Hi everyone,
If you told me earlier this year that in a few months’ time I’d be doing another vacuum cleaner review I would’ve thought you were pulling my hose. Yet Here I am again with another machine to be put through its paces. And I ask myself, “why is that”? Well, when you have a cat you realise how important this piece of equipment is in the home to maintaining a clean living environment for both you and your pets.
This time we’re looking at the Bissell Power Lifter Pet model. It’s an upright vacuum cleaner designed to tackle pet hairs left on both floors as well as soft furnishings. I’ve known of the brand for a long time mostly associated with carpet sweepers. As the brand “Hoover” became synonymous with vacuum cleaners so had Bissell become for sweepers. So I was very interested to see how this model would stand up to the challenge of cleaning up behind our two furry felines.
The four things that I have to deal with on an almost daily basis are cat hairs, left over cat food crumbs, cardboard scratch pad pieces and the occasional piece of stray cat litter which makes it passed the mats in front of the trays. Being especially designed for pet households, it was good to see that the Bissell was actually able to pick up all of these on the first pass. Occasionally I had to run the cleaner over a patch again but I would do that with any cleaner with a particularly soiled area. The Bissell has height adjustment for use on all carpet piles. We have very short pile carpeting throughout the flat so used the lowest setting. There’s also an attachment that can fitted so that the cleaner can be used more effectively on non-carpeted areas.
Both Oli and Nubes love to stretch out on the sofa when we’re not home so we often find a fine covering of hairs on the seats and back cushions. The material is woven so I was a bit worried about them being caught in any attachments. The Bissell’s TurboEraser™ attachment has soft plastic paddles which are rotated by the moving air. These were able to pick up hair and other items without snagging the fibres of the cushion material. Another useful attachment is the crevice nozzle which has a dual function, one being the standard tool to get right into narrow spaces. This tool also has a setting to turn the whole length of the nozzle into a flexible dust and hair attractor. I found this very useful for getting into the area between my sofa pieces as the rubber fingers “grabbed” any hairs attached to the fabric.
One last attachment came with the Bissell; the Pet Hair Eraser™ Tool. It looks a little bit like those fabric covered gadgets used to pull hair and lint off clothes. And that’s exactly what it is but with the added bonus of any lint and hair being sucked up directly into the cleaner. I found this especially useful on Oli and Nube’s scratch trees where the materials seem to collect and hold on to hair creating a thin covering on all surfaces. Oli seems to like licking these although I think it’s better that they get removed – less chance for fur balls. One thing is for sure, the suction when using the hand tools is very strong. In fact it’s so strong it can restrict the hose length a little. This can be overcome by bringing the cleaner closer to the place that you are cleaning.
In terms of weight, the Bissell is comparable to our old Dyson so no issues with carrying it up and down the stairs. Talking of stairs, it’s good to see that Bissell has allowed enough cord length to. get from the top to the bottom without needing to re-plug the cleaner in. The waste collection canister is a pretty standard size comparable with other cleaner in the same class. We were able to clean all 3 rooms in our place and the stairs without the need to empty the container.
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Thanks,
Iain
Would you believe my Dyson Pet is also purple?
Mines still working fine but I’ll keep this in mind if I need a replacement.
They are available in the US as well. 🙂
I know…..I see the ads on TV all the time.
But I won’t be replacing mine anytime soon.
Oh wow they don’t do ads On TV in the UK. At least not on the channels I watch! And yeah your vacuum cleaner has been going strong for a while if I remember right? 🙂
I wish they didn’t do ads here. I do get four PBS channels that are ad free. Yes, my Dyson Animal is probably close to 10 years old and still going strong.
Ah I meant the vacuum cleaner brand doesn’t. Unfortunately other ads we do have. 🙁 unless it’s on paid TV but tbh if anything we watch Netflix nowadays lol
Too bad about the ads. Luckily PBS is broadcast and we get a lot of your shows. It is where I see Downton Abbey…and others.
I do Netflix…but old school with the DVDs. I like too many obscure foreign films for streaming.
See if you can get the film, I think it’s called Roman Cats. It is the story of the cat sanctuary in Rome.
My parents got a new vacuum cleaner just in time for Christmas and they can’t stop playing with it. It is amazing yet kind of gross to see all of the dirt and junk that a vacuum cleaner picks up.
We know exactly what you mean LOL
I sure could use one of those with my 14 cats.
I can’t imagine cleaning up after 14 of the fluff balls 😮
Well, but you do know that an apartement is not fully furnished without some cat hair.
Lol that is true! But occasionally it has to be renewed 😉
I knew it would be a good one… I saw that lint roller attachment and thought it would be perfect. I recently had to replace mine. I asked my husband to pick me up one… this is the one I wanted, but I got something else. It’s too bad that our new vacuum is going to break soon and I’ll need another replacement… 😀
Hey Marc.
Thanks for the review. I think I will look into this model if its available in my place- I think I need it.
Susie
I just want to say, I was fully surprised when the Bissell Power Lifter™ Pet Upright Vacuum Cleaner came to my hand.
It was covered nicely in a medium sized box but when i got it unwrapped. After using it my experience say, it was a big gift for me. All the cleaning direction of this vacuum is so easier. I got lot of pleasure from it.
Thanks a lot for your excellent info.
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