I am thinking of buying a Bissell deep cleaner.  Has anyone ever used one?  How does it compare to a Vax?  Are there any other brands I should consider.  Many thanks.

Jax :)

Don't know about the bissel but I have the VAX, the biggest one (Don't know the number it lives in the shed and I am indoors in the warm...it's cold and blowy here!) but its brilliant, I cannot believe the filthy water that I throw away from it, and I do my lounge carpet about once a month. I can certainly recomend that one!!!
Aileen.

My friend had a Bissel and she said it was rubbish, my cheap steam cleaner did a better job.

Be careful with any cleaner that uses water (unless an industrial one). Cleaners for the home just aren't powerful enough to remove excess moisture so all that happens is that the carpet fibres remain sticky from the cleaning agent and they then pick up all the dust and grime. All that means is that the carpet gets dirty much more quickly and you have to wash it more often - which in turn decreases the life of the carpet. When people say their machine is wonderful and they use it a lot I'm afraid it's probably just making your carpet look dirty more quickly !.
Much better to hire a carpet cleaning firm and cheaper in the long run.

i always hire a rug doctor from homebase / b and q about 25.00 for the weekend.
it does a great job and i only have to do the carpets twice a year and that's with three dogs and a cat!

got a Bissell Quickwash (from qvc or one of those channels, quite cheap!) it is brilliant. Carpet/mats are barely damp as long as you don't rush and give the machine time to have a good suck with the spray off. tried putting kitchen roll on the carpet after and standing on it just to see haw much wet was left, it was barely marked. so I can let the dogs straight on it as its always 'but mum I got to go out' just after I done the mats inside the back door!. It can cope with VERY muddy garden and 3 lots of paws as long as I do it every 3/4 weeks thru the winter.
Chris

The VAX I have has a facillity to turn of the soap and just put water through then it rinses the carpet too. The reason I do them so often is that with three giant dogs and twelve dirty feet it gets dirty quickly LOL. not to mention a builder OH who traipses in and out as only men can. Too soft on my dependants I let them get away with far too much!!!
Aileen

Love my Karcher Puzzi !!

I have the Bissell deep cleaner and have used it quite a lot.  It does freshen up a carpet - just as much as one of those you hire without the back breaking job of carrying - The Bissell shampoo and spot cleaner is quite good. If I remember rightly Which said it performed the best. However you must remember that the brushes raise the pile of the carpet and make it look like new until you start to walk on it again.  I have not long cleaned the carpets in my mother's flat and before you could see where folks had trampled out of the kitchen and where they had sat.  When I cleaned the carpets they looked great, but within a week or so the marks all showed up again.  This is no different from a hired cleaner or having someone in to do the job.  Have experienced each method.  The Bissell cleaner is easier to use.  However the downside is that the fluff collects under the machine and gives of gobs every now and then.  It is easily picked up or hovered afterwards.  I am glad I had my cleaner - I don't think any carpet cleaner really gets the carpets 100% clean, and nothing can combat wear and tear.  The only other carpet cleaner I had was the Vax - the original one that doubled as a vacuum cleaner.  That was hard work too.

How much are the bissells or steam cleaners then?  I desperately need to either clean my carpets or replace them!

If carpets are only slightly dirty is it true you can sprinkle bicarbonate of soda on them, leave for a bit then vac up and it will remove odours and dirt??  Is it too good to be true????

Haven't tried bicarb!  My bissell cost 199.99.  There seems to be a newer one out now.  

Haven't tried bicarb!  Is it like shake and vac :-)

LOL I guess so but much cheaper.

I think bicarb is more for reducing/eliminating odours???  But I'm not sure.  

I have had two Bissells and one Vax - def prefer the Bissell (first one was just small spot clean model, lasted years, very effective).  The large Bissell Pro Heat Powerwash is the one I use at home now but also have a Vax in our holiday home which I only chose because it was on offer and it leaves carpets/rugs etc much damper for longer.   I also prefer to use reduced diluted solution in Bissell so no tackiness left in carpets and touch dry more or less right away if house is warm, no more than an hour otherwise.

I also have a steam cleaner - I don't think they're any use for actual stain removal on carpets or soft furnishings but certainly good for hygeine purposes throughout the house on pretty much every surface :)

HTH, Teri

You have a choice of what level you want to clean at - light clean or heavy - there is a rinse option too.  I keep forgetting to turn the dial back and gaily wash away with just water!!!!

I have the Bissell too and it works well. 

It replaced a small Bissell for spot cleaning which worked like a charm cleaning up after housetraining!   The only problem I had was the spots I cleaned were lighter (I have cream wall to wall) than the rest of the carpet.  :-)  They stopped manufacturing it and I bought a VAX spot cleaner machine as a replacement - it went into a skip six months later, a completely useless and ineffective item. So I bought the big Bissell.