Bissell #0820 22OZ Woolite Cleaner

Hoover Fold Away
I have had this model vacuum for several years. I have been pleased with some aspects of performance, and very displeased with others.
I have appreciated the power of this vacuum, with multiple animals in the house it cleans up enough hair to fill the bin 3-4 times during each vacuum session. This has also been an annoyance, as I feel the bin must be on the empty side for the unit to perform well. While it is frustrating to have the suction power drop due to a full bin, it is still better than having to replace a bag!
Main positive attributes:
-bagless
-folding handle allows unit to fit in tighter storage
-multiple accessories allow multiple surface cleaning
-very powerful
-works VERY well on carpets and rugs

Main drawbacks:
-belts break frequently, can be difficult to find replacements these days
-filters clog easily and must be replaced for top performance, can be costly as unit has two filters, and each is approximately $9 to replace
-"kicks back" grit on very low carpets and hard floors, seems to spread the mess rather than pick it up
-the wheels don't seem to stay connected to the unit, creates an issue with vacuuming longer carpets

I've been pleased enough with the vacuum to keep it and use it over the last three years. However, I paid about $99 for the unit and do NOT feel that it was worth the cost. If I could, I would go back and purchase a different unit.

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Addressing concerns of reviews
I am a 52 year old widow with 4 grown children, and I've always had at least one dog; now with the kids gone I have 3 small dogs. This is the third carpet cleaner I've purchased over 15 years. The first was a Hoover, and though I thought it worked fine, advances over the years have made big improvements both in the machines' ability to clean, and their design.
My second machine was the old version of this machine, which was 5 years old, and still working, but one of the kids borrowed it, and when I stressed the importance of cleaning after use, she went nuts and disassembled the thing to clean it (totally unnesessary), and it came back not working well. Obvious user problem, not the machine's fault.
So, I ordered the 9400 Select, which arrived promptly from Amazon, quickly assembled it, and went to work in the bedroom. With 3 dogs, I clean the carpet every 3 months. My dogs are potty trained, but they are dogs, after all, and unlike me they can't remove dirty shoes when they enter the house. Amazing what 12 little feet can track in to a carpet! So, between my normal use, and the dogs, I am always looking for the best machine.
I am going to post some pictures of the things mentioned, if this site allows... By the way, the room I did first and will base these comments on is a 12x15 foot bedroom, with very light colored carpeting. Some reviewers expressed frustration with the fuzzballs that can get left behind. Yes, this machine does that. It is old carpet, dog fur, and dirt. It is confined, slightly damp, and picks up easily. In this room there were maybe 12 chunks of this stuff, which were picked up as I went along. Not slimy, didn't require toweling or gloves.
Next, one reviewer said the machine leaks dirty water spots all over. Again, the machine at the end of a pull does leave some water spots. As soon as you go over the pull again, they are sucked up, leaving no spots in the wake. When I am changing the dirty water tank and refilling the bladder, I always throw a towel under the machine for the few minutes I am away. This is a water/detergent based machine; of course some excess might drip out when it is stationary. All of my machines did this, so I don't even think of it as unusual.
As for not knowing when the bladder is empty and needs refilling, I did not hear the "pop" some reviewers did, but I didn't need to stop and check the level, either. I just paid attention when pulling the trigger for the cleaning mode, and if nothing was being sucked up when trigger is released and it is in suction mode, which one can easily see through the clear design, I know there is nothing going out, and it's time to throw out the old water and refill the bladder. In this room, I take an hour or so to clean it properly. People who want a 10 minute clean are going to get exactly that. It takes months, sometimes years for carpeting to get dirty, but some folks want it to be cleaned in 10 minutes. I just don't get that. The trick is that though this is a very easy machine to use, the key is in going SLOWLY, and allowing the machine to do what it was designed to do. Get the fibers wet/soapy; then let the brushes get down deep, suck up the slop the machine cleaned, then turn the dial to rinse only (I always do this, though many don't, because in my opinion detergent residue left behind becomes a magnet of sorts for dirt once the carpet is dry). In any case, to do the job right, this room took me about an hour. Time well spent, with excellent results. Cleanup is a breeze. Take the bladder/ takeup container, empty it, then pour water through the take up holder to get any remaining dirty water out. This takes all of about 1 minute.
If my trend of getting a new cleaner about every 5 years continues, and in that time I use the machine 20 times, this is a bargain.
I am thrilled with the results this machine gives, and highly recommend it. I guess the only other issue I could address is the storage, and I do understand that it is slightly bulkier than a traditioner vaccuum cleaner, and if one doesn't have a spare closet it could be a problem. In this house, it just rests under the basement staircase, ready and waiting to be called into action again.

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Cleans some stains but not others!
As a mother with 3 young children, 1 dog, and 9 wool rugs.....I consider myself a bit of a rug stain cleaning expert. I purchased this to see if it would take out the freshly created fluorescent orange (Juicy Juice) stain from our oriental rug. It did not remove the stain. I then tested it just days later on an fresh ink stain and it removed about 1/2 of the ink. A bright pink stain (again, probably Juicy Juice) that was from years ago did not come out (I had to give it a TRY!!). The one stain that it performed nicely on was a yellowed area from my dog....it had been cleaned but was still stained. The yellowing is now gone! Bottom line, there are some stains that this will not work on, even though the package says it works for ink, juice, etc. etc.

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MAJOR REPAIR ISSUES CURRENTLY WITH THIS VACUUM, BUYER BEWARE!
The Eureka 4870 is consistently rated very highly by Consumer Reports. I am still scratching my head trying to understand why. There are certain vacuum cleaners that are brought in for repair that I can guess what the problem is before the customer tells me. This is one of those machines.

This vacuum cleaner is our number 1 repair customer. The Eureka 4870 is brought in for repair MORE THEN ANY OTHER VACUUM CLEANER. The only reason I have given this vacuum 2 stars, is because when this vacuum is working, it actually does clean very well, however the number of times you will have to bring the vacuum in for service, outweighs how well it cleans. Let me first tell you about the Pros to the Eureka 4870, as this can be summed up with a few sentences.

Pros:
The Eureka 4870 motor actually is a very high output motor, and creates a decent amount of suction power. The motor is the only metal component to the vacuum, and is the only part on this vacuum that I have never seen problems with, or had to replace.

The vacuum has a nice selection of on-board attachments. Included is a nice on board hose, an extra wand for above the floor cleaning, a nice long crevice tool for those hard to reach nooks and crannies, a dusting brush, as well as an upholstery tool. The "power paw" (as standard attachment on the 4870HZ) attachment leaves a lot to be desired, as most of the time the rotating brush driven by suction stops as soon as you put it on upholstery, or stairs.

The electrical cord on this vacuum is a nice long 30 foot cord, allowing you to be able to clean more square footage without having to go and unplug the machine from room to room. This feature will actually save you substantial time on vacuuming.

The vacuum bag is a "top fill" bag. This means that the hole where the dirt goes into fills from the very top of the bag, allowing you to really jam pack the dirt in the bag, and filling the entire bag before there's any suction loss. A lot of other vacuums have the hold on the side of the bag, which is really pointless, as you have to throw away the bag before it's completely full.

The price is probably the best feature on this vacuum. For right around $150, the machine is very affordable, and feature packed for this price. You do get what you pay for in terms of quality.

Cons:
Weighing in at 25 pounds, this machine is VERY heavy. If you have multiple floors, and you have to take the vacuum up and down the stairs, you will surely hate this vacuum after the first few times of carrying it up and down stairs. The carrying handle is not very conveniently placed either, causing the customer to have to pick up the machine by the handle which makes it seem even more heavy.

The Eureka R belt "Extended Life Belt". The belt on this machine was a new design by Eureka. The belt is actually not made of rubber like most belts. It is actually a plastic belt. Eureka claims that this belt is "Extended life" however some of my customers are replacing this belt 3-4 times a year. If you vacuum anything that gets stuck in the roller brush while vacuuming, the belt usually stretches to a point where the brush will not spin, or if it does spin, it will spin very slowly, and sometimes even stop as soon as you put it on the carpet.

The roller brush itself. A typical Eureka roller brush, this roller brush (sometimes referred to as a "beater bar") has two PLASTIC bearing caps on each side. If something is vacuumed up into the brush while it's spinning, a lot of the times, the brush bearing caps will actually melt! Eureka does not sell these caps separately either, and you'll have to purchase the entire roller brush assembly if this happens. Do not expect to get any more the 1 year out of the roller brush before some melting happens. The plastic bearing caps are not sealed either. If you have pets in the house, or females (some males are also included) that have very long hair, this hair will get inside the bearing of the roller brush shortening the life even more. One way to prevent this from happening is take the roller brush out, taking the bearing caps off, and remove the hair, thread, etc that has wrapped itself around the bearings. You should do this every 2 weeks for best results.

The dreaded Carpet/Floor switch. Out of all the problems this machine has, this is by far the most common. Not only is the most common, it can also be the most expensive, as the amount of time and labor that it takes to replace the switch is very difficult, and you will have to take it in to a local repair shop to fix it. If you talk to any independent vacuum store, and ask them about this repair, 9 times out of 10 you they will tell you how difficult of a repair it really is. This is my least favorite repair to do out of ANY VACUUM CLEANER. You basically have to take the entire roller brush housing apart, and fight with a spring to fix it. The design on this switch is the problem. If a customer does decide to purchase this vacuum from me (I certainly don't recommend it) I always open the machine, assemble it, and I always test the machine before the customer leaves my store. I have opened probably 10-15 of these machines brand new out of the box, only to test it, and find that the Carpet/Floor switch is broken. Brand new out of the box there should never be any problems.

The last issue on this vacuum is the filtration. Eureka claims that this machine is "True HEPA filtration" vacuum. I have found this to be more like a "False HEPA filtration" vacuum. One of the many cool gadgets we have to diagnose and test vacuum cleaners is what's called a Particle Scanner. This very expensive machine will actually measure with lasers how many fine dust particles are leaking from a vacuum per minute of use. I measured the Eureka 4870 like I do all vacuums I sell. This machine registered 25,000+ fine dust particles per minute of use being leaked out of this machine. Now this number is definitely lower then any bagless machine on the market, however for Eureka to claim that this machine will help allergy and asthma sufferers is just false. If you own this vacuum try vacuuming in the sunlight, and you can actually see some of the larger micron dust exhausting from the machine. This is only the larger particles you can see. The most damaging particles to humans are the ones that are not visible to the naked eye. If you or your family has any breathing issues such as Asthma, Emphysema, or allergies, please beware of this vacuum.

You can kind of tell the quality of a vacuum cleaner by the warranty the manufacturer will give you. The Eureka 4870 has a 1 year parts and labor (required by the government, I'm sure they would give less if they could). Consumer Reports loves this vacuum, but as a vacuum repairman, I would tell anyone that asked me to STAY AWAY FROM THIS VACUUM CLEANER.

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Great Product
This is just like the one my mother had when I was young. The floating on air feature works really great. I have a disability that makes vacuumming difficult at times. This moves easily and if it accidentally bumps my ankles, it doesn't even hurt. For me that matters a lot. It is also a nice looking machine so I don't feel so bad if it is sitting out when I have company. Actually it ends up being a conversation piece of sorts. I actually enjoy using it.

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