With people spending more time at home due to the lockdowns, all of our homes have needed additional cleaning. Finding the right tool to make the task easier is never as straightforward as one might think. Could the Bissell MultiReach Active 21V Tangle Free Cordless Vacuum be the answer? We put it to the test.
Most of us have experienced a jazzy looking vacuum that looks the part but leaves behind twice as much dust as you’ve sucked up. Most are prone to leaking dust and allergens back out into your home, undoing all your hard work. So, in our quest to find a model that is quiet, easy to use and cleans beautifully, I was delighted to give the Bissell MultiReach Active a try.
Who is Bissell?
Bissell is a family-owned company that has been providing cleaning tools in the homecare business for five generations. With over 140 years in the business, their technical floor cleaning expertise has been applied to keep carpets, tiles, hardwood, vinyl and laminate smelling fresh and free from hair, dirt, dust and debris. They aim to make their products strong, versatile and simple to use with powerful suction and smooth performance both with or without cords.
They offer a range of models which are suitable for practically every application and living situation. It’s probably why the well-known American brand ranks high after brands Dyson and Shark.
What is the Bissell Multireach Active 21V?
The Bissell MultiReach Active 21V Cordless Vaccum Cleaner is an affordable cordless floor cleaner that is great for cleaning ‘little and often’ due to its charge time. One plus point is that it has no cord, so there is no need to wrangle with switching sockets, allowing you to conveniently and seamlessly move from room to room. In addition to this, it requires no bag, has an ergonomic design and intelligent technology.
The vacuum’s 2-in-1 design makes it easy to convert it to a handheld device to tackle those smaller jobs such as eradicating cobwebs from the ceiling, fluff from the windowsills and crumbs from the sofa. If storage space is an issue, you’ll be pleased to hear it comes with a wall-mountable station so the vacuum can be packed away, taking up little cupboard space. The clever design removes the age-old problem of leaning it and falling over.
How did it perform?
First impressions were good; I loved the sleek look, and getting started was surprisingly straightforward. There was no need to read hard-to-understand instructions; the device came in three main parts and was super easy to put together. It weighs just 3.63 kg which made it simple to manoeuvre with one hand. The Bissell MultiReach Cordless has a 21V lithium-ion battery with just two power modes – high and low. Once fully charged (recommended five hours), the floor cleaner will give you a 30-minute run time, which is standard for a cordless vacuum.
The vacuum glides easily around the floor, and it picked up debris and dust from the hard floor in an instant. I did have to apply extra pressure on carpets to pick up some more stubborn bits, especially hair. But the motorised floor head is good, and I was able to whizz around hard-to-reach corners and furniture legs with just a flick of the wrist.
The vacuum has an impressive suction power when on the high mode, and I found I needed this function more on carpets than hard floors. The device is also relatively quiet at 81db, which is a major plus point if you need to clean early or late in the day without disturbing the rest of the household.
Cordless vacuums are amazing, especially when you have little time to faff around with plugging and unplugging the cord from sockets. From a safety point of view, this will also eliminate potential backaches and pains from bending up and down, not to mention risking tripping over from a tangled or overstretched cord. So straight away, this was a win for me. Plus, it was much easier to be able to go up and down the stairs and get the job done without any injuries.
Another benefit of the Bissell Multireach Active is the ease with which you can transform it from a floor-head vacuum into a handheld one with the click of a button. It meant I didn’t have to drag the whole vacuum around when I needed to clean up small spills. It was also handy to clean my car, which often gets neglected because the thought of lugging around a big vacuum is physically and mentally draining. Suffice to say; I now have one very clean and tidy car both inside and out.
When I clean, I like to do a proper job; I’m very thorough with my cleaning, particularly when it comes to dust, as I suffer from asthma. The skirting boards, ceilings, window and door frames all get a good clean. However, this is no easy task with most common or garden vacuum cleaners. My job was made easier thanks to the two accessories the Bissell Multireach Active comes with.
The upholstery brush was useful to tackle the sofa, cushions and curtains, while the crevice tool allowed me to get into nooks, crannies and crevices, which otherwise were impossible to get to. It would, however, have been nice to have a separate tool for the stairs. Although it was no real hardship with the floor head, it would have made the task easier, especially if you have narrow stairs as I have in my home.
Having a long mane can be a real pain when you want both a tidy home and no hairs jamming up in the brush. But the motorised tangle-free brush roll did an excellent job of putting a stop to those pesky hairs from wrapping around the motor, although you would need to put it on high mode for this.
The bagless cylinder, however, doesn’t have a huge dust capacity. With just 0.5 litres, you will need to empty it regularly. The see-through cylinder will visibly let you know it’s full, but the useful dust bag full indicator will also alert you when it is time to empty it. It can also be easily washed and rinsed under the tap when it becomes dirty over time.
I particularly liked the led lights on the swivel floor nozzle, which made it much easier to see dust in dark areas under the furniture giving me the satisfaction that no dust was left lurking behind after I had finished vacuuming.
If for some reason, you need to stop vacuuming to attend something else, the Bissell MultiReach Active doesn’t free-stand. Your option is to prop it against the wall (which I found tricky as it kept falling sideways) or put it on the floor, which I did dine somewhat annoying.
As mentioned above, the power lasts around 30 minutes, so you may have to charge it up during a clean if you have a large house. But at the lower mode, you can easily clean an average three-bedroom house if you’re quick. The power indicator bar will alert you to when the juice is running out.
Final word
While this lightweight, quiet vacuum doesn’t have a long power time, if you clean your home little and often with it, you won’t have any problem keeping it in tip-top condition. It’s powerful enough to clean stubborn dirt and hairs caught in carpets and a doddle to lift dirt and dust from hard floors.
The 2-in-1 design is most convenient to tackle other dust-busting chores around the house as well as your car, as mentioned above. This is a comparatively affordable cordless cleaner that offers good value for money and will leave you with a clean and tidy home in one go as long as it isn’t too big.
BISSELL® MultiReach Active 21V Tangle-Free Cordless Vacuum – Where and How?
The BISSELL® MultiReach Active 21V Tangle-Free Cordless Vacuum retails at RRP £199.99 and is available from major electrical retailers and www.bisselldirect.co.uk.
Read our review of the Bissell Crosswave Multi-Surface cleaner here.
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