Bissell Carpet Cleaners

This past year we tested 16 different carpet cleaners. In this guide we talk about the five Bissell cleaners we tested.

TurboClean

The cheapest Bissell carpet cleaner we tested is the TurboClean.

The TurboClean is small and light. Its cleaning path was measured to be about 7.5” wide. Most full size cleaners have a path that’s at least 10” wide.

The TurboClean also cannot be used to spot clean, at least not with a hose and spot cleaning tool. There isn’t a port on the front of the TurboClean to connect a hose like there is on most full size cleaners.

On the positive side of things, the TurboClean did perform very well in many of our tests.

It has high tested suction at the nozzle, with a reading of 2.40 kPa. The average reading at the nozzle for all of the carpet cleaners we tested was 1.89 kPa.

The TurboClean also performed very well in our upright stain test. It cleaned the peanut butter stain in only 5 passes (the average for this stain was 9 passes) and it cleaned the chocolate syrup stain in only 6 passes (the average for this stain was 8 passes). It cleaned most other stains in this test faster than average as well.

So overall, the TurboClean does have some limitations (its narrow cleaning path and lack of spot cleaning ability) but it performs very well as an upright cleaner according to our testing.

All things considered, it’s the best compact cleaner we tested overall.

TurboClean Pet XL

The TurboClean Pet XL is larger than the TurboClean (as its name suggests) and you can connect a hose to it to spot clean with it.

The TurboClean Pet XL’s cleaning path was measured to be 10” wide vs 7.5” for the smaller TurboClean.

It also has larger water tanks and so it can cover a larger area before you need to refill its clean water tank and before you need to empty its dirty water tank.

The TurboClean Pet XL does have considerably less measured suction at the nozzle, likely because it spreads suction over a much larger area than the smaller TurboClean (recall it has a 10” wide cleaning path vs 7.5” for the TurboClean). The Pet XL was measured at only 1.24 kPa at the nozzle vs 2.40 kPa for the standard TurboClean.

In our upright stain test, the TurboClean Pet XL performed better than average, but worse than the smaller TurboClean. The Pet XL took 40 total passes to clean all of the stains in our stain test while the smaller TurboClean took only 36 total passes.

At its price point, the TurboClean XL is a decent option but we would generally not recommend it over the smaller cheaper TurboClean.

ProHeat 2X Revolution Pet Pro Plus

The Bissell ProHeat 2X Revolutionis slightly larger and heavier than the TurboClean Pet XL.

The 2x Revolution has a measured cleaning path width of 10” vs 9.5” for the TurboClean Pet XL.

But, it has very similar size water tanks and so it can cover a very similar size area before you need to refill or empty its water tanks.

The 2x Revolution uniquely adds CleanShot functionality. Using CleanShot you can pre-spray stains before you clean them regularly.

We tested this feature and it really didn’t make much of a difference in our testing though, so we would definitely not recommend buying the 2x Revolution because of this feature.

The ProHeat 2x Revolution also performed quite poorly in our suction tests. It was measured at only 0.73 kPa at the nozzle. Recall the average for all of the carpet cleaners we tested was 1.89 kPa.

The ProHeat 2x Revolution was also only an average performer in our upright stain test. It took 46 total passes to clean vs 40 passes for the TurboClean XL and 36 passes for the smaller TurboClean.

The 2x Revolution is also priced significantly higher – usually in the mid to high $200 range.

Taking all of these factors into account, we generally don’t recommend this model.

Revolution HydroSteam Pet

The Bissell HydroSteam is roughly the same size as the ProHeat 2x Revolution with exactly the same measured path width – 10”.

The Hydrosteam uniquely adds steam in addition to soap and water to clean. And this functionality absolutely made a significant difference in our upright stain testing.

The Hydrosteam does not have much measured suction. It was measured to only have 0.39 kPa of suction at the nozzle. That’s less than any of the other models we’ve discussed so far.

Despite low suction, the Hydrosteam still performed very well in our upright stain test though, because it adds steam when it cleans.

The Hydrosteam performed best cleaning up syrup stains. It cleaned the caramel syrup stain faster than any other carpet cleaner we tested. And it tied for first cleaning up the chocolate syrup stain as well.

The Hydrosteam took only 35 total passes to clean all of the stains in our stain test. This score is well below that of the ProHeat 2x Revolution (46) and well below the average score of 45 as well.

On the negative side of things the Hydrosteam does use a lot of water to clean. It adds steam when its cleaning and that steam comes from the water you add to its clean water reservoir. So you do need to refill this tank quite frequently. And you also have to empty its dirty water tank very frequently.

The Hydrosteam also leaves carpet wetter after cleaning than any other carpet cleaner we tested. The strip of carpet the Hydrosteam cleaned was measured at a moisture level of 29%. The average for this test was 27%.

The bottom line is that the Hydrosteam cleans very well, but it needs to use a lot of water to clean, which definitely comes with some downsides as well.

We generally don’t recommend this model. If you’re looking for a more premium option we recommend that you consider the next model we’ll talk about instead.

Big Green Machine

The last Bissell we tested was the Big Green Machine. The “Machine” is much larger, heavier, and more expensive than all of the other Bissells I’ve talked about so far.

But, it was the absolute best performer in our upright stain test. It performed better than any other Bissell and it performed better than any carpet cleaner from any other brand. It took only 30 total passes to clean all of the stains in our upright stain test. And it was the only carpet cleaner that was able to completely clean the tomato sauce stain. Every other cleaner we tested left come light staining after 10 passes. The Machine completely cleaned this stain in 7 passes.

The Machine also has the highest tested suction as the nozzle of any carpet cleaner we tested. It was measured at 3.72 kPa vs an average of 1.89 kPa.

The Machine also left carpet drier after cleaning than any other carpet cleaner we tested, with a measured moisture reading of only 24% vs an average of 27%.

The Machine also doesn’t use a lot of water to clean and it has very large water tanks, so it can cover a very large area before you need to refill or empty its water tanks.

The only real negatives for the Big Green Machine are its size, weight, and price.

If you have a place to store it, if you can manage its size and weight, and you have the budget for it, the Machine gets our highest recommendation as the best carpet cleaner we’ve tested overall.