BISSELL Quicksteamer Powerbrush Lightweight Upright Deep Carpet Cleaner, 2080
by Bissell
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List Price: Category: Home See more product details |
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of BISSELL Quicksteamer Powerbrush Lightweight Upright Deep Carpet Cleaner, 2080
Customer Review: The things it pulled up . . .
Summary: 5 Stars
My husband and I just bought this today and, as soon as I used it, I knew I had to write a review. Backround info: We live in a rather old and very small apartment building. Supposedly, the carpets were steam-cleaned before we moved in in August 2007. My landlords must think people are pretty stupid because the carpets are horrible and disgusting and have been since the day we moved in. To top that off, I have a dog that sheds like mad, which made the carpets even worse.
We purchased a canister vacuum the week we moved in and it really doesn't work well on our matted-down, apartment grade carpets. I suffer from allergies and they've really gotten worse since living here.
Anyway . . . this steamer is just awesome. I was initially only going to sweep a small patch of carpet to see how it worked, but it did such an amazing job that I had to do other parts of the apartment as well. My carpet looks like actual, clean carpet now instead of, well, gross. I couldn't believe I had been walking on the carpet barefoot all of these months!
It's great for people with pets because it got up so much hair! It leaves a fresh odour (and came with a small bottle of soap, thankfully) and just transformed my carpet. this was one of the best purchases my husband and I have made together and I'm so happy we bought this.
It seems quite powerful, but there are a few negatives. It was kind of hard to clean all the icky gunk out of the dirty water basin, but about ten minutes of washing (make sure to wear rubber gloves) did the trick. Another negative is that the spin brush doesn't come out of its casing, so it was hard to get off all the hair and muckiness wound around it. Again, about 10-15 minutes of cleaning took care of it. Lastly, when I took the dirty water basin out to empty it, water kept dripping out of the front and onto the carpet (luckily, it was not the newly cleaned carpet). I think this can be resolved if you bring the whole vacuum to the bathroom and empty in there so you drip on non-carpeted floors.
None of those issues, however, detract from my overall score and opinion of this steam cleaner. A plus is that all of the replacement parts (like the brush, handle, and hard-floor cleaner)and soap refills are fairly inexpensive.
The cleaner was relatively inexpensive, sucks up an incredible amount of ickiness, and is, overall, a great sweeper.
Update: I discovered that the spin brush does come out of the casing, although the instructions for putting it all back together is pitiful. I also just bought the bare floor cleaner and I have to say it does absolutely nothing - quite a disappointment. I was surprised because the actual sweeper is really good. Another thing I want to add is to make sure you vacuum the carpet before using this. If you don't, it ends up just pushing around the gunk. I mentioned above that I have a terrible sweeper, so I do need to get a new one in order for the bissell to truly work and get up everything.
Also, make sure you wash the bin out every time you use it. I have to stress this. My husband, feeling the urge to contribute to the household chores, felt the urge to steam clean the carpets. Fine. I went to work and came home to a lovely, clean apartment. Two weeks later, it smelled as if something had crawled into our closet and died. He had failed to clean out the dirty water bin. Yeah, that' all i'll say about that.
Customer Review: Worked well, but definitely meant for smaller areas
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought one of the 2080 Quicksteamers a few days before I moved so that I could clean all of the carpets in our place before we left. Here's what I had to work with: the carpets were not new, they had been pretty heavily trafficked by us and apparently the former tenants, we have four cats, and the previous owner had a dog that had clearly (stains, smells) marked in numerous areas. Anyway, even though the 2080 comes with a small bottle of cleaner w/ Scotchguard, I purchased a 128 oz. bottle of the Hoover Premium Pet Formula cleaner to use on our carpets.
The 2080 is easy to assemble and is pretty easy to figure out, an it's light enough that pretty much anyone should be able to operate it. The 2080 does not actually steam, and the brush is not actually powered, so the product is misnamed. Even so, it definitely did a good job cleaning the carpets. Most of the spots or stains that we had made within the past year came up on either the first or second run. However, the old dog stains did not come up, even after two really thorough cleanings. To be fair, those stains and smells didn't come up after a year of trying at least a dozen different spot treatment products either, so I can't blame the 2080 or the Hoover formula.
If you're thinking of choosing this unit, however, there are a few things you should consider first. First, it only has a 1/2 gallon tank, which means that you'll need to empty the dirty water canister (if you don't it starts leaking and foaming all over) and refill the water/formula tank about every 100 square feet. That means that with larger rooms, you'll need to stop and start two, three, or even four times depending on the size of the room and how thorough you're being. Second, I noticed that pretty quickly the "powerbrush" became clogged with fur and carpet pile, even though we had vacuumed beforehand. Often as I cleaned big glops of the fur came loose and I had to stop to pick them up. Additionally, I found that in order to prevent this process from repeating, I had to reach inside by the "powerbrush" and manually pull out all of the fur. The space inside there is limited and some of the edges are a little sharp, so I can't say it's easy to or convenient to pull out stuff that gets caught in the brush.
Overall, the cleaner did a satisfactory job. Given its issues, I would have given it a 3 star rating, but considering that I used it for areas much larger than what it's intended for, I gave it 4 stars. If you need to clean your apartment or a few rooms of a house, the 2080 is an economical choice. However, if you need to clean anything more, I recommend getting something with a larger capacity.
Customer Review: Good Light Cleaner
Summary: 4 Stars
This is my fourth and most recently purchased carpet cleaning machine. I decided to purchase this model because of previous experience with Bissell products, the two separate water tanks feature, and the low price.
I really like my new carpet toy and have no regrets buying it, especially considering the 20 dollar rebate coming to me from Bissell. I like the cost of this Bissell, its ease of use, and its cleaning performance. If you have wall-to-wall carpet throughout your home and don't want to be bothered with frequent filling and emptying of tanks, buy a larger cleaner. I recommend the QuickSteamer for anyone looking for an inexpensive, light cleaner to clean area rugs and maintain heavy traffic areas.
A couple nit picks - Yes, the nozzle comes off for cleaning, but most of the carpet fibers I need to clean are under the brush roll that requires the services of a Philips screwdriver to remove. It's a nuisance. I'm thinking about trying to rinse it out with a garden hose or even use a good water pistol to get up in there. With some maneuvering a rag can be pushed up in the cavity, but it's tedious business. To be fair, my two Hoovers are also a nuisance to clean under the brush roll.
The dirty water tank clips on with two plastic clips. When I removed the clips the first time, they came off completely and I thought I had broken something. Luckily they popped back on.
Anytime I clean the carpets with a water depositing device, I always go over them a second time with a clean water rinse to remove as much of the soap residue as I can. I'm always amazed at how dirty the water still is on the second pass. Occasionally I'll do a second rinse if the water is extremely dirty.
Keep in mind that the 2080 is a small appliance intended for spot cleaning or area rugs. To do our entire bedroom's wall-to-wall carpet would take three or four fillings of the half-gallon water tank. Bissell suggests that an 8' by 8' area can be cleaned before attending to the tanks.
Customer Review: Cleans best when using very hot water
Summary: 5 Stars
This little unit works great with very hot water. The manual does not give a specific temperature. It only indicates that the water should not be boiling, consequently it should be below 212 degrees F (100 deg C).
So boil a kettle of water and pour half a cup of cold water in and mix. This will bring the temperature below 212 F.
I called Bissell Customer Service to be 100% sure. They agreed that any temperature below 212 degrees F is OK.
This is in line with their FAQ that reads:
Why does my machine have the word steam in the name when the machine does not produce "steam"?
Answer
BISSELL and its competitors have been using product names with derivatives of the word "steam" for hot water extraction deep cleaning machines for several years. We believe the use of "steam" serves to identify this category of product.
THE POSITIONING WAS NOT BY CHANCE. CONSUMER HOT WATER EXTRACTION MACHINES WERE DESIGNED AS A "DO-IT-YOURSELF" ALTERNATIVE TO PROFESSIONAL CARPET CLEANING. To the best of our knowledge, professional carpet cleaners had been referencing their services as "steam cleaning" since the 1960's, when they used kerosene or electric heaters to heat cleaning solutions to temperatures approaching 200°F. Professional carpet cleaners ultimately developed truck-mounted cleaning machines that are capable of temperatures near 212°F (the boiling point of water). But no matter how hot their solution, the cleaning process used by professionals is simply hot water extraction. Nevertheless, the industry consistently has used the phrase "steam cleaning" to describe its service and this description has been perpetuated by technical leaders and educators. ACCORDINGLY, MASS-MARKETED HOT WATER EXTRACTION DEEP CLEANING MACHINES WHICH ARE SOLD AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO PROFESSIONAL CLEANING SERVICES HAVE BEEN CHARACTERIZED WITH THE SAME DESCRIPTIVE PHRASE, IN ORDER TO GIVE PROSPECTIVE CONSUMERS A REFERENCE POINT FOR COMPARISON.
Customer Review: Great Buy...works for me!
Summary: 5 Stars
After having 2 Bissell "Little Green" machines (don't waste your money) and not being particularly impressed with the functionality or convenience, especially considering the hefty price tag for such a small unit, I decided to try this machine. I received it a few days ago and decided to unpack and try it out today. It was extremely easy to put together, it does come with a nice size sample solution and the enclosed instructions are very easy to read and understand.
I live in a 3 level townhouse and keep my carpets very clean (no shoes allowed). However, I have an older cat, who at times, forgets where his litter box is located. Although, I have always been able to clean-up his stains well, I have never felt as though I got a good deep down clean. So, today I went over the areas that needed a good cleaning and attacked an older stain that I had missed before. Well, the quick steamer did the job, the included cleaner smells fresh and the old stain came right up...I am thrilled!
To sum it up, if you are an ex Bissell Little Green customer or thinking of buying one, try this machine, it's so much better! If you just need to do some spot cleaning or have patience enough to do a larger room, try this machine. It is plenty powerful for what I needed it for and sucked-up the excess water just fine. There is a clear viewing spot on the front of the machine and if you watch it when you are removing the excess solution, you can see when no more water being sucked in...then move on. However, I didn't have to go over and over an area like some others said in their reviews. It seems to me, they were just using way too much solution and expected it to be sucked-up in one pass. It is labeled "lightweight" and that's just what it is...it's not meant to be a deep, heavy duty, clean your old nasty carpets kind of cleaner. If you need that kind of cleaner, you won't find one for $90.00. I hope this helps you and happy cleaning!