BISSELL SpotBot Hands-Free Compact Deep Carpet Cleaner, 1200B
by Bissell
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of BISSELL SpotBot Hands-Free Compact Deep Carpet Cleaner, 1200B
Customer Review: Here's a Summary of All the Reviews Below This One
Summary: 5 Stars
Hundreds and hundreds of reviews below this one, so here's a summary of all of the three hundred or so reviews below this one:
1. Almost everyone is a fanatical lover of this product. Sometimes it takes two or even three applications, but it seems to work except on some red stains, which any carpet cleaner will tell you are difficult. Otherwise, pet stains, and even very old stains are gone without a trace (we've tried this on a couple of *ten year old stains* and it pulled them right out), even after trying other devices and solutions that did not work. (My note for vomit or other stains of similar consistency, first clean as much as possible using the back of a knife, held at a 45 degree angle and scrape towards the center of the stain, cleaning the knife frequently or you'll just push the vomit into the carpet, though most report not doing this and it being completely clean anyway). People really like that you just start it and walk away, you don't have to monitor it.
2. The product cleans so well, used on a dirty carpet, you'll see circles that are cleaner than the rest of the carpet. Using the manual wand to soak up the solution when it is done will help, by spreading the cleaning solution into the non-cleaned area as you soak it up. Otherwise, you may have to use a regular machine to clean the entire carpet after you use this on a very dirty carpet.
3. People also report that it leaves the carpet VERY wet. But again, the manual wand used afterwards will take up the excess water. Tilt the wand so that the hose is up at about a 45 degree angle and run it slowly with medium pressure downward and most of the water will be sucked up. You can see the water getting sucked up from the side of the wand.
4. The best technique is to use a spray bottle of cleaning solution, diluted as directed for the machine, spraying the affected area, and using only water in this machine. It will use less of the expensive solutions, is just about as effective, and will not leave an excess of soap on the carpet. If you don't use the spray bottle technique, and instead you put the soap in the tank, 6 months later, the soap residue that is left on the carpet will attract its own dirt and so you'll have to reclean, but the spray bottle technique doesn't have this problem. So spray, turn the machine on, and wand up the excess water.
5. Some people report that the two included solutions work the best, others say that with the spray bottle technique it doesn't matter and others say using Costco carpet cleaning solution in the gallon jug works as well but is cheaper. One reported that vinegar and water worked and didn't smell when dry, but I don't think I'm gutsy enough to try that. Citrus based solutions and probably vinegar will damage the inside of it.
6. Some have reported that it may take some effort to get it to work at first. Check to make sure the containers are pushed all the way in. If that doesn't fix it, look at the FAQs on the Bissell web site in the support section for more detailed instructions. And note, don't do what we did at first, which is to put the water in the wrong tank. You put the water in the tank at the BACK of the unit. The other tank is where the dirty solution goes. You fill the tank that has a screw cap on the bottom of it. No screw cap? You've got the wrong tank.
7. Don't leave the tanks full, they leak. Run the unit on manual with *no* water in the tank for a few seconds to suck the solution out of the hose between uses or it may get moldy.
The product is every bit as good as what is written here. We've used it a couple of times. Don't put soap in it, the soap only goes in a your own separately purchased spray bottle used before you use the machine: nothing but water in the machine, and empty both tanks between uses. I just saved you hours of reading the remaining 300 reviews.
We bought the remanufactured version and haven't had any problems. Thumbs up.
Finally, when you have put your toe in the carpet cleaning waters, look at the Hoover F5914-900 SteamVac with Clean Surge for a full room carpet cleaner. It doesn't spot clean as well as this one, but you can do a whole room in under an hour, and it sucks the water back out of the carpet so thoroughly, the carpet dries in about an hour - faster if you blow it with a fan. Worth every penny. That one needs to be cleaned between uses (about 15 mins), so it takes a little more time to use. The Bissell is just a load and go product. The Hoover is more of an event.
Customer Review: The Spot Eliminator!
Summary: 5 Stars
My wife and I bought the Bissell SpotBot over a year ago and has it ever lived up to its name! If you have ever wondered whether or not it's worth the money, then read this review and judge for yourselves. However, I'm certain that you won't go wrong.
We have a little boy who likes to make messes. However, most of the time, his messes are in a small area and doesn't require the use of the SteamVac. It would be like using a backhoe to dig a hole for a tree. Not the right tool for the job.
We use the SpotBot at least 2-3 times per month. Not only do we have a small child, but we also have a small dog who likes to dig in the dirt and then run across the carpet immediately upon entering the house. Also, I admit that I can be messy at times as well. Can I help it that I like a lot of ketchup on my hot dogs?
When I was first researching the SpotBot I read reviews that it worked great, but left rings in your carpet. I agree with that statement. The SpotBot is meant to clean a circular area. So if you have many spots that are in differing places on your carpet, then when all have been cleaned, it will look like some alien has just made "crop circles" in your front room. There is an easy solution, and that is to clean your carpets regularly. That way, the only circles you will see won't be because one spot is cleaner than the rest of the carpet, but because the brushes have made a circular pattern in your carpet. These circles can be easily taken out by either rubbing them out with your hand, or using a vacuum once that area has dried.
Features:
There are 3 main settings on the SpotBot. They are rather self explanatory, Surface Stain, Set-In Stain, and Manual (Hose).
The Surface Stain option doesn't use as much cleaning solution and only runs for about 5 minutes or so. You can watch the brushes move in a circular pattern, and hear the suction as it engages. This option should be used for recent stains, like when my son ate too much candy and it came back up... Well you get the idea.
The Set-In Stain option uses much more cleaning solution and runs for about 7 minutes. This should be used on spots that have been there for a while, like when the dog went number one in the corner of our closet, and we didn't find it until much later.
The Manual Hose option is probably my favorite for a few reasons. First of all, you can control how much solution is used on a particular spot. The spray covers a good sized area and saturates the spot quickly. The hose extends about 5 feet and is very flexible. The attachment is fairly small which is good for cleaning hard to get at areas, like under the passenger's seat in my car. I found a year old baby bottle under there recently, which had leaked and made the car smell like "pus and feet" as my wife put it. The smell started just recently as the weather has begun to warm up. After a few passes with the SpotBot and its hose, the smell is gone and so is the stain. The attachment also has brushes so you can scrub the spot out. The suction strength is great, and leaves the spot damp, but not wet.
Observations:
From what I've seen and experienced over the past year, I am sold on the effectiveness of the SpotBot. It does what it is designed to do, and that is get out spots. It has taken out spots from makeup (which my son thought would be fun to draw on the carpet), to candle wax (don't ask), to fruit drinks and much more.
The solution tank is rather small, and you will have to refill it a number of times depending on the amount and size of spots you are attacking. Also, the SpotBot is not quiet by any means. You will not be able to hear the TV if it is running anywhere nearby.
Conclusion:
The SpotBot is a miracle worker. So long to the days of getting on your hands and knees scrubbing out spots. This is one of the best cleaning tools to have come about for quite some time. In the end, I must state that every home should have one of these, because as the saying goes, "Spots Happen!"
Customer Review: Worth Its Weight In Gold
Summary: 5 Stars
The SpotBot is a godsend.
We have three cats, all of them long-haired suckers who seem to LIVE for the opportunity to puke up hairballs on the floor. GACK! So when the first SpotBot hit the market, we picked one up.
Our SOP up until there was to pick up the hairball with a paper towel, spray the area with water, soak that up, spray again with cleaner, soak that up, spray with clean water at least twice and soak that up. Bring in the pros once a year.
The SpotBot probably pays for itself with the paper towel cost savings over the year! And I don't get carpal tunnel syndrome from the darned spray bottles, either. Our first SpotBot died after a year or so of very heavy use and unconscionable abuse...first of all, my toddler was convinced it was a small horse, and she took every opportunity to straddle the thing and sit on it. This is when it started making horrible grinding noises, and a few months later the brush quit rotating. So don't let your kids try to ride the SpotBot. I also got really, really super lazy about cleaning it out, and I'd let the nasty water sit in it for days...the tank understandably clouded up and eventually probably molded. So don't let yourself be lazy.
After the poor thing was in such bad shape, we picked up another. I still love it!
Let me address some of the issues I've seen others write about:
Leaves Little Crop Circles In Your Carpet:
Um...yes and no. We've got a cheap, contractor-grade carpet & a pad with a single upgrade. No berber. If you run the SpotBot and lift it up, YES, it leaves an area which has been disturbed by the brushes and which is still a tad wet.
SOLUTION: Stack up three paper towels, press them into the "crop circle" to wick away as much water as you can (stand on `em, works well) and take an extra 30 seconds to rub away the "crop circle" while the carpet is still drying. They completely disappear, gone by morning. I have done this literally hundreds of times and will vouch for it.
Only one caveat: If you've gone too long without a real carpet cleaning, you'll end up with lighter "crop circles" in your carpet where the Bot was. But how is THAT the Bot's problem? And we've NEVER had the "darker shampoo circles" problem...perhaps they have that problem because they don't wick the leftover water out?
Leaks:
The only time I have ever had the Bot leak is when I've managed to overflow the intake tank by sucking up a lake of water so fast that the automatic shut-off didn't have time to react. It's an effort to get it to do this. Never had a problem otherwise.
And really, that's it. Don't like the cleaning solution that comes with it? We've done that...just spray the area with your favorite carpet cleaner (Stanley Steemer has a good one), let it sit for a few minutes (really, you should let all cleaners sit for a few minutes. They need this time to do their job...read up with some of Don Aslett's books for more on that), and then use just plain water in the Bot to act like a rinsing and agitating mechanism. Works great.
Cat threw up behind the couch six months ago and you never knew it? Now the stain is completely set in, dry, crusty, and horrible. No problem. Grab what you can get with a paper towel, then spray it directly, gently and carefully with plain water. Let sit for 5 minutes...you're trying to soften and rehydrate this stuff. (Yuck!) Wick with a paper towel, you'll be surprised how much you get up this way. Spray again HARD (now you're using water pressure to loosen it) and sic the Bot on the area. I've only had one stain that didn't come out this way, and it was bad enough that I used a bleach pen (yeah, I know, WHAT carpet warranty?) to get it out. Rinse REALLY well after that! I suspect it was the dye in the cat food that caused that.
I love the SpotBot, it works great! I recommended it to one of the local vet techs and SHE now swears by it, too.
Worth. Its weight. In Gold.
Customer Review: On the Spot Cleaner
Summary: 5 Stars
Imagine waking up one morning to find a plate-sized splat of dried vomit on the bedroom carpet, and then finding scattered about the rest of the house multiple small spots stained with vomit or diarrhea. This happened on two consecutive mornings, until a 500-dollar vet visit and treatment calmed Evie's tummy. After a two day hiatus the nightmare repeated with little Piper. There was also the constant of little Bella's occasional carpet muffins.
I finished off a 32-ounce bottle of cleaning solution, a smaller container, and most of the OXY GENē in five days and usually used only half of the recommended amount of cleaner. Despite my initial skepticism, the SpotBot has proved its value and effectiveness repeatedly. Most stains magically disappeared after one cycle of the wondrous SpotBot. A couple, especially messy spots needed two long cycles. Every single spot eventually succumbed to the little wizard of a cleaner. The SpotBot is the fourth wet carpet-cleaning machine I've owned and is by far the best. My experience with the sick dogs was an irritant, without the SpotBot it would have been a major catastrophe and ordeal.
The turbo brush attachment for manual cleaning is absolutely fabulous. As water/solution is sprayed on the stain, little brushes massage the carpet fibers. The suction mode leaves the carpet damp after extracting most of the liquid. I sometimes follow up a programmed mode with a swipe of the manual brush to suction up additional liquid. The brush is excellent for cleaning larger areas or in corners where the SpotBot can't reach. An alternative is to clean larger areas with overlapping cleanings with the circular SpotBot, a practice that reminds me of the Venn Diagrams from my middle school teaching days.
The clean solution tank holds four cups of liquid. If one follows the guide lines on the clear tank, one would use one cup of water and three combined cups of the soap solution and OXY-GEN. That's putting a lot of cleaner in one's carpet. I don't like the idea of leaving soap residue in the carpet fibers to attract dirt later. With this in mind I use half the recommended amount of cleaner and achieve superb results. When a particularly stubborn stain forces me to increase the amount of cleaner in the solution, I go over the area a second time with clear water. Even after first rinsing the tank thoroughly, soapy water fills the collection tank from the previously cleaned carpet area. It entails some extra time and work, but I recommend following up every cleaning with a rinse of clear water. It extracts soap residue from the carpeting and cleans the SpotBot's plumbing to boot.
The two tanks are extremely easy to remove and reposition on the SpotBot. I'd like to see a flat bottom on the clean water/solution tank so one can rest it on a flat surface while filling it with solution. I try to remember to remove the cleaner's lid before adding water to the tank to avoid cradling it in my arm while unscrewing a container's lid.
Spotty is not excessively noisy, but of average vacuum volume. While going through its cycles, it sounds like a vacuum and washing machine running simultaneously.
The cycle ending beep chimes continuously for half an hour until the stop button is pushed. It can be annoying, but that's a minor complaint.
As someone who's used the SpotBot more times in a week than many will in a year, I highly recommend this carpet-cleaning marvel to anyone with pets, small children, or frequent spillers.
It has far exceeded any and all expectations I had and has been a blessing for our carpet.
Got a puppy? Gotta have a SpotBot.
Customer Review: Should be standard equipment with pets, but reliability suspect.
Summary: 5 Stars
What a great machine! We have two small dogs and even though they are very good, they periodically have an accident. I used to have to try and treat them as best I could and leave them until I got out my Hoover Steam Vac, which was usually days or weeks later. The SpotBot is the answer. I am able to set it one the spot, let it clean it while I'm doing something else, and come back later. It does a great job on all my stains including ones that have been ground in or sitting for a long time and even some my Steam Vac couldn't get out. I'm not sure if its the machine, the chemicals, or the fact that it gets to spend three or six minutes (depending on cycle) on one spot, but it does a great job. I've just been using the regular Bissell chemical that came with the machine and it gotten everything out pretty well that I haven't even tried the Oxy Cleaner that also comes with it.
I find their regular chemical does not get all the smell out of some pet stains, so I still have to pour a little of our regular animal stain pretreater directly on the stain before running the machine on pet stains. Bissell makes an animal stain formula, but I have not tried it yet. I agree with some of the other reviews about having little six inch circles where you have run the machine, but any circles I've had all go away when I clean the entire area with my Steam Vac. In fact I found the last time I was planning to do an entire room with the Steam Vac, I went around with the SpotBot first to get some of the really dirty spots out and it did a great job. The only other thing I would change is the end of cycle beeping, which beeps every 5-10 seconds until someone cancels it or unplugs the machine. One morning I ran the SpotBot on a spot and went to take a shower and had to listen to the thing beep incessantly until I could get to the machine. The storage tray (like everyone else has said) is shown in the manual, but not included witht the unit. I called Bissell to ask about it and they sent me one. Its a good thing to have because the unit will sometimes drip after its been used and the tray will catch the drips.
Its been a great buy and I would recommend it to anyone who has pets or kids.
UPDATE - Literaly the day after writing this review my unit quit working. The unit would run, but the brush head would not spin. I'd only had it for a little over a week and Amazon was great, promptly sending out a new unit second day shipment. I still like the unit so I left my original review.
SECOND UPDATE - I received my second unit and it quit working after three uses. Unfortunately, Amazon will not send me another replacement because "the problem with this item is more widespread than we originally thought" and they are currently no longer offering the item for sale directly from Amazon, only other vendors. I'm very happy with Amazon's customer service and will continue to buy things from here. Its unfortunate that the SpotBots I've gotten have had problems because I really like the unit when it worked. I've left my original review up, but I wish I could drop a star or two for the reliability problems I've had witht he units.