Bissell 2156A Zing Canister Bagless Vacuum

I got this primarily to vacuum my dogs. That's right - I have two very large, very shedding dogs. A first gen Labradoodle - 1st gen don't always get the poodle coat. Mine didn't. He sheds. A LOT. I know people say their dogs shed, but seriously, this guy takes it to a whole new level. The other dog is a Rottweiler, who also sheds, but it's a "normal" amount.I have a robot vacuum, but it cannot cope with the volume of dog hair even running daily. The bin is always full. If I'm home when it runs I empty it twice while it's running. This is currently 4 days a week. The other three it gets emptied daily.Neither of our dogs are really afraid of the vacuum (before I had the robot one) so I figured it wouldn't be a stretch to get them acclimated to being vacuumed. So I ordered this and an attachment specifically designed to brush/vac a dog. The attachment was a waste. In the end I use the hose of this vacuum, without an attachment. Both dogs love it.However, the Rottie, she's obsessed. She begins barking excitedly as soon as I turn the vacuum on. I do use this to vacuum surfaces and corners where the robot can't quite manage - shelves, entertainment center, couches, corners, etc. My Rottie can't wait till it's her turn. And even when I'm done with her and move on the the non-Doodle Doodle, she is still trying to get in on the action. Bot dogs mad the "oh that feels SO good" face - seems to me it scratches the itch that they can never reach!Now - how does this little guy perform as an actual vacuum as opposed to a dog grooming implement? Surprisingly well! It has really powerful suction. Works great on all the items I mentioned. I haven't used it with the floor attachment but I can imagine that the folks who complain about it on carpet didn't read the description very well - there is no powered brush attachment and the suction is so powerful that I wouldn't even try to use it on carpet except with the crevice tool around baseboards, corners etc - I have all hard surface floors so this won't ever be something I do. I also can't speak to the length of the extension for the floor tool because I haven't used it - our robot vac does that job. The extensions do look short though so I can't imagine trying to vacuum my whole house with this - but I can see using them to take out cobwebs!As a lightweight, powerful hard floor vacuum, being used for everything BUT the bulk of the floor, I give this high marks. As a dog-grooming device I'm thrilled - the amount of fur and (shudder) dander that I dumped from the bin was a real eye-opener - and that's before I got to tapping out the filter (OMG that was disgusting!). I would not use this on small dogs.... the suction is powerful enough that you could probably lift a dog of 10lbs or less off the floor. But for my large dogs (+/-100lbs each), it's amazing. They love it, it gets the shed and hopefully it'll help cut down on the wear on our robot vac. It's also small enough that it tucks into our already packed hall closet easily. It rolls smoothly on the floor and even when I took it all over it didn't get tangled in it's cord. I also love that the cord retracts into the body of the machine. Between this and the robot vac, I will likely never use our expensive water basin vacuum again!If you're looking for something to get corners, cobwebs; to vacuum furniture and even large dogs, I don't think you can go wrong with this... just be prepared for your dog to become an addict.

I like it, but I had to make it work for me. The beater brush is supposed to be retractable, but it doesn't retract high enough for it to not reach the floor and I did not want the brush to touch my area rug. So, I had to put tape over the beater brush (see my photo), and now it glides across my area rug without damaging the fibers. When I first tried it without the tape over it, I flipped over the floor attachment and saw the fibers stuck in the brush.The other attachments like the small brush, and the concentrator nozzle work great. I use them for corners, molding, etc.For my hardwood floor is, my process is to sweep all the dirt up against various walls throughout the space and then go to each wall and use the concentrator nozzle to suck it up.The suction power is good, and the shorter distance from the floor to the main unit, the better. So, for example, for more suction, attach the floor attachment directly to the hose that is connected to the main unit, instead of with that extra hose in the middle.I like that it's so portable, very lightweight and easy to pick up and move from area to area. I also like the retractable cord. You have to make sure that it's laid out flat on the floor and in front of the hole it retracts into in order for it to work properly. But it does work whether the vacuum cleaner is plugged in or not. If you have the cord all bunched up around vacuum cleaner it won't work. And you have to hold the button down until it's finished retracting.At first, I decided to return it because I wanted to use it as my main vacuum cleaner unit for my carpet and hardwood floors and everything. But it does not work for carpet at all. The hole underneath the floor attachment (see my photo) is just too small. If it was the full length of the attachment, then it might work. But it's just too small and you can't know where the hole has already been on the carpet because you can't see under there. So you will end up missing a lot of spots. I would imagine it would be the same for hardwood floors, that you would miss a lot of spots. But you can just use my method of sweeping all of the dirt up against the wall and then using the concentrater nozzle to suck it up.I ultimately decided to keep it because I figured that it would be good to use for my sewing room when there is a lot of thread all over the carpet, to just walk around and use the concentrator nozzle to suck it up. So, I went ahead and purchased my favorite bagged vacuum cleaner for my carpet. That way, I won't destroy the beater brush in that one with a thread in my sewing room.I've since also discovered the tape method to use it on my area rug, so I'm happy with it overall.It comes with one bag, but they are cheap enough to reorder here on Amazon, and I've already used it probably five times or so and I'm still on the first bag.While assembling it, I thought I was missing one of the pieces, but it turned out that it looks different in the manual than does the actual attachment. Dorry, I can't remember which piece it was. But if you think you're missing a piece, just consider that you're not and find the piece that matches closely. Now that I'm thinking about it, it might have been the concentrator nozzle.

This is the second one of these I have purchased. I finally donated my other one after years of serious daily use. This vacuum is small and feels a little cheap with the plastic, but it is strong than you think and has held up really well to a lot of use and abuse. Easy to carry around and definitely makes cleaning carpeted stairs a lot easier. This would be 5 stars expect for the long plastic tube didn't hold up and started to crack. I replaced it is a metal adjuster aftermarket option I found on Amazon and that has lasted really well. Still using that on the second vacuum. Filters easy to order and replace. Good option at a good price for a strong little vacuum.Pro:-Good price-Durable motor-Light and easy to carry aroundCon:-Long plastic tube from hose to vacuum head cheaper and didn't last as long-Good suction, but not on par with higher end brands

Going on close to 2 years and it has been a great little vacuum.Light weight so it's easy for me to use. It has a small bag, so just need to check it regularly because when it gets too full the vacuum power reduces; but that's not really a big deal. The bags are super easy to remove and replace.Over all I am very happy with it!