Bissell Little Green Machine 1400B review

I’m always cautious when I see a TikTok claiming I absolutely need a new home gadget, but the Bissell Little Green Machine Carpet Cleaner 1400B (available at Amazon for $123.59) caught my eye. As a messy twenty-something and the owner of an equally messy cat, this was something I actually needed to keep my furniture clean.

With over 47,000 reviews on Amazon, this carpet cleaner is outrageously popular. Reviewers have given this device 4.6-star average rating, but does it really live up to the hype?

Here’s what I think about the Bissell Little Green Machine.

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What is the Bissell Little Green Machine?

The Bissell Little Green Machine is a carpet and upholstery cleaner that sucks out the stains and grime that seep into upholstery.

The machine is composed of two 48-ounce tanks and powers up through an electric cord that can plug into a standard outlet. One is filled with water and cleaning solution and the other is where all the gunk from upholstery is sucked into. There’s a hose with a brush head that both disperses the cleaning solution when the spray trigger is pressed and vacuums up the dirty water.

The cleaning brush has stiff bristles that scrub at fabric and rustle up any deep set debris. It’s powered by an electric cord that can be plugged into any standard outlet.

Bissell makes specialized cleaners to put in your Bissell Little Green Machine, but it isn’t necessary. You can also pre-treat stains with a carpet stain remover you plan to clean with the Bissell.

What we like

It’s easy to use

Getting started with the Bissell Little Green Machine is straightforward. The cleaning solution tank needs to be filled up and placed back into the machine. Once it’s plugged in and switched on, you can start cleaning. The spray trigger is very intuitive and has a wide coverage area, creating a stream that’s as wide as the spray head.

Once you spray the upholstered area, let it set in for up to five minutes. Then, use the brush head to suck it up. You can also simultaneously spray and vacuum at the same time. I liked that there were options on how to use the machine since different stains require different approaches.

Though it did take a long time, it was easy to do. I much preferred using the Bissell Little Green Machine over scrubbing at a stain and hoping for the best.

You can see how well it’s working

If you’re like me and find yourself watching hours of rug cleaning videos on TikTok, then using the Bissell Little Green Machine is going to be an incredibly satisfying experience.

If you’re tackling a specific stain, then it’s easier to see the cleaner at work since you can watch it disappear. However, as I was cleaning an area rug that had no specific stains or splotches on it, I was curious to know if I’d see it working, and let me tell you I sure could.

While the first water tank is where clean water mixed with cleaning solution is stored, the second water tank is where the dirty water gets sucked into and you can see absolutely everything that is getting sucked up.

The murky, gray water that filled up the dirty water tank made me grateful to have this tool to give what I thought was a relatively clean rug, a deep clean. Boy, was I surprised at what had been hiding in the rug.

It’s portable and easy to store

Far smaller than a vacuum, the Bissell Little Green Machine 1400B is super portable. Without water, the machine weighs just under 10 pounds, so, depending on your mobility, it’s not too heavy to move around if you’re cleaning around the room.

It’s just over 12 inches tall so with a low profile, it’s easy to store in cabinets and closets. Since it’s fairly lightweight, it fits nicely on the top shelf of a closet to stay out of the way when not in use.

The cords neatly wrap around the machine to create one neat package to tuck away in your cleaning closet. No tangled messes here.

What we don’t like

The water tank spills easily

While the Bissell certainly makes the process of cleaning upholstery easier, it’s still cleaning so expect the process to still get a little bit messy. Since the main cleaning force in the machine utilizes water, the whole process, as expected, is going to be quite wet from beginning to end.

I found the water tanks to be quite cumbersome and they spilled very easily. Transporting the water tank from the sink to where I had my machine set up was quite difficult as the water spilled out if it wasn’t perfectly straight. This was also the case with the dirty water tank, which was a lot less pleasant when that spilled. The best way to avoid this is to keep the machine close to the sink so you don’t have to travel far with the loose water tank.

Additionally, whatever you’re cleaning will be quite wet, so plan accordingly for some drying time. When I was cleaning the rug, the floor underneath was soaked through and needed to be mopped up after I finished cleaning.

The Bissell Little Green Cleaning Machine works like a wet vacuum and will suck up some water from upholstery, but it won’t get everything. Prepare for your couch or rug to be fairly damp post-cleaning and need several hours to dry. To combat the dampness, turn on a ceiling fan to help accelerate the water evaporation.

This is a pain especially when it comes to the couch. After cleaning the cushions on the couch I had to pull them up so our cat wouldn’t settle in and get his hair into the damp, but freshly clean surface.

It can’t handle a lot of hair

The perk of this machine is that it gets at everything hiding in your upholstery, including long-forgotten hairs and debris that you may not be able to see or feel, but are certainly set deep into the fabric.

To best avoid this, give your upholstery a thorough dry vacuum beforehand to help lift up any hairs. I found that as I was using the Bissell Little Green Machine, pet hair coming out of the upholstery was getting stuck in the brush head and clogging things up. I had to spend a good deal of time cleaning out the machine afterward.

Or go for the Bissell ProHeat 2X Revolution, which has a special filter for hair and large debris so it won’t clog up the motor.

It's not made to clean large surfaces

The great thing about the Little Green Machine is that it’s portable and easy enough to tuck away in your cleaning closet. The downside is its small stature makes it hard to use when it comes to large surfaces.

While I liked using it to spot-clean my couch as needed, using it to clean an area rug was a total drag. I spent nearly an hour on my hands and knees cleaning the whole thing. Plus I had to refill the clean water tank twice and empty the dirty water multiple times through cleaning.

If your goal is to use this as a carpet cleaner, I suggest staying away and instead going for the Bissell ProHeat 2X Revolution.

Should you buy the Bissell Little Green Machine 1400B

Yes, it’s a champion at spot cleaning upholstery

The Bissell Green Machine is a worthwhile investment if you’re fighting the good fight against constant messes and stains on upholstery. If you’ve spent too much elbow grease on getting stains out of your sofa cushions, then this will save you time and energy.

If you’re hoping to procure a carpet cleaner to give your entire area rug a thorough deep clean, this may not be the machine for you. While the Bissell Green Machine soars when it comes to spot cleaning, it’s not big enough to handle large surfaces.

For a carpet cleaner that will tackle wall-to-wall carpeting or area rugs, go for a bigger machine that lets you clean a lot more space at once like the Bissell ProHeat 2X Revolution.

If you find most of your messes are happening in the car, then look to the Bissell Little Green Pro Portable Carpet Cleaner. The design of this cleaner is less wide so it’s easier to fit in narrow spaces like the seats of your car. It will do an impressive job at lifting up stains from juice box to winter salt stains.

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Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.