Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

We use vacuums a lot here. With 3 thick haired Golden Retrievers and a long-haired cat, we've always purchased low to medium priced vacuums that can still do a seriously great job of getting up dog hair, gander, and general dirt brought in from the outdoors. Our current Hoover vacuum has given us exceptional service. It's been dependable, cleans very well and serves its purpose at the under $100 purchase price we paid for it. My only complaint about it is that it uses conventional vacuum bags. The bags fill up fast due to the great cleaning action, but, are not that expensive. Unfortunately, this vacuum can also spew a lot of dust out of the exhaust due to only one small washable re-usable filter at the base of the bag chamber. This vacuum is not one for anyone with allergies! But, it does pull up 100% of what's on a carpeted or hard floor and for us, has worked out well. As for airborne dust, anything that is electrical and plugged in (pr has a static charge in general) will generally attract airborne dust due to static charges being on the outside of a powered device. When we use our Hoover in the living room. We have to dust off the TV and audio receiver as there is always a fine coating of dust on them after we vacuum. All glass shelves near where we vacuum need frequent dusting too. The Hoover has always seemed to have little to no filtration. The BISSELL CleanView Bagless Upright Vacuum 1330 is a refreshing change in this area from our old Hoover for sure. I'll try to highlight all of the reasons I thought so within this review. First, there is double filtration, with one small filter for the air inlet ("pre-motor filter") being reusable and only needing a washing under the faucet on a regular basis and the second larger replaceable filter ("post-motor filter") is downstream of the dirt chamber (outlet) and lies where it should, under the dirt chamber as the air is exhausted! Double filtration truly make a huge difference as we discovered using the 1330. The lower filter resembles a small version of the rectangular air filter that you put in your car, van or truck. It's a serious filter that will catch dust/allergens coming out of the vacs exhaust and prior to getting into the air. As for filters, the good news is that Amazon stocks a filter kit containing both filters for the 1330 for under $10. Do a search for "Filter Pack (1 pre-motor & 1 post motor filter), 1008" and you'll find it. The 1008 kit includes both filters and there's a 1215 part number which only includes the larger non-replaceable "post-motor" filter. For about $10, I'd buy both and replace them annually or as needed. You certainly won't be putting a lot of money into these components! In terms of build quality out of the box, I found the entire vacuum built exceptionally solid. The lower vacuum body, the handle and the central body containing the removable dirt chamber all can take some abuse, bumps or drops and I feel, won't show a sign of damage. The plastic is thick in the areas I mention and there was no flexing. The electrical cord on this vacuum is nice and long at 24 feet+. Nice since you can normally do a room or two without the need to move the plug. The vacuum hose on the 1330 will stretch to about 8 feet max (7 foot for most normal use) plus you have another foot if you add the extension tube to it. All of the accessories attach directly to the 1330 for storage and seem held in place very tightly. Our Hoover hold its accessories quite loosely and most always, one or more accessories will drop off onto the floor during use. I do not foresee the 1330 ever having this problem. To replace the vacuum belt, there's only 5 phillips screws to remove on a panel under the vacuum body, lift the panel up and expose the belt for a replacement. We didn't go through belts often at all in the 4 years we've had our Hoover and when we did, it was human error (carpet runner fringe jammed the brush from rotating and the belt motor shaft quickly tore the belt apart). I can't speak on blet life yet for the 1330, but. time will tell. Keep in mind that thicker carpets generally cause more wear on a belt and that's normal. A very minor complaint, Bissell chose to place the on/off switch for this vac low down on the left side of the vacuum body about 15 inches off the floor. Many vacuums have the switch either up high on the handle or above the central vacuum body to reduce bending and make it easier to get at. Not a huge concern, but, if one has back issues, do consider you'll be bending a bit more with this vac to turn it on and off. The main dirt chamber is easy to remove using one finger activated latch. The main plastic dirt chamber houses a unit inside of it that allows air to pass through and yet, still hold all of the debris in the dirt holding chamber. This internal unit can be removed for cleaning easily by a simple twist/unlock and pull out. It has a lock and unlock symbol on the outside so reinserting and aligning it and snapping it back in place takes only seconds. One of the most important considerations for any vacuum is the wide and reach of the rotating brush underneath. You want it to come as close the a wall, molding or furniture piece as possible so it can vacuum in these tight places. The 1330 offers a very minimal ¾ inch gap from the edge of the rotating brushes to the edge of the vacuum body so for most applications, you'll be able to lift most dirt/debris very close to the edge of the vacuum sides. Our old Hoover has a 1 inch gap on either side of the roller and does fairly well at vacuuming right up against a wall, furniture piece or other obstacle and the 1330 should do even better in that regard for full width vacuuming. Speaking of width, my old Hoover is called a "Wide-path" and its lower body is about 15 " wide and uses a slightly wider rotating brush width then the 1330. The 1330 lower body measures at about 13 ½ inches wide. I found the 1330 easier to move in-between some tight spaces and we have a patio end-table that had to be moved aside when using the Hoover and no longer needs to with the 1330 as the 1330 can fit between the narrowly spaced legs of the patio-end table. The 1330 also has a compact profile, especially the lower section resting on the floor. We found it much easer to store in our small closet then the Hoover. If storage space is minimal, do consider dimensions too! The 1330 measures at a nice compact 44 inches tall, 13 ½ inches wide and 12 inches deep on the body/wheeled section that rest on the floor. It's upper compact cylindrical body make it very easy to store. So how did it do for cleaning and emptying. In one word, ...excellent! I tested it first on our most challenging burlap type floor in our patio room. Its a thin fibrous of sorts type carpeting similar to berber (thinner) and has a nasty habit of holding hair, pine needles, small pieces of plant debris (we have several plants out there) and most anything that we can track in from outside. The 1330 has 6 brush height settings going from bare floor up to thick carpet. I used one click up form bare floors to get the brushes to do a good scrub. The brush height dial byt the way is easy to turn and has click detents so the dial stays in place at your desired setting. On this challenging natural colored thin and fibrous carpet, the 1330 lifted everything up completely. I ended up emptying the chamber twice which is easy to do. The dirt chamber door on the bottom simply drops down upon pressing the release lever. Considering how fast the dirt chamber filled up, I know the 1330 was doing a superb job. Next I tried bare floors. The 1330 did the same excellent job here uising the lowest brush setting. To note, there's no wind put out near the path of where you vacuum to blow around dog hair and whatever as our old Hoover does so well. In vacuuming other large rugs on our hardwood floors around the house, results were every bit as good. The 1330 has some very powerful suction. Most vacs are not quiet. If they are, often they are low powered ones and won't clean that well. The 1330 puts out some noise, but in fact, it was a little quieter then our Hoover. While I tried to convince my dogs that this vacuum monster would not devour them since they would not fit into the hose, but, none of our 3 bought that left the scene. :) Our cat likes to sleep and shed on one of our padded kitchen chairs and the included TurboBrush tool did the job extremely well. The pad was spotless and completely free of cat hair. This attahcment is often at extra cost for other vac and it spins, powered by the vacuum to rotate a small brush bare inside of it. We bought one years ago for about $25 that worked well. So considering Bissell give you this free is a big plus as well. So in summary to my long winded review, I've got to say that for an investment of only $80, you are really getting a lot for your money in quality of build, features and performance, a powered Turbo mini-brush at no extra cost, minimal maintenance costs (filters) and an easy to store vacuum that takes up minimal space. The Bissell 1330 has my 5 stars and I feel it's truly worthy of that in every way. Now I have to go find my dogs and tell them that they are safe once again and can come out of hiding since Vacumzilla has gone back to its closet. :)