We took the Bissell CrossWave Pet Pro 2306 and put it through all kinds of tests to see how it compared to the original Bissell CrossWave and some of its other competitors, and we have some definite opinions about it. Here’s what we found.
Great for Everyday Mopping
Verdict
The Bissell CrossWave Pet Pro lived up to its reputation when used as an electric mop for everday mopping. It had no problem in our real world tests or with either wet messes and dried-on stains. Although you can, we wouldn’t use it for big messes, however as the clean-up took more time than we’d want to invest.
What’s New
The first thing we noticed when unboxing the CrossWave Pet Pro is that other than the color, there isn’t too much that’s different from the original version. In fact, it’s the same machine as the original CrossWave, with some minor differences.
We first tried a few simple wet mess cleanup tests and found that it did really well and with very little residue, even with only a few passes.
Those differences are that the Pet Pro comes with a pretty useful pet hair strainer, a different type of brush roll that is supposed to be better at resisting tangles, and it comes with two of them instead of just one. Similarly, it comes with two bottles of the solution instead of just the one on the original, so all pretty useful upgrades even though they aren’t huge changes.
In the box
What We Like
The CrossWave Pet Pro is fairly versatile. It can be used as a dry vacuum on both hard floors and carpets, and it’s actually really good at pickup on both surfaces as well. Its main use, though, is washing hard floors.
Basically, we like to think of it as an electric mop. It can pick up huge nasty spills or just be used the way you would a regular mop for routine jobs. It has a button for area rugs which changes the spin rate of the brush, but honestly, we can’t imagine it being too effective on area rugs other than for very surface-level cleanings.
RELATED: Don’t miss our comparison of the Bissell CrossWave Pet Pro vs Shark HydroVac XL and Tineco Floor One S3 Review!
How to Use
You basically just fill the clean water tank with warm water and solution up to the indicated lines. Then, you hit the button to turn it on, press the trigger to spray water, and soak the brush. Typically, you will make a few passes with the trigger pressed, followed by a few passes without the trigger pressed to dry the residue.
Tests
We first tried a few simple wet mess cleanup tests and found that it did really well and with very little residue, even with only a few passes. As we increased the thickness of the spilled material, it still picked it up really well, but there did seem to be a little more residue.
Getting that residue just required a few more passes but we felt it was worth noting. We tried SpaghettiOs for an even thicker spill, and again, it was a nearly perfect pickup but it did increase the number of passes needed to clear the residue.
We tried a number of dried-on stain tests where we took mainly grape juice and V8 and let them dry to a sticky, hard consistency. We got different results depending on how much material was used and how fast we went – basically like 15 fast passes with a lot more material, or three very slow passes with exactly one tablespoon of V8 or grape juice.
In general, we’d say it was pretty good, especially considering how stuck on that V8 was. We’re not sure what makes it so sticky, but yeah, the CrossWave got it.
Real-World Tests
Before we get to the negative stuff, we want to quickly mention the real-world tests where we used the Bissell CrossWave to clean actual really dirty spots on our old studio floor and to deep clean our new studio floor when we moved in, which really needed it. We found it to be pretty effective when used in this way and particularly easy to use and maneuver.
What Could Be Improved
We said at the beginning that we have definite opinions about the Bissell CrossWave. So here’s the deal: as far as we see it, we think the Bissell CrossWave is really good for routine mopping jobs with very little debris involved – that is, not for actual nasty messes.
The reason we say that is that the way the CrossWave Pet Pro is designed, it really requires you to clean them after every use if you’re using them for big spills. So it’s like a zero-sum game – yes, you can conveniently clean up that spill, but now you have a chore to do: you have to clean your CrossWave again.
This doesn’t really apply to simple mopping jobs, like when we cleaned up the new studio. It made a lot of dirty water, but we were able to empty the dirty water tank and not even clean the CrossWave since there wasn’t really anything that was going to spoil or smell if we just left it as is.
But if we either a) cleaned up something like SpaghettiOs or b) cleaned up a lot of dry particles while wet mopping, we would have to go through the process of cleaning the dirty water tank and filter assembly, which just gets debris in every nook and cranny and takes a while to clean.
Ideally, if you had a large kitchen sink with a strainer in the sink, this job would be easier and less messy. We should also mention that the CrossWave does come with a cleaning tray.
After mopping, you’re supposed to fill it with water, then put the CrossWave in it and run it for a while, to clean the bottom of the CrossWave and the brush roll. We did find that this helped to clean the worst of the nasty stuff off the bottom, but it wasn’t really good enough for us to not also want to wipe it down if it was something that would spoil or harden if we left it unchecked.
Verdict
So, do we like the Bissell CrossWave? Yeah, we do. We think it’s incredibly convenient, but only for pure, simple, light mopping jobs. Basically, it’s an electric mop, and it’s really good at saving time on those light jobs. But we would only use it to pick up nasty spills if we judged that the cleaning of the unit afterward would be less painful than the cleaning up of the spill by more traditional means.
Specs
| Manufacturer | Bissell |
| Model | CrossWave Pet Pro |
| Model Number | 2306a |
| Similar Models | 2304P, 2306, 2306L, 2306N, 2306P, 23062, 23063, 23064, 23068, 2328 |
| Corded/Cordless | Corded |
| Cord Length | 25 ft |
| Motor | 4.4 amps |
| Cleaning Path Width | 12 in |
| Clean Water Tank | 28 oz / 0.83 L |
| Dirty Water Tank | 14.5 oz / 0.43 L |
| Weight | 11.5 lb |
| Swivel Head | Yes |
| Color | Purple |
| Where to Buy | Amazon |