Bissell TurboClean Review

Analysis

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

The TurboClean is one of three different compact carpet cleaners we tested (the other two are both Hoovers – the Hoover PowerDash Pet and Hoover PowerDash Pet+). All three of these compact cleaners have exactly the same measured suction at the base – 58 inches of water lift. The TurboClean has the highest measured suction at the nozzle – 2.4 kPa (vs 2.28 kPa for the PowerDash Pet and 1.93 kPa for the PowerDash Pet+). Note that the averages listed above are for all 16 carpet cleaners we tested, not just compact cleaners.

The table above describes the number of back and forth passes to clean each stain. The less passes it takes to clean a stain, the better the score.

Like most other carpet cleaners we tested, the TurboClean also left behind some light tomato sauce staining after 10 passes. This result (light staining after 10 passes) is denoted by the number “11” in the table above.

The TurboClean completely cleaned all other stains, and cleaned all of them faster than average. It was especially quick cleaning the peanut butter stain, which is impressive, as several much more expensive cleaners had quite a bit of trouble with this stain. The Shark series of cleaners, for example, couldn’t even completely clean this stain after 10 back and forth passes.

The urine result is also impressive. It took the TurboClean only 1 back and forth pass to clean this stain. Most other cleaners required 2 passes, and so the TurboClean was able to clean this stain almost twice as fast as average.

Overall, the TurboClean was able to very good results in this test.

After the stain test we measured the moisture level of the strip of carpet that was cleaned. And the TurboClean definitely left the carpet wetter than average.

We then ran the cleaner over the same strip of carpet for 3 additional “dry” passes. After these three dry passes the TurboClean was able to dry the carpet to an average level of dryness.

The TurboClean is only able to cover a very small area before you need to refill its clean tank (with soap and water) and empty its dirty water tank (of dirty water).

This is definitely a weakness for this particular model.

You have to use a screwdriver to remove the TurboClean’s brushroll, and so you’ll usually just clean around it without removing it after washing carpet. Thankfully, there is sufficient space around the brushroll to clean the compartment around it without much difficulty.

You can easily remove the front nozzle to clean it.

And you can easily clean the inside of the dirty water tank once you take it apart for cleaning. The bottom of the tank comes off and the float inside the tank can be removed for easy cleaning.

Overall, the TurboClean is not very difficult to clean itself.

You cannot connect a hose to this cleaner to use a spot cleaning tool. All three inexpensive compact carpet cleaners we tested do NOT have spot cleaning functionality.

Other Notes and Features

All three compact carpet cleaners we tested, including the TurboClean, have a very narrow cleaning path – for this cleaner and the the others it was measured to be about 7.5” wide. Most full size cleaners have a measured cleaning path that’s about 10” wide. Note that these are not manufacturer specifications. These are our measurements across the brushroll(s) of the cleaner.

Verdict

Our bottom line recommendations.

The TurboClean is not a perfect carpet cleaner. It has a very narrow cleaning path, it can’t be used with a spot cleaning tool, and it has a very limited area of coverage before you need to refill and empty its water tanks.

That being said, it was the best compact carpet cleaner we tested. In our upright stain test, it performed very similarly to the Hoover PowerDash Pet cleaning through the center of its cleaning path, but it cleaned along the edges of its cleaning path much better than the Hoover. It also performed significantly better in this test than the PowerDash Pet+.

If you’re looking for a light, compact, inexpensive carpet cleaner, we currently recommend the TurboClean as the best option on the market.