Bissell Symphony All In One Vacuum and Steam Mop

Bissell Symphony All In One Vacuum and Steam Mop

Sample received for review. All opinions are my own.

In our home, we have a large dog and three young kids. One of the best decisions we have made was to replace the carpet in our house with laminate flooring. Our main floor is entirely laminate or linoleum. I have tried several different hard floor cleaning options over the past five years. The two I always end up going back to is a vacuum and a steam mop. My last mop broke and while shopping for a new one I came across the Bissell Symphony. A vacuum and steam mop in one!! Someone must have read my mind. I knew it was going to be my next cleaning machine.

When I received my Bissell Symphony, I could hardly wait to get it put together and try it out. Included in the box was the main body, the base, a cup for filling the water reservoir, and two different mop pads. Assembly was one simple step. Attaching the main body to the base. Done.

There are lots of really great features. First, the handle on the Bissell Symphony is telescoping. I love that I can store it in a smaller space by putting the handle down. The kids like it because it makes it their size when they help with the vacuuming. The long cord is perfect too. I do not need to keep unplugging and moving the cord to a new power outlet.

I noticed two little red brushes that stick out the side near the front of the vacuum. I was a little confused as to what those were for at first, but I figured it out pretty quickly once I started using it. They brush out any loose dirt under my baseboards. What a great surprise!

I also appreciate that the vacuum is bagless. There is a filter inside the dirt tank that is easily accessible and can be cleaned with soap and water. Bissell recommends that the filter be changed every six months. The tank itself empties from the bottom. Just hold the tank over the garbage can and press the button on the side. The whole bottom opens up and the dirt falls out. So quick and easy. You can also clean the dirt tank with soap and water.

There are two mop pads included with the Bissell Symphony. The white pad is for regular cleaning and the striped pad is for scrubbing and tougher cleaning. Both pads come with Microban Antimicrobial Product Protection which helps fight the bacteria that can cause your mop to smell. I love that I can just throw the mop pad in the wash when I am done and it is ready to use all over again.

Using the vacuum and mop is simple, too. You can choose to use just the vacuum, just the mop, or both at the same time. I personally did not find it practical to vacuum and mop my floor at the same time. The vacuum is in front of the mop pad, so going forward it picked up the dirt before the mop pad but pulling it back I had to follow the exact same path to avoid mopping the dirt.

I like to vacuum my whole floor and then mop it. I really love not having to haul out both a vacuum and a steam mop to do it though. I don’t know about you, but it doesn’t matter how well I think I sweep or vacuum before I mop, when I am mopping I always come across dirt or dog hair that I have missed. That is when I love the Bissell Symphony most! I don’t have to stop mopping and go grab the broom or vacuum again. I just press the vacuum button and clean it up at the same time.

There are two different settings for the steam mop. A high steam and a low steam. Selecting and changing between the two is as easy as pushing a button. I liked the high steam for spills and bigger messes. I found on our laminate flooring that being able to use the lower steam setting helped control the streaking left on the floor.

The only issue I found with the Symphony is when it comes to mopping into the corner. Because the mop pad does not quite come to the front of the base, the mop does not clean right into the corner. There was no problem with the vacuum getting into the corner, and personally I would gladly go wipe out a missed corner after in exchange for all the ways the Bissell Symphony makes hard floor cleaning easier for me.

I think Bissel did a great job with this machine. There were so many little features that really make a difference when it comes to hard floor cleaning.  I used it on both laminate and linoleum with great results.  I will not be going back to my old ways of cleaning. The Bissell Symphony is available for purchase at www.bissell.com.