BISSELL® Big Green® PET PRO Carpet Cleaner, 3288
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JRW
> 3 dayThis device is awesome, runs rings around everything else Ive ever used before. Only one flaw ive found...dont try to ease this thing down stairs by the handle; the handle latch is not strong so when it bumps the step coming down the handle opens, the motor unit flops, and all the tanks and such go tumbling down the stairs. theyre built tough, didnt seem to break anything and luckily the dirty water tank was empty. I know this unit has handles for picking it up, I have a bad back and lifting 50 lbs down the steps wasnt an option. Next time ill just remove the tanks a make a couple of trips. Buy this thing but just be wary of the handle latch.
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Allan J. Rood
> 3 dayHi, If you are in a big hurry, skip this review, it is long and involved, written by a guy who has cleaned carpets in many houses (mine and as a landlord) for many years - and is a retired engineer. Spoiler Summary - Super sturdy, heavy and semi-hard to pull because it is sucking down so hard pulling up dirty water and dampness. I like it. Introduction - I have owned a half dozen or more carpet cleaners for 20+ years, mostly lower priced Hoovers. This is a review after buying this Bissell and using it for 3000 square feet and two sets of carpeted stairs.I chose it after reviewing many alternatives focusing on the suction capability. Many shampooers leave the carpet pretty wet, even after secondary dry passes that dont pull much of the water out. This not only leaves dampness, but dirty water you are trying to remove. First Blush - Sturdy delivery box, and sturdier machine. This machine looks more industrial than many lower priced ones - more like something you would rent at a grocery or rental place.No assembly required - nice long cord, large tanks to allow you to keep going. Set up - As I dragged this upstairs, I realized this is significantly heavier than others I have owned. But do-able (I am 140 pounds, 60+ years old now). You have to mix the solution into the water. Usage - The instructions say to push away and pull back a strip while releasing solution, then repeat the push/pull without solution (dry mode). I repeated these steps in really black or high traffic areas. Doing so with my carpets, which looked okay, yielded almost coal black return tank water with dirt in the bottom of the tank. I did this washing, then, per room, I repeated the same steps as above with clear water for a complete rinse cycle. The water looked less dirty, but I called that good enough. Result - These carpets look better than they have in a long time. I am impressed. Pluses - (1) The machine is very heavy duty, so are the tanks. It sucks very well. Once I didnt seat the receiving tank well so suction was compromised, I pulled back 3 feet and thought wow, this thing has just gotten way easier to pull. Then I reseated the tank and felt again the strong resistance to pulling return. (2) I am an anal engineer. On one rinse cycle, after the carpet was damp from washing, I measured the amount of water I spit out and the amount that was sucked back in. The machine pulled back around 75% of what it laid out. You may think, wow, I would have guessed that you would get back all you lay down. No, you do not, with any cleaner, as it seeps into the carpet. But this 75% was way more than I have seen in the past. Plus, my carpets dried in 1/2 the time. Minuses - This thing is pretty heavy and pulls hard. I dont think my 105 pound 60+ year old wife could lug it up the steps, or use it for long. Other - It would be nice if the soap was separate, so you could toggle between wash and rinse. It is not, you put two tank capfulls of solution in the tank. I got around this by working with the solution, then, as mentioned above, repeated with plain water.It would be nice if you could turn the beater brush on and off, to give the carpet a break when you are just trying to suck up the solution. Oh well. You do have to keep an eye on this spinning disc on the top that indicates solution flow, to tell when you are out of solution, as the tank is so heavy duty, you cant easily see the level as you use it. No big deal, as this spinning beanie disk is in your line of sight as you work. Overall - I like this unit and am glad I bought it, and it works better than the last 5 - 10 units I have purchased.
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LH
> 3 dayI have hired carpet cleaning companies and nothing cleans and gets up stains as good as the big green machine. I use to rent this machine from Lowe’s every 6 months but finally decided to buy one of my own. Best carpet cleaner for pets and high traffic area carpets. Love it
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MGoodwin
> 3 dayThis machine is amazing, the answer to my clean carpet dreams! We have 3 German Shepherds and a Carolina dog in an almost 4,000 sq ft home where the entire upstairs is carpeted. I’m pretty OCD about cleanliness and every since we built this home 2 years ago I’ve been in a constant battle with all this carpet. I’ve been using the Bissell Pro Heat Revolution but was in desperate need for something with more cleaning power. After reading reviews, I decided to make the investment…and I am so thrilled that I did!! Yes this machine is big and heavy, but its a fair trade off for what you get in return. No more going over stains or puppy urine spots 4 and 5 times, this bad boy does the job the first time around. I still pre-treat tougher stains but I haven’t had one yet that this shampooer hasn’t worked on. Best investment I’ve made in a long time!!!
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Des
Greater than one weekThis was my first carpet and upholstery cleaner purchase. We have mostly tile flooring in our home with carpet in the bedrooms, so I never considered getting a carpet cleaner when we moved in. However, when I started dog sitting for people, I had to reconsider my decision. My home smelled like dogs no matter how often I cleaned and I was tired of it, so I began my search for a good quality carpet/upholstery cleaner. I almost purchase a Hoover steamvac but I was really concerned about the durability of that product. I honestly didnt think it would last very long with frequent use. When I read all the amazing reviews for the BISSELL Big Green I contemplated it for a while before actually making the purchase. I really didnt want to spend so much money but it looked incredibly durable and I wanted something that would last for a good while and work as advertised. Let me say, this product did not disappoint! Ive used big green for a large area rug in my living room, my couches, the carpet in my bedroom, and the upholstery and carpeting in my husbands car. Every time, I was amazed with how much water, dirt and sediment the big green pulled up. What it did for my husbands car (with the hand tool) was especially impressive. We are taking an 8hr road trip with our son and I didnt want to be confined to a filthy car for such a long period of time, so I took it upon myself to give it a deep clean. We have owned this car for 2yrs and have never had it cleaned other than removing the trash and vacuuming it out. The people that owned it before us didnt bother getting cleaned before selling it, so when we purchased it there was also some staining and tons of dog fur. Now most of the dog fur had been long gone before I used the big green, so please keep that in mind. I cleaned all of the seats, top to bottom and then made my way to the carpeting, cleaning underneath the seats to the best of my ability. I probably went over the seats about 3 times before deciding that I was finished for the day. Now, when I went to dump out the water, it was black and there was lots of mud/dirt and rocks at the bottom of the dirty water container. There were even some small clumps of dog fur floating around in there. The interior of the car doesnt look brand new by any means (I will probably need to get a professional detailing service for that) but I am no longer disgusted at the thought of a long road trip in it. It actually smells pretty clean now and looks presentable. So, here are some things I love about the big green: It is an incredibly simple machine. Without the hose attachment, there are only 5 parts including the portion containing the motor. There are two bins, one for dirty water and one for clean, a clear dome shaped lid with a handle to cover the dirty water container, a small plastic, square filter type thing that you dont really need to bother with and then of course, the body, which contains the motor and scrub brushes at the bottom. Literally, all you need to do is add your water and cleaner, stack the bins on top of the body, plug in and turn on and you are ready to clean your carpets. The hose/hand tool attachment is also very easy to use and adds two extra parts. Not too many things to get broken here. The plastic is also very durable (as Ive mentioned before) and seems like itll last for several years. The suction is very strong and easily pulls up embedded dirt and small rocks from your carpet. Even while using the hose and hand tool, it didnt seem like any of the suction was lost. And of course, b/c of the great suction, dry time is minimal. Id say a couple of hrs for carpeting and upholstery, although when I used this to clean my couches, I gave them until overnight before I sat on them. It took the car about 4hrs to dry completely. Regardless of how long the dry time is, this isnt going to leave anything soaking wet. It will be only slightly damp once the water is sucked up. There are a few small things I didnt like about the machine. It is very difficult to maneuver (which was expected). When cleaning carpets, it does tend to spit out clumps of all the stuff it just sucked up. You know its working when you see these gross clumps but they are still annoying to pick up, unless you have someone going behind you to do it. I wish the hand tool had spinning bristles, although Ive heard that you can purchase one for a reasonable price. The last thing I didnt like was that this seemed to be a little too aggressive for my large living room area rug. Its a wool rug and it just seems like there are a lot of extra fibers getting sucked up by the machine, although the spinning bristles fluff my rug back up nicely. I may need to switch to using the hand tool on the rug though, in order to help prolong the life of it. All in all, this is a great product and well worth the money that was spent on it. It is expensive but I do believe that, in most cases, you get what you pay for. You wont regret buying this carpet/upholstery cleaner!
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MAC
> 3 dayIf you want a clean, non-blotchy, carpet use the pretreat everywhere. They dont include the pretreat. Where I didnt pretreat initially, I ended up going back.
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Sherri Barberi
> 3 dayI never leave reviews however this rug and upholstery cleaner deserves one..Last year I spent over 800.00 getting my carpets cleaned by a professional only to have the stains come back within a month. I bought this after reading the reviews and I am completely blown away...I shampooed my carpet over a month ago and it took all the stains out, .y carpet dried very quickly and the stains have not returned. I also have cats and one decided she was going to start peeing on my soft furniture...I used the upholstery brush with the urine cleaner that comes with it and the smell is completely gone...stop spending money on professionals and just get this ...you will not be sorry!
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-=Rudy=-
> 3 dayIt really disgusts me how poorly made many of todays products are. I like to buy something for life. I prefer to spend more to get something that I wont have to replace in a few years time. Heck, I still drive a 17 year old car I bought new in 1997--it doesnt look so great anymore, but it gets me around, its cheap to own and maintain, and hasnt left me stranded! The Bissell carpet cleaners are a good example of this. In the late 90s, I had purchased one of the Bissell carpet cleaners. While I was using it maybe once per year, there was a span of a few years where I didnt use it at all. So it is not like I used it that often. Over the years, one by one, something else would break on it. Or it would leak. Or the bearings would start wailing like a banshee (which screams cheap imported bearings to me). The last straw was earlier this year when the container of detergent kept coming out steadily, and was completely drained after running the cleaner for 10 minutes. I was not alone either--I know a few friends/family personally who bought a similar machine and they, too, had it only last them a few years. Fed up with Bissell, I looked at the others. Yet here on Amazon, just about all of the cleaners (Hoover, Bissell, etc.) has similar reviews--cheap plastic, leaks, early failures, just total junk. Yet this Bissell 86T3 stood out as having a five-star rating, with hundreds of votes. The more I read, the more I realized that I needed to give this machine a try. I was going to rent one from Lowes, but a Warehouse Deal came along that made it irresistible. It showed up yesterday, courtesy of FedEx. In the evening, I tried it on a high-traffic area in the family room, which has an off-white low-pile carpeting. It still has a couple of streaks, but man, is it ever bright! I havent seen it this clean since I moved into this house four years ago. The old Bissell lightened it a bit, but this one totally took control and sucked up a lot of dirt. (One area is a run between the kitchen and back door, and the other is the area around my work desk.) I may go over a few spots again now that I am more used to the machine. Today I tackled a bedroom (including a mattress) and the living room. And again, it pulled up muck that poured out of the waste container in a dark grey color. And yes, its like the other reviews have said: the carpet does not take long at all to dry. This 86T3 has serious suction! (The other Bissell couldnt suck up a dead gnat.) Moving furniture around, I was able to use a large fan to dry off the carpet in about a half hour. The carpet isnt exactly new looking, but it looks way better now. It always amazes me how much gunk hides in our carpets! Construction--the plastic is thick and heavy, in the main body and in the tanks. Fully loaded, its a bear to lift. But like others say, cart it around or lift it without the tanks to make things easier. It is also a bit difficult to steer but you get used to moving it in longer strokes to make up for it. I tried the hand tool in the bedroom to get in some tight corners, and the hose is long and sturdy, with no worries about kinking it like the cheaper Bissell cleaners. I likely would not have paid full price for this, but even if I had to pay more than the Warehouse Deals price, at least I am more confident that this cleaner will last me a while.
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wally3343
Greater than one weekThe suction is so good that it pulls old dirt through the pad even. I installed my own inground pool and never thought I would get the carpets clean from the kids going into the dirt piles from the pool dirt. Well this gets everything out, even the stuff that managed to get through the carpet pad. Amazing wish I bought this years ago.
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shawna
> 3 dayDon’t regret spending the extra money for such a nice carpet cleaner works great for pets