This Vacuum Sucks! But In A Good Way!

Introduction:

This vacuum is awesome! Maybe that was too vague. Let me explain. My search for a new vacuum began when my son dropped our last one down the stairs. Funny how that can decrease the suctioning power of a vacuum. I highly don't recommend it, especially when it happens just months after the warranty has expired.

My last vacuum was a Bissell Velocity Upright Cyclonic Vacuum, which I was quite happy with, until it met its untimely doom. Because of this, I again went on the hunt for another Bissell. There were a number of reasons why I decided on the Bissell Healthy Home Bagless Upright Cyclonic Vacuum (that's a mouthful right there). I ended up finding this vacuum on sale at Kohl's for $199, so I talked my wife into letting me buy it.

Sucking Power:

I'm sure you've read how well this vacuum sucks, or should I say, you've read about its amazingly powerful suction. As I read reviews during my research I remember thinking to myself, "How much better could it be compared to my other Bissell?" Well let me tell you what, when I put the hose against my cheek and it nearly rips it off of my face, well that's pretty dang powerful! OK, maybe it doesn't rip it off, but it definitely gives it a healthy tug, and you can see the hose shrink from the suction. But how does it perform you may ask? Again, terrific! I've never had a vacuum that would actually get dirt out of the crevice between the carpet and the floorboard until now. I've found that if this vacuum doesn't get the dirt out while running along side of it, then hit it head on, and 90% of the dirt will be sucked out.

As I said, I bought this vacuum literally days after using my last Bissell vacuum for the last time. Even so, this Bissell Healthy Home Vacuum was still able to fill up nearly a quarter of it's dirt canister.

Functionality:

The idea of pressing a button on the side of the dirt canister to release the bottom in order to empty it out was brilliant! I hated having to dump my old vacuum's canister upside down, because this inevitably ended up with me breathing in the majority of dust that flew back up from the trash. Not fun! However, this is so much easier to empty and actually results in less dust flying back up at me.

The TurboBrush was also very impressive. On all of the other vacuums I've ever owned, their brushes would stop if you applied just a little bit of force, but not with this vacuum. I pressed quite hard on the TurboBrush and although it did slow considerably, it never actually stopped spinning. The only way I could get it to stop was to use my hand, and I was a little timid about doing that, but thankfully the brushes aren't too stiff. To be honest, I don't believe our stairs have ever looked so good, or felt so soft.

The power chord is extremely long, measuring at 35 feet according to Bissell's website. I was able to plug it in and vacuum the entire top 3 floors of our house, which are the only floors that are finished. I hated having to plug and unplug my old vacuums repeatedly and now I never have to.

The biggest complaint I had with my last Bissell vacuum was the fact that it tipped over backwards too easily, especially if you pulled on it by either the power chord or hose. Heck if you even brushed by it, it would fall over backwards. However, this Bissell Healthy Home Vacuum is much more steady. I believe the larger back wheels has a lot to do with this. However, it can still be tipped over backwards if you pull on the power chord and then let it go slack, or if you pulled on the hose where it attaches to the back of the vacuum. Ensuring the hose is inside the very bottom loop will help keep this vacuum from tipping. Even so, the hose does seem to slip out of that bottom loop, so what I did to fix this was to loop the hose the opposite direction on that bottom loop. This made it so it wouldn't slip out nearly as easily.

Observations:

As other reviews have mentioned, this vacuum is heavy. I'll admit, I felt like I'd just worked out after vacuuming the whole house with the Bissell Healthy Home Vacuum. I did like the tip found in the instruction manual stating if you're vacuum seems to hard to push, then raise the height. I did this, and it still got up all of the dirt from off the floor, and did make vacuuming easier, but at no time does it ever feel that it is being "self-propelled", it's just a floor sucking cleaning machine!

Another tip I found helpful was to use the handle on top of the dirt canister when taking it up or down stairs. This did make it a little more manageable when lifting it.

The transition from vacuum to bare floor is relatively easy. All you need to do is press the brush stopper button on the side of the handle and then change the height adjuster to bare floor. This function works very well, and I attribute that to the fact that the brushes are not spinning and flinging dirt and crumbs all over the place. Instead the immense suctioning power is doing all the cleaning.

The rubber on the edges of the vacuum can get a little annoying when running along side anything from a wall to your entertainment center. On the other hand, it is nice because if you bang into a door or furniture, it won't damage either because of the rubber lining.

The Bissell Healthy Home Vacuum is much more quiet than my previous Bissell vacuum, which I found impressive. This is because since it is much heavier, I thought it'd be louder as well. However, this is not the case.

The air coming from the HEPA filter is quite warm. Speaking of the filters, I've not had to replace either yet. However, I noticed that they do sell the HEPA filters on Amazon, so I imagine that's where I'll go when I need to replace mine.

The light on front is very bright and I can vacuum any room in the dark with no problems.

It's a very nice color of blue, which is my favorite color, so I really like the looks of it overall.

Conclusion:

If you're looking for a vacuum that will last you for some time to come and will clean your carpets and bare floors, or if you're looking for another reason to get fit and you don't want to leave the house and you don't have a Nintendo Wii, then the Bissell Healthy Home Vacuum is for you! : )