great therapy plus clean carpets to boot! (Bissell 9200E Proheat 2x)

Member Name: freud

Product:	Bissell 9200E Proheat 2x
Date:	10/05/09 (266 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: easy to use, cleans carpets deep down

Disadvantages: bulky, heavy & noisy ( but can be said of all makes?)

When we bought our house several years ago we inherited the carpets too - not my choice of colour but as they are of such good quality we haven't replaced them. Unfortunately the hall, stairs & landing is carpeted in beige & we get a lot of 'heavy traffic' from the front door through the hall etc. It was therefore a good reason to buy a good carpet shampooer which could be used on a fairly regular basis without too much hassle.

I bought a more expensive Bissell about 4 years ago & was pleased with it but unfortunately it 'died' on me recently so I was really pleased when hubby came home with this Pro-Heat one last week which he bought from Costco for around £110 (plus VAT) which is much cheaper than the RRP of £240.

It came in a big box & all that needed to be done was attach the top half to the bottom, add 3 screws & screw the attachment holder on the back - a 5 minute job.

Luckily it came with 2 small bottles of carpet shampoo which normally sell at around £7 each so I was ready to go.

The design of this Bissell is slightly different to the one I'd been used to but I've used it several times now & the results are even better. It's also easier to clean (the other one had inaccessible areas which made it impossible to completely de-fluff which made it clog up).

All you need to do is add water to the container & add the liquid as directed. The Bissell has a built-in heater which gets the water to the exact temperature so there's no chance of ruining our Persian rugs. Then you just use it really as a hoover (but follow instructions given for releasing the shampoo) only more slowly. The dirty water doesn't come in contact with the clean thanks to a well-designed thick plastic 'bladder' & all you need to do is stand back in amazement to see all the dirt that's come out - ugh!

Tis Bissell shampooer is called 2 x because it's claimed to clean twice as hard as other similar types & it has 2 sets of robust red brushes which you can actually watch doing their work. I may be sad but I actually enjoy cleaning my carpets now & find it's good therapy when I see the dirt going down the sink.

There's an attachment for 'spot' cleaning which is useful & the clear markings show how to use it for 'tools' (attachments supplied for upholstery), rinse & post treatment. At first I found all this information a bit confusing but the enclosed booklet is very easy to understand & the diagrams are clear & straightforward.

The results have been great so far but I did the easy bit first (the hall & lounge). Doing the stairs is a bit more hassle because although you get a long hose it didn't reach to the top of our stairs so lifting the machine was awkward as it's heavy & larer than a standard vacuum.

I also found that the shampooer didn't go into the edges or corners which meant I was having to use the spot-cleaner attachment. I must admit though it was worth the effort as the carpets look & feel clean plus they've regained their pile which makes me want to walk barefoot once again.

Bissell obviously recommend that you use only their shampoo in their cleaners - actually I always do because although they're a bit pricey (£14.99 for a big size unless on offer) - they smell gorgeous. My favourite one is lavender (smell lasts ages ) but they also do original, pet odour, citrus etc.

From experience I think all deep-clean shampooers are bulky, heavy & noisy so I can't really fault Bissel on these so I'm giving this 5 stars because of it's ease of use & great results.

summary
~
- a great investment if you don't want to change your carpets.
- straightforward to use.
- easy to clean.
- does a great job of cleaning carpets, 'spot cleaning' & cleaning upholstery (except leather/ velour).

Summary: well worth considering if you're looking for a good carpet cleaner

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