It takes much more than vacuuming to maintain linoleum or tiled floors. Imagine how much grease builds up on your kitchen floors.
A typical maintenance cycle involves sweeping off dirt and then mop. Or if you have a vacuum cleaner, you’ll vacuum then mop.
What if you could do all those things with in one simple step?
This is there the Bissell Symphony comes in, it is a 2-in-1 vacuum and steam mop perfect for cleaning bare floor surfaces that need steam cleaning like tile and linoleum.
What’s great about this Bissell is that it costs much less than the much hyped Dyson Hard that didn’t perform up to expectations.
While the Dyson Hard costs well over $300, the Symphony costs less than $190.
But don’t take the “All-in-One” term literally because the vacuum part is strictly for bare floor only.
It isn’t designed to clean carpet so if you’re home has carpet you will need another upright vacuum for deep cleaning.
Will this hybrid totally replace your mops?
Well yes and no, find out in this review.
A quick look at the features
- Offers two-in-one functionality of a steam cleaner and vacuum in one product
- No need to add chemical cleaners as it uses steam to kill 99.9% of bacteria and germs
- Has a 5-way adjustable handle
- Quick release mop tray allows you to change mops quickly (you’ll see this in the video below)
- You can use this as a vacuum and mop, vacuum only or steam mop only – this gives you more options depending on the need
- Has a separate container for the dry debris and another container to hold the water
- This vacuum produces its own steam – no need to add hot water.
- 25 foot power cord
- Comes with a 2 year warranty
Pros
- Offers versatility in terms of allowing you to steam clean and vacuum at the same time, you can also use these features separately
- Cheaper than other comparable products like the Dyson Hard
- It produces its own steam so there is no need to add hot water
- Easy release option allows you to quickly change microfiber pads
Cons
- This is purely a bare floor cleaner, you will need to buy another vacuum to clean carpet
- Bissell says the steam mop needs distilled water – an added expense
- Will not be able to clean big spills efficiently as it will only spread it around
What to expect from this hybrid vacuum and mop
First things first, this machine is specifically designed to clean bare floors. There’s no motorized brush so you won’t be able to use this on carpet.
If you’re home has carpet you’ll have to buy a separate canister or upright for that.
For high traffic areas like the kitchen, this machine will save you time because you’ll be able to vacuum and mop at the same time.
But there is a caveat which you’ll find out in the review section.
If there is a place where this vacuum will shine, it would be inside the kitchen where there will you’ll have a lot of grease build up and the steam feature will break down that greasy mess easily.
Or a dusty hardwood surface if you want to save time in terms of not having to sweep and mop separately.
One more thing, this machine isn’t cordless. It comes with a 25 foot cord.
Bissell recommends that you use distilled water instead of tap water to prolong the life of the steamer. If you’d put in tap water, the minerals in it will eventually wear it out faster. Just a heads up in case you’ve made a decision to buy it.
Last thing to note is that you can use this to mop and vacuum at the same time or use those two functions separately just in case you don’t need either one. I liked that Bissell added that option.
Bare Floor Performance
The Bissell Symphony is designed to do two things – vacuum and mop.
That means this machine is great if your home has hardwood, linoleum or tiled flooring.
Let’s have a look on how this performed on vacuuming cereal and moping ketchup on tile…
While you can use this to clean messes like that, this will be best utilized on surfaces where there are no spills. It does not have any mechanism that will suck in liquid. The microfiber pads will absorb a little bit of liquid but don’t rely on it to clean large messes.
What the microfiber pad does is transfer steam from the water inside the tank to the floor. Steam helps disinfect and dislodge any caked on stains.
Another demonstration on tiled flooring…
The vacuum feature of this product is limited and will not reach the edges. And you won’t be to use these to features simultaneously. That means you’ll be able to use either the mop or the vacuum.
Comparing the Bissell Symphony versus the Dyson Hard…
Since the Dyson Hard’s cleaning head sits very low on the ground it will “snow plow” larger bits of dirt whereas the Bissell Symphony’s cleaning hard has gaps along the base that allow larger debris to go through preventing the dreaded snow plowing effect.
Carpet Performance
While you can still use this on carpet, it will only pick up surface dirt since it doesn’t have any motorized brush.
If you have lots of carpet at home, I suggest that you invest in a good quality upright vacuum for deep cleaning purposes.
Pet Hair Removal
As long as you’re cleaning bare floor, picking up strands of pet hair here and there shouldn’t be a problem.
Attachments and Accessories
It comes with a steamboost tray that provides steam for the mop. If you buy this in Amazon it comes with 4 microfiber pads in total (2 soft and 2 scrubby for tile).
If you buy this from Bissel, you’ll only get 2 pads but it’ll be more expensive.
Cord Length
Power cord is around 25 feet and it does not have any cord rewind.
Filter Cleanup and Maintenance
This machine is equipped with two filters – the water filter and pre-motor filter.
For the pre-motor foam filter, you may need to clean it after every use if you’re cleaning a heavily soiled area. Always do your due diligence and give a visual check after every use.
Bissell recommends replacing it after 6 months of use to maintain performance.
Replacement filters can be bought for around $15 in Amazon.
Another filter to look at is the water filter that needs to be replace when it turns blue.
To prolong the life of the filter, Bissell recommends using distilled water. Using tap water increases the accumulation of calcium deposits that could clog and reduce the performance of the steam mechanism.
Warranty
Bissell backs this product up with a 2 year warranty.
Product Specifications
| Attachments | No extra tools included only comes with 4 mops (when purchased in Amazon) |
| Cord Length | 25 feet |
| Auto Cord Rewind |  |
| Motorized brush | |
| Brush on/off switch | |
| Swivel | |
| Headlight | |
| Filter clogged indicator | |
| Full bin indicator | |
| Bagless |  Uses a bagged system |
| Multi-surface | Bare floor only |
| Self propelled | |
| Net weight | 9.7 pounds |
| Shipping weight | 14.6 pounds |
| Hose length | N/A |
| Cleaning Path | 11" |
| Dirt capacity | N/A |
| Filter type | 1 pre-motor filter (washable but needs to be replaced every 6 months) 1 water filter (not washable) |
| Power | N/A |
| Voltage | 120 volts |
| Manufactured in | USA |
| Warranty | 2 years |
Customer Reviews
A lot of people are happy with this product because of the versatility it provides. It can vacuum and steam mop which is something every kitchen needs.
Second, it only uses steam to sanitize floors, no need to use chemical disinfectants. Bissell does not recommend using it anyways as it could shorten the life of the mechanism that produces steam.
But there are some caveats there.
First is this machine may not work well if it needs to clean large spills because it relies on a small microfiber pad for steam cleaning.
Several consumers warned that using this on such will create more mess as the microfiber mop will spread spills on to other areas that are clean.
They said that if you want to maximize this machine, pre-vacuum the area first using the vacuum function because the microfiber mop mechanism raises the distance between the vacuum inlet and floor thus reducing section.
Just in case you’re dealing a large spill, you may need a traditional mop to clean up the spill before finishing up with the steam mop. The microfiber mop used is very small and won’t be able to absorb large messes.
For relatively clean floors where there isn’t any spill to worry about is where this machine will shine, areas like this photo submitted by a consumer in Amazon.
Before
After
You’ll notice that it needs only light dusting and the vacuum is more than capable of picking up these small particles and the steam mop sanitized the surface afterwards.
Just make sure that you don’t leave the floor damp as it will leave stains and possibly some odor.
There are also complaints about the mop bracket dislodging from the base. This might be a case of a lemon unit since only a few complained about this.
Another complaint was the steam mop degrading over time, make sure to only use distilled water to maximize the service life of this product and don’t leave any water inside the water tank.
Where can I buy this?
You can buy this hard floor cleaner from Amazon for just under $200. And you’ll get 4 extra mops. If you buy this from Bissell you’ll only get 2 extra mops.
It’ll be eligible for Amazon’s free 2-day shipping if you join Prime. They also sell extended warranties of up to 3 years if you want that extra peace of mind.
To Wrap Up
This product is great for folks who are looking to save time in terms of cleaning up their kitchen or bathroom floors because you can steam mop and vacuum at the same time.
For homes equipped with a lot of bare floor this product will save you money in terms of not having to buy an extra steam mop because it already has one.
The vacuum part of this product will work decently but only on bare floor. Bissell added opening across it to accommodate larger debris like cereal.
Of course as with any mechanical device, you’ll need to follow the manufacturer’s recommendation like using distilled water to prolong the life of the steam mop which is one of the sources of complaints when you read the reviews.
Remember that you won’t be able to use the vacuum and mop features simultaneously, only one at a time.
Just in case you already have a stick vacuum to cover for the vacuuming then a product like a Bissell PowerFresh would make sense because it’s cheaper and lighter.
Overall, I’d prefer this over the more expensive Dyson Hard because it has better vacuum performance and has a steam cleaning feature absent in the Dyson that costs way more.
With all of that said just temper your expectations as this machine will not replace a traditional mop in terms of cleaning really big spills. So you’ll always have to keep that in your tool box.
But for small messes, it should be able to work well.
