BISSELL 2998 MultiClean Allergen Lift Off

Purchased the vacuum cleaner 7/15/21. It worked amazingly well (after finally replacing a much hated Dyson Animal Ball 2). This thing pulled dirt and pet hair out of the carpets like crazy. The brush stayed clean despite multiple long haired, double coated XL dogs. Kibbles would sometimes get stuck at the opening to the dirt cup, clogging up the hose, but I could live with it. About a month ago the Bissell lost suction, would constantly overheat and shut off the engine. I washed the dirt cup and the inner components, the filter and the hose. I replaced the post filter. Nothing worked. Still no suction, overheated and shut off. I disassembled the head, removed the brush and checked behind it for obstructions in the suction hole. It was clear. I untwisted the short hose in the back to see if anything was stuck in there. (That hose connection is tricky. It’s impossible to get a good grip on it to unhook, but twisting it back into place is even more difficult. If not seated correctly and the connector fully twisted onto the tube, it will fall off while vacuuming, blowing dust and dirt all over.) Eventually I contacted Bissell today for troubleshooting and most likely a warranty claim. On the phone I ended up stuck in the holding loop twice, because of “higher than usual call volume”. The chat function would constantly switch between available and not available, even during the chat, at which point I couldn’t even type a response. Of course I was given the website for how to disassemble and remove clogs and required to perform all of those steps AGAIN…which still didn’t improve the suction. I had already traced the lack of it back to the “black hole” behind the dirt cup, where the suction was also very low. Out of sheer frustration I decided to shove the nozzle of a stick vacuum cleaner, wrapped with a cloth for an air seal, into that hole to see if there was anything in there. I ran the stick vacuum for a minute or two and could hear the Bissell’s turbine spinning. That did the trick! It sucked out a wad of dog fur and dust/dirt. The Bissell now runs perfectly again, no more overheating and the suction is back to it’s original level.

I deducted 1 star from the overall rating and 2 from the suction, because of this frustration and inability to get to the bottom of the “black hole”, having no instructions on how to handle clogs in THAT particular area, crappy customer support availability despite the listed of late hours, and the insistence by the representatives to re-check and re-clean areas (hose, wand, dirt cup, filters and connections) most of us have already done multiple times.

Still – and now again – loving that Bissell, though.

I have been using an 8+ year old (not exactly sure when I got it, maybe 10 years ago) Kmart special. I tell you this to understand what I’m comparing this machine with. We have a golden retriever, two cats and several little dirt trodders in our house. Did I mention we live in the desert where you always have a thin film of dirt on your floors?

It took my husband using our vacuum to realize how badly we needed a new one. Some looking and price assessing led us to this one. Read many reviews right here on Amazon as well as Google searching and decided to give it a go. I am not disappointed!

The suction is wonderful! It pulled pet hair and even some cat claws right off of the living room rug (that had just been vacuumed the night before, twice).

I think the length of the cord is fine, but I’ve never had a vacuum that could go through my entire house on one plug.

It differentiates between my tile, carpet and rugs quickly! You can hear the change and there is even a suction adjuster right on the handle. *Pay attention to this adjuster as it may cause you to not have suction and think it’s not working very well if you accidentally have it on the plush carpet setting instead of bare floor. Since I’m not used to this feature, I thought my vacuum had issues on the second use.

It will get right up along the wall and pick up cat litter whether you push it alongside the wall or right up to it from the front.

The crevice tool also has an led light that is bright! The lights in the front of the main vacuum are also bright and really show the dirt.

It’s not a heavy machine, in my opinion, but it’s not super light either. It maneuvers with a smoothness I’ve never felt before in a vacuum.

I do not have any cons for this machine as of yet. It’s exactly what I was hoping to purchase. Maybe my expectations are lower than others, but it’s a huge improvement upon my upright vacuum and my robot vacuum (which we really only use to try to help keep down the dusty dirt layer and pet hair from the tile). I wish any potential vacuum buyer luck in finding what works for their house.

Edit: I found a small con, for me. The canister empties from the bottom. The top of the canister also opens up for cleaning with a slight twist. I was used to twisting and shaking my old canister piece to get everything out and accidental loosened the top part. Hubby accused me of trashing the new vacuum.

Also, if you pick up a ton of hair, it does stick towards the top of the canister, but pulls out easily.

I have massive allergies and a Bernese Mountain Dog. We’ve had several vacuums in the $200-$400 range and this is hands down the best for addressing those issues. The allergy system system isn’t perfect, but it’s worlds better than anything I’ve used before. The roller is much easier to clean double coat hairs from. It still cleans well after more than a year. Everything is simple to disassemble and clean. The auto shutoff for non-carpeted floors works well. I have no complaints. I’d buy another one tomorrow if this one dies.