So, things were pretty grubby, I will admit. I got really tired of fighting my ill-balanced dyson animal vac, my ecovacs kept dying when my housemate’s long hair would get tangled, and the various mops I had with washable pads were just not easy to use. Especially as a small woman with rheumatoid arthritis! Then I got this thing... and now I’m on a cleaning tear!
Pros:
Not having the cord is fabulous. And the machine clearly indicates in ten minute intervals how much charge is left so you can plan ahead. I know that half an hour isn’t very long, but it is more than enough for my small house.
Convenient start. It is pretty easy to set up to run each time. You pop in one of the two brush rollers (so yesterday’s can finish drying, yes you too may be inspired to give this a quick run around your high traffic areas daily), add the brush cover and the dirty water tank, add the clean water and cleaner and off you go. Everything clicks into place in a satisfying manner.
Lightweight and quiet. For a vacuum, I’d say it is pretty quiet. And somehow the noise it makes bothers me less. The noise of the old vac was really something I hated. When full of water it has some weight to it, obviously, but not a ton beyond that and the handles are good.
Easy to operate. There are a few things to get used to and remember, but it is easy enough to master. The trigger for more clean water is effortless to press and hold ao your fingers don’t cramp. The buttons are easy and decently placed, though I kinda wish the rug/hard floor button was not so easy to hit instead of power, but it isn’t like that hurts much. Most of the parts come apart and go back on easily even for arthritic hands, though the roller cover was a bit stiff and might have been tricky if I was having a bad flare. It seems to be getting a bit easier over time.
Storing after use is easy. You put it on the dock and hit a button and it will wash the roller for you. Then you pop that and the air filter out of it and put those in the provided rack to dry. Pour the satisfyingly revolting water down the toilet and rinse the tank and let it dry. Let it charge for tomorrow.
The cleaner is not bad. You are limited to their cleaner, but it does not have a strong odor and doesn’t make me sneeze. I think after your initial few cleans you could easily skimp on or skip the cleaner for most maintenance.
Suction is great. I only have hard floors, but this vac will pick up anything but ridiculously large or heavy debris. It is fantastic at cleaning up cat puke/hairballs. With a bit of finesse, it leaves the floor nearly dry, similar to damp mopping. So far (1month) I have no problems with pet or long, wirey human hair clogging it or getting excessively stuck on the roller. I would say it replaces a normal vac though I do keep a small hand vac with a nozzle for tight spaces.
Cons and tips:
Filter amnesia. Somehow, I found I kept forgetting to put the air filter back in which would result dirty water on the floor and it not drying the floor. I ‘fixed’ this by drying/storing the filter in top of the tank, not in the rack where I tended not to see it.
Edges are not perfect. Although going nose-in to an edge improves performance there is still a strip it doesn’t get. I just plan to let the robot vacuum get that and swipe it with a damp rag when needed.
Streaks. On a very, very smooth floor you can see some streaks when the light is just right. I think using distilled water might help if you are super fussy about that, but I’m just happy that the floor is soooo much cleaner than with a normal vac or mop.
Weird post-cleaning ritual. After running the brush cleaning cycle the instructions tell you to wipe the water out of the charger tray and they say this is to avoid corroding the contacts. This makes zero sense because those contacts are waaaay up in the handle. I suspect the manual was written to a beta model with the contacts on the tray. Anyhow, lifting it out of the tray and wiping then leaves you with a spot to wipe on your floor where the vac rested for this. Seems a silly oversight after making such an otherwise well-working product.
Doesn’t get under. Although it swivels nicely from side to side the vac does not ‘lay down’ as much as some others for getting under furniture. Again, I plan to mostly let the robot deal with those areas and occasionally shuffle furniture to get under the middle of the bed, etc. I’d rate that feature as a ‘C’ as it is OK, but not great.
Be sure to leave a few minutes charge on the machine to run the brush cleaner. If it is completely dead, you can’t perform that operation. Not a big deal if you pay a little attention, but you don’t want to forget and have things get moldy.
The brush is very gentle. This is a good thing and a bad thing. It is very easy on your floors, but if your house, like mine, started out pretty dirty it may take a few iterations to really get all the gunk. Likewise, I have some wood floors that are very old and worn with bad crevices and I found I needed to scrub them a bit with a stiff brush and some of the diluted bissel cleaner before using the bissel, but this was unusual circumstances and a one-time deeper clean.
Just buy it already! I hate cleaning, but this thing is kinda fun!
Made with chemicals safer for human health and the environment.
As certified by
U.S. EPA Safer Choice
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Safer Choice certified products are made with safer ingredients for the health of families, pets, workplaces, and the environment. Products have been evaluated by EPA scientists and every ingrediant must meet safety criteria for both human health and the environment while ensuring they meet performance requirements. Safer Choice is an EPA Pollution Prevention (P2) program, which includes practices that reduce, eliminate, or prevent pollution at its source, such as using safer ingredients in products.
