Bissell ProHeat 2X Healthy Home Upright Deep Cleaner, 66Q4

5 Comments

1. Brad Willis says:

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   My carpet is ancient and due for replacement. While this Bissell carpet cleaner couldn’t remove years of wear, it did remove a surprising volume of dirt. At first, I didn’t reckon it was really doing all that much. But once I emptied out the tank, my God, what a filthy carpet I was walking on! The used water was a very dark gray bordering on black. Yuck!

   There’s a handy small spinning wheel icon on the base of the unit (aka the flow gauge) that tells you if everything’s going according to plot, or if you need to change the water, add cleaning fluid or some other issue. If it’s spinning, you’re in excellent shape. When it stops, you need to fill or empty the tank(s).

   The cleaner has 4 different “custom clean” settings. I mostly used the “normal clean” setting and then switched to “heavy traffic” for the dirtiest regions. The “Dry Aire” feature sends hot air to your carpet to aid in drying. As I write this, my living room is somewhat humid and the floor is damp. I don’t reckon it will take long to dry though.

   A small bottle of Bissell cleaning solution is included. Do yourself a favor and buy a larger bottle before this item arrives. You’ll go through it pretty quickly, so probably best to buy a decent sized refill in advance of delivery. Otherwise, you are flat-out going to run out of cleaning fluid before the job is done.

   So what’s not to like? Well, it’s somewhat heavy and bulky. For someone small and weaker, it might be a bit hard to go around. Obviously, it rolls on the carpet fine, so that’s not an issue. But it’s a huge unit and you probably need at least a small bit of muscle (but not too much) to use it properly. The tank filled with water might be a bit heavy for some as well. You carry it like a bucket, but toting around a bucket full of water and bending down to insert and remove the tank isn’t a simple thing for someone without a moderate amount of strength.

   Assembly was quite simple. You place the top half into the bottom half and secure it with 3 Phillips screws. Nothing too tough there. The tool rack requires a touch more attention. The illustration was not as clear as I would have liked and it took a bit of head scratching to figure out where a couple of tools sit on the rack. You’ll figure it out, but again the illustration could be clearer.

   While the top of the hose rack secures with a screw, the bottom does not. I noticed that one other reviewer said that the bottom of the rack (no screw to secure it) would not stay in place. I initially had the same problem. But, I looked at that bottom rack a bit closer and there’s a tab that needs to snap in place and if you don’t do it just right, it will keep falling off. Play with it and you’ll see what I mean. If that bottom hose rack is popping off, you probably haven’t installed it correctly. It’s not hard, but you need to slide the lower hose rack piece in just right so that it clicks and locks into place. It’s not just gravity that’s holding it in place, but that’s what you’ll reckon if you don’t do it right.

   The only other problems I had was that my knee and/or the cord kept knocking the hose off of the hose rack and onto the floor. I’m no engineer, but I reckon it could somehow be secured a bit better. Once, I knocked the hose off and then place it back on the rack. But, the head’s trigger was pushed on the stain brush, which I didn’t notice. By the time I learned that the button was pushed, my leg was very wet and the brush had soaked my wallet and remote control. Fortunately, they are fine, but keep an eye on that so you don’t spray cleaning fluid where you don’t want it. Also, the coiled power cord rests right next to the coiled hose and they interfere with each other. I can’t help but reckon that they could have designed this a bit better.

   I went back and forth as to whether to give this unit 4 or 5 stars. If you solely look at whether it does what you expect it to, it’s a 5 star item. It cleans your carpet well and gets out a lot of visible dirt. There are a few minor issues, but overall this is a nice carpet cleaner and it cleans very well. But, I knocked that hose off so many times either with my knee or the cord that I have to give it 4 stars.

   I reckon that this Bissell will go a long way towards keeping your carpets looking nice and potentially extending the life of your flooring. I recommend it, despite a few minor issues.
   
2. Naomi (Storm) says:

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   I had previously owned a Bissell ProHeat back in 2002 and felt that there was a lot of money invested in a cleaner that didn’t really show a lot of promise. When I went across the country, I didn’t feel much of a loss when the moving company accidentally “misplaced” the ProHeat. When I saw the newer 66Q4, I wanted to test it out in order to see if Bissell had made any marked improvements over their previous lines, and alas, there’s not a whole lot of change.

   For around $300, you’re paying for a couple of things. First off, you’re paying so that you can clean your carpet on your own time; no need to schedule a professional steam cleaning company to do it for you. You’re also paying for the clean that comes with “washing” the carpet instead of just vacuuming up the dust and dirt that’s accumulated between the fibers. Most professional steam cleaning companies charge around $100-200 for their services (obviously depending on the size of the house/apartment), so there is a lot to be said for just purchasing your own machine and cleaning when you need to. Unfortunately there has yet to be a single-unit device made that can match the power of the multi-thousand dollar units that the pro’s use. The ProHeat is no exception to that rule. So the question comes down to: Will the ProHeat work well enough that your calls to the professionals is lessened? The answer is: Yes, but you will still call them on occasion when you want your carpets “really” clean.

   If you are new to carpet cleaners, there are some generic things you should know that apply to all carpet cleaners:
   
   - They are heavy and cumbersome, even without the liquid
   
   - They are messy, both to use and to clean up
   
   - They will probably end up smelling (reckon vacuum funk)
   
   - They take a long time to use (3-4x’s as long as a normal vacuum, not including dry time)
   
   - The cleaners are expensive and get used up quickly, and arguably, unneeded

   The unit itself worked as well as expected. The dual brushes do a excellent job of agitating the carpet fibers so that a significant part of the dirt embedded gets dislodged. After cleaning the area was visually “brighter” than non-cleaned areas. But, unlike professional cleaners which have a huge suction pull behind their steaming process, the ProHeat does not do a excellent job of reaching into the carpet pad underneath. Therefore the ProHeat will do a excellent job of cleaning the surface stain, but it will not remove all traces of things like pet urine (after a excellent cleaning with the ProHeat, the black light will still glow). Using the spot cleaner along with a small bit of enzyme-based pet urine remover formula will help. Also, it should be noted that the brushes themselves are quite stiff, so if you are seeing a lot of carpet fiber ending up in the cleaning liquid, you may want to reconsider using a agitation-based cleaner (hypothetically you should already be seeing the same behavior with your vacuum).

   All-in-all, the ProHeat isn’t a terrible unit, but if you’re considering “upgrading” from a previous model, there’s not much new here; nor has the core functionality been improved. If you’ve never owned a carpet cleaner and just need something to do a excellent carpet shampooing twice a year, this is a excellent buy (I would consider this a bit too bulky for a day-to-day spot cleaner) and the unit itself works fantastic as long as you know that it is not on par with a professional steam cleaning service.
3. TropicalMinnesota says:

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   This cleaner replaced a Hoover Steam Vac (my 3rd) that had lost suction. First impressions:

   It was simple to place together. I didn’t need the instructions, but I did need a long Phillips screwdriver. My small-bit rechargeable was too small for some of the 4 screws.

   There was excellent, secure storage for the various attachments, plus a bag for holding them. I don’t know what I am supposed to place in the bag, but I suppose it is useful for those that don’t want to push around the machine with all of the attachments. Although I never use them, I like to have them on the machine. The bag has an easily removable Bissell tag and once removed it is a nice, but not terribly high quality, mesh bag that will work well for the beach.

   I like that there is a heater to increase the water temperature as hot water is supposed to help in cleaning the average carpet, but I also like that it can be shut off for fragile items. The heater will increase your water temperature by 25F degrees, with a max temperature of 190F.

   I was surprised that there is a separate container for the cleaning solution. You add the water to one area, soap to another, then set the mix to the dirt level you are dealing with. I like that you don’t waste mixed solution or need to keep going over an area until you have used up what you have mixed. This machine came with a 16 oz. bottle of Bissell Multi Allergen cleaner (no pet cleaner, but I did get the lovely mesh beach bag!) The directions specify 5 oz. per gallon of hot water, which is the same as my bottle of Resolve cleaner.

   I liked the separate shot of cleaning fluid that comes out the side on request. Fantastic for hitting the spots of unknown origin.

   There is also a setting for rinse, which does not add the soap from the separate section. Obviously this would not work if you pre-mixed the soap and water, but it is a feature I really like as I don’t like soap residue on my carpets.

   The tanks for clean and dirty water are one unit. They don’t seem to hold as much as my ancient Hoover, but I also don’t have to worry about the dirty water slopping around when emptying it. I noticed the clean water tank had a few suds in it when I was done, so I reckon there is a small cross-contamination. The water tank is really a bladder and it was impossible to empty completely when I was done cleaning.

   This did not come with a hard floor attachment, but says one is available from Bissell. My Hoover one never picked up much of the water, so I doubt if I will bother with this Bissell (my Hoover attachment does not fit).

   It is simpler to go around than the Hoover, partially because it is a small smaller in size and part because there is a habdle on the front that can be used when you want to lift the machine over something (like a rug you don’t want to clean).

   I appreciated the small spinninbg wheel that told me when I ran out of water or soap. It also clued me in when I place the water unit on incorrectly and so had no suction.

   As far as cleaning, which is the huge thing, it works about as well as my Hoover did before it started to lose suction. They may not be quite as excellent as a professional cleaning, but with multiple pets and lots of dirty feet, I don’t go without having a carpet cleaner on hand. I reckon this is a fantastic home machine and I recommend it.
   
4. K. Varraso says:

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   I have severe allergies and a few times each year, we go through the ritual of cleaning the carpet, rugs and upholstered furniture. It’s usually a pretty expensive adventure: the machine we rent costs about $20/day, plus all the potions to clean the rugs and furniture and to keep the dirty water from getting foamy. Each time, I feel pleased if I get away with a bill of “only” $100 or so. Do this three or four times a year and you could do something a whole lot nicer than cleaning carpets.

   So I get the Bissell 66Q4 ProHeat 2X Healthy Home Upright Deep Cleaner, so that I can clean up spills and smaller messes between machine rentals. A few days later, I had a huge (to me) 32 lb. box on my doorstep. It was the cleaner, and it was a whole lot sturdier and well made than I had anticipated. I chose to try it out the next morning, on stains and traffic areas that never got really clean with the rental machine, and on an off white microfiber recliner. Bissell sells and recommends a special anti-allergy cleaning potion for this machine, which is available on Amazon and from local sources, so that’s what I got to try out the machine.

   Getting the machine out of the box and ready to clean was a snap: much simpler than the rental machine. The Bissell only required one potion: a small bottle of Multi-Allergen Cleanser (the green bottle) which was included in the box. (there was also a bottle of pet stain cleaning formula, but that didn’t apply to us) Anyway, this machine requires that you fill the tank with hot water, like all the machines (the kind you buy or the kind you rent), but the Bissell Proheat Cleaner has a heating mechanism that keeps the water hot for the whole time that you’re cleaning! The last strip of carpet gets water just as hot as the beginning strips. My husband (who was doing the actual cleaning), chose to clean the whole living room instead of just the high traffic areas, because the machine is simple to go around, unlike the heavy rental one.

   In nearly no time, the carpet rugs and furniture were all really, really, clean. I noticed no difference in quality between the rented machine and this one, except that we weren’t a hundred dollars poorer, we didn’t have a wet, stinky, heavy machine to tote back to the rental place, and my husband’s back was not sore at all. I gave this machine four stars instead of five because it’s cleaning carpets, not sipping margaritas on some warm, sunny beach; but this machine made it as painless and hassle free as cleaning carpets can ever be. And (and this is a huge deal) we will clean the stuff much more often because it’s no huge deal to get a bottle of cleanser, instead of checking if the budget has the extra money to rent a machine and buy all the potions.
5. Chicago Book Addict says:

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   In receiving this product I was skeptical of how well it would clean my carpet. I previously owned the Dirt Devil Spot Scrubber and it did small more than pushing the stain around. Thankfully my skepticism was unfounded as this product did an incredible job on both set in stains as well as fresh stains.

   The assembly of this product was relatively simple. For me it was interrupted because I realize that the screws I needed to fasten were deeper set than my electric drill could handle so I had to buy a manual screw driver. Aside from that it was relatively simple. It took me about 20 minutes and everything was attached securely. People have mentioned the challenges of attaching the lower handle/attachment holder since it only snaps in. It took me a couple of tries, but once everything was lined up and I heard the snap it was securely attached.

   In addition to simple assembly, the set up was very simple as well. I found filling the bladder and solution container to be very simple and not messy at all.

   The best part for me though was really using the machine. I have 5-year-ancient off-white carpet that for all intents and purposes is basically white. Because that EVERYTHING shows. Every spill, every spec of dirt, etc. I had a lot of grayish stains around the carpet that I had tried to remove with my Dirt Devil Spot Scrubber as well as Resolve spray and other cleaning products. The stains never came out and if anything, the area treated by resolve or other cleaners seemed like a magnet for future stains and dirt. Amazingly using the heavy traffic setting I was able to get these stains out! I was floored because once the carpet was dry I couldn’t tell they had ever been there. The only thing that made me nervous during the process was at first the bristles seemed to spread the dirty water around, but by slowly running the machine forward and backward over the stain they finally absorbed this liquid. The machine also did a excellent job on some fresh stains including a spilled latte and (sorry if this is graphic) dog vomit. The latter took 2 tries to remove, mainly because it’s harder to detect if you’ve fully gotten it than it is with a dark dirt stain, but now looks perfect. I was also amazed how much dog hair/fur the machine pulled out of my carpet that my Hoover vacuum had missed. My dog’s breed is supposed to be non-shedding so I was amazed.

   Clean up of the machine was also a breeze. It was very simple to dump out the dirty water (And dirty it was!) without spilling it everywhere.

   The only nit I have on this machine is that it does leave the carpet quite moist so you have to be careful to leave yourself a pathway out and the machine is quite bulky and a small heavy. I have a one floor condo so this isn’t a bit deal, but I would certainly find this harder to lug up and down stairs than a standard vacuum.

   Overall though this is a fantastic product. I’m still a bit in awe of how well it works and am now thrilled that I don’t have to spend money on a professional cleaning as this works like a dream. I will update this review after I’ve had the product longer and have had a chance to try it out on other stains and test its durability.