Customer Reviews

BISSELL ProHeat 2X Select Upright Deep Carpet Cleaner, 9400M

5 star:		(161)
4 star:		(54)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(23)
1 star:		(62)

 

 

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.

I have been through the ringer with carpet cleaners and stain removers. We have a dog that vomits about once a week. Unfortunatley, he does not do this on our wood floor, which comprises most of our house, but rather he prefers to stain our carpet. I think it is the law with him.

Anyways, I had no luck with the SpotBot I purchased so I was a little reluctant to try another Bissell Product. I saw the good ratings for the 9400 and figured I would give it a shot.

It seems to have everything one could need on a steam cleaner and it even includes Scotchgard Protection. I tried the Bissell on a tough stain that had set in for a couple of months. Nothing could get it out not even the Rug Doctor from the supermarket.

At first the Bissell did not totally get it out. So I tried it again with the hottest water I could get and heated the water with the built-in heater. Sure enough it got it out like a charm. I think Chem-Dry will have to find another customer now!

Steam cleaners are kind of a pain to use with all the filling of tanks and solutions and they usually soak your carpet. But I finally found something that can get up just about any stain and leave my carpet clean as a whistle. We have a winner!

I've been wanting to steam clean our carpets in our house for a number of years now. We had them professionally cleaned before moving in (8 1/2 years ago!!). Three kids, a dog, and a cat later have reduced our carpets to what I thought, was their last legs. The carpets are probably 12 years old (they were not new when we moved in, I am guessing here).

We have carpeting in our kitchen, our kitchen table rests on the carpet. You can imagine how dirty they look(ed) after years of spilled milk, cereal, wine, ketchup, etc... We had planned on ripping them up and putting in tile or Pergo in the next few years.

So this past week our dog gets sick and really puts me over the edge here. I decide to rent one of those "Rug Doctors" at the grocery store. However, I realize that it will take days for me to clean all the carpets and I really don't want to have to shuttle the Rug Doctor back and forth to the grocery store (about 15 - 20 mins away). On a whim, I check out the reviews on Amazon and find that the Bissell 9400 is the real deal. There is even a reviewer mentioning his sick dog.

So I decide to go with the Bissell.

It was very well packaged, little boxes for all the accessories (there are a ton of them). There is even a mesh bag full of various cleaners (wish I knew that before I bought $60 worth of cleaners!!). The Bissell goes together in about 10 minutes (including the time it took to locate my screwdriver).

I used the Bissell "Pet Strength" cleaner, taking two bottles to do two rooms (wayyy more than is required, but these were dirty carpets!!).

It is a slow process, you have to push the cleaner forward, depressing the trigger. Move slowly, then pull back with the trigger depressed. A few passes more will remove the moisture.

I didn't count the number of times I had to empty the resovoir and fill the water & cleaner. It certainly was a breeze to do.

This first pass took me some 3 hours to do, but was well worth it. I am willing to bet that this will go faster now that they have been recently cleaned!

I noticed a huge difference before they even dried!! The carpets were no longer soiled, almost all the food stains had been removed, the nap was much fluffier. I pulled out about a large handfull of cat/dog/human hair that the brushes spit up( This is normal and nothing to worry about, its much better in the trash than ground back into the carpet).

Once they dried (overnight) and after a pass with our Kirby, they looked incredible!!

My daughter walked barefoot on the cleaned carpet and on one in our family room (that is scheduled for next week). She said the clean one was a lot more cushier.

When I walk in the house now, I am greeted by a nice scent (there is a scent in the pet-strength cleaner) and a very clean-looking carpet!

I intend to clean our furniture as well as the rest of all the carpets. I'm beginning to believe that this will help with our allergies too....

If you are on the fence about this, go for it! You will not be sorry.

Oh, I mentioned above and will restate it. Do NOT use this like a vacuum cleaner, pushing and pulling at a fast clip. Go slow!! You will reap the benefits..

Update: 8 Apr 2006

Still very happy that we got this. Last weekend I completed the cleaning of all the original carpets in our home. I had to do all of our Master Bedroom in 3 passes (moved furniture around) because the pets loved to sleep under the bed, beside the dresser, etc). Before last weekend, the only "Original Carpet" uncleaned was the Master BR. The difference in smell when walking into the Bedroom was noticeable. (Before cleaning). We never noticed the pet odor because we were 'used' to it throughout the house. Once I cleaned the rest of the house, the odor in the remaining room stood out.

After cleaning the Bedroom, I've noticed a very signifigant impact (for the better) on my allergies. Cleaning the carpets under the bed where we sleep made a huge difference.

On another note, I cleaned a pet stain (from where our dog was sick) in my daughter's room. The carpet in there is only 6 months old. I couldn't believe the hair it picked up! I originally thought I could bypass all the new carpeting, but am in the process of cleaning all the new carpeting too!

OK, in case you haven't guessed it... This was by far the best $250 I've ever spent!

I didn't think a cheap, inexpensive, household extractor would do a good job, but I was wrong. It does a great job. The spinning brissles do the trick, they really spin fast. It scrubs stains out better than a washing machine can get stains out from clothing. My friend uses this thing for house cleaning and she has been told many times that she does a better job than the carpet cleaning companies around our area. Reviewers mentioned the exhause being a design flaw because it breathes into the carpet. It is not a flaw, the warm air assists in drying the carpet. The turbo paw is fairly well built, it doesn't spin as quickly as the main brissles but it does much better than just a regular scrubber. I think peoples' expectations of the turbo paw are set high after seeing the floor extractor in action. I thinks it's great esspecially for $225. Can't top it.
ONE TIP: After shampooing, you may want to go over the carpet one final time to get any excess water from the carpet, turn your heater OFF. The heater draws from the 12 amp motor which steals power from the sucking mechanism.

I bought my ProHeat a few years ago and it is by far one of the best home purchases I have made. I use it all the time and it really does keep the carpets looking clean and new. We have pets and a toddler and there hasn't been a single stain it could not get out.

Very easy to use...just like vacuuming. It cleans so much better than the rental cleaners. With what I paid to have my carpets professionally cleaned twice a year, I paid for it in six months.

I don't normally write reviews but I was compelled to say something about this one! We purchased the 9400 off of Ebay and I must say, it is absolutely amazing! I've used a few differant kinds of carpet shampooers (including a rug doctor and a few differant Hoover models) and this one just blows them all out of the water! It's bought new life to our carpets, it even got out old koolaide and grease stains out of our dining room. Our carpets look and feel brand new, and with two young kids and a dog, it's a great thing to have around. Honestly, even if you think your going to have to replace your carpets, try this out first, you might be surprized at what it can do! I'm not normally about dropping so much money on any one thing, but it's alot better than having to buy new carpeting in a few years! It's really easy to use, I LOVE the tank in tank thing b/c there's only one thing you have to take to the sink. The two rows of brushes leave your carpets freshly groomed, and can really bring all of the dog hair up and out of the floor. It does spit it out in hair balls, but it's supposed to do that so it doesn't clog up the machine. All of the tools work great except for the turbo brush, which is just kinda a joke. If you want to save some $$ though, try looking for the 9200 on Ebay and buy any extra tools you really need off of the bissell website. I was lucky enough to find the 9400 for $70, just check it out first, you never know!

As for some of the problems other people have had... on ours the brushes do stop moving when it is upright so we can use the tools, but because on some other ones the brushes don't stop, be sure to check that when you get it. Also, I recomend following the directions on the review from the engineer and drill a couple of holes in the back for the exaust. We noticed that it was getting pretty hot after use, so we decided to do this and it helped increase the suction and it doesn't get hot anymore. Maybe this is why some people's machines poop out after only a few years, I imagine the motor would eventually burn out from overheating. It really is stupid that they put the exaust on the bottom of the machine, air can't really escape because it's right against the carpet. Just be carefull not to drill into something you're not supposed to!!!!! We only needed to carve out a couple holes about an inch above the existing exaust vents. I know some people have had a problem with suction, for us it exstracts about 70-80% of the dirty water, which is what is expected according to the bissell website. Also, if you have any problems, check out their troubleshooting page, there's some good suggestions on there that could really help you out or at least narrow down the problem.

Everything said here, it's worth it's weight in gold!! Even if you have some of the problems that some others have had, they are repairable and it's worth the effort to fix because it works soooo great!!! Hope this helps!

Despite the fact that this cleaner got one of the highest reviews at Consumer Reports, I am disappointed. I have now had this product for 2 years, so I have plenty of experience with it.

First the good:
1) It does a good job of getting the floors wet
2) It does a good job of spreading the shampoo
3) It does a reasonable job of getting stains out if you are persistent and use the attachments
4) It does an excellent job of rounding up pet hair
5) The attachments do a good job

Now the bad:
1) It is very bad at picking up the water. I can use an entire gallon of water and it will only suck up about 10% of that. So mostly, it is just getting my carpets wet.
2) Although it does a good job of rounding up pet hair, it does not suck them in, it leaves it all in messy wet clumps on the carpet that you have to go running around picking up
3) It uses a LOT of soap. If you use it the way the instructions say, you will be out of shampoo within 10 minutes at the normal (not high traffic) setting. You have to use that trigger button very sparingly.
4) It breaks. I have had to have mine repaired twice in 2 years for a total cost of $125. Six months of that was just sitting in the basement because it was broken, and once I got it fixed it broke again in a couple of months.
5) It is hard to tell when you are out of water. Supposedly the sound of the cleaner is supposed to change when it is out of water, but I think the sound changes all the time, so that's a bad indicator.
6) When you stop the machine, it dumps whatever water is in the brushes onto the carpet, so you have a wet filthy dirty line as wide as the machine on your carpet. If you turn the machine back on to suck that up, it will just do it again whenever you stop the machine. I am now in the habit of stopping the machine on the hardwood so that I can mop up the mess afterwards.

This is a great machine, who's few flaws are easily overcome by the positive.

We have two elder pets - a cat who routinely empties her stomach whereever she feels like it; and a dog who seems to equate carpeting with grass. So we have a tendency to use this fairly often.

For the quick and dirty jobs like these, you simply cannot beat this machine. A quick fill, and in five or 10 minutes, you're done. A little cleaning of the machine itself, and packed away until next time.

For larger jobs, like doing an entire 10x13 room, you still can't beat it. We have to routinely empty and refill the reservoir, but even that chore is made easy. Just lift it out, carry it to your slop-sink, and rinse/refill. It might be tedious to carry that heavy container up two flights of stairs, but that's easy to over look.

There are a couple of things I'd like changed/fixed, but nothing which will cause me to heave it out the door:

- as others have noticed, the underside can get nasty dirty. It's easy enough to tip the machine back, and wipe it down, during a refill cycle. I think if the machine had adjustable height, then even this wouldn't be much of an issue.

Edit - I finally found out that if I am dripping solution or water back on to the carpet, it means I am using too much. If you have the same problem, try backing off on the trigger.

- The reservoir is a little smallish, and it would be great if there were a bigger one, even if it were available as an accessory.

- The biggest pain is when it comes down to serious cleaning, such as disassembling the scrubber assembly. It's not easy to take the scrubbers out, and give it a full inside-out cleaning. The removal of several screws, and some head scratching is required. The innards can often get quickly gummed up with hair, or other not-nice particles.

You'll probably learn the rhythm of this machine, you squeeze the trigger in one direction, and release it going in the other direction.

I bought this carpet deep cleaner after babysitting for 4 dogs at our house. We ended up with lots of pee stains and even a few vomit stains on our white and grey berber carpet in the family room. I did some research and it came down to either the hoover or this bissell. The bissell won because I really liked the idea of continous hot water.

So here is the good, the bad, and the ugly on this machine:

The good:

1. Works great. The carpets are smelling fresh, looking better, and the amount of dirt that comes out in the dirty tank is scary. Talk about muddy water!

2. Did a pretty great job in extracting water. The carpet was left damp, not wet, and it dried in a few hours.

3. The double row of brushes with the hot water really does seem to get the stains out. Not even one stain is left visible on the carpet.

4. Just as easy to use as a normal vaccuum. Not complicated.

The Bad:

1. With the tank design - the clean water tank is inside where the dirty water is stored (seperated). However, this makes it impossible to see when you run out of clean water! The dirty water full line is not always reached before you run out of clean water. I found this out the hard way - when suddenly I was using up cleaning solution 10x faster and realized that was because I had run out of clean water to mix it with! The only real solution I found was to frequently remove the tank and go fill it up with clean water just "incase" it is going empty. Very frustrating.

2. The clean water tank runs out very fast... making point number 1 even more frustrating.

3. The cleaner attachments that come with the Bissell fall out of their "holders" on deep cleaner very easily. I swear I'm always picking them up because they popout of the holder too easily.

The ugly:

1. I had the chance to try the hard floor attachment on my tile and wood floors. How frustrating! First let me say - cleaning wise it worked great... I was amazed at the dirty water after cleaning the kitchen tile in our home. The brushes got into the grout and I guess regular mopping really does just push around dirty water!

But here is the kicker - the "squeegee" part of the hardfloor tool kept coming out (you attach this tool easily to the bottom of the bissell). Once that falls off, the vacuum can't pick up the water from a hard floor. So I had to keep stopping, turning off the vacuum, sliding the squeegee blade back into the hardfloor tool, and reattaching. This was happening so often that I finally gave up trying to clean our kitchen floor. Why was it happening? I'm not positive, but I wonder if it just has to do with the deep grooves in our tile or something. Maybe on perfectly even flooring it would be fine. But, anyway - my husband ended up drilling three screws into the hardfloor tool to keep the squeegee blade on. Now it works great!

Overall - I'm very happy with the purchase. It does it's job very well. Seeing all that muddy water come out of your carpet is enough to convince you it was a good purchase. My only real complaint with the machine is the clean water tank - too small and too hard to see when it has gone empty. Also they should have designed the hardfloor tool better! Otherwise - very nice!

Pros
+Cleans well - has removed all except one "stubborn" stains that I've tried to clean wtih all kinds of carpet cleaning products.
+Easy to use - don't take a lot of figuring out
+Really heats water (unlike Hoover - which blows warm air over the water)
+Stair cleaning accessories are effective
+Two in one water tank means easier trips to empty and refill
+Easy to take apart and clean all the componenets

Cons
-Two in one water tank has limited capacity. I have to empty/refill it once while cleaning my bedroom and 3-4 times when cleaning the living/dining space.
-Wads of Fibers/Cat hair get left on the carpet. They're easy to lift off - and you feel better about how much dirt is coming off :)
-No indicators when you've run out of cleaning solution/water

I like my Bissell Proheat. The primary purpose of my purchase was to clean my carpets, remove stains and renew the look. The Bissell exceeded my expectations with this - and got out all kinds of stains ranging from pet byproducts to cola spills and detergent concentrate. One, year old tea stain proved stubborn - though it did get much lighter. I have not given up on it though :).

I don't think Bissell should do much about my peeve on water capacity. If they did, I'd complain about having to carry two tanks - or one very heavy tank :).

It'd be nice if there was a light that told you that you were out of cleaning solution or water - right now I figure so when I realise the carpet isn't being wet any more.

Leaving wadded balls of fiber/cat hair might be something that's specific to my home. It'd be nice to not have to pick them manually - but I'm happy enough to see that much gunk leave the carpets.

Lastly - we've been using Bissel's Allergen control cleaning formula. It's worked well enough for us (for cleaning) - so we haven't had to try the others (Citrus, Lavender etc) to see if they're any better.

Recommend it? Yes!