Bissell TurboClean Pet XL Review

Analysis

A step by step breakdown of the TurboClean Pet XL's performance.

The TurboClean Pet XL has relatively low measured suction at the base, the hose, and at the nozzle.

In this test we count the number of back and forth passes it takes to clean each stain. For example, it took 5 back and forth passes to clean the peanut butter stain, 7 passes to clean the ice cream stain, etc.

We only pushed and pulled each cleaner up to 10 times over each stain, so a number higher than 10 denotes that the cleaner did not completely clean the stain. The TurboClean Pet XL, for example, scored “11” for the tomato sauce stain, meaning it left a light stain after 10 passes. If it left a darker stain it would score “12” and so on and so forth.

In any case, leaving a light tomato stain was a fairly average result for this test. The TurboClean Pet XL completely cleaned all of the other stains in this test though.

Overall, its performance was better than average in this test.

After the stain test we measured the moisture level of the carpet that was cleaned, and the TurboClean Pet XL definitely left the carpet wetter than average.

We then ran the cleaner for three additional back and forth passes over the same strip of carpet, only extracting for these three passes (so these were three additional “dry” passes). After these three passes this model was able to dry the carpet to an average level of dryness.

The TurboClean Pet XL has a fairly large clean water tank, but it uses a lot of water to clean, so it has a limited area of coverage before you need to refill its clean tank with soap and water.

Based on how quickly its dirty tank filled up during testing we estimate it can only cover about 48 sq. ft. before you need to empty its dirty water tank. This is also a very small area of coverage compared to that of most other carpet cleaners we tested.

You cannot remove this cleaner’s brushrolls without using a screwdriver, so you’ll usually just wipe around them after washing carpet. Many competitors have brushrolls that remove much more easily so you can clean those brushrolls more easily and clean the compartment around them more easily.

We didn’t have any trouble removing this cleaner’s front nozzle to clean it.

And we didn’t have any trouble cleaning the inside of its dirty water tank. The whole float assembly can be removed from the tank which makes cleaning these components and the tank itself very easy to do.

Overall, the TurboClean XL could be slightly easier to clean if its brushrolls removed more easily but it’s not too difficult to clean overall.

One major difference between the TurboClean Pet XL and the standard TurboClean (other than the fact that the XL model is larger with a wider cleaning path and larger water tanks) is that the Pet XL model has a port to which you can connect a hose and spot cleaning tool (the smaller less expensive TurboClean doesn’t have this port).

The TurboClean Pet XL includes a 7 ft. hose and two spot cleaning tools – a 3 inch tough stain tool and a spraying crevice tool.

In our spot cleaning test we clean only three stains – and the TurboClean Pet XL garnered average results cleaning all three stains.

Other Notes and Features

One negative for the TurboClean Pet XL that you won’t see in these test results is that it has substantially worse build quality than more expensive Bissells like the ProHeat 2x Revolution and Hydrosteam. The TurboClean Pet XL’s build quality isn’t terrible, but its closer to that of cheaper models like the standard TurboClean than it is to something like the ProHeat 2x Revolution.

Otherwise, there really isn’t anything special or any special feature that stands out for this model.

Verdict

Our bottom line recommendations.

We categorize the TurboClean Pet XL as a “midrange” carpet cleaner, meaning it falls somewhere in-between cheaper units like the smaller and cheaper TurboClean and more expensive cleaners like the Bissell Hydrosteam.

Direct competitors to the TurboClean Pet XL include the Kenmore Revitalite and Hoover Powerscrub.

The TurboClean Pet XL did perform better than these competitors in our upright stain test. It cleaned most stains faster than these competitors. But, it uses a lot of water to clean, and so you can only clean a very small area with this model before you need to refill its clean tank and empty its dirty water tank.

It also leaves carpet wetter than average because it uses so much water to clean.

If these negatives aren’t a problem for you and you just want to buy a carpet cleaner that cleans up stains as fast as possible in this price range, then the TurboClean Pet XL is what you’re looking for.

Otherwise, if you’re looking for a more balanced cleaner there are better options out there.

We currently recommend the Hoover PowerScrub as the best midrange carpet cleaner we’ve tested. It doesn’t clean stains as fast as the TurboClean Pet XL but it can cover a much larger area before you need to refill and empty its water tanks, and it leaves carpet much drier after cleaning.

Again, the TurboClean Pet XL is only recommended if you’re looking for a cleaner that cleans stains as fast as possible at this price point and don’t care about other factors like area of coverage and dryness after cleaning.