Bissell 3760-1 Bagless Upright Cyclonic Vacuum

We've been locked in a life and death struggle with Sears for the past few years. See, Sears used to have a really amazing maintenance agreement program. It was a wowser of a program that actually FIXED stuff when it broke! Unfortunately, the last few years has seen a marked decline in the service provided with these fairly pricey agreements. Understandable, I suppose—my problem comes when Sears denies ever having provided the service—you know, "Oh, we've NEVER sharpened mower blades as part of our maintenance agreement!" Really? Because I have TEN YEARS of receipts showing that you, in fact, did that VERY thing!

Sorry, I'm ranting. Vacuum.

We've had our Kenmore vacuum from Sears for ten years or so. Fairly frequently (perhaps twice a year) the belt slips, instantly melting the housing with the friction. We take the vacuum in, Sears takes a couple of weeks to fix it, and then it happens again six months later. It's a design flaw, nothing less. Well, last time we took it in (last October), Sears tried to deny that it was the same vacuum (they'd "accidentally" put another model number on our maintenance agreement—they did the same thing to try to avoid fixing the TV. That's a different story.). After managing to establish that it WAS, indeed, the same vacuum, they agreed to fix it AGAIN.

FIVE weeks later, we were STILL without a vacuum. With the new fridge on its way, we had to be able to vacuum behind the old one, so we just gave up on the Kenmore and purchased the Bissel Lift Off Revolution Turbo Bagless Upright Vacuum (boy, isn't that a mouthful?).

It's RED. A beautiful, sparkly, deep reddish-burgundy.

That is, to this day, my favorite thing about it. It's pretty.

My husband really wanted the bagless feature. No, he doesn't do the vacuuming. But he was enamored of the idea that we'd be able to see the stuff swirling around inside. Yeah, here ya go, honey. Enjoy.

The first time I used the vacuum, I was impressed. It had great suction, and was more easily maneuverable than our Kenmore upright. It moved smoothly, and turns off the beater brush automatically when stood upright. I LIKE that.

My fondness for the Bissel Lift Off Revolution Turbo Bagless Upright Vacuum didn't last too long. In fact, I was pretty much all outta love after the first real vacuuming day.

This thing has to be dumped constantly! Constantly! I can't even vacuum my whole kitchen without having to stop twice to dump it! And if I slip up and don't dump it soon enough? Suction GONE. I wind up having to dismantle the danged thing, pull out the filters, and clean them by hand, leaving me covered in dust.

Speaking of dust, dumping that waste bin results in a cloud of dust. What good is a dust-removing HEPA filter if every time you have to dump it you create a cloud of the stuff?

And pet hairs? Well, I keep hearing how great this vacuum is for pet hairs, but those folks must have relatively hairless pets, because MY pets' hairs clog this thing like nobody's business. Not just the waste bin or the filters, but the HOSE clogs up, too! In fact, just yesterday I ran the freshly dumped, freshly cleaned vacuum over a clump of dog hair and it STREAKED the dog hair across the carpet rather than picking it up! I have four cats and two dogs, and apparently I'm over the limit for effective vacuuming with this particular model.

Any other complaints before I get to the details? Why yes, something discovered just today. My son accidentally dumped a container of sea salt in the bathroom. We scooped up almost all of it by hand, then I whipped out my RED vacuum. And it proceeded to spit most of that salt backwards, pelting my legs with sharp shards of the Dead Sea. It took a dozen passes to get most of it up, and then I had to vacuum the hall because it had launched so much of the salt backwards and out of the room.

Okay, so I guess I'm done with my bitter complaining. Let's get down to the nuts and bolts of the Bissel Lift Off Revolution Turbo Bagless Upright Vacuum's features:

Fifteen Inch Path This is one inch wider than my Kenmore, and it really does make a difference.

Easy swiveling/maneuverability Again, unlike my Kenmore, this vacuum does move more easily, and, because of its lower base, it slips under furniture more easily.

Headlamp Nice for lighting up under chairs and such, but don't think you can read by it—it's not that bright.

Telescoping wand It's long enough for most jobs, but it does tend to slide a bit, so you've got to really grind it down to keep it locked at the length you want.

"Turbo" brush attachment Keeeerap. I know, I'm the heretical voice here, but this thing was the worst kind of crappy gimmick. It's powered by the suction of the vacuum, and it spins very cutely until it hits anything even vaguely substantial, then it's DONE. I wrote that off after two uses. It still adorns the vacuum in its assigned place because it looks impressive.

Combination Dusting and Upholstery brush This works quite well. It's good for scraping/scrubbing/dragging hairs and such from furniture. Obviously, the "dusting" part of this is mostly a wash, but you can run it across desktops and such and it will do a fair job.

Crevice tool I've had a dozen of these in my life, and I don't think I've ever gotten a lot of use out of them. They're just usually not necessary in my home. However, they DO suck a spider out of a corner pretty well. Unfortunately, that spider isn't stuck in a BAG with this vacuum, so you're gonna have to deal with Sir Spider when you empty that little waste bin.

An eighty inch hose this hose seems tighter/shorter than my Kenmore's, but it's a stiffness thing. That stiffness does tend to inspire the vacuum to tip over with a fair frequency when using tools.

Stair Cleaning Tool Wish I could review this, but mine doesn't have one. I didn't know it was supposed to have one until I saw other reviews. I called the store where I purchased the vacuum in March, and they said I'd have to contact Bissell. Niiiice.

Detachable Canister This is a super-cool idea! It gets a bit complicated with the cord, but it's not too involved, and it does make things a little more easy when it comes to stairs or cleaning out your car. However, most models don't have the shoulder strap, so you'll want to rig something up. Otherwise, your arm starts to wear out.

Separate power and brush buttons AND auto-stop when upright I LOVE this! Of all the features, THIS is the one that really works for me! My old vacuum had no shut off for the beater brush. Is it any wonder it was constantly melting the beater bar housing? Imagine doing detail work along the floor boards and along walls while the beater brush was still spinning away! The only drawback with this feature is that sometimes, when vacuuming, if you pull back too far, the stop engages. It's easy enough to learn a new rhythm that prevents this from happening.

I do want to stress that suction with the Bissel Lift Off Revolution Turbo Bagless Upright Vacuum is great—so long as you keep the waste bin dumped and frequently clean the filters. But if you're accustomed to a bagged vacuum, this is going to be a jarring transition—it has been for me. This is a high-maintenance vacuum when compared to bagged models, and you need to go into this knowing that.

My only other complaint would be the cord. It's long enough at 30 feet, but it tends to cross over the front of the vacuum, laying across the gap between the canister and the beater housing. When it comes time to stand the vacuum upright, the cord is trapped between the components, necessitating some pain-in-the-behind bending down and freeing the cord.

I'm not totally in hate with this vacuum, but, if given the choice to make again, I would probably go with a bagged. However, to put things in perspective, I used my Kenmore as soon as we finally got it back (over seven weeks after bringing it in). I used it for 15 minutes before the belt slipped and melted the housing.

So I guess I got the better vacuum when we picked up the Bissel Lift Off Revolution Turbo Bagless Upright Vacuum

***A quick apology for any HTML issues. Epinions' software wouldn't allow my normal HTML tagging, so I had to remove all tagging, then add it back through "edit your review" ONE TAG AT A TIME. If it's not right, please let me know of any errors I may have missed.

******UPDATE******
I am lowering my rating of this product from three stars to two. My last vacuuming adventure involved one room (the living room, where no pets are allowed) and FIVE episodes of having to shut off the vacuum and pull it apart to clean filters, clear clogs in the hose, and all around hassle with it. What a piece of crap! I am SO disappointed.