BISSELL® Big Green® PET PRO Carpet Cleaner, 3288

During the market fall of 2008 I decided to buy a house in Tampa, Florida. The house was in pretty good condition with the exception of the carpets. Before we moved in we had the whole house carpeted areas professionally cleaned but after we moved in the light cream carpets started looking grey. I have hired various pros the last 5 years only to be told that the carpets could never be cleaned completely and having to live with this or just change them. In between professional clean ups I have been using my Hoover Professional carpet cleaner I bought about 10 years ago (I do not remember the model but it was a SIX brush unit). It did a decent job cleaning but heavy traffic areas always looked greyer than the rest and so we decided to buy some rugs to cover them up. Nothing I would do or anyone else made those areas look better. Lately I started thinking seriously changing the carpets for good, a job easier said than done in my house if you could see the stuff I have collected over the years. Desperate for a solution I came across ads and started researching various carpet cleaners from 150 bucks all the way to several thousand (our of curiosity of course!). I saw the Bissell Big Green and read as many reviews as I could at amazon and other sites. Even saw videos in youtube. Half convinced I finally decided to take the plunge thinking that if this would not work I could send the machine back to amazon. The unit came and I was surprised by its size and heft. My Hoover was supposed to be a pro model and did cost me around 350 bucks 10 years ago if I remember well. Still, the Bissell is bigger and heavier by close to 20 lbs. Anyway, I prepared the machine and started working on the worst areas in the house. After working for about 15 minutes I was astonished to see that those got cleaned up like never before since I moved in this house. I had used my Hoover last weekend but the Bissell was cleaning areas that the Hoover could not even touch cleaning. The water extracted after clean up was black and filthy looking like I had never cleaned out these areas before. Even areas that looked clean now looked like new with my new machine. Another surprise was just how effective and superior the cleaning solution 2X Ultra that came with the machine is compared to competitive products. I run out of the Bissell cleaning solution and had to use some of the stuff I had on hand (two different brands). The difference was huge and the effort to get the same results was by far bigger. Go figure! I ordered a big bottle of the 2X Ultra which I received today. The carpet areas I have cleaned so far look like new and the carpet feels like it is rejuvenated somehow. All in all here are some observations and myth basters: 1. The Big Green is big and heavy. You will feel it in your arms and back after prolonged usage. Take your time and be careful. 2. The clean water and dirty water tanks are HUGE. This speeds up cleaning time by avoiding frequent stops for replenishing and clean up. 3. Clean up of the Big Green is a dream! The Hoover could never be cleaned completely due to its design. The Big Greens dirty water container comes in two pieces very easy to clean with tap water. Just do the clean up as soon as you get done using the unit. 4. Some people claim the machine to be made cheap! Nothing is further from the truth. The plastic used in this unit is heavy and the machine looks like it will last for a very long time. 5. This is not an easy unit to use in hard to reach areas. Open areas are best for this. I had to move many furniture for effective cleaning. 6. Use the Bissell 2X Ultra liquid for best results. My comparisons with two different and very well known brands were very educating. 7. The unit creates a lot of the fur balls digging lint form the carpet. You will have to pick those up by your hand. Also the brushes in the bottom get clogged after heavy use. Make sure you turn the machine over (after removing the liquid containers) and clean them regularly. This shows just how well the machine cleans your carpet. 8. I have used several brands of commercial rental cleaners. Also I have seen many other so called professional machines used in this house the last 5 years. The Bissell BEATS them ALL and by a long shot. I really works. 9. NO! I never managed to clean a heavily soiled area by one or two passes like in some videos. You have to work the machine to get results and this is what I did. Multiple passes and plenty of liquid. Dry thoroughly afterwards! Try the unit and you will see by yourself. Just follow the instructions and be amazed. If for any reason you do not like it then just send it back to amazon and get done with it. I am keeping this baby for good! My carpets never looked better. This has really saved me thousands in new carpet for the time being. Cheers

I am a 3 fur baby owner with a carpeted living room stairs and hallway. In the process of buying this home. Until the papers are signed, I need to have a clean carpet!! Having 3 dogs, accidents happen. I was using the Bissell petpro steam cleaner. I have been using them (yes them- I own 3). Using these machines 3 sometimes 4 times a week. Having a living room over 600 sq feet.. it was worth $$. They all worked well. I needed something to work AMZING!!! this is the AMAZING machine!! The carpet is almost immediately dry, or damp. It is my new go to!! ! I was worried about weight but it rolls pretty easy Large tank is a big plus! I would highly recommend, and while not the cheapest carpet cleaner out there, I find it basically works like a professional. Thank you Bissell!!!

This is my second Bissel carpet cleaner-had a smaller machine that heated water. This one uses hot tap water and blows warm air out bottom of machine. Don’t see this as impacting performance. My initial reaction is holy cow, this thing is easy to use and works exceptionally well-exceeds expectations. Easy to load/unload water in kitchen sink. Handle pivots for comfortable cleaning use and folds for compact storage. I had the carpet cleaned when I moved into this house 2-3 years ago. I have a golden retriever and viszla, so muddy paw prints are common. I just hit those with vacuum(Dyson animal ) and seemed like that was good, but I now believe that just blends the dirt into carpet or I don’t vacuum often enough. I went over each strip twice forward and back holding water button, then a final slow forward and back without water button. Then I moved over half machine width and repeated across room. It should need only a single pass in future if I don’t wait 2-3 years. It got all the stains out too by going back and forth a few times without pretreating. One was even a human puke stain from like a year ago. Haven’t tried the upholstery/stair wand, but that looks good. I finished a tank of water last night and emptied machine today. I poured out the hot chocolate looking water slowly and there was a thin layer of MUD on bottom of tank!! This thing really sucks in a good way.

I have hired carpet cleaning companies and nothing cleans and gets up stains as good as the big green machine. I use to rent this machine from Lowe’s every 6 months but finally decided to buy one of my own. Best carpet cleaner for pets and high traffic area carpets. Love it

This machine is amazing, the answer to my clean carpet dreams! We have 3 German Shepherds and a Carolina dog in an almost 4,000 sq ft home where the entire upstairs is carpeted. I’m pretty OCD about cleanliness and every since we built this home 2 years ago I’ve been in a constant battle with all this carpet. I’ve been using the Bissell Pro Heat Revolution but was in desperate need for something with more cleaning power. After reading reviews, I decided to make the investment…and I am so thrilled that I did!! Yes this machine is big and heavy, but its a fair trade off for what you get in return. No more going over stains or puppy urine spots 4 and 5 times, this bad boy does the job the first time around. I still pre-treat tougher stains but I haven’t had one yet that this shampooer hasn’t worked on. Best investment I’ve made in a long time!!!

I loved my Hoover but decided rather than rent a commercial cleaner I’d just buy it and the price seemed reasonable. Did some research and the Bissell rated well. It cleans well and pulls the water out so the carpet is dry within 2 days. It will pay for itself. I’m pleased.

I just got this machine. Previously I had a blue rug doctor, with attachments. I had read the reviews on this machine, they were great, rightly so. The rug doctor with attachments was noisier an option and since this came with the attachments, was less $$, went forward and back, along with the reviews...why not? I am so lucky to have gotten this and not the rug doctor again. This is less cumbersome, does a better job and moves in both directions!!! Seriously, by pass the rug doctor and get this. Fyi I had my rug doctor 4 yrs, very happy to have this machine now!!!

Hi, If you are in a big hurry, skip this review, it is long and involved, written by a guy who has cleaned carpets in many houses (mine and as a landlord) for many years - and is a retired engineer. Spoiler Summary - Super sturdy, heavy and semi-hard to pull because it is sucking down so hard pulling up dirty water and dampness. I like it. Introduction - I have owned a half dozen or more carpet cleaners for 20+ years, mostly lower priced Hoovers. This is a review after buying this Bissell and using it for 3000 square feet and two sets of carpeted stairs.I chose it after reviewing many alternatives focusing on the suction capability. Many shampooers leave the carpet pretty wet, even after secondary dry passes that dont pull much of the water out. This not only leaves dampness, but dirty water you are trying to remove. First Blush - Sturdy delivery box, and sturdier machine. This machine looks more industrial than many lower priced ones - more like something you would rent at a grocery or rental place.No assembly required - nice long cord, large tanks to allow you to keep going. Set up - As I dragged this upstairs, I realized this is significantly heavier than others I have owned. But do-able (I am 140 pounds, 60+ years old now). You have to mix the solution into the water. Usage - The instructions say to push away and pull back a strip while releasing solution, then repeat the push/pull without solution (dry mode). I repeated these steps in really black or high traffic areas. Doing so with my carpets, which looked okay, yielded almost coal black return tank water with dirt in the bottom of the tank. I did this washing, then, per room, I repeated the same steps as above with clear water for a complete rinse cycle. The water looked less dirty, but I called that good enough. Result - These carpets look better than they have in a long time. I am impressed. Pluses - (1) The machine is very heavy duty, so are the tanks. It sucks very well. Once I didnt seat the receiving tank well so suction was compromised, I pulled back 3 feet and thought wow, this thing has just gotten way easier to pull. Then I reseated the tank and felt again the strong resistance to pulling return. (2) I am an anal engineer. On one rinse cycle, after the carpet was damp from washing, I measured the amount of water I spit out and the amount that was sucked back in. The machine pulled back around 75% of what it laid out. You may think, wow, I would have guessed that you would get back all you lay down. No, you do not, with any cleaner, as it seeps into the carpet. But this 75% was way more than I have seen in the past. Plus, my carpets dried in 1/2 the time. Minuses - This thing is pretty heavy and pulls hard. I dont think my 105 pound 60+ year old wife could lug it up the steps, or use it for long. Other - It would be nice if the soap was separate, so you could toggle between wash and rinse. It is not, you put two tank capfulls of solution in the tank. I got around this by working with the solution, then, as mentioned above, repeated with plain water.It would be nice if you could turn the beater brush on and off, to give the carpet a break when you are just trying to suck up the solution. Oh well. You do have to keep an eye on this spinning disc on the top that indicates solution flow, to tell when you are out of solution, as the tank is so heavy duty, you cant easily see the level as you use it. No big deal, as this spinning beanie disk is in your line of sight as you work. Overall - I like this unit and am glad I bought it, and it works better than the last 5 - 10 units I have purchased.

The most important adjetive for this machine is, AMAZING! First, Id like to recommend anyone researching this or any product... Read reviews. The good and the bad! Then, look for the trends in those reviews and from there, determine for YOU what is important versus what is not important. A handful of bad reviews that involve complaining about things that have nothing to do with the product specifically (i.e. packaging, delivery, etc) or a small percentage of reviews that have minor breaks or other minor problems versus the hundreds or better yet, thousands of great reviews on the same product, those bad reviews may need to be taken lightly. Unless, of course, those things are important to you. Do consider this. It doesnt matter how a product is made (assembly line or hand made), there will ALWAYS be faults. No matter the company or how good the product is overall. Obviously, the fewer problems the better but if you are seeing hundreds or thousands of good reviews to a few dozen or so negative, then that would be a reasonable percentage of errors with any good to great product. I know some people will have multiple bad experiences with the same product where others have no issues. There are a multitude of reasons that could happen but look for the overall, not just that one review. That said, I recommend and do this myself, but when looking for trends, if the bad reviews are all because something breaks but maybe its a different piece each time, then there may be an obvious trend. I would possibly take that into consideration. It may not make my decision for me, but the trend of what users say about the product is what Im looking for and its paid off for me quite well. Bottom line of what Im trying to say is, dont just look at one or two reviews and dont just look at the good or the bad, but rather review as best as you are comfortable with on both ends of the spectrum and decide what trends you find and how those trends impact your decisions. For me, reading actual buyers/users reviews are better in almost all circumstances then any lab testing or any company that does product reviewing. With that, I have started my research with company reviews, but in the end, WERE the end user! It is our perspective and experience that matters most. Id rather gain real world end user perspective then read an article that may or may not be paid for to make a statement one way or the other. On to my review. I have to say this first. When I was researching and reading reviews, my first thought, when I decided I was gonna make this purchase, was I hope my money doesnt go to waste, but if I get even one great cleaning, that is better than I could pay any over priced professional with a oversized vaccum in their van, that doesnt even lift out the dirt but just wets the floor and kinda cleans. Then ITS WORTH IT. I mean not to offended any professional out there but simple soaping the floor and suctioning it up isnt cleaning. Thats multiple experiences and eventually, history doesnt lie. Now, I did follow the recommendation of at least one reviewer in this review group that doubled up on the solution, and it worked. Im not recommending that for you. Just telling you my experience and what worked for me. Now I know you saw the pictures and probably felt ill just looking at that floor. Obviously, we thought so too. Its disgusting and thus we purchased the Big Green Machine. We can compare this unit to the many other ways weve tried to keep carpet clean in companies paid and products purchased and nothing else has come close to this. We have SEVERAL pets to which I wont mention how many but I will say I dont have enough fingers to count them all. We love our fur babies and other pets. We also like having a clean floor and clean house. The floor is the biggest battle in our household. Nothing is more off putting then walking into someones house and it wreaks of animal urine. But when its your own home and everytime you come home it smells. YUCK! Multiply that smell by 5 and and that is what anyone else coming into your home smells. Weve been there. We were just there. We didnt want to host anything because of the floors. But now, I can very happily and more than confidently say that weve found our cure. This machine is just straight up, Amazing. Ive never had a professional even come close to cleaning carpets as well as this BIG Green does. If I could find a professional to do this it would almost absolutely cost more than this machine, but I can get multiple uses out of this, as long as well cared for. You can see it for yourself in my posted pics. That dirty floor there is several months of pet stains because the moment we moved into this house my first dog discovered the location of the previous tenants dogs place within less than 5 minutes being in this home. We even waited outside with our dogs before going in to this house for the first time, while they all did their business and still she started this disgusting trend. So lets chalk it up to this. More than a handful of household free roaming pets and 11, thats right, ELEVEN months of this. So heres what we did. Machine arrived as quoted at time of purchase. That very next available day off, Saturday, I carefully went through the included manual and honestly, this machine looks like it could or should be difficult, but it truly isnt. Very easy to unpack, assemble, dis-assemble, and re-assemble again. Thats important as you will have to empty this unit and refill with clean solution every one gallon. VERY easy to push/pull. Dont leave solution in tank or in machine. Keep all parts clean and dry when in storage. Thats how Ive best kept any product that uses liquids with electrical devices. Never store liquids in the machine or attachments when not in use. Unfortunately sometimes that means tossing any leftover portions unless you wish to find another way to store the liquid. Diluted solution is not recommended to be put back in with concentrate as number one, it likely wont fit, and number two, youll ruin the concentration level of the original solvent. Next, I went to work on the floor. Now, I do have to say many people and these products suggest to pretreat. I did NOT pretreat. I wanted to see how this product (with double amount solution) would actually hold up. I started with a small space (4 x 4 landing) and immediately could see the difference. Then when I started the first trip down the hallway, my wife suggested to take before and after photos. Thats what you find above. My process with doing this was to make a forward pass (I divided the hallway into 3 sections. Moving side to side the up. Closest, middle, furthest). While moving forward, I moved the machine steady at about 1 inch a second or slower. I know that seems slow but look at it. It works well. Then on the backwards pass/pull, I moved at the same pace where the carpet was heavily soiled, but where it wasnt pet stained I went about 3 inches per second. This may sound slow but consider that you have to let the solution get into the carpet and let the machine do its job. No product can do that if you rush through it. And dont force it. Let it do it job. You just steer it and place solution accordingly. On the forward pass, I held the trigger to spray the entire distance, then on the backwards pull I only held the trigger where stains resided. The suction is at the very front of the unit and collects everything on the backwards pull. Where heavy solution was applied, another slow pass, without pulling the trigger, will gather up about 95% of the moisture. That said I did make 2-3 passes forward and back with applying solution where the stains were prominent. Which was a strong majority of the hallway. The first pass really did the job better then great but considering the nature of the stains, I wanted to be more than thorough. This hallway measures about 4 wide by 23 long and took about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. But, boy was it worth the time, money, and effort. The bedroom is my young daughters who struggles still with door knobs and thus her room is open for her, by which the pets in the house took full advantage. Still not good but they did keep most of there spotting to the hall way. Her room was just as, if not more important than the hallway to get cleaned for her benefit and sanitary health. Once I was done with the cleaning process, I emptied the dirty and clean water tanks and rinsed thoroughly. Then I put about 1/2 gallon of plain water (No solution) in the fresh water tank and ran that over the clean floor by spraying the water just as if I were cleaning the floor. I didnt use the full half gallon. I ran enough water through until I felt the solution was pretty well cleaned out. Probably a total of 1-2 minutes of total trigger squeeze. This was to allow fresh water to run through the machine to clear out the solvents in the lines that carry the solution from the clean tank to the sprayer nozzle. I cant confirm this was or was not long enough. Just going on experience to avoid damage of the unit while in storage. Once that was all done. The carpet was completely dry by the time we went to bed. So probably 4 hours or less. Its been 2 days since I did this and spots have NOT magically returned. This is a major win. I will try to update this post after a total 1 week has passed to see if it still holds. If so, Id call this an absolute winner, where other products have completed the job or professionals have left and within two days spots have returned. That has not yet occurred in this case. Also, to resolve the pet issue, we placed a very solid metal baby gate to block the dogs from going back upstairs without us, during the day, until its all our bed time. We work from home, so the dogs hang with us throughout the day. They sleep. We work. They have always and continue to go out at least 8 or more times daily or whenever they sit at the door and whine. Love em, but now we can live easier without never disappearing pet stains. Weve been renting in this house for almost a year and in our previous home we sold, we had hard floor, for a reason, and will do the same when we buy again in the next 6 months or less. Clean floor + landlord = No loss. Happy research hunting and good luck with your floors.