BISSELL® Big Green® PET PRO Carpet Cleaner, 3288

Finally , after a long while, I used the Big Green Machine yesterday. I was impressed, really pulled the dirt out. I used it again today just on the high traffic areas and it pulled even more dirt out.

We have used the RugDoctor on our carpet which resulted in having to shampoo 3 times to get out stain. With the Bissell only shampoo it once and rinse! Worked like a charm.

Disclaimer: I live in a rented condominium and therefore cant change my carpet. That being said, I used to own another, less expensive Bissell Lift-Off Pet Pro (or something that sounds similar). My older carpet cleaner seemed to use quite a lot of cleaner solution and even after multiple passes, the carpet I have (thick, almost shag carpet) remained quite damp/wet. The Big Green supposedly has a motor thats double (or more) of the amps of their consumer models. I found that it didnt use as much carpet cleaning solution as my old one, and that I still needed to do multiple passes for it to suck up the solution. If youve got thinner carpet, this one might be amazing, but for my situation, I think I wasted money since it still cant seem to vacuum up the liquids as much as I assumed it would, especially given its reputation and price.

I have previously owned a Bissell but it wasnt a deep cleaner. After reading the reviews and Amazon running this on a lightning deal, I purchased it. After vacuuming all the carpets, I started this machine up. I have used a Rug Doctor and thought that it did a fair job. This machine BLOWS a Rug Doctor out of the water. It came already assembled, all I had to do was remove all of the packing material and lift the handle. My first impression: 1. While heavy, it maneuvers very easily. Much easier than the Rug Doctor. I attribute this to the fact that the handle pivots forward and back like a vacuum cleaner does rather than being stationary. 2. I liked that you didnt have to fill a bucket or other tank to fill the clean reservoir. The clean tank comes out of the machine to be filled. 3. This thing SUCKS! I mean that in a good way. When using the RD (rug doctor) the carpet always stayed wet for hours. With this machine, even with spraying in a forward motion and then again when pulling backwards (so 2 applications of solution with only one removal), on a second pass to remove the water, there was very little left in the carpet. 4. I LOVE that I can see the water that has been pulled out of the carpet. It lets me know just how much water is being put down and how much is being pulled back out. 5. The machine does tell you when you are out of solution and its easy to see the level by looking at the tank. Its similar to knowing how much milk is left in the carton thru a frosted surface. 6. Dumping the waste water is fairly easy. The only downside is that once you remove the top portion (where you see the water being sucked into the waste tank) there is nothing really to hold onto when dumping the tank since the handle is on the top part. 7. Even after thoroughly vacuuming the carpet, this machine found hair that my commercial vacuum did not get out of the carpet. 8. We do have a cat and dog. The dog is very stubborn and if anything hits the floor, she either will try to eat it or cover it up by peeing on it. There was a single spot that after treating with an enzyme solution and cleaning with the RD, there was still an odor. After a single pass with this machine, the odor was gone and there was no longer a strange feeling to that part of the carpet. 9. When using the RD, I felt that I had to go over the carpet several times, keeping in mind that all of our carpet is under 3 years old. With this machine, I could tell with my bare feet that there was a definite difference to how the carpet felt after just one pass. 10. The carpet was dry within 3 hours even in the areas that I had made a forward and backwards pass. Our carpet has a pretty deep pile as well. About 3/4 of an inch in length to give you an idea of what type it was used on. 11. The only problem that I had was operator error. When I filled the tank the second time, I did not get them lined up exactly right and it would put water down but nothing was being pulled back up. I unhooked the latch, reseated the top tank and viola! Back in business. So far I have not found any downsides to this machine but I will check back in after the next time I use it.

Ive tried a variety of carpet cleaning machines. I dread carpet/rug cleaning!!!! I finally decided I needed to invest in something that worked WELL so got this machine. Wow it works!!! Even on a shag rug. The key I think is to pretreat any very dirty areas with the solution (dilute in a spray bottle or even in a hand held compression spray container...the kind you mix fertilize/weed killer in). If the solution can sit on the carpet/rug even for 10min it makes a big difference in how clean the carpet/rug will get. Then use the cleaning machine. It takes a few passes but it gets it clean. Take a bit of time going over the area several times if you want it almost dry. I cleaned a shag rug a few hours before I had company and it was clean and dry in a very short period of time. I went over the rug very well with just suction and it was almost completely dry. To get the last bit of perfect cleaning... Do a final clean with just hot water in the machine. Leaves the carpet/rug soft with no cleaning residue left in the carpet/rug.

I used this product to shampoo my carpets which are a lower loft high traffic carpet made by Shaw with a pad with a waterproof barrier. I shampooed several smaller rooms, a large family room and set up stairs. I was very pleased with the ease of use of the product. It was easy to figure out. I like the separate clean water and dirty water tanks. It really did get the carpets clean and does have good suction to bring water back out of the carpet. It is rather heavy so maneuvering on a full flight of stairs was challenges. It is slightly wider that a standard stair width so if you dont have a landing mid way down it may be challenging to use this on stairs. The only other items I would change is the clarity of the viewing window that shows the water as its being sucked back into the machine. The plastic is more milky versus clear making it hard to see at times how much moisture and how clean the moisture is coming back into the machine. Overall I would recommend this product if you are looking for something that is better than your standard consumer grade carpet shampooer but not so burdensome as a shampooer you might rent from home store.

This device is awesome, runs rings around everything else Ive ever used before. Only one flaw ive found...dont try to ease this thing down stairs by the handle; the handle latch is not strong so when it bumps the step coming down the handle opens, the motor unit flops, and all the tanks and such go tumbling down the stairs. theyre built tough, didnt seem to break anything and luckily the dirty water tank was empty. I know this unit has handles for picking it up, I have a bad back and lifting 50 lbs down the steps wasnt an option. Next time ill just remove the tanks a make a couple of trips. Buy this thing but just be wary of the handle latch.

I should start this review by saying that my carpet is original to my house, which is 26 years old. I have had the carpets professionally cleaned and I have done them myself many times. I have owned several carpet cleaners in the past and really hesitated spending this much money for another. I have to say it is worth every penny! Seriously, it got out things I thought would never come out. My son had spilled Dr. Pepper behind a metal file cabinet in his bedroom, and of course didnt bother to mention it to me. It had set in for about six month by the time I found it, and the file cabinet had rusted on the soda. Not cool! So while I held out little hope, I pre-treated the stain with the cleaner that came with the machine (mixed with water) in a spray bottle. I let it sit around 10 minutes while I did other parts of the carpet. When I went over that area, almost all the stain came up, including the rust. I did go back and use the pre-treat again several times and each time more of the stain came up. There is a very faint rust stain that did not come out but you really have to be looking for it to see it. I found this machine to actually be more quiet than others I have used, which is not to say it isnt loud, because it is. But compared to other machines, even my husband commented that it was not as loud as the last one we owned. It cleans way, way better than other models I have tried and I didnt spend half my time running to the sink to empty and refill the tanks. I was blown away by the amount of water/solution that was sucked out of the carpet. Most other machines, even the professionals, leave the carpet so wet. Last time I had my Berber carpets cleaned it took 4 days to dry! With this machine it was mostly dried in 3 hours. I did have one spot that took till the next morning, but it was the area I went over several times. It was easy to operate and cleans on both forward and backward stroke. I also used this on my sofa, chairs, and an area rug with similar results. The hose is long enough to clean up the stairs, and the electric cord is long enough to not have to move it, at least in my house, very often. The Cons- It is heavy, which I guess is why it works so well but if you have stairs, you will probably have to carry it up in pieces like I did (machine, tanks separately). It did drip a little when I was carrying it to be emptied, which I hate, but every other machine I have owned has done the same...........Grrrrrrr! I dont like the water flow indicator. This little disk spins on the tank to show you the water flow. If you arent paying attention (I get into the zone when I clean and did this several times), you will be moving the machine around but no water/solution is being released. The way the tanks fit together make it a little difficult to tell when they are locked together. I was releasing solution into the carpet and nothing was coming back up. Had to turn the machine off, take the tank off and put it back on and fiddle with it to Lock it down. All of that said, I will and already have recommended this machine very very highly. Its really all about the clean!! The cons I listed are all small things that are more bothersome than real problems. I am please with my purchase and love that my carpet looks almost new again. Good for another 26 years??

If you want a clean, non-blotchy, carpet use the pretreat everywhere. They dont include the pretreat. Where I didnt pretreat initially, I ended up going back.

This is the best carpet machine I have owned! Completely worth every last penny. Life with kids is messy, our living room rug was absolutely disgusting. A once over with this, and a few times over the really dirty spots, and the rug looks almost new. I highly recommend!