If you are in the market for a steam mop, then Bissell is one of the many brands you will come across. They have a number of different models for sale on the market today, and are without a doubt one of the more popular choices you will find. In this article we are going to have a look at one of their top selling models – the Bissell Powerfresh Steam Mop 1940 model. After being quite disappointed with the Bionaire steam mop which we looked at a few weeks ago, does this model offer a better choice? Let’s see if we can find out.
Is Bissell A Good Brand?
To start off with, is Bissell a trustworthy company? We would say yes, as they are an American company which has a long successful history. The company was founded over a 100 years ago in 1876, and their first product was the massively popular carpet cleaner which took the world by storm. The little company from Grand Rapids soon became world renowned, and over the years they have introduced a number of other innovative products. Today they offer a respectable range of cleaning products, and are considered one of the market leaders in this field. With that out the the way, let’s take a closer look at the mop.
The Bissell 1940 Steam Mop
The 1940 mop has a retail price of around $99 for the base model, which puts it roughly in the middle of the price field for these kinds of mops. It also comes in a number of bundles including: the Freshen Your Clean bundle which includes the Bissell Spring Breeze Demineralized water, the Refresh Your Floors bundle which includes the Bissell Eucalyptus Mint Demineralized water, and the Long Lasting Performance bundle which includes a soft microfiber pad, a soft microfiber pad with scrubbing strips for tougher stains, and 4 fragrance discs, which leave a scent as you mop. All of the bundles cost only a few dollars more, so they are certainly worth considering. The Long Lasting Performance bundle is probably our pick of the bunch, as the pads will come in quite handy in the long term.
Now let’s talk about the design.
Design
The Bissell 1940 model comes in two color schemes of blue (pictured) and purple. Both of these color options are good in our eyes, although the blue choice would be our first pick. The mop is predominantly white, and features the colored sections on the tank, the inner part of the handle, and on top of the base. It’s a nice modern color scheme, and should fit in well in most homes. The handle of the unit is quite large and sturdy, which makes those boring cleaning tasks a bit more tolerable.
The base of the Bissell Powerfresh 1940 features a 4 way swivel head, which makes it very handy for cleaning in corners and under cupboards. This means that the handle can move backwards and forwards like a normal steam mop, and it can also swivel from side to side. Combining this with the lower profile head makes maneuvering it in tricky places a very simple task, and this is definitely a great feature.
Also on the base is the Easy Scrubber, which you can activate by pushing it down with your foot. The Easy Scrubber is a fairly unique feature, and works well if you have a tough or sticky mess that is resilient to normal cleaning.
Features
The Bissell Powerfresh Steam Mop 1940 model comes with a very long 23′ power cord, which is another plus in our list. It is switched on using the button on the front, and you’ve got three settings to choose from including Low, Medium and High. From our understanding the steam is a set temperature, and the Low, Medium and High settings regulate the amount of steam that is released. Low and Medium are good for hardwood floors, while High is generally best for tiles and sticky messes.
Once you choose one of these settings, the led next to it will start flashing up to indicate it is warming up. After around 20 seconds the light will go solid to indicate it is ready to use. There is no obvious Off switch on it, but it is worth noting that the Bissell Powerfresh 1940 will power off if you cycle the settings once past the High level. When in use, it provides a steady flow of steam, which does a fine job of cleaning the floors.
The water tank is removable, and can be removed by pulling it upwards using the handles on the side. It holds around two cups of water which doesn’t sound like much, but a full tank gives you around 20 minutes of running time on the medium setting. There is no filter built into the tank, so you should stick to demineralized or distilled water instead of tap water if possible. If you want to use the optional scent disc inserts, these are placed in the little holders within the mop pads. This mop can also be used to refresh carpets if you buy the optional carpet glider attachment. If this interests you then be sure to lookout for part #203-8429 from Bissell, which retails for around $10.
Flaws
Having read through many different reviews of the Bissell Steam Mop 1940 unit, it looks like the vast majority of them are quite pleased with it. There are the usual reports of product failure, but these seem to be in the very low acceptable percentage of cases. We should also mention that there have been some reports of the water tank cap breaking after a while. In fairness, the cap is a little brittle, and could have been better designed. However, this model does come with a two year warranty, and getting this replaced for free is of course covered under the warranty. Apart from that there don’t seem to be any major issues with this model, and it has quite a good reputation in terms of the build quality.
Summary
That is a look at the Bissell Powerfresh Steam Mop 1940 model. It is reasonably priced, and has a number of good features. It works well, and gives you an easy way to clean your floors. At the time of writing this model was the #1 seller in the Steam Mops category on Amazon, and it has a over five thousand 5-star customer reviews! You can get more info on it and read some of those many reviews over on the Amazon page.
