Bissell 3576 Bagless Upright Vacuum

My wife and I already owned one Bissell in the house. It was a great little vacuum. It has great suction and got the carpets clean. But the one issue we had with it was it was heavy and we got tired of carrying it up and down the stairs. We decided a year ago to purchase another one. We decided on the 3576.

The out of the box experience was good. It was easily put together, and I was up and running in no time. It did, and still does, a great job of cleaning the carpets and getting the dirt out of the carpet. Even the hose, although it's shorter than I'm used to on my old Hoover, does a great job on the stairs.

I have noticed a few quirks about this particular model as opposed to my other bissell (which I still use for my basement). First off, the belt used to run the bristles off the motor has a tendency to slip off after running the vacuum a few times. This is a recent item. I've swapped out the belts, and it still does the same thing.

The filters get dirty quickly. This tends to get annoying at times as the dust, dirt and other items build up quickly. I get around this to a degree by vacuuming the filter with the other Bissell I own. It allows me to go longer between actual cleanings of the filter. While that is a good thing, it's still an annoyance. I would also recommend purchasing a second set of filters to use. I notice that one of the filters takes over a day to dry completely. This way, if you need to use the vacuum every day, you don't have to wait for the filter you cleaned to dry. (My other Bissell uses the same filter, so that is an added plus for me)

Another annoying thing I noticed about this vacuum is that the hose leading from the front intake to the main hose clogs at times with just regular use. The most recent time mine clogged was when we just were vacuuming up some dirt and a few scraps of ripped paper. It never had a problem with that before, and it just clogged this time. It's clogged before like that in similar circumstances as well. In looking at that tube, it does seem smaller than the main hose. A slight increase in the size of that tube would make a huge difference. My older bissell has only clogged once in the two years I've had it, and it was moreso my fault than anything else.

This vacuum came with the usual attachments, along with a turbo brush. I only used the turbo brush once, and it didn't seem to work all that great to me. But to be honest, my expectations on the brush were low because of my previous experience with this particular attachment device on my old Hoover. I would have preferred an extra tube attachment to help make the hose longer instead of that turbo brush.

After having this for over a year, I can say that it still does its job in cleaning the carpets. Having up to four kids at a time can be murder on a vacuum, but this Bissell never seems to complain. It is used on a daily basis as well, so it's durability is outstanding. The dirt container seems a little small, but we empty it out once a week, which is good since we vacuum quite a bit. Although the hose is a bit short, it does a great job when I'm cleaning my office floor and behind the desk, as well as when I clean the stairs. One huge plus is the cord length. I plug it in anywhere on my main floor, I can do almost the entire floor from that outlet. Kudos to Bissell for that feature.

While it seems that I took more time with the negative, I do like this vacuum. It gets the carpets and floors clean without leaving anything behind. That alone makes it a good purchase. With just a few changes to the vacuum, such as a wider tube from the main vacuum intake, would make this a great vacuum cleaner.