Bissell SmartClean 1974 - Review 2022

Bissell has been in the vacuum business for over 100 years, but it's only been making robot vacuums for just over two. The Bissell SmartClean 1974 ($299.99) is its follow-up to the 1605 model. It's affordable, programmable, sturdy, and comes with a virtual wall for sectioning off areas of your home. It does a nice chore cleaning wood and tile floors, though information technology struggled with rugs and navigating from room to room in testing. Information technology's fine for small spaces, simply if yous're looking to go the best clean for your buck, the Eufy RoboVac 11 is more versatile, and our Editors' Choice for affordable robot vacuums.

Design and Components

The SmartClean looks less futuristic than most robotic vacuums. The front features a gray bumper with an IR receiver, while the balance of the body has a teal edge. The tiptop features a tessellated sticker above an LCD touch command console.

While the design won't win whatever awards, the SmartClean is sturdily congenital and practically designed. Cleaning and maintenance is easier than on your typical bot. All you have to practise is printing the cover simply in a higher place the Bissell logo and information technology'll pop open to reveal the dustbin, which has its own handle for like shooting fish in a barrel removal. The side brushes, roller, and battery compartments are secure but piece of cake to remove. While the Dyson 360 Eye is far more bonny, its dorsum grille is a pain to pop on and off.

Size-wise, the round SmartClean measures 13.0 inches in diameter and three.four inches tall. That'southward right betwixt the Eufy RoboVac 11, which measures xiii.0 inches effectually and 3.0 inches alpine, and the Roomba 690, which is also 13.0 inches in bore but 3.7 inches tall. The SmartClean should exist able to handle all only the lowest-contour furniture with relative ease.

Like other robotic vaccums, the SmartClean comes with a charging dock. It's a little more analog in look, as y'all can see from the photo above. It too comes with a virtual wall that's powered past four AA batteries (not included). The vacuum doesn't have Wi-Fi, which isn't surprising for the price, only it also doesn't come up with a remote or any spare parts. You'll have to purchase those separately from Bissell. Extra filters and side brushes are $thirteen.99, while a remote costs $19.99. Other spare parts, similar door covers or docking stations, range in cost from $4.99 to $79.99.

Setup and Controls

Setup isn't hard, but information technology isn't exactly intuitive. Start y'all accept to install the bombardment. Afterward that, you take to button two side brushes onto their holders. Next is the initial battery charge. Commonly this involves leaving the bot on its dock for a few hours, just the SmartClean is slightly dissimilar. The first time out, you tin can't charge from the dock. Instead, yous accept to plug the adapter directly into the robot. Also, it's important to make sure its power switch is turned on—otherwise the vacuum won't accuse. This initial charge takes about four to v hours. Afterward, you tin can plug the adapter into the docking station and charge that manner.

Every bit for cleaning, you tin outset a session in i of two ways. Beginning, you can schedule it through the docking station. There are iii settings to the left: Clock, Schedule, and Run. Slide the switch to Clock to set the current hour and 24-hour interval, and so move it to Schedule to programme the hour and days you want the vacuum to clean. You can choose between v different types: weekly, daily, weekdays, weekends, or Mon through Saturday.

Alternatively, you can manually control the Bissell from its LCD touch console. The middle push selects cleaning fourth dimension across eight different settings. The first four settings will send the bot back to the dock afterwards a preset period of time (maximum, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, and i hour). The fifth sends the robot dorsum to the dock without cleaning. The last iii just take the robot make clean for 30, 45, or 60 minutes without returning to the dock. On the left, a plus-minus push button lets you toggle between Normal and Turbo cleaning power.

Meanwhile, the Way button on the right toggles between v different cleaning styles: Spiral, Along the Wall, Z Formation, Diagonal Path, and Auto. Spiral and Along the Wall are your standard spot and edge cleaning modes. Z Formation and Diagonal Path are a little more unique to Bissell. The quondam moves the bot in a zig-zag design, while the latter makes information technology motion in diagonal lines until it hits an obstruction. Lastly, Automobile is a combination of all the modes.

It makes sense once you've read the instruction transmission and played around with the bot, but I can't aid but experience the learning curve would be a lot easier if Bissell had just included a remote. The touch on console is responsive, but the dock is finicky and doesn't salvage settings if you accidentally unplug information technology. Plus, having to rely on the touch panel means yous have to chase later on the vacuum if you want to change modes.

Functioning

I tested the SmartClean at home and in PCMag's exam lab to mixed results. It does well on hardwood floors and tile, simply rugs and transitions between rooms can nowadays a bit of a challenge. In my apartment, the vacuum struggled to motion from my hallway to the kitchen. It besides wasn't always able to go onto my carpeting, even though it's simply a 0.25-inch pile. While my rug is mostly ruby, information technology does characteristic a black edge and darkly colored geometric shapes. Oftentimes robotic vacuums that rely on infrared cameras (like the SmartClean) can accept trouble with nighttime rugs, though I didn't experience this trouble with the Eufy RoboVac 11 (which also uses IR).

It fared a little better at PC Labs. Information technology still struggled to manage a pocket-size transition between rubberized tile and carpeting, just was able to climb atop our dark gray studio rug.

Every bit for suction power, the roller is quite short, and then while the SmartClean sucked upward a decent amount of hair, dust, and detritus, it wasn't exactly brimming to chapters like other vacuums I've tested. It'due south enough for mild maintenance on hardwood floors or tile, but it left a off-white amount of debris on my lint trap of a carpet.

While the SmartClean is quieter than the Dyson 360 Eye at maximum power, yous tin can still hear it wheezing forth when it's in a different room. Information technology'south not quite equally loud as a traditional stick vacuum, only it'southward pretty shut. To exist fair, about robot vacs—with the exception of the Eufy RoboVac 11—aren't exactly quiet, but for that much noise I'd expect more than powerful suction.

Navigation-wise, you're better off setting the bot for the Z Formation or Along the Wall modes. In Auto style, it ping pongs across a room without rhyme or reason. That'due south fine in smaller, confined spaces, though information technology tends to circle the same spot for a longer period of fourth dimension than necessary. And while the virtual wall helps keep the vacuum from getting tangled in cords or other problem areas, I institute its tendency to run in circles meant it wasn't capable of a truly hands-off cleaning experience.

To employ the virtual wall, y'all merely turn information technology on and place it in a threshold between rooms, or in front of an area you don't desire the vacuum to enter. Once I knew the vacuum didn't work well on my rug, I just set the virtual wall to keep information technology abroad from the area. That manner it wouldn't waste battery life getting stuck, and kept me from having to rescue it every few minutes.

The vacuum occasionally had trouble docking itself. Sometimes it made its way dorsum with no issue, simply other times it died out in the field. Besides, once or twice information technology made its way dorsum to the dock but didn't actually start charging. I had to push button it a niggling further into the contact pins before it started juicing dorsum upwards.

On the plus side, battery life is solid. I was able to become nigh 90 minutes of cleaning from one session. That was enough to clean a decent chunk of my living room, hallway, and kitchen, and par for the course in this price range.

Conclusions

Past robot vacuum standards, the Bissell SmartClean 1974 is pretty affordable at $300. It's almost $100 less expensive than the entry-level Roomba 690, which we're in the process of testing. That said, while the SmartClean is good at cleaning hardwood floors and tile, it comes upwardly brusk when information technology comes to carpets and rugs. For these reasons, the Eufy RoboVac xi remains our Editors' Choice for affordable robot vacuums. Not only is it even cheaper than the Bissell, it gives y'all a more powerful clean and is much better at navigating between unlike rooms and flooring types.