Bissell Symphony Pet Steam Mop and Steam Vacuum Cleaner for Hardwood and Tile Floors, with Microfiber Mop Pads, 1543A,Purple

I have three cats and three humans living in my house. That's A LOT of hair, dirt, and gross stuff. And we live in the desert, so dirt is constantly finding its way in, even though I have a strict WIPE YOUR DAMN FEET rule. I came to HATE cleaning the floors because it's so time consuming. Every weekend, I'd spend AT LEAST an hour vacuuming the tile and THEN mopping. And we know that mopping is more difficult and time consuming than vacuuming, especially if you want it done RIGHT. The swiffer mop just doesn't do a good job....what a waste of money that thing was.But then, a magical thing happened! I was mopping the other weekend, and just so happened to wonder if there was a machine that would vacuum and mop at the SAME TIME...surely someone has invented such a thing, and if not, I was going to patent my idea and become a millionaire. So I hopped into my trusty Amazon app and BOOM! I found several such machines, and after I got over my disappointment of not becoming a millionaire, I did some research and read lots of reviews and decided on the Bissell Symphony Pet. I was crossing my fingers that this thing was the answer to my prayers. When it was delivered I was SO excited that I did something I've NEVER done before, and cleaned on a weekday. I put the machine together (easy, there are three pieces you snap into each other, no tools), filled it with distilled water (we have HARD water out here in the desert), slapped on a mopping pad and plugged it in. It took 30 seconds to heat the water, then I pressed "Vac" and "Hi" steam, pulled the trigger, and nearly cried.I am so happy to say that this machine works SO WELL!!! The results are BETTER than what I was hoping! The vacuum is powerful, and it sucks up cat hair that's 4 inches away from the opening, which is more than I can say for that other thing I was vacuuming with..but that piece of devils dirt crap is in the trash now. Anyway, the steam is wonderful! It just melts away whatever sticky mess it comes across and I don't have to use ANY chemicals. Sometimes it needs a couple of passes over heavy traffic areas, but that's probably to be expected. My floor is so CLEAN!!! And it only took 15 minutes to clean all of the tiled areas (upstairs hallway, 3 bathrooms, foyer, living room, dining room, and kitchen). It's easy to empty the dirt bin, and I don't have to touch the filter or anything, unlike that other vacuum, which as I mentioned, is in the trash now. I threw the dirty mop pads in the washer and they're ready for next weekend. BUY THIS MACHINE IF YOU HATE CLEANING YOUR FLOORS!!!

I wanted to give it a while of using before I reviewed, and now I can say that I TOTALLY LOVE THIS THING for my linoleum flooring! I bought this after the Bissel steam mop I got for Xmas back in '10/'11 (when it first came out and hubby got the hint that it was in his best interest to stand in line to make my day) fell over and the handle shattered, and was using the spin mop I had until I decided that anything that made the hated chore of mopping of the floor easier for my piece of mind was worth the price. I also bought a second set of mop heads because I have 2 dogs and enjoy doing laundry just slightly more than cleaning floors.Anyhoo, when it arrived it was really easy to put together and I kicked the hellhounds... errr, furbabies... out of the house to give it a whirl. First thing I noticed is that the vac does not have powerful enough suction to pick up the larger bits of dog food off the floor, but that's fine because I'm used to having to sweep up all the leaves and twigs and nature-y type things they drag in anyway. After a good sweeping I was off. First pass forward I used the vac to suck up any hair/dust/whatever before holding the button for the max steam, then back and forth twice before moving it over to lather/rinse/repeat.After I went over the whole floor I looked at the pad, and whew-wee... DIS-GUST-ING! I tossed that pad into the washer and put a new one on for another pass... and while not as black as the first one it was still really gross. At this point I side-eyed the back-up spin mop that was now destined for the trash (and the door that was keeping my dirt loving trolls outside), then put a third pad on and refilled the reservoir for another go.Still pretty grungy, but definitely not as gross. I was beginning to wonder if I was pulling dirt out of the floor that was ground in before we even bought the place 20 years ago. Stuck a 4th pad on and decided to go for one more round. Finally I felt I had the floor clean enough, and was able to uncurl my toes from grossing out at what my feet had been walking on when I THOUGHT my floor was clean *shutter*. Luckily it was dry outside so I didn't have to also give the dogs a bath when they came back in. After mentioning to the family that I had mopped the floor they commented that it was "oohh... soft and smooth" on their bare feet, though I don't know if that was just because they wanted to make me feel good to prevent me from telling them to do it next time.Anyway, overall it gets a toes up from me. Yes, the vac is loud... it's a vac on a hard floor. Yes, the suction is not as powerful as a standard vacuum... this is not a household vacuum, but a chance to suck up the little bits that don't mop up before they get waterlogged. Yes, it takes a bit of effort to move it back and forth... but considering I like the option of having it sit and steam the heck out of spots that are sticky or engrained, I wouldn't want a self propelled option.Is it worth the price? Well, I've never had to use 4 pads in one day again so...