I got this vacuum as a present, but logging on to amazon I''m a little (pleasantly) surprised at the price. I''m hugely impressed with this vac. Here are some of the things to consider:
1) Power. This thing has it in spades. You won''t believe what this thing will pick up. The first time I vacuumed my living room I found dirt...yes, as in earth... filling up the bottom third of the canister.
2) Clean sensor. The vacuum has some kind of sensor (optical I''m guessing) that detects when there is still dirt/dust in the air the vacuum is sucking in. When it doesn''t see any more dirt, the light is green, carpet''s clean. First time I used the vacuum the rug looked clean, but the red light told me "you''re not done yet". So see my comment in #1 about how much the vac picked up.
3) Weight. Nothing special. Not too heavy but the thing is made out of plastic.
4) Noise. You can still have a normal conversation while you''re vacuuming. You might have to speak up a bit but its not bad.
5) Hose and attachments. The hose detaches from the back of the brush head area and has an extension as well as an upholstery brush head and a narrow nozzle. The hose is pretty flexible and stretches for extra reach, but I honestly think it takes too much force. If you try to stretch it sideways to reach a corner, the vac may fall on its side.
6) Cleaning and loss of suction. Cleaning is easy. Slide a lever and it unlocks the canister, dump and go. As the canister fills up you''re going to lose some pickup power. The same happens when the air filters start clogging up. Which happens surprisingly fast. Maybe Dyson is on to something with this whole "no loss of suction" ad campaign. Bissel thought of it and has a little green-red slide indicator to let you know how much you''re losing (and when you have to clean it).
Wrap-up: This is a solid vacuum for the money. It may not pick up quite as much as my parents'' Dyson DC23 but it doesn''t cost $500 or weigh 20 lbs either.
I think that Bissell makes one of the better quality vacuums for the money. The key words here are "for the money." Because obviously if you''re going to spend much, much more for a Miele or a Sebo vac, then you''ll get a better product, but you''re certainly going to pay up for it.
The Bissell 58F83 vacuum is the 2nd or 3rd Bissell vacuum I''ve owned and I also own a Bissell carpet cleaner, so I have some familiarity with their products. There were some things I liked about this vac, and other areas where I would have liked to see some improvement. Let''s start with some good things about the 58F83 vac.
Good things:
It cleans very well. I vacuum my carpets pretty regularly and I was surprised at the amount of dirt and dust that it got out of my carpet. The primary purpose of a vacuum is to clean, and this one does in fact clean pretty nicely. It has a 12 amp motor, which is pretty beefy and gets the job done.
I like the clean carpet sensor. Sure, it''s kind of gimmicky, but basically this sensor consists of a big red light and a big green light on the front of the unit. If you see the green light, the carpet is more-or-less clean. If you see the red light illuminated, then make a few more passes until the light turns green. We could all live without this, but I think it''s a nice feature.
The vac is very easy to assemble. All that you have to do is remove the unit from the box and slide the top handle into the base of the unit. Then, insert one screw and you''re mostly done. You do have to plug in the hoses, but that''s very quick and easy. Truly, Bissell couldn''t have made assembly much easier.
The fact that the vacuum has a headlamp is a plus. Again, it''s a feature we could live without, but it definitely helps you to see what might be in front of you and assists with the cleaning process.
I like the price. As of this writing, this vacuum isn''t a whole lot over $100 shipped. This seems to be a very good value to me.
Most would consider the fact that the vac is bagless to be a good thing. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, bagless vacuums can be convenient and save money on bags. On the other hand, vacs that use bags are a lot less messy and they essentially force you to change the filter each time that you change the bag. But for most people, they''d likely consider the bagless feature to be a plus.
Not so good things:
I don''t care for the retractable cord. It catches and doesn''t retract smoothly. In fact, I took this vacuum to the repair shop. They told me that these cord retractors are "cheaply made" and said that even if replaced, I''d almost certainly have the same problem and that I''d be better off not messing with the repair. I think that this retractor could easily break and again mine was quite sticky right out of the box. While it sounds like a good feature, I don''t believe that it is in practice. I would have preferred a more traditional non self-retracting cord. Hint: When retracting the cord, push the button quite firmly in the exact center of the circle and not on the sides of the switch. You''ll see what I mean.
I hate the location of the cord. It''s down low and I was constantly stepping on it or it was otherwise getting in my way and in the way of vacuuming. Bad placement for sure. I would have much preferred that the cord attach to the vac up high, so it wouldn''t be so obtrusive.
The on/off switch is located down fairly low on this vacuum to the point where I have to bend down a bit to turn it on or off. I would have preferred that they mounted the switch higher so that I could turn it on and off without having to bend over.
This vacuum is relatively heavy. On my scale, it weighed in at nearly 18 pounds. While I''m a fairly strong guy, even I found it a bit awkward due to it''s size and weight. If you''re a smaller person, it could be heavier than what you might like.
It''s very loud. Probably the loudest vacuum I''ve ever owned. I doubt it will damage your hearing or anything like that, but expect it to make a bit more noise than you''d anticipate.
I don''t care for the way that Bissell''s attachments connect to the hose. Essentially, it''s only friction that holds them in place. I''d much prefer that they connect in a more affirmative manner with either a twist or a click. I''ve written about this concern before and I see that things haven''t changed. I''ve had the wands fall off in situations where I had to contort, bend and strain to get to the wands during times where they''ve become disconnected in an inconvenient location, and it''s kind of a pain to deal with that.
Overall, I''d give this vacuum a 3 star rating. It''s not great and it''s not bad. It cleans very well and the price is attractive. But it does have some aforementioned issues that I am not crazy about. I do give it a qualified recommendation, but it has its flaws for sure.
Buy BISSELL 58F83 Rewind SmartClean Now
Bissel makes several vacuum cleaners that have very similar features. In fact, it offers several that are virtually identical, except for one or two small differences between them, and slightly different prices accordingly. I like the basic design very much, and recommend the product, but I suggest you look closely at two or three models to decide whether it''s worth the additional cost for a particular feature. In this case, the extra feature is a clean carpet sensor, described below.
I''ve used several Eurekas and Hoovers, and I prefer this vacuum cleaner. Here''s why:
1. It''s very easy to assemble. Ten minutes and a screwdriver, and you''re ready to go. Really, it''s that simple.
2. Great suction! When I first started using it, I was amazed at how much dirt it picked up from carpets I''d just vacuumed. It continues to perform on that level. I think you''ll be impressed when you see a layer of fine dirt at the bottom of the collection canister, with a thick pile of pet hair and other larger material on top. To maintain maximum suction, after several uses you should remove the filter beneath the canister (very easy to do) and wash both the filter and the sponge that surrounds it, and let them dry thoroughly (which takes about a day) before putting it back in. The loss of suction isn''t dramatic if you don''t, but it''s noticeable. The HEPA filter on the side of the machine isn''t washable, but it doesn''t collect much dirt; tapping it on a hard surface every once in a while is more than enough maintenance. (A reviewer or two has complained about the amount of dirt released when emptying the canister. I didn''t find it a problem. Just pay attention.)
3. The "turbo brush" attachment really works. It attaches to the end of the hose, and the suction running through it makes the smaller brush within it spin very fast and powerfully. I use it to remove pet hair from couches or my car interior, etc., and it''s great--much more effective than the typical attachments that just rub the carpet. Truly, if you have a pet this attachment is a real value.
4. It''s reasonably light, compared to other vacuums, and yet sturdy. The only mechanical issue I''ve had after several years of use is the need to replace the belt that turns the main brush after accidentally sucking up part of a bedspread--my own fault. Replacement wasn''t very difficult.
5. It''s easy to empty. Slide a lever to release the canister, slide out the canister, dump out the contents, and slide it back in.
6. No bags. Some people like the fact that bags contain the dust better than an open canister, which will release some dust when you remove it to empty it. For me, the hassle of making sure I have extra bags on hand, paying for those bags, replacing the bags, and the loss of suction as the bag fills outweigh that factor, and I''ll never go back to bags.
7. The price is reasonable. Perhaps because Hoover and Eureka are better known, the Bissells are very competitive.
8. This unit has a retractable cord. This won''t keep the cord at optimal length while you''re vacuuming--you still have to keep the cord out of the way--but it pulls in the cord after you''re finished, instead of having to wrap it. It will also let you play out a smaller length of cord if you''re vacuuming a smaller room.
Negatives:
1. The hose is neither very long nor very flexible, so when you use it either with the turbo brush or just to run along the baseboard, etc., it''s easy to pull the whole vacuum cleaner over.
2. Although Bissell touts the vacuum''s ability to suck up dirt very close to the wall, I''ve been unimpressed; I often end up using the hose for that. I can''t say whether other manufacturers'' models do a better job.
3. The feature that makes this model different from one that costs about twenty dollars less is a "clean carpet sensor" light that is supposed to change color from red to green when the carpet you''re vacuuming is clean. First, I don''t feel the feature is very useful even if it works; if I vacuum an area and see no more evidence of dirt, I''m fine with moving on. But in any case, I found the light unreliable. True, I didn''t use a microscope to determine how clean the carpet really was when the light changed color, but there were times when it wouldn''t change color no matter how many times I went over an area. To me, it''s a gimmick and not worth the extra cost.
All in all, a solid, easy-to-maintain, powerful vacuum cleaner, but I think most people will be just as happy with a slightly less expensive model with out the light indicating your carpet is clean.
Read Best Reviews of BISSELL 58F83 Rewind SmartClean Here
I BOUGHT THE BISSELL REWIND SMARTCLEAN 58F8-3 VACUUM ABOUT 6 MONTHS AGO. WE HAVE 4 DOGS AND 4 CATS, SO THERE IS A LOT OF PET HAIR AROUND THE HOUSE. I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR A NEW VACUUM THAT WORKS REALLY GOOD AT CLEANING CAT HAIR OFF STAIRS. I HAD BOUGHT A BISSELL ABOUT 10 OR 12 YEARS AGO AND IT STILL WORKS GOOD, BUT IT IS OLD. I BOUGHT ANOTHER VACUUM A WHILE AGO, IT WAS SUPOSE TO WORK WELL PICKING UP PET HAIR, BUT IT WASN''T THAT GOOD. I SAW THIS VACUUM ON SALE AND BOUGHT IT BECAUSE I HAD SUCH GOOD LUCK WITH THE LAST BISSELL I HAD. I HAVE USED IT NUMEROUS TIMES CLEANING THE STAIRS AND THE OTHER CARPETS IN THE HOUSE AND IT WORKS GREAT EVERY TIME. IF YOU HAVE A PET HAIR PROBLEM OR CARPETS THAT GET DIRTY FAST, I WOULD DEFINATELY RECOMMEND THIS VACUUM. IT WORKS GREAT EVERY TIME.
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I AM VERY IMPRESSED WITH THE PERFORMANCE AND FEATURES OF THIS VACUUM (auto-rewind, bagless, WASHABLE FILTERS, etc.). I decided to buy a Bissell about a 9 mos ago, since I hadn''t any experience with the brand and, side by side, it seemed a much more impressive machine than the comparably priced Hoover. I have been very pleased!
Yes, it IS fairly loud -but what is that to complain about? The suction is really powerful (almost comparable to a $2000 Kirby, imo) and power and growl go together. The construction quality also seems above normal for the present state of the industry (I''ve come to despise Hoovers, Dirt Devils, and three or four other brands I''ve tried) and I believe the warranty is better than normal, as well.
Bissell should be very proud of itself with this machine. Unlike most of their competitors (actually, all I am aware of) they have over-delivered, by a huge margin. The price just dropped on Amazon to $99 and so I decided to stock up. If nothing else I can give a few away for Xmas presents!
Stop looking for a better machine in this price range. I''m pretty sure you won''t find a better machine for even twice the price. I''m hoping this machine is an example, rather than an exception, of the Bissell product line. I would love to see the vendors of deliberately degraded vacuum brands driven out of business. For the price, and in comparison, this machine isn''t just good -it appears to be amazing.
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update: EVEN BETTER than I expected! This machine has a THREE YEAR warranty and appears to have a new feature: a red/green dirt sensor which tells you when a floor or carpet is clean or still needs more work. For $99??? I will update my review if I am disappointed with the durability of the machines. But I don''t expect that because: (1) Companies don''t offer extraordinary warranties unless they are extraordinarily sure of product quality. (2) I note Bissell is an American company and the machine is made in S. Korea (not China -the land of garbage) and (3) THE CEO''s NAME IS BISSELL (he is the great grandson of the founder)! Now, that was a pleasant surprise which explains a lot: a CEO who has reason to care about the VERY long term reputation of the company because his name is on the line!! Wow. Do yourself a favor and support a company which DESERVES your business: BUY BISSELL!
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