Bissell Aeroswift Compact Vacuum Cleaner, 2612A,Purple

The other day I went to use my upright and discovered that it was no longer working up to speed so I went to check for a new lightweight upright that would be suitable for both hard surfaces and carpet. This had good reviews was only 10 lbs and priced at just under $85 so I decided to give it a try.I first did a search on hoover and bissell websites and this one was the best price for a lightweight upright. My old one was a bissell and I probably have had it at least five or six years. That one was 11 lbs but this one is even lighter at 10 lbs. We have stairs so lightweight comes in handy not just for carrying up and down, but also for vacuuming stairs.To start off with this vacuum is super easy to put together. No tools required....really! You just snap the things on, and amazingly there is a way to remove them if you want to for any reason. Even the handle you can remove by pressing a button and it will come off. It only weighs 10lbs and has a carry handle on top of the canister making it easy to carry.Second The cord is 30 feet long. My old one was 20-25 tops and I had to keep repositioning it to a different plug, sometimes just to do one room. This cord length is perfect. It's not so long that its cumbersome, but long enough that you should be able to do a whole floor using 1 or 2 outlets only depending on the size of your home, and the placement of your outlets.The tools that come with this vacuum are great. I would expect to pay more for the turbo brush, but it's standard. It also comes with an extension piece that I feel is genius, because these uprights always have a flexible tube that is supposed to stretch but if the suction is good, it tends to pull it all together and make it shorter than you would like. By using the extension you get more room and it's not so long that you can not still do stairs or other close areas with it on.It comes with a crevice tool that is longer than the one that came with my old one and also a standard brush. When I took it out of the box I thought they forgot to give me a crevice tool but it turns out its inverted and sits inside the extension wand. This is a clever way to store it so you do not have one more thing attached to the vacuum that can fall off while you are using it. All the tools seem to fit securely.Note: if you have an older bissell vac, you can use the tools that came with that one as all mine have tools that interchange. I hang on to them as some of my other tools are slightly different and might be better for certain areas.The suction power from this vacuum with tools or on carpet is very good for the size and price. I am giving this five stars because of the price. For what you get it's an extremely good value and works really well. I noticed that on a shorter nap room sized area rug that the suction is so strong that it was pulling the carpet up slightly and making it hard to push. I raised the level a little to help with this, but it just goes to show how strong the suction is! The suction is great with tools too.Just to make sure I crumbled up some popcorn and tossed some on a hard surface and some on the carpet. It picked it all up on first pass on the carpet and the hard surface. It also did not scatter any of the tiny popcorn crumbs so that's great as that is often a shortcoming of running a vacuum with a brush roll on a hard surfaceAs for filters, my old one had a hepa filter and a foam filter. This one just has a foam filter. I sort of wonder how that will impact the life of my vacuum as I am doubtful that a little foam disc could prevent dust from getting into the motor the way a hepa filter would. It is nice that I can just wash it and not have to replace it every so often like I did with my other vac but time will tell on that. It also comes with an additional febreeze filter. I did not use it yet as I hate scents but I can always wash that one out and reuse it as a spare.This has to be one of the easiest to empty of all the bagless vacs I have owned. You remove the canister which contains the filter and everything, and there is a hatchdoor on the bottom. Its easy to tap it a bit to get debris to fall to the bottom and also its thin enough that you can bang it a bit on the sides of your trash can to knock any dust loose and allow it to fall out. I did not have a problem with anything being stuck up in the filter area, but I did not let the dirt cup get overly full. I did find it a little tricky to get it seated back on the vacuum again but if I pay attention you can see how it's supposed to be seated. Also if you do not have it just right it won't click in.To use the tools you pull the tube out of the bottom which can be a little tough since there is no click on and off or snap you hear when its on all the way. It mainly has to be pushed on firmly. I am not that strong at my age and with some arthritis in my hand, and would prefer an easier way to push this on and remove it, but my old one was like this too so I am used to it. You just have to make sure you have it securely on and if it slips off you will know it. It's a minor issue but thought I would mention it.There is only one major shortcoming. You can not turn the brush roll off. There is a button to press to lower the handle for vacuuming floors, but when it's sitting upright the brush roll is still running. I would think that there would be a way for that up and down button to engage and disengage the brush. I do a lot of vacuuming with tools and do not like that I can not turn off the brush roll, because it not only wastes energy, but if it tips over and you happen to touch that brush roll it does not feel that great. My old one was this way too and I'm not sure why they do not allow a switch to turn this on when you lower the handle and off when the handle is locked in the upright position. It was not a deal breaker for me because of the price and the low weight, plus all other features worked well and it has overall good suction.Overall this is a great vacuum for the price. If this was an expensive vac I would mark off for the few shortcomings that I noted, but for under $85 this is an amazing machine. I might actually buy another one for the basement as it's a little more dusty down there and I do not like to use the same vacuum upstairs. I like that they have them in a few colors so I do not get them mixed up.Thanks for reading my reviewBecky Brooks

It has been 4 years since I purchased this vacuum and it has held up, doing a great job cleaning, and more than worth the cost. Prior to purchasing this vacuum, I was under the impression that u.s. brands really sucked (excuse the pun) but to my surprise, this particular Bissell model has been great.

(Edit) After having this vacuum for several weeks, I needed to edit this review. It has a design flaw that can’t be ignored. The upper part of the handle snaps into the lower part of the handle with a small plastic latch. That didn’t hold up past five uses. I fixed it by using a couple of small screws. But! I should not have to be doing that. (End edit) Assembling this product out of the box my initial thought was that is cheaply constructed. But I think the choice of materials is what makes it lightweight, which was very important to me as I don’t want to carry a heavy vacuum up and down three flights of stairs anymore. Now that I’ve used it several times, I have to say this vacuum has a superior engineering and design over our other vacuum, which is a Shark that cost three times as much. Here’s what I like about it. The vacuum motor and sucking power is equal to or better than the Shark. It feels like it weighs about half what the Shark weighs. It has an extra long cord. I can plug it into centrally located outlet and vacuum our entire upstairs without having to re-plug. I like the multi-adjustable height. Best of all- the dirt canister completely disassembles for cleaning, which was something that always bugged me about Shark. We will see how long it lasts. But my initial reaction is very happy.

When I opened the packing for this BISSELL Aeroswift Compact Vacuum Cleaner, I was delighted at the size and lightweight; even the lime green color was fun. I put all the accessories in their designated spots around the body of the vacuum and saw that I didn't receive the crevice tool. So I didn't use the machine for nearly two weeks, debating whether I wanted to go thru the trouble of repacking and returning this item. So, I finally gave in, feeling the crevice tool wasn't all that important anyway because I really needed to vacuum my living room even without it.As I worked I saw that the suction on this powerful small machine was so much better than my expensive 20-year-old Oreck, quickly picking up over a cupful of lint and fibers from the carpeted room. My space is very small, about 12 x 12 so I was justifiably impressed.I got to the place where I needed that crevice tool for the edges of the room, but not having it, I pulled out the wand extension and tried that. In the process of returning that implement to the holder on the caddy, darn if the crevice tool didn't fall out of the wand extension piece! I had to laugh at the clever way Bissell packed it and felt it necessary to warn others that your tools will likely all be there, you'll just have to really look through everything to find them all. :DThe cord is so long that in my little apartment I can vacuum the entire space, every room, without unplugging from the original plug-in. In some ways that's a bit of an annoyance for me because there's a lot of cord to rewrap onto the cord loop holder. But that's just me being picky.Every tool/accessory is contained in place on the vacuum so is very handy when and where you need it. The bagless tank is easy to remove and empty and the filter is washable rather than replaceable. The start button is on the base, operable with a toe tap. Underneath is a bar to raise or lower the roller brush for different height flooring, although I honestly couldn't well much difference in the positioning myself.I wish it didn't have a release button (toe-tap again) to use every time you set the vacuum upright then need to engage it again as I find that annoying and different from my previous machine.Overall, I am delighted with this vacuum, especially for the price I paid, $67.17. Not only is it great for small spaces, but would serve well for anyone who prefers or needs lightweight equipment or needs more than one vacuum.