Bissell 3920 Pet Hair Eraser Vacuum Review

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Avg. consumer rating = 79/100 

The Bissell 3920 Pet Hair Eraser appears to be another in the line of “love it or hate it” vacuum cleaners.  Many consumers indicate that it does a great job, has fantastic suction and is good value for the money (several even feel it does a better job on animal hair than the Dyson Animal models).  However there are also folks that give this vacuum cleaner less than stellar ratings, citing decreased suction over time, an overly aggressive brushbar and a “messy to empty” dirt canister.

What are consumers saying they like and dislike about the Pet Hair Eraser?

PROS
- Good value for the price
- Long power cord
- Strong suction
- Several useful attachments

CONS
- Heavy
- Not as good on hard surfaces as it is on carpet (not uncommon with an upright)
- Some consumers comment on a lack of suction after several months of use
- Poor assembly instructions
- Emptying dirt canister can be messy
- Some comments about continually rotating brushbar harming carpets if kept in one place

Several quality sources indicate the following consumer ratings for the Bissell 3920 Pet Hair Eraser:

Vacuum Features 

The Bissell Pet Hair Eraser is an upright, bagless, HEPA capable vacuum cleaner that is designed to effectively remove pet hair.  You can read more about some of these vacuum cleaner attributes in our Vacuum Guide.  Generally speaking:
- Uprights tend to better than canister vacuums on carpets but less effective on hard surfaces.
- Bagless vacuums use a "dirt container" that is filled, emptied and re-used, as opposed to a disposable bag. There is a long standing debate between consumers about which is better (bagged or bagless).
- HEPA filtration means “High Efficiency Particulate Air” filtration and is filtration that removes 99.97% of all airborne particulates of 0.3 microns or larger that pass through it.  It is particularly popular with allergy sufferers.

The Bissell Pet Hair Eraser has a 12 amp motor (1440 Watts) and uses two-stage cyclonic action to provide suction.  Bissell claim that this two-stage approach increases the suction power of the vacuum.  The 3920 also comes with a plethora of on-board tools including a curved hose wand, an extension wand, a dusting brush/upholstery tool, a crevice tool, a Pet TurboBrush (uses a rotating brush to help remove dirt and hair from small flat areas), a Pet contour tool (aids in pulling out dirt and hair from hard to reach places such as stairs) and a Pet Hair Lifter tool (a specialized tool that works by pulling up hair when you pull back, and releasing and sucking up the hair when you push forward). 

The 3920 also has 7 height settings although you must set these manually.  It is claimed to have an easy-to-empty dirt container but several consumers find emptying the container quite messy.  It does have a fairly long power cord – 35 feet – and compared to quite a few other vacuums that is indeed a decent length.  A short cord can be frustrating.  The Pet Hair Eraser has a 15-inch wide cleaning path, edge cleaning capability, an indicator that tells you when the filter needs to be cleaned, and a headlight.  The vacuum stretch hose is 14 feet in length and the vacuum weighs in at 20.5 lbs (this is fairly heavy in our opinion).  Dimensions of the Bissell 3920 in inches are as follows (WxHxD) 15x45x15.25.  The unit’s warranty is one-year limited –- frankly speaking it is a short warranty but not unlike warranties for a lot of vacuums these days.

At Home Depot you can view the Bissell Pet Hair Eraser vacuum cleaner manual.  This is a PDF file.