Bissell 1132A Symphony Steam Mop and Steam Vacuum for Hardwood and Tile Floors

I purchased this product and was actually a little scared because it has received mixed reviews. My cousin owns one and he convinced me to purchase this item and stated, "You are gonna love it. Mine works great!" So, I ordered a display model that had never been used. It was missing two pads and the instruction manual and this is how the product was offered. So, no complaint there. This gadget is so self explanatory that I did not need the manual anyway. I absolutely love the thing!!! I swear this is the best gadget I have every purchased. I have a cat and a dog that both shed profusely. I also live in the country with no pavement around my house, dirt floors in the garage, and a huge garden. The piles of dirt that are drug into my house are immense. This gadget picks up all that dirt very well. I have vinyl plank flooring in my kitchen and laminate flooring through the rest of the house.Someone did state that it would not pick up big objects and I say what vacuum will? If I find that it is pushing the dirt rather than picking it up I tilt the machine back, place it over the big chunk, and it will pick up the dirt. I have always had to do this with vacuums.This gadget came in four pieces. The handle snapped right in and is adjustable. The body of the machine snapped right into place on the head of the machine. I placed the cleaning pad on the base of the machine and it snapped right into place when I sat the machine on it. There is a tab on the pad try that you step on to remove and once you get used to the idea that this is not what you have to do to tip the machine back it is great. I just put my bare toes or stockinged foot on the machine head itself to tip it back. I did all of this without the manual. I did follow the other reviews of this product and have been using distilled water. To put the water into the machine, you pinch to tabs at the side of the machine and pour the water in. The entire dirt catcher comes off the machine by sliding a lever over. I was a little confused about the operation of that. I tried to take the filter off the top but then realized the dirt dumps out the bottom. This is the only time that I thought the user manual, other than the need of distilled water, would have been handy but it truly was a no brainer to figure out. There is a slot that the dirt cacther slides back into and the lever just flips back. When I started the machine for the first time I let the machine sit for a little bit to prime and then the light comes on saying the steam is ready. You can use this with high or low steam. I have only used high steam as my floors are usually filthy. The steam will stay on, as other reviews state, until you shut it off. The steam control is in the handle and you pretty much have a squeeze on the thing the entire time it is in use but you can shut the steam off on the handle. So, if you think of the other complaints that you can't just vacuum and the wet mop pad causes problems with just vacuuming--you could just put a dry mop pad on--but why I say would you not want to steam at the same time?When you shut the vacuum and you do need to shut off the steam or it will keep steaming and run the machine out of water but if you unplug the machine when your are done this is not a problem. This machine also comes with an extra filter and the filter can just be rinsed out.I say bury your Swiffer. I have used one of those swiffers with the wet pads for years & that just seems to leave dirty streaks all over the floor. This machine will not reach into those little corners behind the toilet and such but I would like refute the claims that it does not clean well by the mop boards or get under the cupboard to the kick board. It does take a little longer at the mop board for a good clean but it most certainly works better than my broom and wet swiffer. There are some little corners that you may need to wipe by hand but this is the cleanest my floors have every been. I am walking barefoot and I have no grit on the bottoms of my bare feet!! I also always have hairspray with dirt and dust stuck to it caked on my bathroom floor & this gadget cleaned this up so much easier than any other method I have ever tried. Prior to this I have found myself in the bathroom with baking soda and water scrubbing to get this dirty mess off the floor.I did order the smelly disks for the mop pad and they do give off a nice smell while in use. I removed the disk when I washed the pad and cannot say what would have happened if I had forgot the disk in the pad when tossed in the washer.As far as the durability of this product, I can not attest but so far I am in love. I have always hated sweeping and mopping and this is the best thing that has ever happened to my house and I actually love this task now.

Perspective:I've been a long time owner of several Shark Steam Mops. First, the original pump mop and a few of the Shark Pro Pocket Steam Mop. When the last Shark Pro finally quit on me (it was popping the mop head off the mop with hot steam due to clogging) I was in search of a replacement. My original intent was to purchase another Shark Pro since I have several mop pads already. I quite liked the fact that I could flip the mop head over and get more coverage. However, I was well aware of the fact that the Shark gave a superficial cleaning. Scrub the floor after a Shark and you'll see all that it left behind.Symphony:The Symphony is completely different from the Shark so it took me a while to wrap my head around how this might be more effective even though I would have to replace the mop heads more often during my cleaning. One reviewer mentions that cleaning with the Symphony reveals the mop heads to have an even distribution of dirt across the entire surface of the mop pad while the Shark would have dirt areas at the edges of the mop pad. From my own experience, I knew this was true of the Shark. The Shark doesn't have a vacuum so naturally I'd, also, find myself stepping on grit and crumbs after a cleaning which was another annoyance. The activity I hate most is cleaning, and having to make two passes at everything from vacuuming and then steaming just sounds like a bad use of my time when I'd rather be playing or relaxing. Cleaning is much better left for others that enjoy it right? The Symphony just might change my mind on this. Some points about the Bissell Symphony:Pros:* Vacuuming while steam mopping your floors was the way it was meant to be done. I pick up dust, feathers, and whatever else is on the floor while I'm steam mopping the floors.* The floors are much cleaner using the Symphony compared to the Shark Steam Mop.* Bissell Engineering. It's a well built machine with good function design. The mop pads come off with the press of your foot. It also clicks nicely in place after changing out the mop pad.* Emptying the vacuum canister is as simple as removing from the machine and walking it to the trash can without dragging dust around the house (there's a lid on the canister). There's an air filter as well though I'm not sure if it's Hepa rated.* Can vacuum your expensive rugs with a pull motion over the area. Mop pad off of course which is easy to do.* Stands upright. The steam is trigger activated so no worry about steaming pumping through the same area on the floor as you move furniture around.Cons:* The power cord is about 5 ft shorter than the Shark. While noticeable it's easily forgiven. I suspect they'll add extra cord length in future revisions.Important to note that coming from a Shark this thing was much harder to push on the floor. I didn't list that as a Con because I attribute the better cleaning with the grippier action of the mop pads and the focused steam on the floor which results in better cleaning but requiring more effort to push. However, it's significant enough to mention especially if you're already having difficulties managing the Shark steam mop which required very little effort. The Symphony requires double the force which I don't mind at all...In summary, this is a great tool for cleaning hardwood floors and linoleum. I can't imagine there's a more innovative way to clean floors than vacuuming and steam mopping the same time. And glad to see this american company take the lead. I'm a Bissell fan. Btw, I have horrible unsealed linoleum floors in the kitchen with glue smeared on the surfaces that's primed for dirt. I use a Magic Eraser to give it a quick wipe down and you'd be amazed how effectively it'll clean those troubled areas.