UPDATE 5/26/20: Well.. it broke. And so did my heart. Looking into how to get a replacement now, because I love this thing so much. And for it to die a month later makes me so sad. Very disappointing. Y'all... This just arrived Tuesday and I feel like my life is forever changed. Truly. I had been waiting since before Christmas to buy this. I kept looking over reviews on this and other things. I'm not the type to spend a chunk of money on things like this. WHY DID I WAIT?! I am SO glad I finally got this thing. Just let the nice people take your money and hand this bad boy over. Trust me. Why was this so life changing? Well... So, for perspective of what I'm working with here... We have 8 dogs. Yeah. 8. Sometimes more. Insanity, I hear you say? Well.. yes. It's fine, though. Everything is fine. On top of 8 dogs we have 3 small kids and 3 adults living in this house. And we have a small farm... And it's Texas and it rains a lot. So we have mud. Lots of mud. And dogs. And children. And mud. Did I mention mud?? So. Much. MUD. Our floors are stamped and stained/painted concrete and it's lovely most of the time, but also a pain to clean because it's WHITE. White floors + 8 dogs + 3 children + mud = Do you see where I'm going with this?? It's terrible. Like... The worst. My daily floor care routine consisted of sweeping and then mopping with my O Cedar spin mop. Which I love. It's been the best little mop. But it also kills my back. Because with mud, you have to scrub. Especially if life interrupts and the mud DRIES. Anyway. So I did this horrid routine at least once a day, twice if it was raining, and spot mopping every time the dogs came inside as well. Can you say time consuming? And yet still I never felt like my floors were REALLY clean. It's maddening. So, I bit the bullet and decided to invest in my sanity and time a bit and cough up the money for this thing, in hopes that it would cut my time cleaning a bit, and perhaps save my back from hurting so much. I honestly had low expectations. I figured it probably wouldn't have great suction, and that the mop portion may not help a ton, but would at least be good for fresh mud, and so worth it for the constant spot cleaning, at the very least. Amazon got this to me by Tuesday. So I haven't had it very long, but I have put this thing through the wringer and it has come through the other side a valiant champion! I asked my husband if it could sleep in the bed with us... He wasn't amused. I just feel like it's earned it's place. Ok, so to start off my test run of it, I took on the hallway that I had let build up dirt over the week to see how it would do on that. Now. It did take time and slowly working it over the area, but it managed to get up all of that grossness that was on my floor. I was impressed! ... And slightly disgusted as the dirty tank revealed everything. Ick.. but also glory be! In celebration, and on a euphoric high, I decided to hit the living room, which I had previously mopped earlier that morning before the glorious arrival of this amazing machine. I cleaned out the dirty tank and refilled the clean tank and went to work. Wow! And again, gross... I can't believe how much yuck that was still on my floor after I had already "cleaned" it. Gag. I went on to do my whole house, and was simply in constant amazement. "Babe!! Look at it NOW!!" I'm fairly certain my husband was over looking at the Crosswave doing it's thing, but he humored me anyway and congratulated me each time. I love that man. Now, I mentioned earlier that I have 8 dogs, right? Well I forgot to mention 2 of those 8 dogs are German Shepherds, aka German "SHEDDERS." SO. MUCH. HAIR. All the hair. There's never not a hair tumbleweed in my house. Don't like hair? Don't get a German Shepherd. Great dogs. Lots of hair. The hair should be more terrifying than their bark. I have tried many vacuums in the past and because of my GSDs (ok and probably my long hair as well), I don't buy vacuums with roller brushes. It just never goes well. Hair gets caught in the roller, becomes useless, cutting it off it's often a pain or even impossible. No more roller brushes. That was a HUGE reason for my hold up on the Crosswave. Even though it promised to combat this, I was skeptical. Y'all... They followed through on their promise. So far-- and I've vacuumed up A LOT of hair-- hair has not been getting caught up in the roller. It DOES get a little bit just on the edges of the roller, where it fits into the maxhine, but it's so super easy to get off, I don't even count that. So huge win right there. It's been great at sucking up all that hair too! It isn't the strongest suction out there, but it is pretty great and definitely gets the job done! When I walk around barefoot I don't feel any dirt, hair, or grains of yuck! I loooove it. The tank is small, so it doesn't fit a ton of hair in there. So if doing some major cleaning it does require frequent emptying. I was essentially already doing that with sweeping and mopping anyway, so no big deal. The tank is super simple to clean out and I LOVE that they made a strainer for hair and solid items. I pull that thing out and dump the hair straight into the trash. And then dump the dirty tank out and rinse that. There is also a filter in there that needs to be checked, especially if you've done some dry vacuuming. A screen is over that catches hair and makes it easier to clean out. Overall I LOVE how easy the machine is to clean. The station really is good at cleaning off the brush like it's supposed to. Oh! Another great thing that exceeded my expectations. It doesn't leave a ton of water behind on the floor! I even used it on my hardwood floors and it did magnificent! It leaves very little water behind so it dries very quickly! It did great on our tile floor as well. :) So. Even with having to drag it across the floor slowly, taking my time, cleaning out the dirty tank frequently, and cleaning the machine after each use, it really is saving me a ton of time! I have been able to get so much more done in a single day thanks to this little beast! It combines sweeping and mopping, and there's just no argument there. It's fairly lightweight and easy to move around. Nothing like my old lug of a Kirby, but it is heavier than some things, like maybe a stick vacuum. I mean, it has a tank of water soooo.. I love that the head swivels! With little effort too! I was able to get to spaces quite easily and loved that! One thing on the head to note, it does not clean flush up to the wall! It does vacuum all the way there, but not mop. The brush can only get so far. So there's about an inch gap there. I plan to just clean those spaces when I'm doing baseboards or go over it with a mop. Not a biggie for me, but definitely worth noting for others! My other favorite thing is that my back is no longer aching! I'm 5'4" and I don't have to bend over oddly, or put any pressure into it to get the job done! I can stand up straight and use this perfectly fine. Hooray! This alone is giving me so much more energy and motivation to get more done through the day! Not to mention that I'm far less crabby when I'm not in pain. Eek. Overall I think this machine is a fantastic addition to my home and has definitely simplified my life already, giving me more time, less aching, and a far cleaner floor. I HIGHLY recommend the Bissell Crosswave Pet Pro Plus to anyone struggling with the floors and looking for a little peace in their lives.
