It’s hard to beat the convenience of a cordless vacuum for quick everyday cleaning, but many of the most popular models out there are very expensive – often even more expensive than a full-sized model with more power.
But Bissell are known for making quality yet affordable vacuums, and the Bissell CleanView XR Pet 300W Stick is a lightweight and versatile cordless vacuum that's reasonably priced at under $200.
The brand claims it's 'rigorously tested' for homes with pets, however, after weeks of testing, we found a few flaws with this budget-friendly cordless vacuum that you’ll want to know before you buy.
Bissell CleanView XR Pet 300W Stick: Specifications
Bissell CleanView XR Pet 300W Stick: Setup
This cordless vacuum arrives in a tall, narrow box that’s lightweight and easy to move around. Like most of Bissell’s packaging, it’s just plain cardboard, and inside, all the pieces are packed in molded cardboard, as well – with no unnecessary Styrofoam. However, all the various pieces inside the box are wrapped in plastic to prevent scratching, which makes the packaging slightly less of a sustainable choice.
When I first opened this vacuum, I was overwhelmed by the number of pieces inside the box, and I had to break out the instructions to figure out what all the pieces were. In addition to the vacuum’s main body, wand, floorhead, and attachments – which include a crevice tool, two dusting brushes, and a motorized pet tool – there are several plastic components that lock together to form a wall-mounted docking station, as well as a tool holder that clips onto the vacuum’s wand.
After assembling the vacuum, I plugged in its 24-volt battery for charging. The battery must be removed from the vacuum to charge, which is slightly less convenient than other cordless vacuums. It took around three hours before the light turned green and it was ready to use.
Bissell CleanView XR Pet 300W Stick: Design and features
The Bissell CleanView XR Pet 300W Stick is a fairly basic cordless stick vacuum. It weighs just under 6 pounds, so it’s a lightweight vacuum to carry around your home, and you can also remove its wand and use it as a handheld vacuum. It has a trigger-style on/off switch, but you don’t have to hold it down continuously. There are also three suction settings you can cycle through using its touchscreen display.
The vacuum is powered by a detachable 24-volt lithium ion battery, and on its lowest suction setting, you’ll get up to 40 minutes of runtime. However, the battery life drops dramatically – to just eight minutes – when you move up to the Turbo suction setting, so you’ll want to use it sparingly. This drastic runtime is common across cordless models like in the best Dyson vacuums.
As its name suggests, this vacuum does have several pet-focused features. While it doesn’t have a HEPA filter, it does have an anti-allergen seal that keeps dust and dander trapped inside the vacuum. The floorhead has a row of LED headlights, and its anti-tangle brushroll is designed to prevent hair from wrapping around it.
This model does come with a wall-mounted docking station to make storage easier. It has slots for the attachments, as well as a place where you can charge the battery, and there’s also a clip that lets you store additional tools on the vacuum’s wand – a unique feature we've only seen in the Dyson V12 Detect Slim so far.
What is the Bissell CleanView XR Pet 300W Stick like to use?
I’ve tested dozens of cordless vacuums in my career, and the Bissell CleanView XR Pet 300W Stick's performance is roughly what I’d expect for its budget-friendly price. It’s lightweight, which is always a plus, but it’s also quite top-heavy and not very ergonomic, which makes it slightly awkward to drive around. The wheels don’t roll very smoothly, and it occasionally felt jerky to push, especially when using it as a vacuum for carpet.
I used this cordless vacuum for light everyday cleaning around my home for a few weeks, and it does best picking up light debris. It was able to pick up dirt and sand that my pets tracked in the house, and it’s also great for grabbing rogue dog hair that gathers along the edges of the baseboards.
However, it’s certainly not meant for deep carpet cleaning – it doesn’t pull up much dirt or debris from carpeting, even on its highest suction setting. And if you do need to use the highest suction setting, you’ll get less than 10 minutes of cleaning time before the battery dies.
In addition to using the vacuum around my house, I also put it through a series of structured tests to assess its performance on different types of debris – here’s how it fared in each one.
Test 1: Flour
The first test for the Bissell CleanView XR Pet 300W Stick involved sucking up flour and coffee grounds, which are good proxies for dust and dirt – yet much easier to see on the ground. I spread these materials on hardwood floors and low-pile carpeting, then cleaned them up using the vacuum.
The Bissell really excelled in this test. On both surfaces, it was able to pick up the vast majority of the flour and coffee grounds in just one pass. I was able to use its middle suction setting on hard floors, but I did find that Turbo mode yielded the best results on carpeting. Either way, the Bissell had no problem picking up either of these types of debris, and would make for one of the most affordable vacuums for hardwood floors that we've tested.
Test 2: Pantry
The next test is designed to assess the vacuum’s ability to pick up larger pieces of debris, and – spoiler alert – it didn’t go too well. For this test, I spread pieces of cereal and rice on hardwood floors and carpeting. The Bissell did OK on the rice, often needed two or three passes to suck up all the pieces, and it did occasionally send a piece flying across the hardwood floor. It took a little extra work, but it was able to pick up all the debris.
The real trouble began when I tried to vacuum up the cereal pieces. The Bissell’s floorhead was able to suck them up, but the cereal immediately clogged up the opening between the vacuum’s wand and its dustbin.
With the pieces of cereal blocking the entry to the dustbin, all the other debris backed up behind it, and when I turned the vacuum off, everything fell back out the wand onto the floor. I repeated this test twice more, and the same thing happened each time. So unfortunately, this isn’t a vacuum that you’ll be able to use on large debris.
Test 3: Pet hair
The Bissell CleanView XR Pet 300W Stick is advertised as a vacuum for pet hair – it even has the Bissell’s 'Pet Proven' badge, which the brand uses to indicate that products have been 'rigorously tested for real pet messes.' I share my home with two long-haired golden retrievers and a short-haired cat, so I had plenty of pet hair (and dirt and dander) to test the vacuum on.
Ultimately, I wasn’t all that impressed with Bissell's performance on pet hair. It does well sucking up hair from hard floors, but it didn’t perform nearly as well when vacuuming pet hair from carpet. I used it to vacuum the main area rug where my dogs sleep during the day, and I could see that there was still hair stuck in the carpet. I went in with a full-size vacuum, and the upright model quickly filled up with hair that the Bissell left behind.
This vacuum also boasts a 'no-tangle' brushroll, but it wasn’t as effective as others I’ve used in the past. Long strands of hair do get wrapped around the brushroll, and you have to cut them off regularly. Additionally, I found that pet hair tends to clog up the dust bin, forcing you to stick your hand in there to dig the debris out.
Test 4: Attachments
The Bissell CleanView XR Pet 300W Stick comes with four attachments: a crevice tool, a combo dusting brush/upholstery brush, an oval shaped dusting brush, and a motorized pet tool to remove hair from furniture, car upholstery, etc. A motorized tool is one of the best vacuum attachments for pet hair there is, so I was intrigued to see how well it cleaned.
You can remove the vacuum’s wand and attach the tools directly to the body, using it as a handheld vacuum, and they have little latches that clip into place to keep them secure as you clean.
The crevice tool and dusting brushes work as expected, and I particularly liked the larger dusting brush for cleaning shelves, bookcases, and other larger surfaces. The pet tool also works quite well – it has a spinning brushroll that picks up hair off furniture easily, and its head pivots to form a good seal on whatever surface you’re cleaning. However, similar to the vacuum’s main brushroll, the pet tool does tend to get wrapped up with long strands of hair, so it will need to be cleaned off periodically.
Bissell CleanView XR Pet Stick: Cleaning and maintenance
This cordless vacuum has a fairly small 0.3-liter dustbin, and I really like its design. I’ve tested vacuums in the past whose dustbins would pop open if you accidentally bumped them, dumping debris all over the floor, but the Bissell is designed to avoid this.
It has a button that pops the dustbin away from the body of the vacuum, and only then can you open the latch to empty the canister. If you hit the latch on its own, the canister won’t open – a handy design feature.
You can also twist off the dustbin entirely if you want to deep clean your vacuum, and there’s a washable filter in the top that pops out easily. In terms of other maintenance, the brand recommends periodically removing and washing the brushroll.
How does the Bissell CleanView XR Pet 300W Stick compare?
I’ve tested more than a dozen different cordless vacuums in my time as a product tester, and one of my top-recommended affordable options is the Electrolux Ultimate600 (at Amazon), which retails for around $200. This vacuum performs well across all types of flooring, thanks to its automatic suction adjustment, and it’s lightweight and easy to maneuver. If you have pets, I highly recommend upgrading to the “Complete Home” version, which comes with several additional attachments for dusting, cleaning furniture, and maintaining hard floors.
If budget isn’t an issue, the best cordless vacuum we’ve tested is the Dyson V15 Detect. It’s certainly not cheap, costing $750 at full price, but its design, suction power, and versatility are unmatched. It’s powerful enough to replace a full-size vacuum in your home, and it handles all sorts of debris – from cereal to pet hair – like a champ.
Or, for something at a closer price point, the Shark Cordless PowerDetect can do everything the Bissell can but more, with stronger suction on all floor types and a flexible wand for easier cleaning.
Should you buy the Bissell CleanView XR Pet 300W Stick?
At the end of the day, I would describe the Bissell CleanView XR Pet 300W Stick's performance as good – but not great. It does well on dust and dirt, but it’s not well-equipped for cleaning up large debris like cereal. And while it does an OK job sucking up pet hair, long strands do tend to get wrapped up in its brushroll and can clog up the dustbin.
Overall, I’d say this vacuum is best-suited for homes without pets – or maybe just those with short-haired animals. Still, if you’re looking for an inexpensive option for light cleaning, it’s not a bad choice, as long as you have realistic expectations about what it can accomplish.
For more budget-friendly vacuum inspiration, scroll through our tried-and-tested picks of the best Dyson alternatives.
