Zoots dude must shop Amazon.

Mikey P

Administrator
Joined
Oct 6, 2006
Messages
112,308
Location
The High Chapperal
57 of 92 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Appealing Cannister Design ~ But With Leaking Dirt Cup Seal..., May 26, 2007
By HJW "o8Heather8o" - See all my reviews
The first Bissell Momentum I bought had some sort of mechanical issue, & I suspect the vacuum failed to raise the beater bar to an adequate height above the floor, causing it to sound like rapid machine gun fire on the carpet while beating the living heck out of it. To me, the engine was unbelievably LOUD for a vacuum, but there was definitely something wrong with that picture. It also had a horrendous high pitched whine to the motor that frankly sounded like a Jet engine taxiing the runway. Leaving a pungent burnt smell in its wake. So I called Bissell for perspective, & they told me all of this was very unusual, & suggested that I exchange it. And so I did. I took it back, & assembled it's replacement.

In the second Bissell, the high pitched whine from the engine was every bit as piercingly loud as the last one. Reminding me of my grandmother's Kirby in the 80's. I ran it a long time, & my ears rang & my hearing was blunted the way you get from being at concerts or a shooting range. They need to make a vac that inhales with this brute force, that does not drill my eardrums...or my pet's. It's a small apartment, & there isn't too far my cat can go to hide from the vacuum, & I am sure it hurts his sensitive ears far more than it bugs mine.

The second Bissell didn't have the nasty beater bar issue, & so, I decided to hang onto it, & see how it goes.

Both Bissells I tried had difficult assembly issues. With the first one, I practically had to leverage my body into a handstand to push the curved hose wand attachment into the hose. On the second one these two went together fine, but I had to do other acrobatics to insert the hose wand into the intake. So stiff you're afraid you're going to break the unit if you put the force into it necessary to get the job done. In an area that will be disconnected & reconnected every time you vacuum. Getting the handle screws in can be a bear. I advise using a very long flathead screwdriver, so you won't strip them out before they're in. If you're a senior, or you don't have a lot of strength in your hands or arms, you may have to have someone assemble this for you. IMO, Bissell should ship these vacs already put together. This is asking a little too much of the consumer, & it's more assembly than most customers are going to want to do, especially the ladies. And I expressed this to Bissell's CS.

One thing that really impressed me is the Turbo Brush... This is not just your run of the mill sweeper attachment. It's got a belt all of its own inside run by the air intake, & it's like having a 2nd, separate "mini-sweeper" to hose up those unreachable dusty spots all by itself!! I can't believe the brute Power in that attachment. Do not run this attachment or this vacuum over area rugs, or it will suck them up into the beaters every time, & your house will smell like burnt tires. I'll have to run the dusting brush attachment over area rugs, vs. vacuuming it directly, because it's impossible to do so. No wonder they spend so much time discussing how to handle clogs in the manual... Though it does deposit accidentally vacuumed cat toys nicely in the cannister, unharmed!

One big neg about this vacuum is that it has major potential to be a serious cord grabber - so be careful of your PC & adapter cords, it won't just push them back & sweep the floor. I tested it while it was off, & it ran right over the power cords & back. It could rapidly consume & destroy live wires in the blink of an eye. My failing Fantom vac had a beater guard to push cords out of the way, & I miss that. This one will grab, consume, & destroy anything in it's path if it gets too close. Stuff other vacs ignore. Including hidden dirt... Which is a good thing.

All of this said, as others have noted, even on the 3rd run - "This vacuum will find dirt that I never even knew I had...!!! The cup filled up even when everything looked clean!" But on examination of the cup contents, I discovered it was about 1/3 feline undercoat, & 2/3 carpet fiber. I'm unsure whether it's normal that this Bissell beats carpet fiber in mass quantities out of this old carpet because this carpet is such a piece of crudd (it's their original carpeting), that it's so matted down with broken fiber & hidden gunk, it's all coming out because it's actually finally getting A DEEP CLEAN for a change............ Or if it's doing damage to what's left of this long since dead rug. This is one Mean Machine, & it appears to have beat quite a bit of new Life into what in its heyday was a low shag carpet. I cannot BELIEVE how much RAW POWER there is in ths VACUUM............. This vacuum is Truly FIERCE!!!

Lastly, I chose this vac because of the specific design of the cannister system. I selected this model because of its simply constructed, easy to access & dump dirt cup. I have an asthma/allergy issue that goes wild every time I vacuum. So far, this model was the only bagless vac I've seen locally that doesn't have a (messy) internal HEPA filter inside the cannister itself to replace. Or a plastic non-removable filtration system in the upper cannister that becomes dust & hair encrusted, that you have to find some way to brush off & clean up after every time you vacuum. I won't feel driven to take this vac outdoors to empty it, to avoid getting the dust everywhere indoors. As with my old Fantom vac. Nothing sets off asthma quite like being forced to fool around with cleaning up after sweeper lint... But this vac makes it easy. Just swing the lever, pull out the cup, dump it, wash & dry it if you like, & back in it goes. NO MESS... The cup holds all the dirt, & it isn't stuck all over the inside of the upper cannister & dropping dirt all over the floor as soon as the cannister comes off. And because the dirt cup has a wide easy to sort through chamber, you won't have to turn searching for lost items into a major procedure, looking for jewelry or change. On the down side, if you have a pet, you'll find that you have to empty that cup more than once during your vacuuming. But the cleanup for this vac is speedy fast & SO much less of a chore.

Along these lines, if you check on the condition of your HEPA Filter - make SURE the filter door doesn't fall out of the hinges, & that all 4 closure points are snug, before you turn it on again. One of my hinges popped out, I didn't realize it when I closed the door, & the filter door blew open with brute force when it was running - & the vac blasted my body with dirt & debris, & coated my entire bedroom with grime...which I had just cleaned. And there went my asthma.

I gave this vac 3 stars, because in weighing the pros & cons, the complaints I mentioned are a lot to think about. But if you can tune out all the noise, & keep this beast from inhaling dangerous items on the floor, & if you want *A REALLY CLEAN RUG*... and perhaps most importantly, if you manage Major RESPIRATORY Problems... this might be the right vac for you.

*Update...*

I discovered that there is dirt debris left on the vacuum after sweeping that appear to be coming out of the cannister cup somehow, getting past the seal. I also notice a lot more dust spread around my house in a thick coating after running this vac. I called Bissell again, to ask them about the seal, thinking it was probably defective, or the dirt cup just didn't swing up tight enough - & I got a really mixed, & at times bizzare, response in the way of put-off arguments.

First, their representative told me, "The Bissell picks up so much dirt from your carpet, it has no place else to put it, & so it comes out sometimes. This happens, because your Bissell picks up so much dirt. Because it is so powerful." As though, this is a good thing... Am I supposed to accept vacuum leakage, because it digs up a lot of deep dirt & spews small particles out the seams? Before it's even full?? I told her this is unacceptable. I insisted that a vacuum ought to be able to hold it's dirt, in it's cup, up to the fill line, until it is emptied. About the increased dust, I was told, "Vacuums don't create dust, they sweep it up." Not when it's coming out from between the cannister seams, I said... In that case, it's taking dust out of the floor & putting it back out.

She argued with me 3 times about "how unusual, & absolutely unheard of this is", & that *no one she knows has ever had this problem*...including 3 girls in the office who use one. Frankly, I don't care about 3 clerks in a Bissell office... I care about what THIS vacuum is doing. Unusual?? I asked her if she'd ever read the intermittent reviews online about Bissell vacuums with this cannister system sometimes leaking out the sides. There are a lot of them. I just figured I got one with a bum seal. As I noted above, different parts, on 2 different vacs, fit together very differently on assembly. So I thought perhaps the cup didn't fit tight.

Then she told me it's leaking because I use Swheat Scoop cat litter, & it breaks up in the process, & thus inevitably comes out of the seams. She suggested I change my cat litter to Fresh Step... No. I should not have to change my cat's litter, because Bissell's dirt cup seal leaks. It's a HEPA vacuum that controls micro particles - it should be able to hold ground cat litter. I thought that was ridiculous. If it's leaking cat litter & dander, guess what else it's leaking. Again I repeated to Bissell, "There is NO reason whatsoever that your sealed vacuum cannister should not be able to hold it's dirt."

Then, she told me this happen to her at first with a similar vac (well, so much for "completely unusual & never heard of"...), & suggested I wash my filter (though I'd only run the thing 3 days), & see if that changes anything. And that she'd send me complimentary foam filters for my trouble. She said if it continues to leak dirt after washing the filter, call Bissell, & they'll send an RMA tag out, reclaim the vac, & study it in labs to see why it leaks. After 15 solid minutes of nonsensical arguments, I found it doubtful they'd really care to look at it.

It's nice Bissell's CS offered to send me extra filters...but the manufacturer's evasive, dodgey, runaround response to the problem was truly disconcerting.

How can I recommend this to people with respiratory issues now... Your mileage may vary.

This vac just lost 1 Star from me.


*6/19/7 UPDATE*: Please See Comments for MY SOLUTION to the DIRT CUP LEAKAGE ISSUE... I think I nailed it! : D


Comment Comments (7) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? YesNo (Report this)
 

Chads

Supportive Member
Joined
May 17, 2007
Messages
1,331
I got to the second paragraph then gave up what happened in short terms. :?
 

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom