A Boy and His Blog

Owen has been begging for “a little vacuum that works”.  After an extensive internet search, I came up with a Bissell Scooby Doo vacuum.  It is kind of a souped up carpet sweeper that you charge up and then the brush in front spins and picks things up, but there’s no suction.  The problem was, I couldn’t find the vacuum for sale anymore.  I called Bissell, and they said that the product was discontinued.  I asked them why as it was the only real vacuum for kids in existence!  They said they didn’t know, but that I could certainly buy a Bissell Perfect Sweep Turbo, which was much the same thing without the Scooby Doo decal.

So one day Owen and I headed to Kohls, found the Bissell Perfect Sweep Turbo, and it looked cute enough in a nice blue color.  The handle came in three parts that you screw into each other, so I simply left one section out to create a shorter handle.  We brought it home and then had to let it charge for 16 hours!  Owen was very bummed out that he couldn’t use it right away.

The next day Owen tried it and he loved it!  It was a little hard to push at first, but he got used to it.  He even learned how to turn it on and off with his foot.  He used it for about an hour straight before the battery died.  He vacuumed our entire apartment and went around looking for messes to vacuum.  He did under the kitchen table, the kitchen floor, the living room, the library, his room, and our room under the bird cage.  Every spot that needs vacuuming every day, that I never get to.  It was awesome!  The house looks great!  It’s the gift that just keeps on giving.

But, then we had to plug it in for 12 hours!  Each time you charge it you are supposed to plug it in for 12 hours, which I think is pretty crazy.  Another bummer for Owen.  Owen begged to use it all day, so we kept unplugging it and using it until it died and then plugging it back in, which is a big no no for the retention of battery life, but, he’s three and has no patience.  Finally we made him plug it in all night long, and this morning he was so eager to use it that he pulled the plug out himself while I was in the bathroom.  He couldn’t get it to turn on though and we finally realized that the dust cup wasn’t in place right.  It needs to be taped shut now, as I think Owen warped it or something while he was flipping it upside down and back upright the day before.  I told him he couldn’t turn it upside down anymore, and he hasn’t since.

So, the battery seems to be lasting much longer today.  He turned it on at around 9:30 this morning and has been vacuuming on and off and it’s now 11:30.  The vacuum sounds like it has a full charge still too, so I’m hopeful it will last until this afternoon at least.  If it lasted all day, then we could simply charge it at night while he sleeps.  He asks me to vacuum with my vacuum while he uses his, so I do for a bit.  He thinks that is so great.  The only problem now is that there are no messes left anywhere in the house to vacuum.  He has taken to ripping and cutting up paper to vacuum up.

If you have a child over 3 (as it would be hard to push for a younger child) and they want a vacuum that works, I highly recommend the Bissel Perfect Sweep Turbo!  Trust me, you wont regret the purchase

ETA:  This time the charge lasted until 2:00 pm!  I think that first charge was just a bit week for some reason.  We also got the dust drawer to fit again without the tape.  Owen literally vacuumed from 9:30 am to 2:00 pm with only a couple short breaks for eating and bathing.