Bissell MultiClean 2998 Allergen Pet Rewind Vacuum

This review is based on the 1/2 hour usage test. You might find that odd but here’s why. After a lot of research that included reviews, professional testing articles and Youtube videos I bought a SHARK Navigator. More expensive than the Bissell but widely reviewed & liked. It lasted less than 1/2 hour. I have both hardwood & carpet. The carpets are new, mostly wool low pile and throw off a good deal of fluff. I wouldn’t buy them again but that’s another story. I need a vacuum for them and for the rest of it. I took the SHARK out of the box and started in on the new rug. The brush immediately froze. Completely stuck on the rug fluff. I tried to trouble shoot but nope. I put it back in the box & it was returned within 24 hours. I started the quest for a decent vacuum all over. I have used an ORECK upright for 25 years. It was a work horse but needed service periodically and used bags which were a mess. After more research I bought the BISSELL. It was a bit less expensive than the ShARK but what sold me was a Youtube video. Not the kind of video with a talking head person lightly pushing a vacuum back and forth thru a clean house and talking about suction. Yes that is important but all of them have pretty much conquered that element. This guy took the BISSELL out of the box without a word. Snapped it together and started vacuuming the grossest looking rug I have ever seen. When the cup was full he stopped. Without a word he emptied it and went about finishing the job. Huge amounts of stuff were collected in that cup and the vacuum did not waiver. The brush kept going and so did he. I was sold. I did the same thing. Snapped it together & started on the rug. 2 cups of fluff later I’m all in. Here’s what I liked.

1. Easy to assemble without reading and rereading the instructions.

2. Great suction. To be expected but it’s very good

3. It works well on wood floors & carpet. It has a shut off for the brush and you can adjust it for wood or pile.

4. It’s very quiet. As vacuums go anyway. Much quieter than the SHARP

5. It has 4 front lights which are very nice for seeing things that you might ordinarily miss

6. The brush does NOT tangle. At least so far. Since the brush has a shutoff and you can adjust for pile height I think that may be helpful in solving that problem.

WHAT COULD BE BETTER

1. It’s a bit heavy but not a dealbreaker

2. It does not have a retractable cord. Neither did the SHARP but if I were a vacuum designer I would definitely figure out a way to put one on it. I’d pay more for the vac too.

3. The cord could be longer. It’s not short but you don’t go very far.

4. Once again, if I were a vacuum designer I would make the corners of a vac that bang into the walls & furniture from a soft plastic. No one does that but we who value our homes have to see the baseboards and furniture legs banged up from the vacuum. I have purchased some silicon bumper things on Amazon & I will try to put them on the vac to make hitting things less damaging. My old ORECK had a rubber bumper on the front that prevented that. Just a thought. I might also make the little wheels underneath from a rubber substance so they don’t drag on the wood floors and scratch them up. They’d glide better too.

5. If I designed a vac I would make the brush compartment easy to access. Not 12 screws or whatever it is on most vacs. I would make it so you could pop open the brush compartment and snap out the brush to clean it and pop it back in. Like the filter or dirt cup. Just sayin. This brush problem is a deal breaker for most people and I for one would pay more for a better brush situation. This is a universal problem with all vacs.

5. I haven’t used the attachments yet. I probably won’t. I don’t care about them. I have a little ORECK vac with all kinds of things that works great. I don’t have to carry all that stuff along on the big vac when I do the floors. I use another vac entirely so It’s not an issue for me. We don’t have stairs so that doesn’t come into this review either. I’ll update if the brush gets stuck or tangled. It’s not going back tho

Amazing suction power. Have been using dyson big ball for the last 3 years, and this vacuum literally changed the shade of my carpet. As inconvenient as any stand up vacuum on the stairs but worth it for the suction.

Important notes: I have not had this vacuum for long at all and have only used it a handful of times, so I cannot speak to its lasting power or it’s quality over time. I do not have any stairs, so I cannot attest to its stair cleaning ability. I am also a vacuum newbie, and don’t have a ton of vacuum experience to compare this to. However, I do have a deep love for vacuuming and will try as be as unbiased and honest as possible

My review is five stars, when taking into account the price and promises of this vacuum. I’m sure there are vacuums that work a thousand times better than this, but for the price you are getting a quality vacuum. I wouldn’t say this vacuum is worth $500, but it is worth the <$200 I payed for it.

Pros:
– vacuum is easy to assemble and easy to take apart, with clearly labeled latches for all the features that can be detached and turned on/off
– i find the whole thing very customizable and modular, but still easy to understand
– the attachments are well designed, with the brush attaching to the tube attachment, and they store nicely on the main body
– i wasn’t totally sold on the lift off feature, but i think it’s totally awesome after using it. i can get all sorts of new places
– the lights on the front are incredibly bright and more useful than i thought they would be
– the cleaning is super easy, and i appreciate that the filters can be reused and don’t create unnecessary waste/have to be ordered
– it totally gets pet hair out of the carpet as promised
– the tube is super flexible, and i love that you can use both the handle/wand as well as the tube on its own

Things that are not pros or cons:
– the vacuum steers pretty well, but can be a little unpredictable to control. there is definitely a learning curve
– you have to reach inside the dirt chamber to clean part of the dirt chamber setup, which is probably standard, but is a little gross
– vacuum is not super loud, but definitely noisy. pretty standard
– attaching the lift off feature back to the base has a bit of a learning curve, more so than the other attachments
– there is no lever to take the vacuum out of the upright position. i find this a bit stressful, as i feel like i’m going to break something.
– I wouldn’t say the vacuum itself is absurdly heavy or unwieldy when used as a standard vacuum. it’s not as light as a stick vacuum, but i’ve certainly used heavier

Cons:
– the lift off feature is quite heavy. not great for people who are older or have mobility issues. i cannot imagine holding it while vacuuming blinds as is shown in the ads, and find myself usually setting it on a table/the ground
– the reach of the lift off tube could definitely be longer
– unlike other bissel vacuums, the cord does not wind back into the main body of the vacuum. i find it to be quite unwieldy, as it is very long. the extra reach is nice, but the cord is constantly in the way
– i also find that the cord is hard to wrap, as it’s very thick and heavy
– while the tank appears large, i find that it fills up quite quickly to the “full” line and needs to be emptied pretty often
– the vacuum struggles to remove human hair from the carpet, and you will have to “scrub” the carpet with the brush attachment to get it out
– the little brush attachment gets dirty really quickly, and you have to pull hair and lint off of it. also probably pretty standard, but it’s pretty icky.
– the pet hair attachment can be a little difficult to use, especially when attached to the wand. and i don’t find myself using it over the normal brush attachment

So that’s my review! Would I recommend this product? Absolutely, if you’re looking at mid range vacuums. It does what is promised, and as long as the cons don’t outweigh the pros, I would say go for it! I had a blast using this vacuum and will continue to have a blast using it until I can justify spending $500+ on a vacuum.