Bissell CrossWave HydroSteam Deluxe Wet Dry Vacuum Cleaner (3515G) Review

What It Is and How It Sets Up

It's a corded 3-in-1 — vacuum, wash and steam in one pass, on hard floors and area rugs. Setup takes a couple of minutes: line the handle up and push until it clicks, then install the clean-water tank. You fill that tank with water up to the water line and then top it off with formula to the formula line, and you can use hot water in there if you want. The cord is 25 feet, which is really long and one of my favorite things about it. There's cord wrap on the back and a little storage spot on the side for your spare brush and filter. In the box you get six bottles of solution, two extra filters and an extra roller — that's a lot of stuff for the money.

Cleaning Performance: What It Actually Picks Up

Everyday Messes

On a big everyday mess it does an OK job — not the best I've run, and that's why it lost points. The bigger issue is how it lays the water down. It puts water on the brush roller and squirts steam out the front at the same time, so you're always leaving more water on the floor than you need to.

The Steam — the Real Miss

This is where it lost me. It doesn't make much steam, and it can't do steam only. You've got three modes: area rug, which is suction only; hard floor, which gives you water and solution through the trigger; and steam wash, which is the only mode that actually makes steam. But steam still puts water down with it. I much prefer a machine that lets you run steam by itself, so you're not soaking the floor. You also have to wait about 30 seconds after selecting steam for it to charge up. I wish it just put more steam down, plain and simple.

Hair & Pet — the Fail

This one's a fail for me. There's a squeegee and the suction port down there, but there's no comb under the roller to strip hair off as you clean. So long hair wraps around the brush and stays wrapped, and you're pulling it off yourself. Bissell does advertise a tangle-free brush roll on this machine; in my testing, hair is still wrapped. If you've got pets or long hair in the house, that's a daily annoyance.

Ease of Use

This is the part it does best, and it's why it still scored a 7 here. The controls are simple — a power button, a mode button, and a trigger you hold when you want water and solution to come out. The three mode icons light up at the base so you can see what you're in. There's no screen and no dirt sensor, so you're the one deciding when the floor is clean. It's a little on the heavy side at around 12.5 pounds, though the carry handle is nicely balanced, and it stands about 45 inches tall. It doesn't lie flat, so getting under furniture isn't happening.

Maintenance Reality

Easy to clean and maintain — that's a real plus, and one of the two things I put in the win column. Set it on the tray, plug it in, press the self-clean button, and it cleans the brush roll for you. The dirty-water tank pops off with a button and has a separate chamber that catches the solid waste and hair, so you can pour the dirty water out and carry the chunks to the trash can. There's a float in there, so when the water gets too high you'll hear the suction change. The filters are reusable — rinse them, and make absolutely sure they're dry before they go back in. There's no hot-air dry, so the roller air-dries on its own.

Corded, Not Cordless

There's no battery to talk about here — you're plugged in, so run time is unlimited and it never fades on you halfway through the kitchen. That's a genuine advantage over cordless mops if you've got a lot of floor. The trade is the cord itself, and at 25 feet Bissell gave you enough of it that I never felt tied down.

What I'd Buy Instead

If you want a corded steam wet/dry floor mop, buy the Tineco Floor ONE S5 Steam. I absolutely love that one and it does a really good job of cleaning. If you can live without steam, the Roborock F25 GT is cordless and very good. And if you have to have steam and want to cut the cord, look at the Tineco Floor ONE S9 Artist Steam or the Roborock F25 Ultra Steam.

Is It Worth It?

No — it's a Skip It at 5.5 out of 10. The long cord, the easy maintenance and the area-rug ability are all real, and if you already own one you're not throwing it away. But steam is the headline feature and there isn't enough of it, you can't run steam without laying down water, and the roller wraps long hair with no comb to fix it. For what this costs, there are better machines on my list.