A review or two of this machine would have helped me a lot, so I'll leave one hoping it might help someone out there who's trying to decide which carpet cleaner to buy.

We moved into our house four months ago. The previous owner had the carpets cleaned for us, but they already looked awful. She was very tidy and clean--no children at home--and we just really aren't. The carpets on the main floor are a very light Berber, so you can probably imagine how they were starting to look with an eight-year-old constantly in and out. And we aren't shoe removers.

My only previous experience with a deep cleaner was a 5-year-old Bissell that served my mom faithfully until it finally stopped working when I tried to use it a few days ago. I am convinced the water shooter thingy only quit because it was left filthy by the last person who used it and is probably clogged up with some nasty glob of disgustion.

Anyway, I needed my carpets cleaned and I needed it done soon because my in-laws are due for a visit in just over a week. I didn't have time to wait for Amazon to ship me a carpet cleaner, and I didn't want to pay someone half what this cleaner would cost to do it for me.

After reading many reviews, I was wavering between the Bissell 9400, the 9500, and the Hoover SteamVac Agility. I probably would have gone with the Agility just for the sake of price and the separate dirty/clean water tanks, but none of the local stores had it, and like I said I needed it now. Finally I wandered into a Linens `n Things and saw the Bissell 9500. It was priced higher than Amazon, but with a 20% off coupon it actually came out a little lower, even after paying sales tax. So I took it home.

I had absolutely no problems with assembly. It took all of maybe 5-10 minutes and a Philips screwdriver.

My first impression was Wow! Bissell has sure made a lot of improvements since my mom's machine rolled off the line.

The water tank is much easier to clean and use. The piece of plastic on the top where the suction takes place on the old Bissell was difficult to clean because it was attached to the main assembly, but the new one has the suction part on top of the water tank, so you can easily run water through it to get the gunk out. I'm a believer that you have to clean these things after using them if you want them to last. I also like that the water tank is made with Microban so I don't have to worry about bacteria building up in a damp machine.

I also like that this has a separate tank for the cleaning solution. I believe that with the Hoover Agility you have to mix the solution with the water, which would make it difficult to switch between cleaning and rinsing with water only. Rinsing helps get the extra soap out so you don't feel like you're walking on chemicals. I appreciated being able to choose between `heavy traffic', `normal clean', `light clean', and `water rinse' with the turn of a dial.

The `Clean Shot' feature, which I didn't think would be a big deal, actually turned out to be quite useful. Often I would go over a spot, expecting it to disappear, only to find it was still there. So, I would just hit it with a wallop of pure cleaning solution, clean another section for a few seconds, then go back over the spot. It really seemed to help get the peskier ones out.

On the old Bissell, the nozzles and hose were constantly falling out when you weren't using them because there was no way to secure them properly. I can't imagine that happening with the 9500; everything is secured with very tough plastic and nothing fell off while I was cleaning.

The attachments worked very well, by the way. One of the reasons I wanted this machine was that I wanted to be able to clean stairs myself. The TurboBrush was great. There's a switch that you can adjust between `brush'--an actual revolving brush--and `suction.' All the tools I used seemed to suction very well, another improvement over the old Bissell. The wide stair tool is nice for larger fields and the narrow tool is good for places like stair edges, where a wider tool might lose suction. There are a few tools I didn't use (crevice tool, squeegee, medium brush tool) because I didn't need them, but I might need them for instance when I clean the carpets in my truck, or when I clean my hard floors.

The only feature I am undecided on is the `Dry Aire' in which hot air blows out the bottom, supposedly to speed drying time. I didn't notice quicker drying and it makes a warm job warmer. But who knows, maybe it really does help.

My carpet looks wonderful. I'm convinced that if I spent more time on it, especially pre-treating, it would look even more wonderful, but who has unlimited time these days, especially with an 8-month-old? It definitely looks as good as when we moved in, maybe a little better. Like I said, the previous owner was very clean, so there wasn't a ton of dirt built up other than what we've brought in during these last four months. Nevertheless, there were plenty of times during my cleaning of high-traffic areas that I would see a distinct line between clean and dirty after the very first pass.

Overall the Bissell 9500 was easy to use, a pleasure really. It's not too heavy for me and I'm quite small. All the plastic on it seems very thick and durable, and it's even kind of pretty--an amazing machine.

I'll update this review if I have any problems with it in the future.

I just bought this to replace my Hoover Agility which had stopped suctioning as well as it used to. I had tried a Bissell in the distant past, before my Hoover, and it had some flaws that made the Hoover seem like a clear winner at the time. Having had the Hoover for two and a half years (yup, that's all it lasted!), I learned that the Hoover, too, has its flaws - which means that, when picking a carpet cleaner, rather than think about which desirable features you would like, you have to decide which undesirable features you want to live with.

The number one thing I dislike about the Bissell is the water tank. Whereas the Hoover has two hard plastic tanks side by side (one for clean, one for dirty), the Bissell has one hard plastic tank with a vinyl bladder inside. You fill the bladder with clean water and it cycles back into the tank body, outside the bladder, when it is dirty. I think this give you slightly less capacity for clean water, meaning you need to fill the tank more often - I could do my whole living room with one tank with the Hoover; I needed to refill once with the Bissell. Plus it is hard to just glance at the tanks and know you need more water; instead you need to glance at this little spinny whirly thing that tells you water is flowing OR realize the carpets aren't getting wet while you clean. So that's my number one gripe. I don't like the tank!

Here are how the machines compare in some other ways:

The Bissell is heavier, which is not a huge deal as you are pushing it, not carrying it around. Maybe a small issue if you need to go upstairs (we don't) but on the whole, not a problem. Maybe even a perk as it makes the machine FEEL sturdier and weigh down more on the dirt.

The Bissell has a higher profile due to the water tank being in the part of the machine that rides on the floor rather than in the handle. The Hoover allows you to go a little ways under certain bits of furniture - for example, you can get maybe an inch or two under the front of your couch. For the most part I don't notice a problem but it is a consideration.

The Bissell is quieter than the Hoover. Not that you need ear protection with the Hoover, but my husband and I both noticed a difference in the noise level between the two machines.

The attachments for the Bissell are securely attached to the back of the machine on a rack - very nice. The rack on the Hoover is removable and was ALWAYS falling off so that I just kept it in the closet.

The hose on the Bissell is permanently attached which is nice - it has to be removed when using the Hoover for floors. With my Hoover I had a lot of dripping issues in the back of the machine and the hose was a real leaker whenever I used it. I don't know if my machine was defective or if this is common but I did not like that set-up. It was a small point, though, because I found the Hoover tools cumbersome so I rarely used them. I have not used the Bissell tools yet (sorry!) but they seem a lot more user-friendly.

No leakies with the Bissell! (Even when not using the hose, my Hoover left puddles behind it)

The brush system on the two machines is very different. On the Hoover there are 5 circular brushes in a line that spin against your carpet like a car buffer or an electric toothbrush. The Bissell has two horizontal brushy cylinders that work more like a standard sweeper. In theory it seems to me like this would do a better job to lift dirt out of your carpet. Truthfully, based on the filth in the water after using both machines, I'd say they do about an equally good job. The Bissell does have a tendency to toss these little clumps of dirty fibers here and there, though, which makes me wonder if it is getting more stuff out. It might also mean the Bissell is rougher on carpet and the Hoover is better for delicate carpet or low, nubby types of carpet (where grooming up doesn't make sense).

With the Bissell, the area between the front of the machine and the wall where dirt is "safe" seems to be smaller than with the Hoover. The Bissell also has these little brushes on the side which are supposed to eliminate the side "safe" zones but they don't seem to move or get wet at all so I don't know if they do much besides groom the carpet and eliminate the look of missed spots. However, the Bissell comes with a super narrow crevice tool so if you were so inclined to get every inch of carpet all the way to the baseboards obsessively clean, you could.

I think both machines (when working properly!) suck about the same amount of water back out of the carpet. I have to agree with the other reviewers that the air dryer doesn't seem to do much, though it does add a funny sort of raced-out look to the machine (like an extra-wide muffler).

The Bissell has you load clean water and solution seperately, as opposed to the Hoover which has you mix them. This is a nice feature because it allows you to do a rinse immediately after you clean a section rather than have to go and refill the tank with plain water. Supposedly you do not need to do a rinse because the solutions you can buy today are made not to leave residue but based on personal experience, I do not believe this. When I first started using my Hoover, I mixed solution and water as directed and did not rinse. In days, my carpets would be as dirty as ever. In time I switched to using HALF the amount of solution they told me and I had better results. Then later I switched to JUST boiling water and who knew, the machine still got my carpets amazingly clean and they'd stay that way the longest. I would use a weak solution mixture some of the time,for nasty jobs, just water most other times. So a rinse IS important, IMO.

With the Bissell, if I am using solution, I will fill the solution tank with half solution and half water, and I will do a rinse afterwards. You can't use boiling water in the Bissell because the directions say that could destroy the bladder - the hottest tap water I can get + trusting the heating device seems to work well.

All in all, both machines are good. I think I went with the Bissell because I wanted a change and hoped to get a longer life out of the machine. The other thing that sold me, though, is like another poster, I needed a machine NOW. We had just thrown the Hoover out and my son peed on the living room carpet! I was able to get this at Linens and Things with those wonderful coupons houseware stores like to send out ;-) and, as another reviewer mentioned, you can find rebate info from the manufacturer if you look. A sweet deal. A good machine, very happy with it.

I recently purchased this to replace an existing carpet cleaner and a hard-floor cleaner since space is a premium in my house.

The machine is easy to assemble and one only needs a phillips screwdriver for that task. Assembly takes about 5 min or so.

The newer style "tank-in-tank" is an improvement over my older Bissell Proheat inasmuch as it is easier to fill and empty. They have also improved the plastic bladder as it is now heavier plastic, almost like the material used in flexible cutting boards; before it was just heavy mil plastic sheeting. However, it still requires at least one refill/empty for an average-sized room. Another improvement is now you can clean the nozzle without unscrewing the assembly as was necessary in the older models.

On to cleaning--I must preface this with saying that I clean my carpets every month since I have 4 dogs and also spot clean in between, so my carpets are not extremely dirty. This does a decent job on cleaning so far as I can see, but really not significantly better than my older model machine. What I do like about Bissell's in general is that you have the option for a pure-water rinse without having to refill the clean tank as you do on some Hoover models. Another thing that is good is the Clean Shot feature. With pet stains, it eliminates the need to pre-treat, which is not a big deal unless you have back problems--and I do--so it cuts out having to bend over to spray with pre-treater. There is one downside to the Clean Shot feature--it's placement on the handle. Many times you will press this button if you go to bend down while holding the machine. I feel it could have been placed where it could not so easily be pressed; however, this is really a minor problem.

Comparing this to my older model, this doesn't suction as well as the older model. By no means does this leave your carpet soaking wet, but it's damper than my older machine left it. Perhaps this is because there is a dual sprayer in this machine, which the older machine has a single-spray mechanism. I find I do have to make additional "dry" passes to pull up more water. Again, minor. On that note, I don't notice that the Dry-Aire makes much of a difference just as other reviewers have said.

One potential problem I see is where the nozzle fits onto the part above the brushes, where there's a gasket. In time, I see that losing it's effectiveness and needing replacement. I also believe that this would account for the difference in suction between my older model that was one solid piece and this where there has got to be *some* air loss.

The machine also pulls up quite a bit of carpet fuzz and hair that your vacuum misses. I do make sure I thoroughly vacuum, but this catches what your vacuum misses. As to the fuzz, that's going to happen regardless, even though they tell you it happens on a "first cleaning." My carpet's been cleaned numerous times and I still get the fuzz. Folks, fuzz is a fact of life, I am afraid. You will have to stop and clean the underside at least once during the job because of this, and you'll know when you have to since the machine will start to drip droplets of water onto the carpet.

As for cleaning, that's a cinch. Just empty the dirty water, and any remaining water in the clean section, rinse it and let it dry. Even though they claim this Microban stops bacteria, I STILL air-dry the tanks. Another thing I always do is run clean water ONLY over 1/2 of my carpet at the end of cleaning. If you do rinse your entire carpet, I suggest doing this *after* you've shampooed since the clean water will flush the water hoses of any remaining detergent, which will crystalize over time. If you've used the hose and attachments, make sure after cleaning is through to suck up some plain water with the hose to rinse this part out as well. I have never had any trouble with machines I have owned in the past and I believe it was due to cleaning all the lines after each use and thoroughly cleaning the brushes, tanks, etc., and my other machines have lasted for years and work as well as when they were new. I still have them as "spares" and "loaners." Don't forget to change the "custom clean" setting to "water only" when you store it. This prevents detergent getting back into the line if you choose to leave the detergent in the reservoir tank. I don't...I pour any remaining soap back in the bottle and rinse and air dry that tank as well to be on the safe side.

Also, after you finish cleaning, I recommend placing this machine on a linoleum, vinyl or tile floor as it will leak out any remaining moisture. DO NOT leave on your carpet or hardwood/laminate floor. It can also be placed on something like a doormat, that has a waterproof backing if you prefer.

I am glad I gave this machine a 2nd chance. The one I originally purchased must've been defective. I had every intention of just returning it to the store for a refund, but something told me that I should exchange it and try again. A smart move!

I bought this before any reviews were listed, because I liked the reviews of the previous model (9400) and I found this model online at ABC Vacuum Warehouse, which also offers a manufacturer's [...] and free shipping, making it the same price as the 9400. They shipped standard UPS ground, so it arrived quickly.

When I first opened the box, I noticed how sturdy this product is even though there is a lot of plastic. Assembly is simple enough. It has more than enough attachments for any need. It came with a 16oz bottle of cleaning solution (as well as a 16oz bottle of tough stain remover and an 8oz bottle of bare floor cleaner), which is enough to fill the solution tank one time. Make sure you buy more cleaning solution right away before starting to clean, because you're going to need it. The only tool you will ever need for assembly, removing parts for cleaning, or replacing a belt is a Phillips screwdriver. From what I could tell, there were 3 additional features (Clean Shot, Dry Aire, and Edge Sweep) this model had over the 9400, as well as an additional attachment and a mesh bag.

Believe it or not, the mesh bag is convenient because not all of the attachments get attached to the machine. By far, the best of the new features is the Clean Shot! I tried it on one stubborn stain, and it worked beautifully. I must admit, it's a very nice feature! As for the Edge Sweep, at first I thought it was pointless because the bristles are stationary. But what I realized is the Edge Sweep is truly what gives your carpeting the well-groomed look to it, so it's nice for that. But it doesn't do anything for cleaning puproses. The big clunker of new features is the Dry Aire. It's useless, other than to warm up the room more and add more noise. It doesn't help dry the carpets, runs even when using the attachments, and there is no way to turn it off. The only other "negative" is cleaning this machine.

It's not difficult to clean, but it needs to be cleaned often. Even with thorough vacuuming, it just picks up a lot of carpet fibers that will clump up and get spit out onto the carpeting or get trapped underneath the rollers. There is a black and white indicator that spins on the base when using. If you ever run out of clean water, solution, or the machine needs to be cleaned, this indicator will stop spinning. If the indicator stops spinning, and you have enough water and solution, you need to stop to clean the unit underneath. I noticed the carpet was dryer to the touch when it needed to be cleaned, even though there was plenty of solution and clean water. So stop and clean it underneath for best results, and also rinse out the suctioning part.

Overall, I'm happy with this purchase. My carpets look great, feel great, and smell great! My allergies are improved. It's no louder than a regular vacuum cleaner. The Clean Shot is awesome! While the Dry Aire feature is a gimmick - maybe it works best on hard floors - and it does require frequent stops to clean, it's sturdy, easy to assemble and clean, and simple to operate. Most importantly, it does what a carpet cleaner should do well and that is clean the carpets. I would purchase this again.

We owned two prior Bissell machines, both of which cleaned quite well; however, neither lasted more than a couple of years. Repairs would cost a substantial part of the replacement price of a new cleaner,so we decided to try one more Bissell upright deep cleaner purchase, the Bissell Pro Heat 2x CleanShot. Oh how we regret that decision!!

It is now almost 2:30 PM, and we have been attempting to use the machine to clean carpeted stairs, two area rugs and a 21 foot by 13 foot wall to wall living room carpet since 9 AM. It is a painfully slow, tedious, annoying process.

The stair attachment does not have enough suction to get any substantial water and soil out of the carpet, so, basically, a person is left with dirty wet stairs.

We were able to get a lot of dirt out of the area rugs, but certainly NOT with one pass while dispensing liquid and cleaning solution, as the directions suggest. If you follow this suggestion, you will be left with filthy rugs, unless they were already clean when you started!

Additionally, the machine will only operate for about three minutes before it stops dispensing liquid and indicates that it is full. It was immediately apparent, that when the dirty water is emptied, there is much less liquid than the bladder originally held, leaving a lot of water, dirt and detergent in the rug. We have had to pour out small quantities of dirty water so many times that we have lost count!

We spent a lot of time going over the carpeting without dispensing water and liquid to try to get more moisture up, with only modest success. Our prior Bissell, the 9400 model did a much better job of picking up most of the water, dirt and cleaning solution initially with only a couple of passes, leaving the carpet quite dry. This resulted in short additional drying time before furniture could be replaced and the room used, and carpeting was never damaged.

The biggest problem using the 9500 Pro Heat 2x has occurred in the living room where there is wall to wall carpet. Because the machine does not effectively remove liquid and the side heating vent does not produce any meaningful heat, the carpet has stretched and is drying with waves and ripples throughout. This NEVER happened in 10 previous years of cleaning this carpet with the other Bissell machines we owned. We now are faced with a big expense to have a professional come to open the seams and attempt to removed the wrinkles.

Bissel would no doubt say that we got the carpet too wet; however, given the design flaws with the machine, we had no choice but to make several passes over various areas, unless we wanted to end up with a carpet that was still dirty.

We are now thinking seriously about having the older Bissell 9400 model repaired. It is not without its problems (dirty water still has to be emptied often, but not nearly as frequently as with the Pro Heat 2x), but it certainly cleans and picks up moisture far better than the Pro Heat 2x.

We do not recommend buying the Bissell Pro Heat 2xCleanShot Upright Deep Cleaner.

For those of you considering buying this carpet deep cleaner, this should help. First of all, even with this machine, it's a lot of work. If you're ready to spend 1-2 days working your butt off, then keep reading.
After the first time you clean your carpet with this machine, it's more than paid for itself compared to a professional carpet clean. This machine cleans BETTER than the professionals.

I've been using "professionals" for 20 years. Everytime, the carpet dries out hard and rough. After using this Bissell, carpet dried out much faster and was soft and CLEAN!

Here is how the cleaning went. I'll divide into 2 parts, floor and stairs.

Floor -
The floor was pretty easy to do. Just fill the solution bottle up in the back. Fill up the front bottle bladder with hot water. Turn on both switches in the front, power and heater. Wait 60 seconds and start.

You basically pull the spray trigger making a forward stroke, continue to pull on trigger making return backwards stroke. Then let go of the trigger and make a forward and backward stroke, this will now suck all the solution out of the carpet. You can do this as many times as you want to dry out the carpet. I usually did it 1-2. You can see if water is still being sucked up by looking at the clear plastic on the front of machine.
That's it. In couple hours, yes only a couple hours, the carpet is dry, clean, and soft. Much better than the "pro's" ever left it.

Stairs -
This is where the job got tough. For the stairs, you can't take advantage of the machine weight and cleaning rollers doing the work for you. You need to use the hose and tools. Basically need to spray solution onto the stairs and scrub with the tools like a brush. Then Suck all the solution out of the carpet using tools.

All and all, this machine is amazing. The carpet looks brand new, dries fast, and the whole house smells clean. The 9500 is well designed and easy to clean. Really not much to clean up. Just empty out solution bottle, suck some clean water through the hose, empty and rinse out water tank in front, and you're done.

One of the most satisfying purchases I've made for the house.

Somehow, I let the leading edges of our carpeted stairs get dingier and dingier, and before I knew it looked as though someone had poured dirt down them in streams. So I bought the Bissell and gave it a try on them. Lo and behold, they look as good as they did nine years ago when I moved into the house. I have had a number of carpet cleaners (and professional carpet cleanings for that matter), but none of them did a better job than the Bissell. Its ease of use is great, and the tank is small enough to be easily cleaned at the end of the process. Overall, I think I made the right choice!

I am the owner of a beige berber, two cats and an 8 year old. Not a good combination. I mean, I KNEW I was making the wrong choice at the carpet place when I picked out the BEIGE carpet, but...what can I tell you...I'm hard-headed! Fast foward six months and my once-beautiful berber is now kinda grey. I was spending a lot of time on my hands and knees with a bottle of Resolve and a damp sponge. Resolve is wonderful, by the way, but there just HAD to be a better way to get this carpet back to it's old wonderfulness. So I rip out my credit card, log on to Amazon and a-shopping-imma-go! Not so easy. There was a tribillion machines to choose from. I finally settled on the Bissell 9500 after reading the great reviews. Well, here is another one!

The machine arrived, I put it together one-two-three and off I went! The machine is a joy to use. It manuevers very easily. It is slightly noiser than a dry vacuum so I wouldn't suggest you use it at midnight when the family is sleeping, but it is actually quieter than I expected it to be. Here is the ten thousand dollar question: Does it work? The answer: A resounding YES!!!!! My carpet looks almost as good as it did when it was laid. That is saying a lot, because since my apartment is kinda small, the whole carpet is a high traffic area! HAHAHAHAHA.

This is what you need to know: You REALLY NEED TO invest in a great deal of the cleaning formula. Do not even THINK about starting the job with the little bottle that comes with the machine. The Bissell 9500 runs through the cleaning solution like nobody's business. I dont know if it is because I ran the whole job on the "high traffic" setting, but I had to refill the formula tank three times while doing my living room. You are going to be running back and forth refilling the water tank too, so be prepared for that. Otherwise, this is one hell of a wonderful machine and unless you have some kind of special situation, you should be pleased as punch with this item.

We bought this for our living area due to our 2 cats throwing up frequently and our 2 children spilling juice, dropping markers, etc. Our carpet looked really dingy and it's only 3 yrs. old. The cost of professional cleaning is about $100 so we figured we have this paid for after 3 cleanings. We read lots of reviews and found this machine to be the best, basically you get what you pay for. We bought it at Best Buy.com for $249 which I think is a really good price. It was easy to assemble and the directions are easy to follow. It is a heavy machine and hard to manuever so my husband and i took turns using it. First we did a rug in our foyer and were shocked by the dirt coming up!! We used an entire tank of water and A LOT of cleaner on this 4X6 rug. Make sure you buy a LARGE bottle of cleaner before you start, you'll need a lot. Then we did our living area and it pulled up tons of cat hair which balls up in big, wet gray lintballs all over the floor. We vacuumed later after the carpet dried to get up all the hair because this machine won't do it, i actually followed my husband around as he pushed it picking up the pieces. We went through several tanks of water, you'll only get about 2 or 3 passes before you have to change the water and dump out the dirty water. It's a long process and a lot of work so plan on spending a couple hours for one room. The cleaner goes fast too, we used an entire large bottle. The cleaner got up all the stains except for one old red koolaid stain that we worked hard on. It lightened it but you can still see it. If you rinse well and suction well and put 3 fans around the room like we did it takes about 6 hours to dry, compared to 12-24 for professional cleaning. The only thing I do not like is the difficulty getting the parts cleaned out after you're done. We took it apart and rinsed the parts well but it's hard to get all the dirt and hair out of the parts. I have no idea how to clean the nozzle that suctions from the floor and the underside of the machine. I looked under there and it was really gross so I tried to put it in the shower, didn't work. I guess there's no way to clean it. I did use the hand tools for my mattress and it worked really well but even harder to get the hose rinsed out and dried, almost impossible. I've never had a steam cleaner so I don't have anything to compare it to but this is a good machine and easy to use once you get the hang of it and well worth the price. It's good for spot cleaning to when the cat pukes!!!

I am so pleased with this machine., There are two features I especially like. It has only one tank that serves two purposes. It holds the clean water and collects the dirty water, so you only have to empty/fill one tank. My old Hoover had two tanks and it was a lot more work emptying and filling them plus they always seemed to drip all over the floor when I was taking them to the sink. This tank is easy to open and close too and does not drip at all. The other thing I love is that you can switch to a rinse cycle directly from a clean cycle without having to empty or fill the tank, which is a real plus in my eyes. I clean my carpets a lot as I have a large house and 10 dogs (and 2 cats) so it gets dirty very quickly. This machine did a fabulous job of cleaning and my carpets look great. I also found (as did the other reviewers) that it seemed to collect a lot more fuzz than my old machine, and I can only suppose that means it is going a better job of deep cleaning than my old machine. If anyone is trying to decide between different machines, I think this is the best. I have had several because I shampoo all the time, and it is far superior to any of the others. Also I am not sure that the dryer does much of anything, but again, it's not that important to me. [...].