BISSELL® Big Green® PET PRO Carpet Cleaner, 3288

When we moved into our apartment five years ago, the carpet was brand new. However, between several cats missing the litter box and leaving hairball presents, and a husband who is so accident prone he practically needs a sippy cup, it had gotten so bad that walking around inside made the soles of my feet disgustingly black. I bought a Bissell Spot Bot several years ago to try to curb the problem, but, as the name suggests, its not enough to care for larger areas. Every weekend I would debate renting out a Rug Doctor machine, but at this point the whole apartment needs refreshed and I didnt want to hassle with renting and returning a machine every weekend for the next two months. Instead, I invested into this behemoth, and (at least so far) Im very glad I did. Its very easy to use, easy to clean out, and easy to refill again. It also came with 4 sample bottles of their Professional cleaning formula. One tank full of water uses less than one of those small sample bottles, so your first 4-5 tanks are basically free. The tank is large enough that I can make several soaking, deep-cleaning sweeps over about half of a 10x10 room. A casual refresh of the carpet probably wouldnt even use a full tank. I can clean and refill the machine in about ten minutes, so getting an entire room done doesnt take long at all. Longest part of the whole process has actually been moving furniture around! Photos show one room before and after cleaning, including a section with sticky soda spots, and a section that had a dark gray patch of dirty foot traffic. The suction is great. Making a few suction-only sweeps over a freshly cleaned area leaves the carpet dry enough that its totally air-dried after just a couple of hours. After the carpet has dried, Ill do a quick run over it with the vacuum to fluff up the fibers, and the carpet feels brand new again. It is a relatively heavy machine, and because of the length of the handle its not very useful for right spaces. If youre older or have back/shoulder issues it can be very difficult to use the machine. If youre a couch potato like I am, prepare yourself for a decent workout. It also dont clean flush into corners, so be prepared to get on your hands and knees with the house attachment to scrub at the 1-2 margin along the walls, if those are in need of being cleaned. Be careful not to overspray with the hose onto latex paint, as the cleaner will cause it to bubble and peel. If you have pet urine stains I highly recommend pre-existing treating with Natures Miracle, especially if its soaked through to the foam layer. Between what well save on our security deposit, and what we would have spent in renting a machine, this purchase has already paid for itself about three times over. Ive read some concerning things about the longevity of this machine. After six tanks over three sessions its still like new. Ive bought Bissell products for decades because theyve been sturdy, reliable, and performed well, and its it hope that this machine will do the same, but only time will tell.

I come from an old professional carpet cleaners family. Steam cleaning is the best way to clean carpets. So I was skeptical about the cost, quality, and would I be getting another machine which would probably fall apart in a year. I read all of the reviews and felt that that many people however, couldnt be wrong. I have owned 2 Bissells cleaners and each one spewed water out after about 1 year and the roller brush broke after 2 uses. The carpet cleaning wasnt great, it was bulky to store, the water tanks were small, cleaning chemicals by Bissell not that great with those machines. Both machines cost $300 EACH!!!. So understand that I was Leary of spending $400 for this machine. I took the Big Green for a test spin for the first time today. I picked the dirtiest walkways in my home. WOW!!!! I am impressed! My husband reloads ammunition and contently tracks filth in from the garage. After trying unsuccessfully to get him to take his shoes off I had had enough. Based on past Bissell cleaners I figured this was the last time around for a carpet cleaning machine before I called in a professional. While I found that the comments that the machine was bulky, hard to push, noisy, to name a few, this machine is nothing compared to the other machines Ive had. Try rental cleaners (Rug Doctor)and see what bulky, noisy etc. is, and you still wont get clean carpets. I found it was not hard to push at all (I have a really bad back too) and as for bulky, not at all! For the work this does and not having to continually having to fill and dump water tanks, I found that the larger tanks, which hold more, are much easier on my back. I also found that you dont waste as much cleaning products. I also liked the way the machine folds to store. Now for how it cleans. I will put this machine up against any professional job, any day. Not only did the filth from my husbands shoes come out but the carpet looked new, fresh, and best of all, clean. Smells nice too. I used Bissells products with this machine and found them to work much better and did great job. I would say that Bissell hit the bulls eye with this machine. There is a little back wash that is easily picked up with the Big Green. The backwash was onto my white floor (was only a very small amount) tile and I cant tell you how dirty the little water amount on the tile was. It certainly told me that this machine works fantastic. I touched the carpet right after cleaning to see how wet the carpet was. I was very surprised that the carpet was barely damp. while it would be best to let it completely dry, you would be able to walk on it in about 1 hour. The only problem now is that I have to do the whole carpet because the traffic areas I tested are so bright and clean that the rest looks dull. If you want a professional cleaning without the constant cost and hassle of calling a professional, this is it. Would I buy this again in years to come? Absolutely!!! Finally a product that really does what it says it will do. I highly recommend spending the money to have this quality of clean. Thanks Bissell!!!!!!!! I will try to update this review as the months go by. That way I can time test the equipment. I am a happy camper for now! We did the rest to the carpet today. OMG, I couldnt believe the filth that came out of a my supposed clean carpet with our Bissell up rights. It made me sick! There is no way you can fake that kind of dirt in the dirty water container. My carpet looks brand new. Maybe even brighter than new. The hardest part was moving the large 3 piece sectional sofa out of the way. But was very glad we did as even under there the carpet had accumulated a lot of dirt. We have a rental house that a professional had cleaned after the tenant moved. It looks awful after they were done. So I guess our Big Green goes on a trip to re-clean that house. The carpet there is the same color as our house so I expect great things from this machine. A few suggestions I have: 1. Watch the pilling in the ports of the machine. I thoroughly cleaned each one after each water dump to make sure there was no clogging. We checked the rollers underneath when we were totally finished to be sure that they were cleaned up too. Dont expect this machine to vacuum for you. Do that first and again once the carpet is thoroughly dry to get up the pilling left by the machine. Even professional cleaners leave pilling behind so dont think that the machine is not doing its job. 2. While extracting water from the carpet, if the water is still slightly grayish, go over the carpet area again as it still need a little work and fine tuning. When the water is clear is when you have gotten all of the dirt out. For the first time of use, you may have to do this as you are going to be very surprised at how much dirt was in your carpets. Get it clean this first time and the next time you use this machine, you wont have so much work to do. I do agree that this machine needs room to maneuver but for average rooms 9 x 12 or bigger it great. Doing small closets with closet door rails is not practical for this machine. You would have to use the upholstery hose for those areas. I would also recommend using Bissells Professional Cleaning Solution with the machine. Especially if your carpets are really bad. Dont be afraid to go over the really bad spots several times to get out all of the dirt. This machine extracts so much water that you dont over wet the carpet. Just extract several times more to be sure that you dont leave to much water behind. Watch the water flow over the top of the head to gauge how much water it is extracting. When you dont see much coming out of the carpet at this point, you should be able to move on to the next area. Drying time about 2-3 hours. Professionals put paper down and the carpet seems to be damp for 6 or more hours. So this is an improvement even over them. All in all, and after spending a total of $600 in machines (2) that dont do the job, this machine is well worth it. Besides you will pay at least that for a professional job, that may not even be as good, in just one cleaning.

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 really like this product. The one thing I wasn’t happy about. From the very first use the flow meter leaked and leaked enough to making a cleanup not 100%. Once i had to replace the flow meter it hasn’t leaked & has cleaned the carpets like I had hoped for

For really dirty carpet it takes a few passes as others said but it actually works. The pet urine cleaner mix gets the visible pee stains out and gets the stink out. The cleaner gets pretty dirty and needs cleaned before storing.

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 wanted to get a real professional carpet cleaner. I seem to go through those cheaper $200 and $300 ones every year or 2. They do not seem to hold up. In searching I really htought I wanted a rug doctor since I have rented them several times and if hat many people use them and they still work great , that has to say something. I was reluctant to get this over the rug doctor that I know works well. I ended up getting the Bissel due to the arm folding down for storage. Works really good. I am not disappointment at all and the arm going down for storage is incredibly helpful! I would definitely recommend this carpet cleaner

I’ve owned this product for 2.5 years now and have been very pleased with its high level of durability and strong suction ability despite nearly weekly usage over this time. I have learned a few tips that are worth sharing: Cleaning Solution: Don’t waste a ton on the cleaning solution. Do buy a bissell approved nonfoaming solution but you don’t need to add it each time you treat the carpet. I don’t notice any benefit having Febreeze in the Solution as opposed to spraying the carpet after treatment. Pre-treat Carpet: Don’t treat dirt laden carpet if you can help it. You’ll take twice as long and you’ll have thick mud at then bottom of your top bin to clean later. Instead, Vacuum thoroughly first before starting the green machine. Spray stains first and let them soak before taking a hand brush to them. Consider going over the carpet first with warm water in the machineand then use the bissell soap added with it and then go over a third time with water alone. Use soft or filtered water. You’ll notice the carpet is softer on your feet after treating it with water without the soap or very little soap. Stains: In areas with stains pretreat with Folex a nonfoaming stain remover or add folex to the water. Careful with the folex if it’s heavily soiled carpet. The solution will turn dirt and dust into neutral on contact. Therefore spot treating carpet you don’t intend to fully clean will leave unsightly lighter spots looking like stains. The folex website suggests adding folex:water 1:4 or 1:6 to the machine. For tough stains my suggestion is scrubbing with the Magic Stain Remover Stick and lifting with some warm water. Hot water by the way isn’t recommended as it can actually set some stains into carpet. Carpet Edges: The machine shouldn’t be driven straight over carpet edges for two reasons. One, the rollers might pull up the end of the carpet or on a rug edge cause it to curl. Or the machine will sound high pitched and stop suctioning. You can turn it off and then on to resume. I found that going over carpet edges at a very slight angle prevents both of these problems. Drying the carpet: I notice the House gets very muggy after a carpet treatment. Open the doors and windows. Then run the heater and AC alternately 3 times for an hour and sleep well the first night instead of waiting for the next day for the carpet to get dry. Spray position: Keep in mind the spray comes out the machine just in front of the rear wheels. This means you’d do better to spray driving forward and suctioning on the return pull back towards you. In heavily soiled areas I go slowly, there is no reason to do a whole lot of superficial sprays and vacuums when I can spend more time and do a deeper clean. I’ve had only one problem with the machine. It was a leak at the clean water indicator. I had it serviced under warranty by an approved repair shop with no hassle. I didn’t start using the hand wand until about a year in and found it very helpful for stained areas. It seems like a hassle to use but it gives you the ability to put some elbow grease in certain spots without wasting time on a whole area. You can buy the head attachments when they wear down pretty cheap 6.39 on Amazon. The other trick is using a steam iron just for the steam before scrubbing and vacuuming an area.

The unit works great.

This is the best carpet machine I have owned! Completely worth every last penny. Life with kids is messy, our living room rug was absolutely disgusting. A once over with this, and a few times over the really dirty spots, and the rug looks almost new. I highly recommend!