a choice between the Bissell Big Green and the Rug Doctor. I chose the Bissell. The pre-sale factors were the numerous reviews of the Bissell stated that it got the carpet really dry, it was easy to use, it was smaller, and came with the accessory hose, and cost less. I got a chance to shampoo the entry way at our front door. There is a vinyl area just inside the door, and beyond that is a carpeted area about 12 feet long and 6 feet wide. Following the mixing directions I made about half of a tank of cleaner and followed the directions for use. Hold the spray button while walking forward and then back, then release the button and make a similar pass to pick up the cleaner. I did much the same for three small area rugs made from scraps of the same carpeting. One of those sits in the kitchen at my espresso bar and gets stained with coffee grounds, dripped coffee, and more. Also the carpet inside the utility room with a door to our attached garage. That one acts are a door mat from when I come in, sometimes with muddy shoes from working on our property, often with hand tools or when running our tractor and chipping burned brush and trees.. You can imagine what that one looked like. The results: I could not be more pleased. After just 8 months living in our new home it was astounding how much dirt Big Green pulled up. I made an extra pass or two to pull up as much of the cleaner as possible, and just after a couple of hours the carpet felt humid when I ran my hand over it, and in around four hours was dry. I vacuumed the carpet I shampooed this morning and you could close your eyes and walk on it and feel how much fluffier it is compared to the area I did not clean with Big Green. SUCTION: good suction efficiently applied to carpet is the key to an efficient shampooer. You can use a garden sprayer and a floor broom to loosen the dirt, but without a way to get that moisture and dirt up it is a waste of time. Big Green has an efficient brush roll that is easy to clean and by removing a few easy-to-access screws makes changing belts easy as well. And did I mention excellent suction! Even the hose and hand tool did a very good job on an old muddy footprint my dog left some time ago. With the other shampooers I would have to shampoo, then pick up that liquid, then put clean water to rinse the carpeting and it would still come up dirty, and then sty wet for a long time, sometimes being heavily humid still the next day. I had rented the Rug Doctor in the past and am so glad I got the Big Green. For a home owner, it surpasses the Rug Doctor in so many ways. It stores easily in a closet, the tanks are easy to fill and clean and attach simply and quickly to the base unit, the handle release can be operated by your foot, and the folding handle makes storing easy. Although it weighs around 50 pounds, it is not difficult to move and the weight keeps the business end on the carpet where it belongs. Have you really read this far? Just go buy the thing and enjoy your clean carpets!
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Ben
> 24 hourFirstly, 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.
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Sidious
> 24 hourIt was the best of times. It was the worst of times. The carpets had seen better days of cleanliness. The old Hoover had died under warranty but they no longer make that model. So we had the purchase price in hand but no carpet cleaner. What to do? What to do? WHAT TO DO? Research and buy a different cleaner was the only recourse short of paying a service or renting - both so gauche and demeaning. As a self-made DIY amateur, the best bang for the buck based on good old Google searching and the fantastic fanatic reviews on amazing Amazon, led me to the BISSELL Big Green Deep Cleaning Machine Professional Grade Carpet Cleaner. The first drawback I experienced was sticker shock; I had never spent this much on a carpet cleaner before. The old favorite dead one was easily $100 less but alas it was no longer available to me - unrequited. Sticker shock be damned, on with the purchase after weeks of deliberation and ever-so-gentle prodding from my lovely wife. The order was placed. The dice was cast. Would it measure up to expectations? Would the detracting reviews be more correct? The mystery was afoot; only delivery and a test run would provide the answers. The BISSELL Big Green Deep Cleaning Machine Professional Grade Carpet Cleaner arrived. I could barely contain my excitement to unpack and test the beast. Unpacking and assembling for use was very simple. To my chagrin, in my zeal to start the test run, I failed to remove the two pieces of cardboard and the bottle of cleaning fluid stored in the recovery tank. The oversight became obvious on the run to the commode to empty the test collection. A bonehead move to be sure. How could I have completed a test run without using the provided fluid, you ask. Simple, I had other cleaning fluid on hand because I wasnt certain any came with the BISSELL Big Green Deep Cleaning Machine Professional Grade Carpet Cleaner. Despite the potential of being asked to surrender my MAN card, I admit I DO read instructions and manuals - just not all at once - and definitely not all (obviously) prior to operation. Sure enough, it was in there. So, here is the first bonus and positive point about the BISSELL Big Green Deep Cleaning Machine Professional Grade Carpet Cleaner - it comes with a small bottle of concentrated cleaning fluid - most likely enough for a once-over of several rooms. Other operational observations: The BISSELL Big Green Deep Cleaning Machine Professional Grade Carpet Cleaner delivers as described in most of the positive reviews. It does a good job cleaning the carpet. Dirty carpets will require more passes with it - the dirtier the more passes required - or perhaps more patience than I have in laying down a pre-treatment or applying the solution and waiting a bit before collecting. My carpets dried in good time; I didnt notice any excessive wet or damp spots. I measured the capacity of the dispensing and collection tanks on the BISSELL Big Green Deep Cleaning Machine Professional Grade Carpet Cleaner before use - perhaps a bit overly scientific or some might say anal. Then during use I observed that the collection level was just a little lower than what was dispensed. I am very happy with this. Multiple passes helped pick up water but only to a point. There is a small view port on top where you can observe the fluid collection; when it stops spotting youve picked up about as much as you can. On the negative side, it is a little loud. Im no audiologist but I dont think hearing protection is required. Your significant other will be able to sneak up on you while it is in operation. If you have a weak bladder or queasy bowels, appropriate adult protective garments may be in order. You can yodel, belt out opera, rock, or your favorite nursery rhymes whilst operating and probably not notice how bad or good you really are - but keep in mind that it isnt so loud as to drown out your voice so that others wont notice - they will - and they may comment. If you have thin skin keep this in mind. One must pay attention when seating the dispensing and collection tanks. Only once did I fail to do this. I almost immediately noticed the little observation port wasnt showing any incoming fluid. I stopped and checked - re-seated the tanks and went right back to work. The BISSELL Big Green Deep Cleaning Machine Professional Grade Carpet Cleaner is a tad cumbersome to move around but during operation I had no difficulties. During my initial marathon test run cleaning, my my back was negatively influenced - it started to ache. I attribute this to my extended test run time and my propensity to not take breaks. It is also cumbersome to carry up/down stairs for storage. I am an average male. Capet cleaning is my household duty; my wife has not had the opportunity to play with my toy yet. Overall, I LIKE it. Alas, I cannot love the BISSELL Big Green Deep Cleaning Machine Professional Grade Carpet Cleaner as my carpet cleaning heart love will always be with the no-longer-offered Hoover it replaced.
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R
> 24 hourit will pay for itself in no time. Its expensive but youre getting a great cleaner that will last forever.
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Karenm1964
> 24 hourThis review is for the Bissell Big Green. My carpets are old and very light in color. I live with three dogs. One of them is a senior and her bladder isn’t what it used to be. I’m not disciplined enough to wipe their paws before coming back inside, so my carpets take a bit of a beating in tracking in dirt and grime. This is the first “high end” carpet cleaner I’ve owned, but in my garage is a grave yard of floor cleaners that didn’t work too well. This machine exceeded my expectations. After purchasing MANY carpet cleaners (everywhere between the $130 to $250 range), the Big Green did its job quite well. THE PICTURES TELL IT ALL: 1 - See the picture with the white dresser to left. You can clearly see the difference in the carpet between the cleaned area (in front of the dresser) and the uncleaned area (toward the front of the picture). 2 - A few weeks prior to getting the Big Green, I cleaned my upstairs carpets with a Hoover Spin Scrub PressurePro Max Extract 60. In the photo with the loft rails in the background, you can see a line down the middle after cleaning half with the Big Green (left side uncleaned, right side cleaned). 3 – The four remaining photos consist of two sets of before and after pictures of old pet stains. The pet stains were several years old with multiple attempts to remove with a variety of cleaners over the years. The results were AWESOME! OTHER ODDS AND ENDS: 1. The buckets are clearly marked as to how to put them back in the machine. You can’t do it wrong (if it were possible, I would have done it) 2. The machine did well on my carved area rug. It’s a good, heavy rug – not sure I would use it on a light rug 3. No leaking!! Even when tipping it to remove debris from the brush roll (this is a problem I’ve had with almost every other cleaner I’ve owned) 4. Suctions up the water nicely for quick drying. My area rug seemed to hold moisture more than my wall to wall carpet and took longer to dry, but the pad under the rug was dry. 5. The cap on the clean water tank serves as a measuring cup for the shampoo, which is very convenient. 6. 5 year warranty 7. Easy to pull out the brush roll and clean behind it 8. Easy to empty dirty water tank and clean it (other carpet cleaners have a hole to dump the water through so it’s difficult to rinse out the tank and remove all of the sediment that accumulates) 9. The tanks are a milky color – I would prefer they be more transparent so that you can see where the water levels are and see the dirty water being suctioned up. 10. The machine is a bit clunky to maneuver to do another pass, but with practice it gets easier. Likewise, it’s awkward to get smaller areas. 11. One of the biggest points in negative reviews was water gushing out of the flow indicator and the location of authorized Bissell repair facilities. Before purchasing this machine, I located an authorized Bissell repair facility from the Bissell website and called the facility to ensure they were still in business and are still authorized to perform warranty services. I’m bringing this up because it is a large purchase and the machine is way too big and bulky to send it somewhere for repair. I’m not sure if the flow indicator is covered under the warranty, but replacing it is relatively inexpensive and I’m confident I have somewhere close to repair it. There are also UTUBE videos on how to replace it. In summary, I WAS AMAZED at what this machine picked up and am 100% satisfied with the purchase. If I encounter issues upon future uses, I will update this review. P.S. If you found this review helpful, please indicate. THANKS!
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Kenneth Sawyer
> 24 hourThe unit works great.
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Linda J. Parry
> 24 hourWe had set in pet stains from our puppies that were awful! I was embarrassed to have anyone come to the house. We had the carpet professionally cleaned, but that didnt help much at all. As a last resort before buying all new carpet, I decided to order the Bissell Big Green Pet Pro Carpet Cleaner. The reviews were good, so I thought it was worth a try. It was amazing! It met all of my expectations & then some! Two people who had seen my carpet before & after, couldnt believe the results! They both said That is quite the machine! I would buy this carpet cleaner again with no hesitation! It is excellent & easy to use!!
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Abassa
> 24 hourWork great Like described Good price
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Mikel Torphy
> 24 hourI always rent the rug doctor to clean my carpets but figured i would just buy one so went Amazon.com to purchase a rug doctor but then i saw this bissel it had better reviews so thought i would give it a try. Well it had better reviews for a reason it cleans carpets better and destroys rug doctor on the length of time your carpet drys. I was renting a used machine so that might have a little something to do with it.