 Dyson almost had my money! |
| Review Date: November 10, 2006 |
| Reviewer: cinz, Florida |
| I was in the market for a new sub$200 vacuum. I have 2 dogs, 1 cat and needed something good for carpet and bare floors. I originally had the bissell clearview bagless which is horrible for bare floors and spits back small particles at your shins plus has very poor suction, so initially i was hesitant about another bissell. The other vacuum I have is the lightweight $69 Eureka with the loop handle with a brushroll off switch wich does a decent job but no height adjustment, blows air directly in front blowing away dirt that your trying to vacuum plus the filter gets extremely clogged and I have to scrape it clean with a fork. The worst part being smell of the filter once it goes bad it stays bad and fills the room with a nasty rotten smell. So, I purchased the new Dirt Devil Reaction,there's a foam filter preceding the hepa which is out of the way so figured less direct contact with debris. For the most part it did a decent job but no brushroll off switch-horrible on bare floors, bulky, short hose which is cumbersome to re-attach. After 1 vacuuming the foam filter had a nice thick layer of fine dust, the hepa filter seemd ok. Anyway returned it back to Target. Ok, so I start saving my money for a Dyson or maybe even the new Shark Infinity, figuring there's no sub $200 that will have the features i want.Then I saw the Bissell Healthy Home for $300. Looked like a Dyson ripoff to me but hey all the better! So as I was researching the healthy home i came across the Velocity total floors, bagless, foot-activated brushroll off and height, 14' hose, turbo brush, $cheap plus it's self propelled which is not advertised. I found it at Walmart. Let me tell you this vacuum picked up so much fine dust and hair it was gross! Afterwards I inspected the 2 filters, yes just 2, 1 pre-motor foam and the hepa! expecting to find the same dust layer as the Dirt Devil and my bissell clearview. As i pulled out the foam filter it was clean! How could that be?!Then I inspected the hepa filter expecting the inner side to be black. it was clean too! WTF? How could this vaucuum with just 2 filters have no dust on them? Watch the video on the Bissell website. The outer and inner cyclonic action works! The hose reached the top of my stairs too. Bare floors performance was exceptional. there's a rubber floating windshield like rubber strip which prevents spit back and the floors felt clean under my feet not dusty like the Eureka. The dust conatiner is much larger than the clearview and easy to empty. If you look down the center you would see the dirt that would have otherwised reached the filter on other vacuums. Ok so now the cons: the brush switch is a manual clutch type so takes some effort but found by using my heel instead of my toes works best. Kinda loud but hey as long as its sucking up dirt who cares?! A telescoping handle would've been nice...And that's it. I'm keeping this vacuum, sorry Mr. Dyson I'm spending the money I saved on something else! Thank you Bissell for a vacuum that does what I want. |
Top-three at this price point
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| Review Date: March 15, 2007 |
| Reviewer: a_rabbit, Los Angeles, CA USA |
I just received this yesterday. The vacuum is great. It distributes an interesting "new vacuum smell" when you use it, and it makes our carpet stand up and feel fresh to walk on. I was worried about the couple poor reviews, but I think this is in the top-three vacuums (if not the best) you can buy at this price point.
This is one of Bissell's new models along with the more expensive and heavier Healthy Home version.
Pros:
- Good suction - saw a lot of dustballs, hair, and junk in the bin - only went over places once or twice at good speed
- Average loudness
- Average handling/size
- Feels sturdy, looks spiffy, thoughtful engineering
- ~ 19.7 pounds (about mid-range these days)
- Seems to filter air well - no sneezing
- Easy to empty and bagless
- Easy height adjustment
- Average easyness to turn off brush roll
- Tools secure (make sure to seat the TurboBrush correctly)
- Washable pre-engine filter
- Really long cord, quick-release posts
- Easy to open bottom and unroll extension cord tangled in roller (fortunately it was still working). Easy to see how to change the belt, too.
Cons:
- Takes 10 minutes to read instructions and put together
- Pulling hose out to fit accessories takes finesse (get in position, twist/pull, try not to break plastic bracket when hose finally comes free)
- Average hose length
- Post-engine HEPA filter needs periodic replacement
- Vacuum WILL suck up an extension cord around the roller
- Lots of plastic
- No variable power
- Not too comfortable cleaning on hardwood floors because wheels are plastic, not enough rubber bumpers
- Need a lightweight vac or longer hose if you really want to vacuum the bathroom ...
- Really long cord takes 30-60 seconds to wind-up on the short space between the posts
- A couple poor reviews
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I couldn't believe my eyes!
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| Review Date: February 12, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Julia, New England |
We just put a 2nd floor addition on our house. With the exception of the bathroom and the laundry room, all of the rooms are carpet. After a few months of having to carry my Oreck up and down the stairs, I decided to buy a new vacuum. (I know the Oreck is only 8 lbs. but it was still a hassle)
I knew I wanted a Bissell because I have the ProHeat SteamVac and I love it, so I figured I'd try a Bissell vacuum. I spent hours online comparing models and reading reviews. I finally took the plunge and bought the Total Floors Velocity. I couldn't wait to see how well it worked, or didn't work. I opened the box right away, had it fully assembled in under 10 minutes.
I had vacuumed the living room with my Oreck the day before so I didn't think my carpet would be dirty. Well, let me tell you, this thing makes my $400.00 Oreck look bad! It picked up so much dust, dirt, dog hair, etc.... I couldn't believe my eyes! I went upstairs and vacuumed the carpet in my daughter's room. Around Christmas time, she had spilled some glitter on her carpet. I vacuum her carpet with the Oreck almost everyday. Well, the Bissell pulled up more glitter that the Oreck missed!
These are my personal experiences, but now let me tell you about the pros and cons.
Pros:
Lightweight and easy to maneuver.
14' hose will reach from the bottom of my stairs to the very top of my stairs.
Powerful suction.
Besides superior cleaning on carpets, it's also excellent on bare floors.
Superior vacuum for the price.
Cons:
The switch that stops the brush from turning (for bare floor cleaning) it difficult to push down. I feel like I'm going to break it if I push down too hard.
When using the hose with attachments, the vacuum tips over easily (but it's lightweight...I guess you can't have the best of both worlds!)
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Fantastic Vacuum For Hardwood and Tile Floors
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| Review Date: April 8, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Daniel Ross, Chicago, IL |
I looked at about a dozen vacuums and finally settled on this one because I'm using it primarily on hardwood and tile floors. It sucks up EVERYTHING! It doesn't blow the dust and dirt around like my old vacuum. It has a special setting for non-carpet floors that works great. My wife really loves this thing. Our house is all hardwood or tile, but we do have a few area rugs. When we use it on the rugs, I'm amazed at the suction power it has. You really notice it when vacuuming an area rug because it will move the entire rug if you do not stand on one end. Sometimes it becomes a two person job, one to stand on the rug and the other to vacuum. Our old vacuum didn't even get the rug to budge. I would guess if you have regular carpet it would be great for that too.
Bottom Line: Great vacuum overall and the best vacuum I've ever used on hardwood and tile floors. |
Cleans JUST LIKE the DC07 (yellow) Dyson
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| Review Date: May 18, 2007 |
| Reviewer: ce_4, Brookfield, IL USA |
Now, how would I know that? Because I've owned a Dyson for a few years. I wrote a glowing review for the Dyson. Go read that one, because it pretty much applies to this Bissel 3990.
The Dyson was a little tricky to put together. This vacuum is a little tricky to put together. Read the instructions slowly.
This vacuum cleans in the same manner as the Dyson. The results look identical. I say that due to examining the dirty cup contents, which I do frequently for entertainment purposes. The Dyson may never lose suction. but that doesn't mean it continues to pick up dirt. The Dyson has a bigger dirt container than this vacuum, roughly twice the size. But, the Bissel dirt container is much easier to dispose of. Very easy, in fact.
The extension attachments on this vacuum are easier to use because it doesn't employ a stiff metal tube going through the extension hose like a Dyson.
This is a cheap vacuum and looks cheap, but the Dyson is similarly cheap once you get well acquainted with it.
So why would I buy this vacuum cleaner when I own a Dyson? I have to replace a part on the Dyson. And that happens a lot based on research I did. Clutch, power switch, belt = expensive Dyson repairs. The belt on the Bissel is user replaceable. Not the Dyson.
Most of the positive reviews sound accurate to me. Review them with confidence.
I've owned this for a couple of months now, and have put the Dyson repair on the back burner, which I didn't expect. I thought for sure I would miss it. In fact, the Bissel has been particularly useful in removing dust from my Dyson. |
Buy this one! You will be happy.
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| Review Date: February 1, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Scoochie, Norman, OK United States |
| This is a powerful and efficient vacuum cleaner. It almost feels like it is self propelled. It will amaze you when you see what dust/dander/mites and who knows what used to be in your carpet. It even lets you know when the carpet/floor is clean. You can disengage the brush with a foot pedal. It has a brush height adjustment pedal. The hose extends past 6 feet and has a power brush wand. The filter system is one of the best. It has a 35 foot power cord and is very easy to manuever around. Emptying is easy.There is nothing negative I can say. It has replaced a 1 month old dirt devil(poc)that made my allergies go crazy. |
I'm impressed!
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| Review Date: February 5, 2007 |
| Reviewer: JRE, Michigan |
| This is a wonderful, high-quality vacuum at a great price! It is very powerful and will leave you disgusted to know how much junk was embedded in your carpet. It has a rather bright light on the front of it and a really long cord (I think it seems much longer than the average vac, but I might be wrong). I can plug it in in one outlet and nearly vacuum our entire 1,000 sq.ft. apartment. The assembly was not difficult at all. I definitely recommend this product. |
my dog doesn't stand a chance against this vacuum!
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| Review Date: January 24, 2007 |
| Reviewer: mamabear, Oregon USA |
I love it!!! Easy to put together. Easy to operate. Picks up tons of dust and pet hair my other vacuum never touched.
Absolutely worth every penny!!! |
Four cats - Five stars!
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| Review Date: April 8, 2007 |
| Reviewer: D. Caraway, Florida - USA |
I bought this a month ago after much research and have no regrets! This was to replace a cheap, canister-type Kenmore and an upright Kirby that my mother paid $800 for. It puts them both to shame!
I am amazed every time I use it. I wasn't so surprised at how much it picked up the first time around, but subsequent uses really opened my eyes to how quickly cat hair, dander, and dirt accumulate.
It is very light which is important to me due to a physical disability which limits my strength. Vacuuming is no longer the literal pain it has been for years.
The TurboBrush is great for getting the cat hair off the furniture, and it is very easy to switch between the regular vacuum and attachments. I also love the option to turn off the beater brush so I can use it on bare floors.
The dirt cup is easy to remove and empty and the washable filter is also easy to remove and replace.
It does tip over easily when using attachments, but I avoid this by placing the back to a wall or piece of furniture. I don't consider this a problem.
Assembly was slightly awkward, but if I can do it, anyone can. I'm sure it would have been easier if I'd had the proper size screwdriver.
This is really the best vacuum I have ever used!
And the price was certainly right!!
Update:
After more than a year, I still have no real complaints. While under warranty, I put it in the shop because the red/green/black sensor was sticking between black and green no matter how clean the filters were and there were no clogs anywhere. When I asked the repairman what was wrong, he replied, "It's a Bissell. Other than that, nothing." Later I read somewhere that it just has this particular issue. Even when disassembled and cleaned by a professional, it did not go back to all green the way it had been when it was brand new. But now that I know not to expect it to, it isn't a problem. It is still picking up amazingly well and I still have no regrets! |
Great Vacuum! Great Price!
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| Review Date: March 10, 2007 |
| Reviewer: D. Elander, Upstate New York USA |
| I have had 2 Oreck vacuums in the past 10 years. I liked them because they were light weight & I thought they were doing a good job. I'm not sure why I felt the need for another vacuum, maybe because the carpets still didn't look that great after I cleaned, but I began researching upright vacuums and finally settled on this Bissell Total Floors Bagless which cost half of what I paid for each of the Oreck's. It arrived last week & I was totally amazed by the amount of dirt and pet hair that it picked up only a day after using the Oreck!!!! I have one pet, a short haired cat and no children, so my house should not have gotten that dirty in one day! It had to be the vacuum. I also love the little Turbo brush for cleaning the upholstery. Does a great job! I'm so pleased that I decided to buy it. It is quite a bit heavier that the Oreck, but other than that, it's far superior in my opinion. |
Impressive!!
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| Review Date: February 20, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Sandra Brantl, Warroad, MN |
My old vacuum bit the dust, time for a new one. I read reviews about Total Floors vacuum and thought I'd give this one a shot. My old vacuum can not hold a candle to this one. I have hard wood floors in my house with area rugs in just about every room. I was suprised when I vacuumed my first rug, I had to actually empty the dust container before I was done, it was that full of dog hair and dander.
I love the Turbo brush for the furniture. It's small and it fits better in tight spots. I couldn't believe everything it was picking up. I can now say goodbye to my hand held dirt devil which did an ok job. This vacuum is the best.
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Incredible.
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| Review Date: April 21, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Kapa L, Chicago, IL |
| I never thought I would write a review about a vacuum cleaner, but I felt compelled to let you know that this machine is wonderful. I am so glad I listened to the good reviews and made this purchase. It arrived today and I was so excited, I tried it out at 10:30pm. (Setup was easy - it took about 10 minutes to put together.) Scared at first that the neighbors might wake from the noise, I was pleasantly surprised by a very quiet sound and decided to put it to the test. With two kittens in the house, the area rug had become a magnet to their hair. Despite efforts to brush the hair off with a steel hand brush (in addition to using our previous vacuum cleaner), it was still almost completely covered. I ran the new vacuum machine over the rug and was absolutely shocked and appalled at the amount of hair lifted from the rug. Needless to say, it now seems cleaner, softer and brighter than before - it looks almost brand new again. Even better, it is virtually hair free (even after just a very light initial cleaning session). This truly is an amazing vacuum cleaner which I HIGHLY recommend. |
GREAT Vacuum for a GREAT Price!!!
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| Review Date: April 1, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Naylorchic, NC |
| I've had this vacuum for about a month now, and love it. My carpet hasn't looked this great since it was new. Let me share my story though so none of you make the same mistake as me. I vacuumed my rug right when I got this. It looked great! Then I went to vacuum my white berber carpet in another room. Well I started seeing large streaks of dirt on it. So I thought GREAT the hose has a hole & it throwing the dirt back on the carpet. So I called Amazon, and it was going to take a while to get a replacement so I just went & bought the same vacuum at a retail store. So I come home, and to my surprise it's doing the SAME THING. Well what I figured out was that the large dirt streaks I was seeing was not where it was throwing dirt back on it. That's what it was pulling up! I just couldn't see it on the rug because it is dark colors, and the carpet is white so I could see it. I just kept going across it, and it finally got it all up. I kept the one from Amazon, and my sister-in-law bought the other one from me. I HIGHLY recommend this vacuum. Oh, and it only has 2 filters one on the motor you can wash, and a HEPA on the outside you have to replace. I used mine a month now, and the HEPA still looks clean (unlike my last one that had the HEPA inside the canister). |
Awesome Power
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| Review Date: September 26, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Katherine Cesaro, |
| I read a lot of reviews before we bought this vacuum. Some good, some bad. Most of the bad was how heavy it was which I wasn't worried about since we were replacing a Kirby which weighs a ton! So we went for it. I love it, absolutely love it. We have a 3 story house with hardwoods downstairs and one area rug and all carpet upstairs and all berber carpet in the basement. It works great on all surfaces. We also have a short haired dog and I love the turbo brush for the steps as well as the furniture. I also love the bagless canister so we can see how much dirt we are getting up, and boy does it suck up the dirt! We were disgusted at the amount of dirt that it got up!! We are getting ready to have our carpets cleaned so I will be interested to see how much it gets up after that. The attachments are easy to use and the brush is easy to turn on and off which is great when you are using the attachments. The hose for the attachments is kind of heavy but if you leave the vacuum at the bottom of the stairs it stretches great! I really love this vacuum and hope it holds up. I would definitely recommend it if you are not too worried about the weight. Which really isn't that bad. I'm 6 months pregnant and have been hauling it up and down the stairs with no problem. Hope this was helpful! |
Love it!!!
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| Review Date: April 2, 2007 |
| Reviewer: E. Graham, Smyrna, GA USA |
| I first started looking for a new vacuum when my Eureka died after 3 months of light use (thank a lot, Consumer Reports!). I'm not sure exactly how I found this one, but I LOVE IT!! I thought my house was pretty clean, but was SHOCKED at the amount of dust this vacuum pulled up the first time I used it, and everytime since. It really gets up that fine powdery dust that you don't see. Yes, you have to clean the filter often, but that just shows me how much it's working. I clean it almost everytime I use it, and it's very easy to clean. It's not too heavy, and I love the long cord. Changing the carpet height is very easy also. I'm confident it would compete well against my brother's $500 Dyson! At $140, you can't beat it! |
2 cats and a tiny apartment
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| Review Date: May 27, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Lizzychan, Chicago, IL USA |
I love, love, LOVE this vacuum!!! The suction on this vacuum is very powerful. I have two short hair cats that shed all over the place, the hair is light and easily gets imbedded into the carpet and furniture, its hard to get out with less powerful vacuums, but not this one! The rotating scrub bristle brush attachment is a dream for getting cat hair off of furniture.
I have a black futon so pet hair really stands out on it. The vacuum will pick up virtually all of it except for a few straggler hairs. I used to have to buy sticky pet hair rollers and use the whole roll to clean off my couch, now I only use it to get off the maybe 2% of pet hair left behind after I vacuum it.
The only con is that you have to be careful you don't have any loose small items on the floor, if the vacuum hits it it will suck it up! I was using the attachment when I accidentally sucked up one of my cats toys, it was a small sparkle ball. To my fortune, it didn't clog the vacuum, it just ended up in the waste container where I could just pick it out.
I love this vacuum and is worth every penny I spent on it! |
Dual cyclonic really works!
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| Review Date: December 16, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Critic at large, Raleigh, NC |
Dual cyclonic really works. We tried a bissell clearview as our first bagless. It would collect tons of dust and hair around the filter. Yuck, who wants to deal with this. The filter clogged up quickly with a thick coat of gunk, it was hard to remove, hard to clean and generally a mess.
Overall I don't see how most single cyclone vacuums are an improvement over bagged vacuums. You end up dealing with too much dust and spend too much time cleaning the vacuum.
In comparison, the Bissell Velocity series is amazing. Vacuum anything, hair, dust, sand, you name it. Amazingly it gets collected in the basket and not on the filter. I've used it heavily over the course of a week, with countless baskets being emptied. The filter has a consistent coloring of dust, but I wouldn't even call it a coating. Its just a little colored. No need to clean it or anything else on the vacuum anytime soon. And when it is time to clean the filter, its really easy to get it out and rinse it in water, unlike the Clearview which was much messier.
The vacuum I bought is the 3990-2, it has an indicator to tell you when suction has been reduced so you should clean the filter (nice!), and it has a light to let you know if you're sucking up dirt (can be useful).
Its nice to be able to turn off the beater bar.
My biggest concern is the beater bar. The bristles on the brush are VERY stiff and the brush by default sticks way down below the vacuum. The end result is that if feels like the vacuum is ripping my carpet apart. No matter how many times I vacuum a particular spot, it comes up with a bucket full of carpet fibers. Eventually there won't be any carpet left. I even wonder if the dust is really carpet thats been sanded down by the sharp bristles.
Other than that, it is powerful and extracts an amazing amount of dirt from the carpet.
The first one we bought had a problem with the motor, it would stink very very badly with an electrical smell. Got another one without the smell. Bissell does have quality issues. We also tried a velocity not total floors. The basket would not seal well even when locked. The machine we ended up with doesn't have any issues (so far).
Overall an amazing vacuum. I don't see any other reasonable alternative other than a Dyson. |
Serious Vaccum
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| Review Date: December 19, 2007 |
| Reviewer: the_office_rules, |
I did a weeks worth of research for a home vaccum that had the skill of a Dyson vaccum at a moderate price. The Bissell 3990 is nothing short of amazing.
* The wide angle is able to achieve more coverage than you think, and rotating brushes really help!!!!
* This is the first time I have gotten a vaccum with a scatter-guard and it has been a huge plus on bare floors where my previous vaccums were more proficient at spraying dirt at my legs
* The long chord is extremely useful for a small size home, I used to spend half my time unplugging my previous vaccum between power ports, the Bissell can cover about 2 rooms easily (an automatic cord rewinder could have been a good addition to the product).
* The dual cyclonic action is really great, it sucks out dirt (quantities Id never imagined), however, the upper part of the dirt can collects some dirt while vaccuming which remains there and does not fall very easily on the removeable part of the dirct can and hence causes a little mess when you pull out the can to empty.
* the upholstery hose has tremendous suction and stretches very long and with the attachments is very useful in cleaning stairs, since the vaccum in itself is very light - stretching the hose that extra distance causes stability issues on the vaccum causing it to fall sometimes
Overall, I am very impressed with the vaccum, it is more than its value for money and I am more than willing to overlook the minor/ cosmetic issues. Thanks Bissell for a great product!!! |
Great vacuum at a great price!!
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| Review Date: March 8, 2007 |
| Reviewer: J. Farmer, |
After failed attempts to get a working vacuum at another online site, I checked out this one. It was not too expensive, which made me wonder if it would work. There was only one review at the time, and it was a great one. This thing really works! Like all the bagless you have to empty the dirt into the trash, but I'm wierd enough to enjoy it. It makes me feel like the vacuum is really working when I see all the gunk it picks up. Everytime I clean I am amazed. There is a small, washable filter that follows the area where you empty, and there is a filter that needs to be replaced when it is dirty that is after the washable. I figure if I keep it clean, nothing will get to the one that needs replaced. The cost of the filter is way less than bags were costing.
The attachments are nice, and the spinner brush works well on the furniture and steps. It is propelled by the suction not with its own motor, so it isn't as strong as it could be - but it is what I expected and am happy with it.
I have to say the only fault of the vacuum is the hose for the attachments. It would be nice if it would stretch to about 5 feet longer.
Overall, though, best vacuum out there for the cost! |
It really works great!!
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| Review Date: June 2, 2007 |
| Reviewer: nackg, boston, ma |
| My friend and I each bought one the same day. She tried hers out and called me to tell me how embarrassed she was in the amount of debris picked up on what she thought was her already clean carpet! I then tried out mine. I was totally amazed with the vaccuum...it worked beyond belief. I have a golden retriever and several cats and the amount of animal hair it picked up after I had already used my previous vaccuum left me speechless. So much so that my daughter actually vaccuumed again and then proceeded to vacuum her room as well as her sister's room, unheard of!! I highly recommend this product especially since my daughter informed me she will now take over the vaccuuming. The only negative about this vaccuum is that it's a little heavy when bringing upstairs but it's a small detriment overall. |
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