Bissell PowerForce Helix Bagless Upright Vacuum
The Bissell PowerForce Helix Bagless Upright Vacuum is a vacuum system that promises to make cleaning your home a breeze. Here’s our Bissell PowerForce Helix review.
What Is The Bissell PowerForce Helix Vacuum?
The Bissell PowerForce Helix Bagless Upright Vacuum is a powerful vacuum sold online and in stores (like Walmart) for around $50 to $100. Despite the cheap price, the vacuum is well reviewed online and promises to be the best possible vacuum for carpeting, upholstery, and general room-to-room cleaning.
Walmart, for example, sells the Bissell PowerForce Helix vacuum for as low as $36 online. If you want more powerful suction capabilities, then there are more expensive models available, although they’re all available for under $100.
One of the key features of the PowerForce lineup of vacuum cleaners is the bagless technology. Instead of using a traditional bag system, the vacuum uses a dirt separation system and replaceable washable filters. Air is filtered and then the residue is pushed into a large-capacity dirt container. So the vacuum doesn’t have bags, but it does have a dirt container you’ll have to regularly clean.
What are you sacrificing when you pay just $36 for a vacuum cleaner? Let’s take a look at some of the PowerForce Helix’s tech specs and features below.
Bissell PowerForce Helix Features
-Designed for carpeting, upholstery, and general room to room cleaning
-5 height adjustments
-Large-capacity dirt container
-Washable filters
-Onboard tools
-1 year limited warranty
-Available in blue or black
-Dirt separation system that captures more fine dust while also extending the suction power and cleaning performance
-Helps to reduce allergens
-Can clean nearly any surface from carpet to tile
One of the key Bissell features on the vacuum is its “Dual Edge Cleaning” which uses “Surround Suction” to clean hard to reach areas of your home – like baseboards and around furniture. However, as you’ll read in the reviews below, some customers get frustrated that the vacuum leaves about an inch of un-vacuumed space when you’re pushed up against an edge.
Bissell PowerForce Helix Tech Specs
-Amps: 10 Amps
-Colors: Blue or Black
-Cord Length: 20 feet
-Dimensions: 44 (L) x 13.50 (W) x 12 (H)
What Do Customers Have to Say About the Bissell PowerForce Helix?
The Bissell PowerForce Helix is surprisingly well-reviewed online, considering it’s a vacuum cleaner priced at less than $100.
Walmart.com, for example, reviews the original Bissell PowerForce Helix vacuum cleaner at an average rating of 4.3 stars out of 5 with a total of 2715 reviews. The vast majority of reviews are 4 or 5 stars.
The Amazon.com listing for the Bissell PowerForce Helix Vacuum isn’t quite as kind. On Amazon.com, reviewers have given it an average rating of 3 stars out of 5. Below, you’ll find some of the pros and cons we’ve collected from both of these review websites:
Pros:
-Great value for its price, as you get a working vacuum cleaner for around $50
-No need to buy bags
-Provides good suction
-Lightweight and easy to carry around the home or up and down stairs
-5 different height settings allowing you to maximize airflow and suction on any type of carpet
-Soft bumper for minimizing damage against furniture and walls
Cons:
-Requires quite a bit of effort to push around on carpet
-20 foot cord is too short, which means you have to frequently unplug and plug it in every time you change rooms
-Leaves about an inch of space you cannot vacuum when you’re up against walls or furniture
-Bucket, filters, and catchment systems fill up very quickly
-Washing and cleaning the various filters can be a huge hassle. You need to remove the top dirt container and dump it out (many people also wash it). Then, you remove the bottom dirt container, the inner circular filter, and the outer circular filter within. All these filters need to be washed with soap and water, and removing all the dirt can be difficult once you get down to the smallest filters. There are a total of 7 parts you have to clean. Many people are surprised by how long it takes to wash, dry, and clean all of these parts of the vacuum.
About Bissell
Bissell claims to be the world’s number one brand in home care appliances. Many of their products are sold on TV under the “As Seen On TV” brand. They sell a wide variety of carpet cleaners, vacuums, steam and hard floor cleaners, sweepers, carpet and floor cleaning formulas, pet accessories, mops, brooms, and more.
Bissell was founded all the way back in 1876 when Melville R. Bissell and his wife Anna owned a carpentry shop in Michigan. They were frequently cleaning sawdust off the carpet of the shop and needed a way to efficiently clean up that sawdust – so they invented and patented a unique carpet sweeper. The Bissell company was born.
Bissell continues to be a family-owned business to this day. They maintain locations in Illinois and Michigan. To get in touch with the company by email, fill out the online forms here.
Should the Bissell PowerForce Helix Bagless Upright Be Your Next Vacuum Cleaner?
Ultimately, reviewers all seem to say approximately the same thing about the PowerForce Helix Vacuum: they acknowledge that they weren’t expecting a premium-quality vacuum at a price of around $50. They also acknowledge that the vacuum has good basic cleaning ability, including powerful suction and decent edge to edge cleaning. But virtually all reviewers have some complaint about actually cleaning the vacuum, including the amount of time it takes to clean all filters (7 parts in total require cleaning). The filters and container also clog up very quickly because they’re all very small.
Many reviewers are also frustrated with the 20 foot cord length, which means they frequently have to plug and unplug the vacuum when moving from room to room.
If you don’t mind investing a little extra time and effort into cleaning your vacuum cleaner, and you want to buy a vacuum cleaner for $50, then the Bissell PowerForce Helix Vacuum appears to be one of the best budget vacuum cleaners available today – just don’t expect it to perform like a $500 vacuum cleaner.
