Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'm going to review this and compare it to a $699 Dyson Cinetic Big Ball. Bissell has essentially copied the whole Dyson vibe so let's see how they rate side by side. I'm a die hard Dyson fan and this Bissell surprised me. **I've had Dysons exclusively for the last ten years. Before that I had Bissells, Hoovers, Dirt Devils (ha), Kirby, and we had Orecks at work (I would never buy one, they didn't last). My experience with vacuums has been that our household's hard daily use is not suited for most vacuums. We have birds, cats, dogs. Kids. The vacuums are used pretty much every day. I've had two dysons for the last ten years, and have only had to have one of them repaired despite the hard usage. I recently replaced my upstairs Dyson with a Cinetic Big Ball. I think the ball Dysons are generally garbage (two of them family members had, constant repairs and they just suck in general) but the Cinetic Big Ball seemed to have what I need for this pet-laden house. When the Bissell came up I jumped on the chance to see how a $249 Bissell compares to a $699 Dyson. Read along and you might be surprised. Both are sold as ideal for pet homes. I do indeed have a pet-heavy household AND gave this Bissell to a family member who has two huge dogs indoors (and hardwood floors) so this has been a very thorough test. HEIGHT/Weight/Width//Handling: the Bissell is taller than the Dyson. The Dyson is heavier than the Bissell but is easier to manuever. The Dyson's vacuum head is wider than the Bissell and gets more surface. The height of the vacuum head on the Dyson allows more versatility for getting under cages and furniture. The ball feature on any vacuum is hard on me because the twisting they tend to do pulls my arms and back. I generally find ball vacuum designs to be hard on my back and they hurt me. The Dyson Cinetic has much less torsion than the old Dyson ball designs, I found the Bissell to twist much more easily and therefore pull my back and shoulder. It tends to roll ahead of me almost too easily and strains me sometimes. ATTACHMENT HOSE: The Bissell has a nonrigid hose, so trying to get up high or reach past yourself to get into tight spaces is not going to happen. JUST for the fact the Dyson has a rigid hose that allows me to vacuum the ceiling fans, ledges, behind the couch, etc. that's a huge selling point for me. I can only use the Bissell wherever I can reach..... STAIRS: (UPDATE) We have stairs, and they are a pain to keep vacuumed. Kids track things up and down, you know. Well the Bissell is worthless to me for vacuuming stairs, despite the hand held attachment for pet hair that is similar to most brand's 'stair cleaning tool'. The Dyson can stand at the bottom of my stairs and I can stretch the hose all the way to the top as I go from step to step. The Bissell hose starts to lose suction and drag the vacuum all over when I go much past about 4 feet. I tried putting it at the top of the stairs and stretching downward...I can do this with the Dyson no problem. I almost fell down the stairs when that O)(^*($# Bissell tipped over and jumped on me about the 4th stair down. I should have known better, but it just can't stay still. FLOORS: The Dyson switches from hardwood to carpet (and every pile of carpet) easily without adjusting. The Bissell requires you to not only turn a dial to engage the accessories/hose, but also to do different heights of floor. It's an easy turn of the dial but you have to bend down. If you have many surfaces in your house and have to keep bending down to change, that might make a difference to you. Both vacuums have a brush on/off switch easy to reach. SUCTION: They both have great suction. The Bissell though requires you to adjust the height of the brush heads to get what you need. WASTE RECEPTACLE: Bissell shows the benefit of their waste bin in the form of an outside button so you don't have to reach inside the bin to open it up. Well I've used many Dysons, a Hoover clone of a Dyson, and this Bissell ...not one single bagless vacuum I've ever used has required me to reach inside the bin. Every model has an outside button. I'm not sure why they claim there is a company that requires you to reach inside the yucky bin to release the contents. NO TANGLE BRUSHES: ??? If you roll this vacuum over hair of any length over a couple inches, YES you have to cut hair off this roller. The same is true of every other vacuum I've used. After I ran this vacuum over my bathroom floor it did indeed wrap long hair around the brushes. I had to use scissors on the Bissell brush head to remove the hair. ACCESSORIES: The Dyson comes with a bag full of accessories and to me they are worth every penny of difference between the vacuums. The Bissell has a lighted crevice tool (handy), a pet hair handheld accessory that does a so-so job (not good enough for my needs) and a little accessory to get hair off furniture. The bristles on that accessory are very flimsy and I haven't had a lot of luck with it. Overall using the Dyson is much easier on my body and stamina than the Bissell. But I will say that compared to my experience with typical vacuums sold in big box discount stores, this Bissell is a much better vacuum than I am accustomed to finding. For $249 (at the time of this writing) this is worth the cost for what you get. It performs every bit of $249 worth of purchase. I used a Hoover recently that was a similar cost and it was so flimsy and had so little suction, this vacuum really stands out. If you want a good pet hair vacuum under $300 then get this Bissell. If I couldn't get the Dyson I would be happy with the Bissell for what it does. If you have the money to spend and it's important for your body to not bend/twist a lot, look into the Cinetic Big Ball. After 30 minutes of using the Bissell, it really affected my stamina and body to keep bending down to change the floor level and hose accessory air flow. Having to correct the vacuum's over-twisting strained my wrist. BUT all that said, this is STILL an incredibly good vacuum for what you pay. The Bissell gets up pet hair, feathers, bird seed, etc and does a great job. I would buy one.