Almost totally and completely awesome

Being someone who has allergies that appear to get worse every year, I'm at my best when I'm living in an environment that's as free of dust and other allergens as possible. I've recently been getting along by sweeping and trying to dust, but it's a pain and it's a fairly ineffective way of cleaning.

I finally realized that I had to start looking for a vacuum, but it wasn't that easy.

Looking through what seemed like hundreds of reviews online, I came across tons of "terrible, barely works", "broke after a few months", "lousy" reviews. It seemed like one had to really spend to get something worthwhile, as the low-to-mid priced vacuums were either, according to the reviews, unreliable or completely not functional.

So, I finally decided on this Bissell product, as it appeared to offer a remarkable amount of features for the price.

The vacuum itself arrived in a well-packaged box, and I'd be surprised if anyone complains about putting it together - the extent of the assembly is putting one screw in and attaching the handle to the canister, and attaching the vacuum tube to the vacuum cleaner via 1 screw. About 2-3 minutes of time.

The vacuum comes with a series of pretty nice attachments: there's a tool for getting into corners, a small brush tool and a "turbo brush", which is a revolving brush that's powered by the vacuum suction (in other words, turn it on and the brush spins, like a mini-vac attachment).

Turning on the vacuum revealed that it is noisy, but not in an unholy racket way, but in a Tim Allen/"Home Improvement"/"more power" way - the thing sounds like it's ready to pull pictures off the walls, in other words. Putting it to work, it easily picked up visible dust, dropped cereal and, accidentally, some change. Small strips of paper (such as the cover strip for the adhesive backing on an envelope) were picked up without a second thought by the attachment. Small boxes on the floor (such as the boxes that allergy medicine like Claritin comes in) were even picked up by the attachment if they were close enough.

Overall, I didn't encounter any issues with the vacuum picking up regular floor dirt/debris/the occasional dropped item. I didn't attempt pet hair, simply because I don't have any pets (again, allergies), but this vacuum should pick it up, no problems, given the force I've seen it pull a few quarters, pennies and nickels off the floor. The amazing thing is what it picks up that you don't see; despite not having that much visible dust, the bin still often seems quite full during runs where I don't think there's much to pick up. All of the attachments functioned well, and the vacuum tube itself is wire-reinforced, so it's quite durable.

On the base of the vacuum, there is a height adjustment, so one can adjust the vacuum for bare floors to high carpet to other levels in-between.

All of the dust and debris and the dropped pennies end up in the vacuum bin. The neat thing about the bin is that the contents are often spun around, and the dust is mostly (not perfect, but I'd say a good 85+%) separated into two smaller containers just off of the main bin area. So bigger items are in the main bin area, and the dust is off on the two sides. The bin is easily detached from the machine by throwing a lever over to one side, and then pulling out the bin. Dump it, put it back in, slide the lever back over and it locks into place. The unit has a HEPA filter (as well as other filters, such as a motor filter - 3 filters in all), which traps 99% of dust mites and other allergens. After hauling around this vacuum for a half hour or so, the air in the room felt different, cleaner - I've felt the same effect with an air cleaner I used to have.

The only issue that I have with the vacuum is that the cord is not retractable. There is an easy place to wrap the cord on the side, but a retractable cord would have really made this perfection.

Other positives:

- There is a sensor (red light/green light) for dirt. When the vacuum has picked up all of the dirt in the area, the light goes from red to green, and you know you can proceed.

- There is also a filter sensor, which lets you know when the filter should be changed.

- I felt the tube and attachments were long enough to provide a solid amount of reach. With the corner attachment, I was able to get under a refrigerator and stove that had not been cleaned under in who knows how long.

- The outer shell of the vacuum does seem a bit plasticy at first glance, but there is definite weight to the vacuum and it seems sturdy and well-built. Although there apparently is another color version, the somewhat sparkly red main color (I've rarely seen the other available) looks quite nice.

Other notes:

- No retractable cord, but you can wrap the cord around the side quite cleanly and securely.

- This is not a whisper-quiet unit. If that is a necessity, unfortunately I'd recommend looking at another vacuum. This one is powerful - and it also sounds just as powerful as it is. There's no function where you can turn it down (low/high, etc), it just goes full throttle.

- Those with allergies may want to pick up some face masks at the store (a few bucks). I have not had any problems with just dumping out the bin, because one can pull it out easily from the vacuum and hold it far enough away before dumping it out. However, you have to go in occasionally and clean the filters, which will bring you closer to any potential dust/etc that the vacuum has picked up. Still, I'd *VERY* highly recommend this to allergy sufferers, as it does seem to provide a great deal of relief (my allergies occasionally return, but they've been noticably better overall since getting this product), and one can easily wear something like a face mask when closer cleaning becomes needed.

- Although you can vacuum up larger objects like strips of paper, this can potentially cause a partial jam-up at the top where, despite the fact that you can still vacuum (although not quite as effectively), *some* dirt and other debris may begin to build up behind the object, requiring the user to try and fish out what looks like a dirt hairball. Something like this won't cause the vacuum to stop working (I've used the vacuum while there's a build-up), but it doesn't work quite as well until it's cleared out.

- Watch out for change. Although nickels and quarters can be picked up by the machine, they do make a pretty horrific sound when sucked up and bouncing around the bin. It doesn't seem to hurt the vacuum, but it sounds terrible.

Overall, this Bissell unit works tremendously well, and provides some serious clean-up power. This is great for those who have allergies, and the bagless system is terrific and well done on this particular vacuum (easily and cleanly removed, etc.)

Highly recommended.