Bissell 71Y7, a good inexpensive upright vac
Written: Oct 28 '09 (Updated Oct 28 '09)
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Pros: Inexpensive, plenty of suction, lightweight, easy to manuver
Cons: No headlight, it doesn't come with someone in the box to vacuum for me.
The Bottom Line: If you need an inexpensive vacuum that won't break the bank, take a look at this one.
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| buggman's Full Review: Bissell Powerforce Upright Vacuum 71Y7 |
Bissell Powerforce upright vacuum model 71Y7.
It seems like my mom goes through a vacuum cleaner every year or two. I've bought her the $300.00 super heavy duty bagless HEPA filtered ones all the way down to the cheapy bagless vacs, but they never seem to hold up under light normal use.
The last bagless vac I bought her (a very expensive one, I might ad) worked fine for about 6 months or so before it began spitting out more dust than it actually picked up. Dust would pour out dust from every seal on the thing & no matter how we cleaned the seals, it would still blow dust everywhere. I even went so far as to add window & door foam seal tape around every place dust would come out of but after emptying the canister a few times, it too began to leak.
This is where this Bissell 71Y7 vac comes in.
After searching around locally & reading reviews online, I decided to give this vac a shot. I didn't want to take a chance on ordering a vac only to find out that it wasn't worth the cardboard box it was shipped in, so I purchased this one locally. Good for me that it was in stock here, but unfortunately it's the only bagged vac sold within any reasonable distance from me.
Priced at $39.00 at WallyWorld, it was a bargain & if it lasts half as long as any of the other vacs we have, it will have earned its keep.
It features a 10 amp motor, which is ample power for a smaller vac like this is. A 15 or 18 amp motor would have given a little more suction power, but it would have also added more weight and been much louder. I don't mind the compromise in power to have a lighter & quieter vac.
Speaking of the loudness, it's actually pretty quiet for an inexpensive vac. You won't be able to hear the TV or radio when you're cleaning the floors, but if someone comes up behind you & talks loudly, you can probably hear them.
As far as suction, this vac sucks, but in a good way. I'd have no problem putting this up against any of the more powerful and much more expensive vacs we've owned over the years. The beater bar is made of hard plastic as well as having stiff poly brushes attached to the beater bar.
As for weight, it's pretty light. I haven't weighed this vac, but I'd guess it weighs in at less than 9 pounds.
It rolls smoothly across all of our carpets smoothly, even though we have several different pile depths throughout the house.
It has a 13" wide cleaning path with is adequate for most uses. The vac can be laid down nearly flat to the floor (the top of the handle can literally touch the floor) making it easy to slide under a bed, table or tall couch.
The back features a removable hose with storage for the extension wand & crevice tool. The hose could be a bit longer. The hose is a bit short, maybe 5 or 6 feet long without the extensions attached. This will be fine if you're able to bring the vac to the dirt, but it will make cleaning stairs or drapes a bit of a challenge due to the short hose.
It's not a big issue for us, because we have a small handheld Dirt Devil vac that works great for cleaning up & down the stairs.
The hose can be easily detached with a half twist, so I'm guessing that you might be able to purchase a longer hose assembly should you need a 20 feet of reach.
The entire structure is made from injection molded plastic, including the decorative panels. It's quite sturdy while remaining lightweight.
The power switch is mounted just above mid way up on the main body as the top handle assembly is detachable (for shipping in a smaller box). This causes you to have to bend over a little to turn on/off, but it's no big deal as most of these two piece vacs have their switches mounted in the same location.
There is no indication light or LED when the vac is running and there is also no "headlight" to see into those dark recesses of your living room.
For filtration, you begin with the good old paper collection bags behind the large front panel. Next you have a small filter at the bottom of the "paper bag housing" and lastly, a side mounted filter for final exhaust.
It looks like a person could easily swap out the side filter (black mesh only) for a similarly sized HEPA filter. I haven't had time to try this as of yet, but if we find any dust making it's way out of the standard filters, I'll try this upgrade.
Included in the box was a slip with Bissell's order number for an offer: 12 pc replacement bags for $9.99 with Free shipping. Not a bad price, considering these bags sell for over $1.50 each in stores. I'd estimate that a bag should last at least a month of average cleaning before it needs to be changed.
The bags seem easy enough to change, just pop off the full one & slip the new one onto the plastic tube.
Check back later and I'll update how long the bags last before they need to be changed.
With a 22' power cord, you should be able to clean most normally sized rooms without the need to find extra outlets or use an extension cord.
Lastly, this vac has 5 surface settings: from bare wood floors to thick pile carpets. Adjustment is as simple as turning the dial from low through the 5 settings up to high.
After several years of dealing with cumbersome, clumsy, bagless vacs that circulate as much dust as they pick up or those that have expensive filters that only last a few months, it will be a nice change to go back to the old school bagged vacuum for a change.
For the money, this is a very nice vacuum. Small, lightweight, plenty of suction, easy to maneuver & not too noisy.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 40
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buggman
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