For the past three months, my house has been undergoing a renovation. As a longtime home editor, this is very exciting for me, and if I say so myself, it's going to look amazing when done. But (there's always a "but," isn't there?) right now, the place is a freaking mess. The walls are half-painted, tiles sit piled in every corner and my old fridge currently resides in the entryway, just an inch to the left of the front door. I haven't even mentioned the dust. It has settled in every corner and crevice, coating window sills, olive oil bottles, door knobs, my dog. Having done other renovations in the past, I expected a certain level of dirt, but the project has been dragging, making the mess feel inescapable. Truth be told, it was getting to me. I tried all manner of cleaners, and so far, only one thing has made my house feel like a home again: Martha Stewart's favorite wet/dry vacuum. Read on for my Bissell Crosswave Omniforce review.
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It vacuums, it mops, it has saved my sanity! This gadget works on both rugs and sealed floors like tile and hardwood. You'll get 30 minutes of run time off a single charge.
Bissell Crosswave Omniforce Wet/Dry Vacuum: Why Martha Stewart loves it
No one knows how to get a house in order like Martha, so when she took to Instagram to lavish praise on the Bissell Crosswave OmniForce Wet/Dry Vacuum, people noticed. She said it was "the best new home appliance" she had received. She also made sure to mention that her post was not a paid-for endorsement: "This is an unpaid recommendation because I love the machine!"
"The design is simple, the parts easy to clean and anyone can use it," she wrote. "I have an old marble floor in my kitchen. Four dogs live in my kitchen! Many people are in my kitchen every day! I am a clean fanatic! Rather than sweeping (which raises dust), rather than vacuuming and then mopping, this machine does it all!" She added that it picked up dog hair, dust and crumbs in just three minutes.
This floor was coated in a fine layer of dust — ick. In comes the Omniforce to the rescue! (Jessica Dodell-Feder/chof360)
Bissell Crosswave Omniforce Wet/Dry Vacuum: Why I love it
The Omniforce is my second Crosswave; I owned my last model for five or six years. As someone with a dog, I really appreciate being able to mop and vacuum at the same time — it's a massive help when you're dealing with muddy puddles or spilled bowls of food (my pup can get sassy at meal times). I also found that this vacuum/mop hybrid works miracles on carpet, whether I need to spot-clean or refresh an entire 8-foot-by-10-foot rug. I have mostly Ruggables in my house, which are machine-washable. But they clean up so well with the Crosswave that I've hardly ever needed to toss them in the machine.
Like Martha, I find the Omniforce incredibly easy to use. You just fill the tank at the back of the machine with warm water and Bissell cleaning solution, then choose from three modes — Power Vac, which vacuums only; Power Mop, which vacuums and mops at the same time; and Turbo, which boosts the suction and releases more cleaning solution for tough messes. Another tank at the front machine collects the dirty water and debris.
Pre-renovation, I was using the Omniforce weekly, but now I break it out almost every night. I use Bissell's Pet Multi-Surface cleaner, and it really cuts through the grime and construction dust. The vac also does an amazing job pulling up pet hair, and its strong suction helps dry the floors after mopping them, so they don't stay damp and collect even more junk, like some kind of insidious sponge.
Buh-bye footprints and bits of drywall. After a few passes with the Omniforce even the color of my rug looks more vibrant. (Jessica Dodell-Feder/chof360)
Bissell Crosswave Omniforce Wet/Dry Vacuum: What I don't like
I'm not a fan of the post-use maintenance on this machine. It has a self-cleaning cycle, which you're supposed to run whenever you use it in mop mode, but it's not a hands-off process. Once the cycle finishes, you have to collect all the gross gunk from the dirty water tank, and although it has a filter to separate the solids, everything kind of mixes together, which gets messy. Then you have to rinse the dirty water tank and remove the filter and rinse that too.
I find pet hair also collects by the brush roll and sometimes in the dock. Cut to me with a roll of paper towels wiping down every part of the machine — not ideal. Plus, you need to let all the parts dry for 24 hours before reassembling the machine.
Here's what the vacuum picked up after just 10 minutes of work. Lovely, I know. (Jessica Dodell-Feder/chof360)
Bissell Crosswave Omniforce Wet/Dry Vacuum: The final verdict
Having worked as a home editor for two decades, I've tried many vacuum/mop hybrids (I even have an old Dyson model, which I think they discontinued 10 or 15 years ago!). The Omniforce is by far the most effective and sophisticated version I have used. It truly makes cleaning a cinch, and while I don't love that I have to put effort into cleaning the machine itself, it's worth the time when I consider how much gunk this baby has lifted off my floors. When you're living in a construction zone, you'll take all the help you can get!
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For about $50 more, you can get an enhanced version of the Omniforce with a slimmer brush roll cover that lets you reach right up to the edge of baseboards and cabinets.
