Buying the Right Vacuum

Product Review: Bissell Lift Off Revolution Pet

I was in the market to buy a new vacuum cleaner and I didn't want just any vacuum. I wanted one that works and works well, especially on very long cat hair. I have two Maine-coon like cats and vacuuming is a job we take very seriously in the household. It's the one chore we do regularly (besides cleaning the bathrooms.)

We had two vacuums and one stopped working about a month ago. I contemplated getting the Dyson Animal, however at $500 a punch (and I don't care how much you save by not replacing filters) I thought that was a bit steep. However, if I were assured greatness, I was willing to splurge. There were several positive reviews on amazon and epinions, however the one major draw back was that it didn't always work on different types of area rugs. I have 3 area rugs, so this was an important thing. I decided to go to +++++ and see what else I could find that might not be as great as the Dyson, but also wouldn't cost me so much money.

I checked out the Hoovers, the Eurekas, the Dysons and I found a Bissell in a big box that was plastered with a large picture of a sheepdog head. It comes equipped with The Turbo Pet Brush, especially for houses with animals. A sucker for a cute face, the sheep dog sold me. It must be the perfect tool I need to keep my carpet hair and dander free.

Style: It's a very pretty royal blue. It's pretty heavy though. I read lots of review with people complaining about vacuum weights and thought these people were just complainers, but it's definitely noticeable when a vacuum has extra weight.

Ease of Use: It was easy to put together out of the box but that is where things went downhill. Just pushing it around on regular wall to wall carpet is easy enough. Nothing noteworthy here. The problem becomes when I try to use the attachments. The flexible tube that you detach is way too short and doesn't give you much room to do anything. The Bissell's solution to this is that the canister detaches from the base unit. This is handy for steps and other things, but you would think it would be fine as is to just do the sofas. This is the hardest job with the vacuum.

The Turbo Pet Brush: Tried vacuuming the cat tree. Took 60 seconds for the brush to stop working. I admit our cat tree is pretty thick with hair, but it was worthless. It took me so long to do the sofas last weekend (after unclogging the brush) that I wasn't sure the brush had any suction. The hose extender thing also has a locking mechanism which is weird and doesn't really lock into place. Between that and the unflexible vacuum hose, I was not happy.
I did a test tonight. I broke a pretzel on my sofa to see if the Turbo brush had any suction. It blew some of it away but it did pick it up. I had to make sure it still worked and thought this would be an easy test.

I'm still not sure that the vacuum picks everything up versus just moving it around and I'm constantly pulling the hair out of the main rotating brush. After reading the Internet reviews where everyone was astounded by how much it picked up, I was expecting more. Now I think those people just never vacuumed and I do a better job cleaning then I think. The canister (it's a bagless!) is pretty small and easy to use, but never came close to filling which is surprising.

I do think overall it's better than the two vacuums I currently own (one that no longer works, although I think is just a loose wire and my old Eureka), however I think the sheepdog marketing is totally unworthy! The question is to return it, or suck it up and keep it.
Anybody else have this vacuum with opinions? Any thoughts on the Dyson? Let me know.
Rating: C+