I really want to love this machine....but I don't.

I've had the Bissell Flip-It for several years.  There is just two of us and 3 cats - so lots of cat hair.  I keep using it and hoping I'm just doing something wrong but I just can't seem to get it to work effectively. 

First of all, as other reviewers have said, read the directions - vacuum first.  The problem is, the vacuum doesn't have a lot of suction - sometimes you have to go over crumbs, etc. several times - sometimes I just get a broom and dust pan to get it over with faster.  

As far as using the wet floor cleaner side of the Bissell Flip-it, when it works, it works well.  When it doesn't it's a real pain.  I use it almost exclusively on my ceramic tile kitchen floor.  Here's what happened today (and this isn't the first time this has happened - it's the norm).  I sucked up all the loose stuff - didn't need the broom today.  I emptied the loose stuff from the dirt "cup" - had to pick out the cat hair by hand from the accordian filter.  While I was doing that, the unit leaked out a half a tank of cleaner onto my floor.  I removed the cleaner tank before I continued.   Luckily, it was on ceramic tile and so I just spread the cleaner around the floor with the flip-it and then used the unit to suck up the dirty water.  The suction is spotty - some places it works really well, other places it doesn't (cleaner in the grout lines doesn't come up well).  There are streaks on the floor and it's not high gloss tile.  I know it's clean - I checked it with a wet paper towel - it just doesn't look that good.  After I got all the cleaner sucked up and the floor as clean as I could get it, I again had to empty the dirty water from dirt cup and wash it and clean the unit.  I then replaced the cleaner tank.  I hope it doesn't continue to leak the rest out - cleaner is expensive compared to other cleaners and I'm tempted (but never have) to use another type of cleaner - I can't imagine that this cleaner does something others don't - and it's quite expensive to be leaked all over the floor.  As others have said, the cleaner has a nice, clean scent.

The cord is long enough to reach my whole kitchen and the Bissell flip it is a compact unit - I like that.  It take a long time to clean it out well and it's unwieldy - when you turn it upside down to clean the bottom and get the lint out of the red brush, water/cleaner leaks all over the place - even with the tank removed.  I don't like that.

I'll continue to use this unit because I have it but I'd never buy one again nor would I encourage anyone else to buy one.