BISSELL CrossWave HydroSteam has a BIG problem: Review & Comparison 

Hi. As some people are commenting that the hydrosteam isn't meant for food. Bissell's main slogan for the Hydrosteam is "Tackle tough pet spills and stains - like muddy paw prints and dropped food- with the power of HydroSteam™ Technology"...Hit that FOLLOW button for more honest reviews from a product pro.

I'm sorry. I do understand what you're doing with these tests, but I don't think they're practical at all. I think they are a poor representation of what these devices are meant to actually do (despite any infomercials or advertisements). You would have to be a really simple person to spill a large bowl of oatmeal and think that you should immediately grab your Bissell. Any rational person would first wipe up any of the oatmeal, or at least a majority of it. If your dog pooped on your floor would you just get your Hydrosteam and run over the turds? This device is just made for basic floor cleaning. Or perhaps when your kid spills a glass of juice. While this may be capable of cleaning bigger messes (and may even be advertised as doing so) that's not really what it's for. Just because a Jeep commercial shows a Grand Cherokee climbing a mountain does not mean you should take your Jeep to Mt. Everest. I think these kinds of tests are silly and they are very unfair to the manufacturers of these products. I like your videos and I appreciate what you are trying to do, but I wish reviews would be more practical and realistic. For the record, I am equally bothered when I see commercials for vacuums like this cleaning up pet hair that was clearly just dumped onto a clean carpet in a studio. I want to see it pick up fur that's embedded in carpet just like it would be at our homes, rather than just dropped on top.

You've actually failed to test this in any practical scenario. The last thing im going to do is run a $300 steam vac over is a pile of vomit. I'm more interested in how it picks up pet hair and removes streaks and spills/splatter on hard floors and maybe as a bonus light rugs.

Thank you. I really wanted this, but I have a good crosswave and it is best to wait for them to work out some of the kinks. It would likely be good for stuck-on messes and better than my current crosswave there but I often pickup large liquid spills and rarely have a stuck-on mess.

I'm considering an upgrade to a Crosswave. At present I have a bird room that I have to vacuum & mop. After they've been out, if there are any droppings, I remove them with a paper towel before mopping. The Crosswave it seems would save me a step. My older Bissell Powersteamer isn't great as it has a silly little squeegee and not a brushroll or brush. I have to keep on top of vacuuming - feather dust, seeds, feathers, and mopping conquers the dust. Great review! I think this will work for me as there won't be any bowls of oatmeal lol.

I have persistently espoused the indispensability of a height adjustment feature for the Bissell CrossWave Max. From my perspective, altering the device's settings fails to yield any perceptible difference. It's akin to employing a lawn mower lacking a deck adjustment for mowing a lawn. Great review!!! Honest and to the point! Thanks!

Awesome review! Super helpful how it compared to other bissell units. I need cleaner floors!

I use the pet pro crosswave and really like how it works. I was hoping the heating element would be a plus.

Great video! Seeing the floor test was confirmation for me that Bissell didn't nail it with this one, at least not for what I'm shopping for - a wet vacuum that does floors, using steam instead of chemicals. So far, my solution has been separate devices - to either vacuum and then mop up and steam. Was hoping more of these steam vacs were going to consolidate my solution into one device. The Tineco is closer... I think...

This is a great video. I don’t understand the hate. You helped me decide to not spend extra on the steam one. Great job!

THANK YOU SO MUCH for being so straight forward and demonstrating what the problem is! The entire reason I googled this vac’s review is because I have a toddler who’s learning to feed himself and two cats who shed all the time. I want to be able to vac the cat hair off of the floor while clean up my kids’ breakfast mess! Looks like this one won’t do it all

Great video. So, would you say the traditional cross wave is the best we’d/dry vacuum for cleaning after toddler meals (anything and everything in the floor, so I need to pickup large item, scrub, and/or vacuum) or something else?

I just purchased a CrossWave Pet Pro but I was wondering if his Hydrosteam version would be better for deep cleaning hardwood floors? I plan on sweeping before the CrossWave. I just want the one that will give the deepest clean to my hardwood.

Thanks for the review. Which is superior This Bissell Crosswave Hydro Steam or the Tineco S5 Steam? I have a textured herringbone tile floor and my old Tineco S3 doesn’t make great contact with the floor plus doesn’t have steam and suction died just shy of 2yrs, thankfully within the warranty. I’m working to replace it now and decide which is best for me. This bissell appears to have a thicker roller brush pad so will it make better contact with the uneven tiles? Which has the better suction please and larger tanks? Thanks!!

Love home gadgets, thank you! I got the crosswave pet. I also have the robo vac/mop .

I already knew ahead of time that this product is not made to tackle big messes or many hard to clean tasks. I only purchased this for day to day maintenance cleanup. For big messes or spills I have a large tank capacity Hoover.

What about for just cleaning/mopping regular tile floors? Would the steam function make it better than the ones without steam? I like the idea that it would pick up the dirty water

I use my crosswave for weekly floor cleaning. If someone dumps a bowl of oatmeal on the floor it's getting spot cleaned. No sense in using the mop for 2 minutes to take it apart and clean it for 10 minutes.

For people in the comments about using on carpet. I had the original cross wave and I loved it on carpets. Sadly it did end up not holding a charge as it was cordless. But while it did work it cleaned carpets amazingly. I have 3 cats a dog two kids and a husband for reference haha😂. But the water was black where the dog would lay and it made the carpet cleaner and brighter so you know it was working.

Hey David. I've watched this video a few times and want to thank you for the content. Do you think the hydrosteam would be good for cleaning hardwood floors (not wet)? Using a stick vacuum and the Bissell powerfresh mop is cumbersome when I have two young kids running around.

So I’ll just scoop up the bulk of it like I would have done naturally anyways, then finish up with the steamer. I wouldn’t want to muck up the machine hard like that. Im going to be nice to mine. I just got one as a gift and Im pretty excited about it.

I will buy a product from this brand, but can you give me information about which one is best for carpets and hard floors?

Hi I just watched this video & can see that you are flooding the roller & floor when you are trying to use it on the tiled floor. The roller was already wet from your previous use so you didn't need to do that as that's not how you use it. Think about it - would you flood your floor with a manual mop? Or would you wring out the excess water? Also, most people would use paper towel to remove most of the oats mess off the floor first then use the hydro mop to clean up the rest of the mess. I've had mine for 3 months & absolutely love it. I think you are expecting way too much from this unit. Wouldn't matter if you bought this unit or another brand it would be the same.

Mine does not seem to put out as much steam as this video shows. I just got it and love it. It got some dirty spots that have never come off with my Regular Crosswave. Really impressed with my first use. But still need to understand why not as much steam is not coming our?

First of all, I am almost 70. I have used a mop and bucket for a long time. Hate to say it but was not impressed with this gadget. Just the machine itself is heavy. The extra rollers are not marked to which brush to use for what. The containers are not very large. I have a 2-bedroom house with tile floors and hard wood floors. I would be changing the tanks a lot. It would not work in my bathroom. I like to clean around the toilets and in corners. That machine would not fit. I'll go back to my mop and bucket.

I upgraded from the Bissell Crosswave pet to the Tineco S5 and though this one seemed pretty cool with steam but its corded and I get you may need that for the steam but I think I will just stay with my Tineco. I love that it's cordless and like the large tanks and self propel and self cleaning.

Thank you for your honest review

Hi! I did look through the comments but didn’t see what I was looking for.. does this have a vacuum only function? Not always needing to use the steam/mop function? And does it work well.. like a normal vacuum would ? Thanx you!

Would you say the floor is getting hot enough to kill bacteria or things without the use of chemicals? Also how long would the steaming process last until you need to wait for the steam to rebuild?

I am researching floor washers. Originally, I was thinking about Tineco Floor One S7 Pro. However, $800 is a lot, and I question its power (being wireless). I was thinking about the Hydrosteam Crosswave because I like the idea of steaming my fake wood, linoleum floors. We have dogs that pee on the floor all the time. Also, our apartment complex has red decomposed granite around the perimeter and in the dog walking area. Naturally, the red dust sticks to the dogs’ coats and then transfers to our floor, the dog pee we can’t find dries, and the dog fur spreads all over the floor. I don’t plan on ever trying to pick up oats, spaghetti-os, cereal, or dog poo with a machine that I have to spend 10 minutes cleaning. I do plan on cleaning dog pee (wet and dried) and the red dust and dog fur film that covers my floor. I am tired of going through paper towels and Swiffer refills. I also like the IDEA of sterilizing my floor with steam. Given all of that, what do you think? Would the Crosswave Hydrosteam be a good choice, or should I go with the Crosswave Pet Plus? Or should I save my money and buy the Tineco Floor One S7 Pro?

Do you think the Bissell crosswave hydra steam will be good for just cleaning floors with no spills?

Have you tried this on tile floor with grout? Do you have any cleaners you recommend for that?

I have both of the crosswaves shown in this video and while I agree that I would have never used it to clean up oatmeal as you did (the thought of that mess in the roller gags me!, but I know why you did it), that IS what the company suggests you can do so those on here attacking you for that should get that is what the company claims and you are just showing that side. Most people understand that water is heavier than debris so picking up of water is done much easier than picking up the debris (these vacuums aren't super strong for most dry stuff that I have found) I do have to agree that this newer model did seem to foam up and leave suds behind when not on "steam" and that was just using their own products. I would have to rinse the brush roll or switch it completely to clean my entire wood/tile floors 5000 sf home. While I feel it did a better job cleaning the floors than the green model, I am going to hang on to the green model yet because it doesn't foam up. Also, sidebar, my green model is probably 7 years old? maybe older, but mine came with that self cleaning tray. I find that to be a tedious additional unnecessary item. I take my entire machine to the kitchen sink remove all of the tanks/rinse them and take the spray nozzle on my sink to squirt water into the machine itself (lots of cats and dogs in our house so there is ALWAYS obscene amounts of pet hair, twigs, grass, etc.) then spray off the wheels and the squeegie on the bottom and put it away. Takes less than 1 minute-2 max to do and it does a more thorough job of rinsing the machine. The tanks are just rinsed and left on the rack to air dry over night. I found the trays always leave a mess underneath and around and are one more thing to clean up. My question is: Is the steam on this the same temp as the steam on the one you show as a potential alternate purchase? I can't find on their site what temp this new one"steams" the floors at to get an idea. I wanted to use it on the floor after I have cleaned up pet messes to sanitize floors for the next go round.

Can you show the machine on carpet, although there is Hydrosteam carpet version? And the steam comes from the chemical solution, is it safe? Thanks!!

Where did you get the planter from its beautiful

Can you use any cleaner you like? I.E. fabuloso or pine sol. Or does it have to be the Bissell cleaner?

What kind of sneakers are you wearing in the video. Thx

Would you really use a mop (manual or powered) to clean up porridge?

How hot goes the steam ??

My wife is looking for an easy way to mop/lightly scrub our 3000 sq ft of tile floors with as few steps as possible (buying 2 mops is out of the question for her). In terms of just mopping/scrubbing, would you suggest the crosswave or hydrosteam? It will never be used to pick anything up other than dust and maybe some dog hair but we will most likely sweep beforehand, just clean a dirty floor without brraking your back scrubbing...

Can you use without steam

You're supposed to let go of the trigger to stop the flow of liquid, that lets the roll spin the excess water out and it returns to being able to clear up the liquid

I am wondering where the third tank is to hold the water for the steam action. You have a dirty water tank, a soapy water tank and a clean water tank. No?

He's cleaning up a wet mess with more liquid. Make that Make sense. I did the same thing with mine and it worked way easier. I will admit the height is a problem. This isn't ideal for quick pick up. Setting it up and the cleaning it off, its an annoying process to use it for a 30 second clean unless you spilled a gallon of milk or something sticky, I'd just mop it the usual but deep cleaning or weekly touch up it's excellent, fun to use and it's great for if your a lazy cleaner like me or great for people with back issues and can't clean for long periods of time.

Don't be lazy clean up large spills by hand a d use this to clean your floor

Ain’t nobody spill a full bowl of oatmeal and expect a machine to pick it up in one go. 😂 You May as well use a standard shop vac and it’ll do a better job. Overkill non practical test.

Im thinking about getting it , I have 3 dogs so lots of pet hairs , I don't want to use it on spills it's not my main reason we almost never spill anything lol I just want to know if it will work nicely on those pet hairs/sand/ mud as an all in one instead of vacuuming then mopping the floor? Can I had my own solution instead of the Bissells solutions? How does it work on a daily basis cleaning?

It’s said that it’s multi surface but it’s only ever advertised on hardwood floors, Is it not compatible with carpet?

The regular crosswave would have picked up the oatmeal like nothing. This is a shame

Solid review, thank you!

👍 ❤

Can you compare side by side to the Tineco S5 Steam?

Isn't the hydrosteam for carpets only. When i asked about this i was told that the vacuum is for carpets and its really to steam and shampoo your carpets not for hard floors

I’m having an issue w my Tineco S5 that I have owned for 2yrs. About a month before the 2yr warranty expiration the suction stopped working. I contacted Tineco and they confirmed I was still within warranty and said they would send me instructions and shipping label. They sent to my husband’s email and by the time I received it the warranty period ended. I contacted them again and said I’ve done the cleaning procedure as instructed but there is no return label please send it and then I got push back and they said I am now outside of warranty period and they can attempt to repair but will not replace it. I argued with that and was told a manager will call me. I still never got the shipping label and never got a call from mgmt. I ordered the S5 Steam while waiting for the return label initially because I was thinking I’d probably get a credit or replacement and I wanted to see if the steam was preferred. I probably would have returned it within the 30 day window if I’d known they are not going to honor the warranty. Buyer Beware!!

I just saw an ad for Quaker Oats halfway through 😂

Which is noisier? The regular Crosswave or the Hydrosteam?

I purchased a cleaner from Bissell and then got Covid...I was bedridden for about 20 days and never got to take it out of the box. By the time I felt just barely well enough to try to mop the floor, I unboxed it and it was a disaster....BUT because it was later than 30 days, and not a lot later, they would not try to help me with it at all...a lot of money for a huge disappointment. I will never purchase anything from Bissell again....EVER. Oh, BTW, I bought a Shark Hydrovac and I love it.

Can anyone please help? Crosswave hydro steam or the Tineco S5 steam?

Are you holding the button the entire time? You should be letting go on the pullback just like a carpet cleaner

I think most people would clean most of that up with a rag first. Then bust out the Hydrosteam.

I'm going to have to agree with many of the criticisms here of this review, mainly because what a lot of people are looking for is something that will not only clean and sanitize your floor, but will also work on, for example, tile and hardwood floors. Now, I have a Roomba. It picks up larger items. I also would not roll this over vomit or use it to pick up larger items. I would most likely clean that in a different way. Now, after cleaning or picking up the vomit, what I would most likely do is roll this over and sanitize the area, as well as clean or further clean the area. Unfortunately, I'm not seeing much reviews in regards to this product or other products like this in regards to tile floors, hardwood floors, that simply are geared towards these specific situations. I understand with most older Americans, they're big fans of carpet, but when we go down to millennials or even Generation Z, there's a preference for getting rid of the carpet in mainly dealing with tile, hardwood floors, or even textured tiles in which many Bissell products do not work properly.

I bought the hydrosteam and love it. Think your tests doesn't reflect real world uses. Who would use the machine to clean big nasty spills? Plus you are using the machine wrong if your floor gets all damp, soggy and wet. If this happens its because your dirty water tank is full and it can't suck up more dirty water. Yes it might only be half full when this happens but its a small basic limitation. There is NO BIG problem, and misguided reviews such as this nearly prevented me from buying this awesome cleaner. 5/5 star machine. Right up there with my Dyson v15 and bissel spot cleaner.

0% anyone in the world is going to buy this for this use case. They're gonna want to feel the floor is sanitized, and not sticky. Never would I ever even think to grav something like this to clean up oatmeal 🤣

Why would anyone run this on top of large messes?? To clog & mess up the $300 machine? It's like vacuuming a bucket of nails lol 😂common sense not rocket science to use one of these to clean the floor not to clean up large amounts of contents like displayed in this video.

Common sense says to pick up larger pieces first then clean your floor.

So what’s the “big” problem??? I quickly ran through the video and didn’t see any real issues . I like the self cleaning feature. How well does it clean itself. I’m also concerned with how fast it cleans a 12X12 room !!

Does it work on tile floors

I was really really really really really looking forward to seeing what this product does on the carpet, and I’m gonna be honest most of these carpet, steamers nobody ever does carpets! That’s a shame.

I don't see the issue. I just purchased this model. I JUST ran that same test. I used the regular hard floor clean mode and THEN went over with the steam to sanitize. It did a great job Why buy 2 different floor cleaners...crosswave AND steamer. Wouldn't that be the same as the test I just ran...regular clean then finish with a quick steam mode. And all with one unit.

U could clean the oatmeal quicker by hand

Mine didnt steam😢

It works Great get on i did its worth the 300 😊

be sure to use distilled water otherwise, you will ruin the heating element for the steam!!!!!

How is it with a lot of pet hair??

How I take out the handle?

You didn’t tell us what buttons to push. When and why do you hold down the button?

I am skeptical this is anrelevant test. If i ever have a spill that big as yiu are using, id never try to pick it up completely with a mop. Something more reasonable would be cleaning the kitchen floor after food preparation, a little wet, crumbs, etc

Seems like bissell needs to make the lip height adjustable

They create these products for just to sanitize your floors. They make them for just everyday wash and dry. They are not made To handle extreme messes.

Pro tip: Use a paper towel to pick up the globs of food. Takes about 15 seconds and costs about 1 penny. You're welcome.

Bruh. If I spill oats I would used paper towels first. Even if the product promises it can clean it, cleaning the product out would be a mess. I just wanna know how good it cleans after I spill something, and if something is spilled and is left for a while how good it cleans. Something reasonable not a science experiment

The Steam is cooking the oatmeal. Making it more sticky. I had to stop buying Bissell. I have been a long time fan and their products don’t last. I don’t over use mine either. Once the warranty goes out so does the machine. I tried a lot of products I loved how they help animals but I had to be stop buying their products. They don’t stand behind their products. Dyson makes a better product. But these companies would go out of business if their products actually lasted past the warranty. They make products to fail after the warranty is up. Example Vizio Made a 3D tv I bought one it failed one day after the warranty and they would not help me. So after being a Vizio fan for years I switched to samsung. Tv is great 8 k but the $4259.00 FLEX DUO WASHER & DRYER both have broken down. Thank God I bought American home warranty or I would face just list my money. I heard from a tech pro who worked for AHW he said go with LG. They don’t calls very often on LG products.

I would clean that big puddle first before steam. I dont think its not meant for big puddle.

These comments are hilarious… I am sitting looking at mine in the box trying to decide if I should keep or save money and just get something simpler… 😂

Maybe you're doing something wrong or your product is faulty. I got one yesterday and tried it today on a full bowl of cereal and milk that baby knocked onto the floor. It didn't have any issues vacuuming up liquid. Besides, you can just not hold the trigger turn and no water comes out and vacuum will dry off the roller brush. I'm in Australia and it's been 5 months since the video. Maybe they updated the model slightly?

My steam is not working

I can’t get the steam to work

Shoes inside the house???

I really dont know why these brands market these for people who want to clean up dropped eggs, baked beans in sauce, oats with shards of glass from broken plates... does anyone actually do this apart from in tests?

Ur using the wrong brush head. There's four different types the one without all the fluffy stuff would have got that mess correct, then maybe after switched back to the brush head ur using to finish the job

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For such a dirt, you should first clean it with a paper towel.

Pour a gallon of motor oil on the floor. Then light it on fire and then see if the device works. C'mon guy.

Why oh why would you use a machine to clean up a mess like that? It would be faster by hand! Hahaha

I guess thats one way to make oatmeal

😂who in their right mind would use this machine to pick up a pile of oatmeal? I would get the dust pan and paper towel and use that first then clean the remaining residue!.

🙃 And is not for cleaning BBQ ?

who in their right mind doesn't clean up the spill with paper towels first them steam clean the residue?

In my humble opinion, if you spill that much on any floor, get some paper towels and clean it up before you try cleaning the floor. Why on this earth would you take any vacuum cleaner and try to vacuum this much garbage off the floor? Don't blame the Bissell for human expectations that aren't realistic.

Yeaaa ours doesnt make steam LOL