Customer Reviews

BISSELL 37601 Lift-Off Revolution Turbo Upright Bagless Vacuum

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

An upgrade to my last Bissell (Cleanview Deluxe),this one is even better....was ONSALE for $160, and well worth it.

Removeable canister capability is easy and makes this vac so much more versitile...such as taking out to your car or for carpeted steps. I really love the user friendly design of these Bissell vacs....never complex, and I don't feel I need a manual to understand or operate.

Super suction...and the brushes are so powerful, it almost feels self propelled as you push forward.

The 'telescoping' function of the extension wand was a nice upgrade, although it does takes a little time getting used to it...also the new dual-headed brush tool is an inovative idea i like.

Another really nice upgrade is the on/off brush power button...and the vac is now smart, even when brushes are powered ON, they wont rotate till you step on the release pedal AND pull the handle down towards you.

I also noticed you can now pull the handle down literally to the FLOOR without the front of the vac lifting up...this means being able to roll further under couches/tight spots.

If I had to give CONS :

1) There are 3 filters...1 HEPA and 2 foam...the foam filters in particular should be cleaned once a month,as directed..but I check even more often (due to high traffic/pets)... They can get pretty dirty relatively fast, and although u may not notice any loss of suction,I assume cleaning these filters often will always improve performance...... Its not hard to do, they are basically foam sponges u can rinse clean, and they dry pretty quick.

2) The vac when all together as 1 unit, is pretty heavy. Doesnt bother me, but may be an issue to some. My wife immediately noticed the weight... The canaster vac, when separated, is easy to carry with its handle, but some may still find even this a little heavy as well.

In my opinion, the weight is due to good construction and a strong motor. I think its worth it.

3) Seems like a lot of new vacs come with some form or version of a 'turbo brush' attachment. I'm not a fan of these...the brushes are SUCTION driven, NOT motor driven. Its a gimmick tool.. I prefer the simple NON turbo brush tool that come with this vac, and I let the suction power (and a little up/down motion of my own) do the work. I keep the turbo brush permanantly removed from the handle altogether. To me its just added dead weight.

4) only 1 improvenment I could think of now is a retracteable cord....

I've had this machine for about a month now, and it just keeps getting better and better! I was told by our local vacuum repair man to stay away from bagless, but I took the plunge anyway and couldn't be happier. This machine does it all. The first day of use, it picked up dirt and dust that my Hoover Windtunnel left behind. It's convenient to vaccuum our stairs now, as the unit lifts off and can be hand carried. The turbo brush is an excellent tool to use. Suction on this vaccuum is outstanding, as well as ease of emptying the container when full. No more messy or difficult to install bags either! I highly recommend this vaccuum.

I needed a new sweeper last December ('05) and was trying to decide between a Dyson and the non-Lift-Off version of this Bissell. I originally ruled the Lift-Off out because 1. We don't have steps in out house so the Lift-Off feature didn't seem like it would get much use and 2. the Lift-Off model didn't have a "clean carpet sensor" which I thought just seemed neat. I ended up getting the Lift-Off anyway because I figured the Lift-Off feature would make it nice for cleaning out the car (and it does!) and this model has the ability to function with the brushes turned off - you can't turn the brushes off on the standard Revolution.

Now, to be honest, until I started looking, I had no idea you'd ever even *want* to turn the brushes off. It's supposed to make the machine work better on bare floors. Personally, with or without the brushes turned on, I find using an electric sweeper on bare floor to be clattery and annoying and I prefer to use a broom. But this brushes on/off thing seemed to be the final feature that the Dyson had that the Bissell didn't, and I was seriously coveting a Dyson.

Now don't get me wrong, I am sure the Dyson is a great machine... but did I really want to spend that much money on one? Did I really *have* to spend that money to get a good machine? Well... no. I didn't. I decided to give the Bissell a whirl. I bought mine at Target where, depending on what sort of sale you catch here at Amazon, it may cost more or it may cost less - I paid more - but I liked the idea of being able to return it without selling my first born to pay for shipping, if I hated it.

Fortunately, I haven't hated it. :-D

Prior to this, I had a Dirt Devil turbo vision or something like that, that I had bought in 2002. It seemed to work OK, but whenever I cleaned my carpets later, the water came up so unbelievably filthy, I had to wonder how much dirt the sweeper was really getting. It had a plastic dirt canister with an accordian-pleated sort of paper filter inside, and you were supposed to pull the filter out, empty the dirt container, whack the filter off, and put it all back together. The filter never seemed to come clean, no matter how many times you whacked it, and any amount of dirt on the filter equates to a drop in suction. The more dirt, the bigger the drop. The only way to restore this machine to full power would be to buy a new filter, and as soon as you use it, you're back to where you started anyway. And those filters weren't cheap!

With the Bissell, you have the ability to restore the machine to full power without buying anything, at least for a long, long, time. Here is how it works.

There are two foam filters, which you can wash and reuse. It seems that the air meets one on the way to the dirt cup and one on the way out of the dirt cup. The dirt cup itself has these two wings on the side, seperated from the main dirt cup with little screens. The dirt spins around inside the dirt cup, and the tiniest bits get blown out into the little wings.

The little wing arrangement keeps the tiniest stuff from clogging the foam filters. The foam filters keeps most of the stuff from clogging the paper HEPA filter that is the final exit point of the vaccuumed air. (Yes, there are 3 filters)

This machine, right out of the box, had AMAZING suction. I was simultaneously horrified and delighted at the sheer volume of filth that came out of my carpets. I did my living and dining room 3 times in a row and stuff just kept keep coming up - and I don't see this as a flaw with the machine because I don't think any machine can possibly get everything with one pass. Even as you are running it, you are tearing down carpet fibers, breaking down carpet pad, freeing more *stuff* to be sucked up. And given our carpets had apparently not been given a good sweeping in who knows how long, it wasn't really all that mind-boggling that stuff kept coming up.

There was dirt, dust, sand, hair, glitter, thread, and a massive glob of carpet fibers in the dirt cup, after running this thing. The Bissell means business!

The dirt cup is *easy* to empty. So easy, my preschooler can do it. In fact, he *insists* on doing it.

The tools that come with this machine are pretty standard, with the exception of the Turbo Tool which is the best thing ever invented, as far as I am concerned. It is like a tiny little hand-held vaccuum, all the power, but small! Great for those little strips of carpet in between two pieces of furniture. Extra great for when you take the couch cushions off and there is all that STUFF but if you try to use the brush attachment to get it, you know if just sucks up the fabric and you get annoyed? Not the turbo tool. It brushes it up. Great for the car.

Only problem is it does tend to get gunked up with hair so you have to take it apart occasionally, which is an easy enough operation. Two or three screws and pretty idiot-proof to put back together.

The machine is quite light and maneuverable and IMO fairly quiet.

The one bad thing I will say about it is, the clean filter indicator does not seem very reliable. After using this about 5 months, I noticed it did not have the oomph it had when I first got it. The clean filter indicator was still solidly green, and I trusted it. But the machine just did not seem to be picking much up off my carpets, the turbo tool stopped working all together, and when I tried to clean out my car one afternoon, I ended up mostly doing a lot of swearing.

I took all the filter areas apart and washed the filters and put it all back together and... like new.

So it's a great machine - but don't trust the indicators. I suspect the clean/dirty carpet sensor on the standard version is equally unreliable, but I can't say first-hand.

No regrets with this purchase, and a lot of money saved over a Dyson.

Every room in my house has hardwood floors or tile, as well as area rugs. My previous vacuum did not have a switch to turn off the brush. When I used it to vacuum a hard surface, the brush just blew the dirt all over. I was reduced to sweeping all the hard surfaces and using the vacuum on the rugs.

Fed up with the tedium of this, I shopped for a bagless cannister vacuum, since they generally have attachments dedicated to hard surfaces. Ones that met my needs started at $250. Then I found the Bissel lift-off system for about $170. It was an upright, but it had a switch to turn off the brush.

The more I thought about the lift-off feature, the more it appealed to me, too. We have a Great Dane and a cat, and their fur gets everywhere you could imagine. Being able to carry the cannister makes cleaning behind furniture, between appliances, and along walls makes much less of a chore. I do it more frequently, in less time, with better results. I no longer feel like I live in squalor.

If you have many hard surfaces or awkward locations to clean, I recommend the Bissell Lift-Off.

I have had this vacuum for 3 weeks now and am very pleased with it. It is replacing a 5-year-old Hoover Bagless Windtunnel. The Hoover bagless was very messy when emptying the canister so I really wanted a cleaner bagless option.

The things I like:

The turbo brush attachment is amazing. It does a great job on sofas/chairs as well as car upholstery. I have two long-haired dogs and their hair gets everywhere. The turbo brush really does a good job getting the hair off the furniture.

The vacuum does a great job on floors. Again, dog hair is no match and I am always amazed at how much dirt and hair it picks up when I empty the canister. Wow!

The canister lifts off of the vacuum and becomes portable. Again, this is great for vacuuming the inside of cars. However, it can be awkward to maneuver.

Because the HEPA filter is stored in the back of the vacuum, emptying the dirt canister is a snap and a lot less messy than my old Hoover. No more beating the dust/dirt out of the HEPA filter! I did check on the price of Bissells replacement HEPA filters (about ten). Much better than the thirty to replace a Hoover HEPA filter.

Some things I don't like (but can live with):

While the emptying the dirt canister is a snap you should be aware that there are three different filters in this vacuum. There is one located right above the dirt canister and it does get dirty fast. You need to keep an eye on it and rise it out and let it air dry before putting in back in place. It's a reusable foam filter (cost isn't an issue). I've had to clean it twice in 3 weeks. However, the other two (one is the HEPA) are still very clean.

I would like it if the hose were a bit longer. Its certainly useable but it can be awkward vacuuming with the attachments because of the shortness of the hose. Taking the canister off the base helps a little but only if you have something to prop it up against (I find your leg works well!).

The dirt canister fills up very quickly and is a lot smaller than the one I am use to. I usually have to empty it twice when vacuuming. This is mostly because of having long-haired dogs. If I didn't have that to worry about it would have plenty of room.

All in all, I am very happy with this vacuum. If any problems come up I will try to remember to post them.

Bought this Vacuum after cosidering many others. It is extremly well built and really does the job. The ability to remove the main vacuum unit and use it as a hand held portable is very good also. I also am impressed with the sturdy construction of the Bissel as compared to many other plastic designs. One thing I have noticed is that the filters collect a full load of stuff in one cleaning of a 3600 sq ft house! Mostly because the vacuum just picks up everything. Cleaning the filters is easy and having no bags is great cause you change out filters when they are full. (Bags get full and dont always get changed as needed)

All in all a very good machine at a good price. I highly recommend the Bissel 37601

Love it - Awesome - As reviewed - no problems - picked up all the dog and cat hair as promised

More versatile, quieter, does a great job. I did quite a bit of research before my purchase, and for the money this one is great. I recommend this one.

When my older Bissell vacuum died, I was sure of buying another Bissell. After a little online comparison shopping, I settled on this one through Amazon. Both decisions were the best. The vacuum was delivered very quickly and I love this one even more than my old one. This is one powerful vacumm!! I have 4 cats and 2 dogs, so I know about pet hair. This vacuum is awesome! I have to empty the cup at least twice for every room I clean. I am soo happy, I almost like to vacuum now. Buy it with confidence.

As the other reviewers stated, this vacuum really sucks! In a great way of course! I have also been coveting the Dyson for so long, but after reading the reviews for this vacuum, I couldn't resist. It finally came via UPS yesterday, and I was up all night vacuuming. I never knew my rugs could be so soft. Especially the wool rugs which seem to trap dirt like a filter. I have been using an Oreck for years, and now I have sucked years worth of dirt, fuzz, pet hair, and whatever else has been storing up down there. Everything is so easy to assemble and clean. Some of the filters are water rinseable and the canister is easy to wash. The suction is amazing. I really think I made the best decision with this vacuum rather than the Dyson. Who wants to pay $600 for a vacuum when we clean freaks will want a newer version of the Bissell in a couple of years?