Bissell PowerForce Compact 2112 Honest Review

[crazykirbydude]

So about a month ago, I bought one of those little PowerForce Compact Wally-World specials for kicks and giggles (I like to test cheap vacuums occasionally). Over the course of a month, I have grown to despise the damn thing. Also, keep in mind that this vacuum is no longer $35 like it used to be. They have now jacked the price up to $50, which is only $4 cheaper than the full sized Bissell PowerForce Helix 2191, and only $6 cheaper than the full sized Bissell PowerForce Bagged 1739. I know this is one of the cheapest new upright vacuums out there, but that doesn't excuse the numerous design flaws of this machine. I will start with the few pros of this vacuum.

PROS:
Lightweight
Cheap
Decent tools for the price
Very compact

CONS:
Extremely flimsy feeling
Loud and shrill
Extremely short cord
A brush roll so aggressive I thought it was going to tear my carpet up
Not designed for taller people
Extremely weak airflow
A hose so short that the vacuum topples over any time you try to use the hose
A very inefficient separator that loves to trap larger debris
Horrible filtration
The cleaner head is around 10 inches wide, but there's only around 8 inches of brushroll
Completely useless "auto height adjust"
Hopeless on hard floors

You might be saying that I'm being too hard on this cheap vacuum, but keep in mind that I find the Bissell PowerForce bagged (only $6 more) to be a decent, usable machine for the price. This vacuum is so pitiful that an old Regina ElectrikBroom PowerTeam could outclean it 10 to 1. I didn't expect a Sebo, but I expected something usable. I don't get why Bissell even still sells this model when the full size version only costs $4-6 more. I will attach a picture of the offending vacuum.

 

[eurekafansquid]

Too many cons, Of course, It looks like new vacuums are really flopping.

 

[crazykirbydude]

There are still some bargains if you know where to look. The aforementioned Bissell PowerForce Bagged and it's upgraded version, the Bissell PowerLifter Pet Bagged, are decent budget options, at $56 and $149 respectively. The Sanitaire EUKSC679J is a good option as well at $109. Of course, neither of these vacuums will clean as well or last as long as a high end machine, but for brand new vacuums under $200, they are viable options. I will attach links to all of these vacuums as well as pictures.

Bissell PowerForce Bagless (Walmart exclusive)
https://www.walmart.com/ip/BISSELL-PowerForce-Bagged-Upright-Vacuum-1739/104757366

Bissell PowerLifter Bagged (also sold as the CleanView Pet Bagged)
https://www.bissell.com/powerlifter...49&gclid=CNrq3fKh5OcCFeiXxQIdyJYJSQ&gclsrc=ds

Sanitaire EUKSC679J
https://www.amazon.com/Sanitaire-Co...ywords=sanitaire+vacuum&qid=1582343821&sr=8-3

 

[huskyvacs]

The Bissel Powerforce bagless version is sadly every under $50 bagless vacuum that you can buy brand new that has been put on a photocopier and copied over a dozen times with each copy degrading more and more in quality from the first.

The bagged model is very very good, and it often goes on sale off and on for $30 brand new on some websites.

 

[vaclab]

Bissell Powerforce Compact Tests

I've done extensive testing on a 2013 model, which is older than what is pictured above. Bottom line: incredible on my medium pile carpet. It easily bests vacuums at 10 times its price. I nabbed it used at a thrift store a few years ago. It needed a belt and the hose unclogged. Here's a link to the 12 video playlist.

Bill

 

[crazykirbydude]

I actually used to have one like that. It was a trash pick, and I had it until one of the wheels broke off. Performance wise, it was similar to the newer model. They were barely worth $35, let alone $50. I'd definitely shell out the extra $6 for the bagged full size upright.

 

[fan-of-fans]

My mom bought one of those a few years ago when her old upright broke. She took it back because it was too small to clean a whole house of carpet. I thought it was kind of cute but it never got so far as out of the box. At the time I think it was still $35 (around 2017 early), I couldn't imagine paying $50 for it! She ended up getting a Hoover Windtunnel 2 Whole House Rewind instead.

She did the same thing when she got her prior vacuum. She was going to get the Eureka The Boss Lite because it was cheap and then realized it was a tiny, tiny machine!

The bagged Bissells are nice machines for the money. I don't have much experience with them but I did like the older Powerforce bagless machines as far as being lightweight and not too loud. The main drawback was the nasty bagless system. Of course the bagged system eliminates that. And from what I hear Bissell's Febreeze bags actually do a pretty good job of not leaking.

 

[crazykirbydude]

The Bissell PowerForce Bagged is a good bang for your buck. Couple it with some HEPA bags and you've got yourself a decent little vacuum.

 

[crazykirbydude]

Ok, so I used the Bissell PowerForce Compact again today and found another issue. This vacuum will not clean anything that is not right in front of the cleaner. No edge cleaning whatsoever. I have to use the tiny hose and weird wand to clean up particles that are close to my baseboards. Also, upon inspecting the dirt cup, my suspicions that this vacuum eats the carpet turned out to be true. I saw quite a few torn up carpet fibers.

 

[huskyvacs]

That is a problem with the stiff bristle nylon brushrolls that exist on Dysons as well. The vacuum design relies on those as the beater bar, and it creates friction burns to the fibers and singes them off. I have a spot of low pile carpet on my stairs that is burned in a plowed field pattern from where I pushed too hard while cleaning them using an Aldi Easy Home bagless upright vacuum. Also if you have wool fiber rugs that are old or trampled, a lot of vaccums can tear fibers off. Wool is not that durable.

 

[crazykirbydude]

These weren't just loose fibers, these were whole tufts torn up from my carpeting. It's 3 year old builder's grade carpet, so I think it's already done all the shedding it needs to. This vacuum would be utterly useless without a brushroll. None of my other vacuums do this, including my older Bissells.

 

[huskyvacs]

It's probably got looped fibers then and the bristles are catching the loops and pulling them out of the backing.

 

[crazykirbydude]

Nope. It's just regular cut pile carpet. I had to empty it too, which is a massive mess.

 

[vacuumdevil]

Bissell vacuums are "so pitiful that an old Regina ElectrikBroom PowerTeam could outclean it 10 to 1." That's the best! Wish I had said that in my last review of a Bissell upright.

 

[crazykirbydude]

Not all of them, just the bagless ones. The bagged Bissell PowerForces are actually a pretty good value for the price. But yeah, the PowerForce Compact is awful.

 

[huskyvacs]

Yeah, Bissell has great vacuums, and mostly all of them work very well. There is just a few models every now and then of their badge-engineered vacuums they put out as price fillers that have been so watered-down they don't do too well.

You cannot hate an entire vacuum brand just because what you read on the Internet, that's very narrow minded logic and a bad way of thinking. You have to actually own and use them for several months before making any judgement - which is what crazykirbydude has done. He actually has a well rounded out report of it.

The Pet Hair Eraser Turbo that HonestJoe posted I actually will be getting soon, that's one of their really good models. https://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?39603_14

I also found a Powerforce Helix on the curb a year ago and saved it from the garbage truck, put $25 of parts into it as well as a full motor teardown and tidy-up and she's rockin and rollin like it just came out of the box yesterday.

I also just bought a Zing! canister to try out for my kitchen and hard floor areas of my house - it will be my first modern canister (all my vintage canister vacs are coincidentally entirely Electroluxes - I just love those vacuums to death).

 

[crazykirbydude]

I don't like the majority of Bissell vacuums. The bagged ones, however, I like.

 

[ajr2993]

Talk about Chinese junk!

My mom had a Bissell and it was complete GARBAGE! It only lasted 2 years and had terrible filtration and cleaning performance. She aventually got a SEBO Felix that was a million times better.

 

[huskyvacs]

Ajr2993

You cannot compare a vacuum that sells for $35 to a vacuum that retails for over $800. That's not how it works. They are two totally different vacuums built for different price points and have a vastly different design and assembly. Also - not all of us are rich. Maybe in California that $800 vacuum works for you, but not in the rest of the USA especially for people that live on $1,000 a month.

Furthermore SEBO does not supply spare parts for their vacuums in stores. You have to go to a authorized SEBO vacuum shop that sells those belts/bags, or buy them online. For actual machine parts (housing, brushroll, motor replacement), you have to take them to an authorized SEBO service center for the warranty to be honored. SEBO is still new to the US market, so you will never see them set up outside of major populations. There is only 4 SEBO dealers where I live in Indiana and the closest one to me is 125 miles away. 125 miles!

People that blindly parrot "get a sebo" "get a miele" to anyone asking what vacuum to get fail to realize that they are LUXURY brands of vacuums, like Jaguar or Ferrari. Not everyone can afford them, and not everyone needs one. The long term care and upkeep of maintaining these vacuums - even for people that have firsthand knowledge on how to repair vacuums - is a major exercise in aggravation. The companies have a tight noose around your neck as soon as you buy the vacuum and you HAVE to follow their orders at where and how to repair it (this is for people that buy them retail and have the warranty).

The Bissell Powerforce bagged is far superior to the Powerforce Bagless, but as with all bagless vacuums the problems are usually 100% caused by user error always. You have to clean the filters on a daily or weekly basis and empty the bin every use and keep watch on what you pick up. The last 4 bagless vacuums I got from the trash were all thrown out because they were not properly cleaned and maintained. One had a broken belt, one had a broken belt and a jammed brushroll from rust (picked up water?), another one was packed solid from dryer lint someone trying to vacuum their entire dryer duct out, another one was clogged with several toothpicks and dog hair and a candy wrapper deep inside the suction channel and took a total dismantle to reach it.