Tineco Carpet One Cruiser Vs. Bissell Big Green: Here's Which One Cleaned Our Carpet Better

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House hunters on real estate reality shows often turn up their noses at carpeted rooms. I know they are dirt traps and can be hard to maintain, but the soft feel underfoot and the sound-muffling qualities make carpeting an enjoyable addition to our home. Yet, it is indeed a dirt trap. Add two adventurous dogs who like to dig and two humans who regularly track in all sorts of yuck, and the carpet gets truly filthy. Annual "cleanings" with a home carpet shampooer and more frequent touch-ups with carpet spray do little to lift the gunk and seemingly permanent stains. My husband and I even opted for a carpet with built-in stain repellent that's meant for homes with pets. Even this precaution couldn't shield our cushy flooring from serious stains.

I gleefully accepted the challenge of trying out the Tineco Carpet One Cruiser and the Bissell Big Green Carpet Cleaner. There were many high-traffic spots in our home where I could test them side-by-side. These professional-grade machines would be a significant step up from our tired shampooer that never really removed enough dirt. If I could judge by the retail prices, both were of better quality than the one we'd had for years. The Tineco Carpet One Cruiser sells for $699, while the Bissell Big Green runs at a less daunting $411. I was ready to see the brand of cleaning that premium carpet cleaners provide.

The Tineco Carpet One Cruiser was the first to arrive. While the box was definitely large, it wasn't hard to carry inside. On the other hand, the Bissell Big Green arrived at our post office wearing a copious amount of "HEAVY" stickers. Moving this box was not a one-person job, although my long-armed husband was able to manage it alone. After slicing through the packing tape on both boxes, my tree-hugger self was appeased. I saw mostly paper-based packaging that's easy to recycle. I knew I could repurpose the plastic bags as well, which made up the minimal remainder of the boxes' interior packaging.

Along with the cleaner itself, each product was accompanied by a manual, a starter cleaning solution, and a hose and brush attachment for cleaning stairs or upholstery. The Tineco also came with a cleaning brush, a pretreatment stain spray, and a stand to protect the floor from leaks, plus run a self-cleaning cycle. It provided a tool for removing tangled hair from the brush roller, too.

After leafing through the manuals, both machines were a breeze to put together. The Bissell had two capacious tanks: one to hold clean, hot water and cleaning solution, and another to collect the dirty aftermath. The Tineco's tank was much more streamlined; the clean and dirty water was housed in a single tank with separate chambers. The smaller size of this tank gave me hope that it'd use water more efficiently.

There is a particularly nasty area where our dogs like to lie in front of our couches. The two couches face each other, perfectly framing the super-soiled spot. After a preliminary vacuuming, I marked off this roughly 8-foot-by-4-foot rectangle with painter's tape. A central piece of tape divided the patch in half, creating a testing ground for each shampooer.

Just maneuvering the two contraptions into place, I saw that the relatively lightweight Tineco would be much easier to move. Its comparatively small tank, however, wasn't easy to fill. The opening is small, and the container needed to be burped several times for the water to reach the max line. Fortunately, it didn't need hot tap water, leading me to think about possible savings on our gas bill. At first roll, my arms rejoiced at how easy the Carpet One Cruiser was to push. After many passes over the test patch, I was overjoyed at its performance.

The Bissell is a bulky device, but it has an extra front handle that takes some of the effort out of repositioning it. Filling the Big Green's tank was trouble-free thanks to its wide opening, and the tank's cap is also conveniently a measuring cup for the cleaning solution. During both cleaners' trials, there was a lot of wastewater to pour out, and I was shocked by the amount of crud they pulled out at each emptying. I made the same number of passes with the Tineco and the Bissell on their assigned halves. Both sections looked monumentally better than before.

Technophiles, Tineco had you in mind when they created the Carpet One Cruiser. You can connect the cleaner to Wi-Fi and access it through a mobile app. This cool feature allows you to program the Cruiser for a custom clean, depending on the materials, pile, and structure of your carpet. The vacuum itself gives verbal messages with adjustable volumes and in several languages beyond English.

The weight difference between the two shampooers was evident even before opening the boxes. Along with its lighter frame, the Tineco's power-assist options make it easier to use. With three levels of assist, pushing it around is a breeze. Oh, and there's no need to hold down a trigger during the cleaning part of the process. 

There are two cleaning modes: "Auto" and "Max". I opted for "Max" throughout the trial. It also has a drying function that worked reasonably well. Its audio messages came in handy to let me know when I needed to change the water and run the self-cleaning cycle. On the downside, I soon became far too familiar with this feature. Every few minutes, an electronic female voice reminded me to change the water. Granted, our carpet was exceptionally filthy, but I'm not sure if that would make a difference in how much water was needed.

Before launching into the pros and cons of Bissell's Big Green, I'll preface by stating there are so few "oh-nos" that it might not need the "S" to make it plural. This hunk of machinery did a stellar job de-gross-ifying my carpet. As I've already mentioned, the Big Green is weighty, and I ended up feeling like I'd had a workout after wielding it over my floor. Its two tanks instead of the Cruiser's one definitely made themselves felt after I was done with the test. However, on its test patch of carpet, I only had to refill the tank once. I did need to pour out wastewater frequently, but nowhere near as often as with the Tineco.

One "oh-no" that's worth noting is that the waste tank dripped a tad as I carried it away for dumping. For later dumpage, I just held a rag under the dripping spot during transport. Also, if you don't hold it by the handle in just the right position, you risk spilling dirty water over your freshly cleaned swatch of carpet. This did happen to me. At least the Big Green was powerful enough to erase the visual evidence. No, the Big Green doesn't have a self-cleaning tray, an app, or insistent audio reminders, but its performance made me not miss them one bit. In fact, the swatch that the Bissell took care of looked slightly cleaner than the Tineco's side.

Both the Tineco and the Bissell had more pros than cons, and each one had features that might make a person choose one over the other. The biggest takeaways were that the Tineco was lighter and had lots of helpful features, and the Bissell cleaned better while being heavier and lacking some bells and whistles.

If you have strength or movement challenges, the Tineco is a standout for you. Not having to hold a trigger as I worked, combined with the propulsion assistance levels, could make shampooing your own carpet possible when you didn't think you could manage the machine's bulk. But if you're budget-minded and simply want cleaner carpet, the Bissell will more than meet your needs. They both left their respective test patches remarkably cleaner, showing me what I'd been missing by using a much lower-quality machine for years. Either of these inventions will come to your rescue if dirt is a problem in your home.