Bissell CrossWave Cordless Max review
WITH so many of us across the country working from home, as well as entertaining ourselves and our kids, having a clean, clutter-free home has never been more important.
In fact, a home that positively sparkles is even better, which is why we were eager to test out Bissell’s latest launch, the new CrossWave Cordless Max.
It’s a handy piece of kit that’s a 3-in-1 multi-surface cleaner: it mops, vacuums and dries at the same time.
The Bissell CrossWave Cordless Max can be used on hardwood floors, tiles or carpets – and there are no wires to trip you up.
Better yet, it’s more advanced than its predecessor – the Bissell Cordless CrossWave 3-in-1 Multi Surface cleaner – thanks to nifty new features like self-clean technology.
We tested out the Bissell CrossWave Cordless Max in our not-very-clean house. Four kids, two adults, months spent doing everything at home, from crafting and cooking to rollerskating… you get the idea.
- Bissell CrossWave Cordless Max, £429.99 at Amazon – buy here
Pros
- Self cleaning
- Works on most floors and carpets
- Cordless
Cons
- Heavy
- Expensive
Bissell CrossWave Cordless Max: what you need to know
The new Bissell CrossWave Cordless Max is the latest innovation from Bissell, a brand with over 140 years’ of floor cleaning experience.
It’s a more advanced version of the Bissell CrossWave 3-in-1 Multi Surface cleaner, with a sleeker look, which cleans on a variety of surfaces and can even clean itself with the push of a button.
This high-performance vacuum can handle wood floors or laminate, tiles, slate and PVC, as well as rugs and carpeted surfaces.
It can even clean dirt along walls and skirting boards, and is designed to spot clean as well as give your space an overall spruce-up.
With 36V of battery power, the Bissell CrossWave Cordless Max has the ability to clean cordlessly for up to 40 minutes.
For us, that was just about enough time to really thoroughly clean three or four rooms – just note, your wrist is likely to get tired before then, as the one downside with this multi-surface cleaner is that it’s heavy.
In addition to general cleaning it can handle real messes: food spills (dry or wet), liquids, mud and dirt stains. We had them all, and it swiftly helped them to disappear, leaving a nice sheen on our floors.
The new design also has an easy-to-use digital interface, XL brush roll to handle a larger surface area and – rather excitingly – an automatic self cleaning function.
- Bissell CrossWave Cordless Max, £429.99 at Amazon – buy here
The Bissell CrossWave Cordless Max: how does it work?
It couldn’t be easier to put the CrossWave Max together: simply slot the handle into the body of the Bissell CrossWave Cordless Max to assemble it.
It includes a charging tray and you’ll want to let it charge for a few hours before its first use.
This multi-surface cleaner does hard or carpeted flooring.
It has a user-friendly digital interface that indicates things like battery levels and whether you’re on the setting for hard floors or carpets.
It will also helpfully let you know when your dirt tank is full and needs emptying.
To clean hard floors, simply click the button underneath the power button once until the icon on the left of the digital display lights up.
Click twice to choose the carpet and rug cleaning option.
There’s a power on button at the top and another one on the underside of the handle, which lets you squirt out a mix of water and solution, for a wet clean.
This is ideal if you want to make floors look glossy and give carpets a sort-of deep clean (it really is fantastic; 30 minutes with this vacuum and half the house looked like it had undergone a complete makeover).
There are two separate compartments for bagless cleaning: one is designed for cleaning solution and water, the other collects the dirty water and debris.
The compartment designed to collect dirt has a removable divider so liquid empties separately from dirt and hair.
Both compartments are easy to remove, empty and refill from the Cordless CrossWave Max, and the dirty compartment cleans quickly and easily.
- Bissell CrossWave Cordless Max, £429 at Amazon – buy here
What’s new with the Bissell CrossWave Cordless Max?
With a price tag that’s £100 more expensive than its predecessor, you may be wondering what the advantages of the Bissell CrossWave Cordless are.
The best update on this vacuum compared to the CrossWave we’d previously tested is a new automatic cleaning function.
Simply attach the CrossWave to its charging tray (ensure there is fresh water and cleaning fluid) and hold down the button in the middle of the device for around 40 seconds.
This sets off an automatic clean of the rotating brush bar – and it works pretty well. Ours looked nearly completely clean – and that was after an intense 30 minute vacuum of the whole ground floor.
The self-cleaning cycle gets rid of dirt as well as hair – something that would lodge itself into the model we tested previously – so cleaning the appliance is no hassle at all. Big bonus.
Just take out the brush bar to dry when you’re done cleaning, until you next want to use it.
- Bissell CrossWave Cordless Max, £429 at Amazon – buy here
What comes in the box?
The CrossWave Max includes a detachable handle that slots in easily.
The package also has a charging tray and a bottle of cleaning solution.
Bissell CrossWave Cordless Max: the verdict
This wet and dry, cordless multi-surface cleaner is pricey, but it has a lot of benefits, too.
We were really impressed by how clean our floors looked, how easy it was to set up and use and the automatic cleaning function eliminates a lot of hassle (and is a big improvement on the original model).
Our biggest gripe with it? It’s heavy. After 10 minutes, you’ll notice your wrist start to ache a bit.
It is very versatile and we love that it can be used anywhere in the house, to remove pretty much any kind of mess.
The Bissell Cordless CrossWave Max is useful for stain and mess removal, as well as a quick spot or surface clean or a more intense deep clean.
It’s user-friendly and couldn’t be simpler to use, with a few buttons doing everything.
The automatic self-clean function has become a bit of an obsession of ours (yes, it’s fun to watch it in action, too).
This device would benefit large families or those on their own, in smaller or larger spaces. We think it’s especially useful for pet owners.
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