Bissell Natural Sweep review: how does the floor sweeper fare against vacuums?

Can this in-between floor cleaner help reduce your energy bills? Abha Shah takes it for a spin

nergy prices have us all watching the pennies, and with news that the cost of water bills are set to rise, the need to cut bills where possible remains the top priority for most British households.

If you’ve made it through the winter without turning on the central heating: well done. You’re either a survival specialist or taking thriftiness to new heights.

While there are plenty of ways to cut back on energy use - draught-excluding your home, investing in high tog bedding, taking shorter showers - there are some jobs that just can’t be done without electricity. Or can they?

When it comes to cleaning hard floors of dirt, debris and dust that naturally gets tracked into the home, your choices are either sweeping with a broom and finishing with a dustpan and brush, or reaching for the vacuum cleaner, which will use power whether you use a plugged-in vacuum or a cordless model. Home cleaning specialist Bissell has a mid-way solution: the Natural Sweeper.

One of the company’s OG floor cleaners (an invention of founder Melville Bissell back in 1887), it does one better than a broom with two rotating brushes under the hood to sweep up all sorts of floor debris, hair, lint - the usual suspects. The handle screws in sections, making it both light and extremely compact to store if you don’t have a utility cupboard to shove it into. And it works without electricity.

Just how well does it work exactly? It’s the cleaning version of a fabric freshening spray: works occasionally but is no replacement for a proper deep clean.

I took it on a tour around the messier parts of my kitchen floor and it gathered up dropped food crumbs after a few rolls back and forth, although bigger bits remained at the join between the floor and cupboards despite the presence of corner brushes. My Miele would suck it up without a second thought.

Next I turned my attention to a few pine needles that had become dislodged from a wicker hamper that had sat under my Christmas tree (I vacuum often, I swear!) and again, the Natural Sweep caught the majority in a few rotations, although I could see it missed a few pieces.

The final test was going from my living room’s hard floor across to the area rug: another 50/50 clean. It just does not have the same power and satisfaction as a battery-operated vacuum to do an effective clean. But then, how can it?

That’s not to say the Natural Sweeper is a total write-off. Just as a fabric freshener means you can get a few more wears out of clothes before a spin in the washing machine, so too this cleaner staves off the big vacuum job until it’s really necessary. This is an in-between cleaner.

At 1.6kg, it’s super lightweight and easily manoeuvrable around furniture, although won’t give that edge clean finish as you would with a powered vacuum. The fact that you don’t have to bend over to sweep anything up is a big plus for anyone with mobility issues. And once it’s full, emptying is as easy as flicking open the body and tipping everything straight into the bin. You’ll need to clean the brushes regularly to keep them in working order, just the same as a regular vacuum cleaner.

If you’re looking for ways to cut back on energy use, rolling this around the house in between weekly vacuums is certainly route to doing it - just don’t throw out your proper vacuum yet.