Bissell 3591 Bagless Upright Vacuum

I had to replace my poor badly treated and beat up Panasonic vacuum cleaner. It wasn't quite dead but it was going. So I bought this vacuum. Within 2 weeks it blew up and I returned it to the store. I have 6 dogs, 2 cats, 3 parrots and live in the middle of a mudslide with sand on top.

After the Panasonic finally died I bought another one of these, the other vacuum must have just been a bad one. I've had this one for about 6 months now and it works great. It picks up the dog/cat hair, bird seed, dirt, litter, dog/cat food, small wood pieces, small newspaper pieces, and most important, sand. It's the only vacuum I've found that picks up the hair and sand. I do have to stop and clean the filters after each time I use it. But that's what happens in this house. It's because of all the sand that's been brought into the house in the last 3 years. I haven't had to pull strings off the roller brush yet either. I just realized that. This alone is wonderful because I KNOW I'm vacuuming up strings and I hate having to unroll them off a roll brush.

The filters are easy to clean and they dry overnight. The dirt cup is easy to take off, dump and put back, it also rinses out easily. No confusion. I vacuum my tile floors and take out cobwebs with it. It doesn't leave marks on the tile floors like some machines do.
You can tell when the dirt cup is full, the noise changes. I can't explain it but after you use it a few times you'll understand.

There are 3 washable foam filters on it. One below the dirt cup, one above the dirt cup, and one on the side where the clean air blows out. Once I start getting dust blowing out of any of these I stop the vacuum and clean the filters. I also put the vacuum outside filterless and run it to "blow it out". You can now buy a hepa filter for the side instead of using the washable one. The hepa filter costs about $10.00. Because of all the sand I still use the washable filter but I did buy a hepa filter just in case.

I also clean the top part to the dirt cup, not just the filter up there. I'm sure I'm not supposed to rinse it out but I do and it cleans beautifully. It comes out with just a twist of a small handle in the back.

The belts come 2 to a package and cost about $5.00. I haven't had to change the belt yet so I can't comment on the ease or difficulty of this. Just that last sentence should tell you how well the belt is holding up.


I wish that the tool cord/tube was longer but that's the only problem I have with it.

I love the bag less idea. I went through bags like crazy before. And now I also know just how much dog hair is really in my house. I was probably trying to vacuum with full bags before. The dirt cup on this is full of hair after just a few swipes in certain areas. Yes I empty it more then I changed bags but I can tell when this is full.
And when I was changing bags, if I changed them as often as I apparently should have I wouldn't be able to afford the dog food.

This vacuum is fairly lightweight. I've had heavier vacuums. It has a handle halfway down in the back to lift it over things like baby gates. It has 6 carpet height settings and a barefloor/tools setting.

About the attachments.
They are onboard on the back of the vacuum. The brush nozzle is round and small, the crevice piece fits into the extra hose extender you just pull it out and flip it around. So there are 3 pieces. The handle on the tool tube is useless except to put the tube back on the vacuum after using it. At least I find it useless for any other purpose. I've used the crevice tool to clean the crumbs out of my toaster oven, around the fireplace, and around the sliding door. I use the brush for areas that the vacuum is too big to get into and for the cobwebs!

The cord wraps around a cord holder on the side. It has a 25' cord.

This vacuum has dual edge cleaning. But like most vacuums it misses a part on the left side because that's where the part is to hold in the roller brush. Otherwise the left side gets into the carpet next to the wall great.

You can also adjust the handle all the way down so that it's just about flat to vacuum under beds and tables. This has come in handy. I also like the on/off button being on the side.

When you take it out of the box you have to screw on the handle. It takes one screw. It hasn't come lose on me yet so I'd have to say it holds up pretty well.

I don't know about the warranty on it. I don't worry about those things on vacuums with all the pets in my house. I figure if it lasts a year I got my moneys worth. But now, on the box it says that if there is something wrong with the vacuum to call an 800 number and not to return it to the store. It didn't say this on the first one I bought and returned to the store.


I've bought this vacuum twice. I'd buy it again. It picks up sand. I could use it all day in one spot and probably never get all the sand out of the carpet. But that would be because I'm tired, the vacuum would keep sucking it up.
(Yes we're going to tile floors, slowly but surely).

Update on 6/5/2004

I'm still using this vacuum. I still love it.
I have learned to vacuum once quickly to pick up the hair then after that's done do it again for the sand. It's not as much work as it sounds. But it makes everything work much better.
I finally had to change the belt. I'm amazed at how long that lasted.
I have also switched to the hepa filter because someone ate the washable foam one. It's still going strong!
I would still buy this again if I needed a new one.