Bissell 1715U Spotlifter Cordless Handheld Carpet Cleaner

by Bissell

Product Features

• Cordless and rechargeable to quickly get at spots and spills
• Sprays, lifts, and removes tough spots and spills when they happen
• Powerful spray and suction
• Replaces traditional rag and manual spot cleaners lifting out stains without blotting them in
• Easy to empty and fill water tanks

Product Details

Product Manual [357kb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 19.1 x 9.8 x 7.2 inches ; 6.1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 6.3 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B00005OTZY
• Item model number: 1715U
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (82 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #483,188 in Home & Garden (See Top 100 in Home & Garden)
  • #19 in Home & Garden > Vacuums & Floor Care > Vacuums > Carpet Cleaners, Sweepers & Accessories

Product Description

The Spotlifter handheld deep cleaner is the easiest and quickest way to clean spots and spills. It is cordless, rechargeable, and stores ready to use so it's always ready to quickly get at spots and spills. With powerful spray and suction the Spotlifter lifts and removes tough spot and stains when they happen. The Spotlifter replaces traditional manual spot cleaners by lifting out stains without blotting them in. Always use BISSELL's advanced formulas to maximize cleaning performance.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nice Idea, Poorly Executed, December 10, 2003

By 

Arthem "arthem" (Knoxville, TN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bissell 1715U Spotlifter Cordless Handheld Carpet Cleaner (Kitchen)

We purchased one of these a while back, and received another as a gift. The Spotlifter works, to some extent, but there are serious flaws.

First, as noted by another reviewer, the battery life is limited. The limitation is not just in short term use (the unit runs out of juice very quickly) but in terms of long term battery life. I would be shocked if someone got more than a year's life out of the unit, based on our experience with both of the Spotlifters we owned.

Secondly, while not intended to deal with large stains or spills (we had floor standing deep cleaners for those purposes), the Spotlifter is intended to be quick to fill up, operate, and clean. While you can get the unit up and running pretty quickly (as long as the battery lasts), the reservoir and recovery tanks are just too small to deal with a serious stain. Not only is the running time limited, but the fluid becomes exhausted in a hurry. This might be a good product to have around if you have a white carpet, no dogs or children, and spill red wine once a week. This is not a good product for owners of pets larger than 10 lbs, or children less than 40 lbs.

Finally, there are some minor inconveniences in filling and emptying the tank, but these are fairly trivial compared with the more serious problems.

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Poorly Engineered, November 23, 2001

By 

"astronaut2be" (Yorktown, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bissell 1715U Spotlifter Cordless Handheld Carpet Cleaner (Kitchen)

I have owned two Bissel spot lifters. In both cases, the spray hose became easily blocked so that the spray became uneven. There is no simple means of cleaning the hose. The AC adapters fail easily. This is a problem since the Bissel must remained plugged when not in use; its batteries cannot hold their charge for long periods of time. It's too bad. While it works, its very convenient, especially for those with cats who cough up hairballs.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars It works but it's stupidly designed, January 5, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Bissell 1715U Spotlifter Cordless Handheld Carpet Cleaner (Kitchen)

2 1/2 stars

Pros:

1. It can lift stains, particularly cat hairball vomit stains (my main use for it).

2. It's been somewhat improved from earlier models.

3. It's the only thing like it on the market in the sub-forty buck price range (at least when I bought my second one).

Cons:

1. It's extremely hard to clean. There are so many inaccessable nooks and crannies in the waste liquid reservoir that very quickly, no matter how much rinsing you do, vile particles and sludge build up.

2. Lousy NiCad battery. Battery life is poor. Only gives about 4 minutes of usable time per charge, which can be inadequate, plus it is not replaceable when it dies (lasted three years for me on my first one, I've got 18 months so far on my second one). Takes a long time to charge.

3. Can leak waste liquids from reservoir. If the intake reservoir is getting full of liquids you have vacuumed up, it eventually will start leaking. Or, if you try setting it down, because it is not flat on the bottom, it could tip sideways and spill.

4. Nozzle for spraying cleaning solution is flimsy. My first one broke right off and on my second, newer unit, it appears to be a new design but I still don't trust it.

5. No rotating power brush, just a little three-inch strip of brush material.

Summary: my first one aggravated me but did its job for three years before the battery died. I wanted to replace it with a better designed carpet spot cleaner, but at the time, there wasn't anything else like it on the market so I bought another one. It's a little bit improved from the first one, but still aggravating.

I'd shop around and see if any competitors have introduced a similar cleaner before considering this one again.