Bissell Pet Stain Eraser Duo Portable Carpet Cleaner review

Bissell Pet Stain Eraser Duo portable carpet cleaner: Quick menu

1. The short version
2. Testing
3. Important stuff
4. Unboxing and setup
5. Using the carpet cleaner
6. Cleaning and maintenance
7. Good to know
8. Where to buy
9. How we test

The Bissell Pet Stain Eraser Duo Portable Carpet Cleaner is a compact yet versatile machine capable of both dry and wet cleaning. It’s designed for spot-cleaning stains and carpets, and features interchangeable wet and dry attachments.

The carpet cleaner also includes dry upholstery and crevice tools to further customize its performance. Its cord-free design makes it easily portable, and according to Bissell’s marketing, it’s suitable for use on carpeting, upholstery, vehicles, pet beds, and more.

Bissell Pet Stain Eraser Duo portable carpet cleaner review

What I thought of the Bissell Pet Stain Eraser Duo portable carpet cleaner

The Bissell Pet Stain Eraser Duo Portable Carpet Cleaner is a convenient choice for cleaning up small messes and stains. While it lacks suction, its dry cleaning capabilities are similar to a dustbuster, though it performed poorly when attempting to pick up pet hair. It would be helpful in cleaning up dry messes like dropped cereal or pet food.

Its wet cleaning capabilities are stronger. The upholstery cleaner easily cleaned up every stain I tested it on, though it does require some elbow grease to do so. Its cordless, compact design makes it easy to maneuver throughout the home, and it would be a go-to, quick solution for treating new stains when you don’t want to deal with the hassle of pulling out your upright carpet cleaner.

Testing the Bissell Pet Stain Eraser Duo portable carpet cleaner

Bissell Pet Stain Eraser Duo portable carpet cleaner specifications

• Model name: Bissell Pet Stain Eraser Duo Portable Carpet Cleaner

• Model number: 3705

• Dimensions: 8.98 x 5.28 x 23.31 inches

• Weight: 3.3 pounds

• Water tank capacity: 8 ounce

• Battery type: Rechargeable lithium ion battery

• Run time: 15 minutes

• Modes: Wet and dry cleaning

Unboxing and setting up the Bissell Pet Stain Eraser Duo portable carpet cleaner

The Bissell Pet Stain Eraser Duo arrived in a single box, and the box was scraped and mildly dented during the shipping process. However, all of the components were well-packed and protected, and nothing was damaged. Bissell doesn’t use Styrofoam in this packaging. Instead, folded cardboard held the components in place. Every piece was also wrapped in a protective plastic.

The carpet cleaner is relatively easy to assemble, in that the attachments fit well and securely into the machine without requiring much force.

However, switching back and forth between the wet and dry attachments proved tricky, even using the diagrams and instructions the manual included. The attachments, particularly the wet attachment, have to be lined up just right, and I struggled with how to position them the first few times I used the machine.

While I did start to understand how they fit together and was better able to swap them out, some arrows or guides on the attachments and the machine would have been helpful.

Once assembled, the carpet cleaner needed to be charged. It has an easy-to-identify charging port, and a rubber stopper covers the port when not in use. The machine takes about 3.5 hours to fully charge, and it can operate for up to 15 minutes when fully charged.

Using the Bissell Pet Stain Eraser Duo portable carpet cleaner

This carpet cleaner is particularly convenient as it offers both wet and dry cleaning. When used dry, it’s similar to the Black and Decker Dustbuster, a highly-rated handheld vacuum I reviewed recently. It includes two dry tools, and they easily just fit into the nozzle, so swapping them out is quick and simple.

The machine doesn’t have the strongest suction and struggled to pick up cat hair from a carpet, even when using the dry upholstery tool. It was able to do light cleaning on upholstered chairs, and it picked up dirt and bits of cracker from a low pile carpet. It didn’t seem to pick up any hair when I used it on a pet bed.

I tested it on hardwood floors and tile, and it’s strong enough to clean up bits of cat food and litter there. It would be handy to keep charged for the occasional small mess, but it’s disappointing that the suction is so poor, especially given the power that many of Bissell’s vacuum cleaners are known for having.

Using the carpet cleaner on grape juice

I tested the Bissell Pet Stain Eraser Duo’s carpet cleaning capabilities on grape juice, red wine, ketchup, and hot chocolate stains in carpeting. All of the stains were 24 hours old at the time of testing.

I used the trial solution included with the carpet cleaner and 32-ounce bottles of Bissell Oxy Spot & Stain Remover can be bought off Amazon once you're out.

The cleaning solution tank has a cap, and I was able to easily fill the tank. It has a relatively small capacity, and I had to stop to refill the tank after cleaning the third stain. Since the solution isn’t designed to be diluted, I quickly used a surprising amount. The spray button delivers a strong and continuous spray, and it continues to do so for however long you hold the button. This feature allowed me to precisely saturate the stains.

Cleaning the stains requires some elbow grease. There is no power head on this machine, so cleaning is accomplished by scrubbing the brush head over the stain. Even though all of the stains had set for 24 hours, they all were completely removed during the scrubbing process.

After scrubbing the area, keeping the nozzle flat against the carpet works to suction up any remaining liquid. I made repeated passes over each stain, but after using an entire trial-size bottle of solution and trying to suction it all up, there was less than a teaspoon of liquid in the dirty water tank. I don’t think the machine has enough power to remove a significant amount of the liquid. This resulted in a damp carpet and longer drying time; the areas took about 24 hours to dry completely.

However, it’s important to note the carpet cleaner absolutely did its job. The stains were completely gone. I also tested it to clean vomit on a low-pile carpet (thanks, pet kitty). The carpet cleaner almost immediately, and very easily, removed all traces of the stain.

This machine is moderately loud. It reached 77.2 decibels when dry cleaning, and 84.1 decibels when wet cleaning. It’s louder than your typical cordless vacuum, but quieter than most upright carpet cleaner models. I didn’t experience any leaking or operational problems while testing the carpet cleaner.

Cleaning and maintaining the Bissell Pet Stain Eraser Duo portable carpet cleaner

This machine requires minimal cleaning — and it’s easy to perform. After dry cleaning, you simply remove the dirt tank from the machine and empty it into your kitchen trash can. The tank can be hand-washed in warm water and mild dish soap (like this unscented Whole Foods liquid detergent on Amazon).

After a heavy cleaning, Bissell recommends cleaning the filter and filter cup. Both are easily pulled out of the machine and can be washed in warm water and dish detergent.

Post-wet cleaning, the soaked attachment can be removed. The suction lens has a latch at the top, and can also be released from the dirty water tank. Once you open the drain plug, you can empty the tank and run water through it to rinse. The plug remains attached, so there’s no chance of losing it. The suction lens can also be rinsed.

Is the Bissell Pet Stain Eraser Duo portable carpet cleaner right for you?

The Bissell Pet Stain Eraser Duo Portable Carpet Cleaner is a convenient option for smaller stains and cleanup jobs. While its lack of suction is a disadvantage in wet and dry cleaning, it’s still capable of cleaning up pet food and cat litter from dry surfaces.

Its stain removal capabilities were impressive, with the machine completely removing red wine, grape juice, ketchup, hot chocolate, and cat vomit stains from carpeting. Again, the lack of suction power meant that the carpet was wet and took about 24 hours to dry.

Thanks to its compact design and strong stain removal abilities, this carpet cleaner would be a good option for someone looking for a machine they can quickly grab for small messes and spills. Its 15-minute run time limits its use, but its cordless design makes it agile. This is the carpet cleaner you’ll want around to remove red wine stains on your favorite sofa or when a pet tracks mud across your best rug.

Even invisible pet messes (like a waft of used cat litter) can cause a stink, so rather than trying to mask an offending odor with the best air freshener, this Bissell Pet Stain Eraser Duo portable carpet cleaner is great for deodorizing furniture and getting rid of dog smell in the house, too.

Looking for more appliances and pet-friendly cleaning products? These alternatives might just do the trick.

Built-in brush

Carbona 2-in-1 Oxy-Powered Pet Stain

This pet-friendly carpet cleaning solution can be used pretty much anywhere. I tested it on a rug and my couch, and both times it managed to remove stains within minutes. It has a handy built-in scrubber brush that needs to be cleaned after each use, otherwise, it's super simple to use. It's definitely worth having a bottle of this in your cleaning caddy for dealing with spillages fast, but it's not for deep cleaning an entire rug or a large part of a sofa. It does require a bit of elbow grease to get good results, but it smells quite nice and works fast.

Real Homes rating: 5/5 stars

Best for pet owners

Bissell SpotClean Pet Pro

If you're a pet owner, this is said to be Bissell's most powerful carpet-cleaning machine and ideal for cleaning up water-based spills as it comes with a specially designed head. It's a little more expensive than the Little Green, but has a longer reach. It's also a smidge heavier and bigger.

Rubberized bristles

Rug Doctor Pet Portable Spot Cleaner

An easy-to-use machine that comes with just one head for scrubbing targeted stains, this Rug Doctor is designed with wheels and a retractable handle for ease of moving around your home. It is heavier than our other picks in our carpet cleaning guide — at 18 pounds — and it's the most expensive.

Good to know

Instructions
The carpet cleaner includes a 10-page instruction manual. The directions feature clear and detailed diagrams.

Warranty
Bissell backs this pet-safe cleaning product with a two-year limited warranty.

Where to buy the Bissell Pet Stain Eraser Duo

You can buy the Bissell Pet Stain Eraser Duo directly from Bissell. It is also available through Walmart and Amazon.

How we test the Bissell Pet Stain Eraser Duo Portable Carpet Cleaner

Bissell sent me the carpet cleaner and I tested it for several weeks in my house before writing the review. I used the following criteria for the testing process, which are not too dissimilar to how we test vacuum cleaners:

Unboxing: I considered how well the carpet cleaner was packaged, including whether it was damaged when it arrived at my home. I gave bonus points for packaging as it avoided the use of Styrofoam. I also considered how easily I was able to unbox and assemble the carpet cleaner.

Performance: I evaluated the carpet cleaner’s overall performance, including during its wet and dry use. I considered how well it was able to clean different surfaces, and also tested it on several different stains.

Ease of use: I assessed how easily I could use the machine, overall. I considered factors like the machine’s weight, the comfort of using it, its versatility, and its battery life. I also evaluated how well I could interchange attachments and tools.

Ease of cleaning: I considered the machine’s cleaning and maintenance requirements, including how frequently it needs to be cleaned and maintained. I also weighed how easy the cleaning process is.